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The Vegan Society’s stance on the ‘vegan’ vs. ‘plant-based’ debate (www.vegansociety.com)
submitted 2 months ago by MsSprouts@vegantheoryclub.org to c/vegan@vegantheoryclub.org
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[-] barf@vegantheoryclub.org 18 points 2 months ago

Until recently I’ve only ever seen vegan “plant based” foods, and so didn’t give much thought to to this. Whatever, if it makes people less weird about vegan food choices at the store that’s fine by me.

But today I found out Morningstar is now labeling themselves and all of their products as plant based, and most of their crap is vegetarian with milk and eggs. And they’re one of the top brands.

So now I hate “plant based” and have a strong opinion about it.

[-] flughoernchen@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago

Same. I've also seen non-food products like detergents that weren't even vegetarian labeled as "plant based". Many companies seem to use the term as synonym for "contains some amount of plant stuff", making it entirely meaningless.

[-] Arcanepotato@vegantheoryclub.org 7 points 2 months ago

I see a lot of honey in 'plant based' foods.

This is what plant based capitalism gets us - selling products to a wider audience vs the struggle for animal liberation.

[-] hamid@vegantheoryclub.org 3 points 2 months ago

I got into an argument, in person, on a street in Brooklyn, with the owner of Mike's Hot Honey in 2018 who insisted his product was vegan and that many vegans use honey and he sells to them.

[-] Arcanepotato@vegantheoryclub.org 5 points 2 months ago

I wanted to take my husband to a fancy restaurant for his birthday a few years ago and there were a few restaurants that advertised plant based tasting menus...2/3 with fucking honey. Including a restaurant that was totally 'plant based'.

But I only knew because I thought to ask what they meant by plant based.

Serves me right for considering eating at a restaurant.

[-] josie@vegantheoryclub.org 2 points 2 months ago

From what I've heard the US in particular is pretty lax with the term "plant based." It basically means nothing over there. Where I live is pretty shit too but here you aren't allowed to call something plant based if it has animal parts/secretions.

[-] NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org 7 points 2 months ago

I always assume plant based means vegan but we want to sell to angry people.

I would be upset if it came to mean carnist food + greenwashing.

I should check Australia's stance on whether the label is regulated.

[-] MsSprouts@vegantheoryclub.org 5 points 2 months ago

It’s only plant-based if it is completely made from plants. Unfortunately health Canada does not regulate the label so I have to do a double take and hope I don’t drop my jaw in horror.

[-] Alliegaytor@vegantheoryclub.org 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I should check Australia’s stance on whether the label is regulated.

It either isn't or it's not done properly as I've seen lots of 'plant based' stuff here with egg and honey in it. It's a huge step backwards as anything can slap 'plant based' on it whereas a lot of the older vegan products had to pay to get certified as vegan and that actually meant something.

https://veganaustralia.org.au/certification/

Edit:

"Plant-based can mean anything that a company wants it to."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-12/how-is-plant-based-diet-different-to-vegan-vegetarian/102957508

[-] hamid@vegantheoryclub.org 6 points 2 months ago

I definitely prefer vegan to plant-based. Plant-based doesn't translate into Persian either. I like Dillon from Well Your World who doesn't use the term "wfpb whole food plant based" he calls it the "whole plant food only diet"

[-] josie@vegantheoryclub.org 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The language barrier is partly why I prefer vegan too. My second language is Spanish, I am planning on living in a Spanish-speaking country and the most commonly used translation for "plant based" that I am aware of is "de origen vegetal" which is more of a food label than a personal one. It's easier to just say "vegana" lol.

[-] WhereDidMySpinachGo@vegantheoryclub.org 3 points 2 months ago

Plant- based is literally worthless. It's just marketing fluff. You can have a plant-based stew with rocks, sand, or meat in it. The BSI definition would say this isn't plant-based but plant-based its not a protected term. Also even with the BSI definition it can still contain less than 5% meat derived ingredients which is not vegan. Aka worthless

this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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