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Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

bighospitality.co.uk

191–200 of 319 posts

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#191

Could part of this be the rise of non-American restaurants? If I'm eating say, thai I don't "order vegan" - but a tofu based curry may be vegan. Vegan food, done well, is pretty great. But there's a steep learning curve with the spices etc, so I tend to eat out for it.

> Vegan food, done well, is pretty great. But there's a steep learning curve with the spices etc, so I tend to eat out for it

Agreed - it took a good number of weeks of our weekly meal prep before I felt comfortable adding actual flavor to the dishes. It definitely is something you acquire quickly, though. Meat and dairy are good flavor-enhancers so becoming vegan overnight was rough from the flavor profile perspective.

Luckily there are plenty of resources to help out and I got a handle of it in no time. You learn what to swap out and how to get the right texture with things like tempeh, tofu etc and all that.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#192
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are good questions, but about a different topic (except the last one). The choice here is not between raising animals for eating in factories as opposed to raising them in the wild. It's between raising them in factories versus not bringing them to life at all. Wild animal suffering is a different beast altogether. Your last question is on the point though. Do the animals raised for meat have lives worth living…

Is it better for a being to not exist entirely than suffer? If so, then would this imply that if animals suffer even more in the wild that they should be wiped out?

Yes. If you had the choice between having a child that would live its entire life in agony, or not having that child, I think it's obvious which is better.

No. For the same reason that murdering your 4 year old is not ethically equivalent to using birth control.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#193
post #189
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So by extension, don't you have an ethical obligation to have as many children as possible regardless of the quality of life you can provide them? At least they'll have a life that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

I bet you $10 they are a forced-birther. Under His Eye. Blessed be the fruit.

I believe abortion is generally immoral, but I also believe that my opinion is not important and should not dictate public policy.

And when I say generally immoral, it obviously becomes nuanced when rape or young age is involved.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#194
post #31

Too bad that vegan food is mostly carbs and tasteless stuff like tofu. There are so many tasty and healthy vegetables and great veggie recipes but you have to cook at home because you can't find them outside.

Those "mostly carbs" you're referring to include a ton of fiber, which is something the diehard meat eaters desperately lack in their diet. And the "tasteless stuff like tofu" does as much to demonstrate your lack of knowledge on the subject of veganism entirely, as well as the fact that you've never eaten well-prepared tofu.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#195
post #148
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me that's a mix of ethical and environmental concerns. I agree that there is a point in the belief that it is unethical to kill animals. That's not the most unethical thing that is happening in the world, there are a lot of things to argue about, but in general, I agree that in an ideal world, we should not do that. The environmental concerns, I only buy half-heartedly. I don't really believe that land-owners wil…

> But I reduced my consumption more and more. It was surprising to see how my taste changed. I experienced the same, which was really odd. I guess you can learn to like (or dislike) a taste. The other thing I noticed that concerns about suffering started to weigh far stronger for me once the environmental concerns made me stop eating meat. I think that I subconsciously ignored or trivialised a lot of the information…

I once went on a low carb diet and stuck to it steadfast for about 6 months. One of my favorite candies is Reece's Peanut Butter cups. When I came off the diet, I decided to have one. It tasted exactly the same as you would expect those ultra-low-cost off-brand peanut butter cups that they sell in budget grab bags. Took me weeks to be able to taste the difference.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#196
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are good questions, but about a different topic (except the last one). The choice here is not between raising animals for eating in factories as opposed to raising them in the wild. It's between raising them in factories versus not bringing them to life at all. Wild animal suffering is a different beast altogether. Your last question is on the point though. Do the animals raised for meat have lives worth living…

Is it better for a being to not exist entirely than suffer? If so, then would this imply that if animals suffer even more in the wild that they should be wiped out?

And if not, does that mean we should ban contraceptives?

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#197
post #191

Could part of this be the rise of non-American restaurants? If I'm eating say, thai I don't "order vegan" - but a tofu based curry may be vegan. Vegan food, done well, is pretty great. But there's a steep learning curve with the spices etc, so I tend to eat out for it.

> Vegan food, done well, is pretty great. But there's a steep learning curve with the spices etc, so I tend to eat out for it Agreed - it took a good number of weeks of our weekly meal prep before I felt comfortable adding actual flavor to the dishes. It definitely is something you acquire quickly, though. Meat and dairy are good flavor-enhancers so becoming vegan overnight was rough from the flavor profile perspecti…

If you have any suggestions on cookbooks/resources, I really enjoy curries etc and they seem to be great for mealprep (very freezable).

I can always add in some beef or chicken if I get nostalgic ;)

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#198
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's not the most unethical thing that is happening in the world I'm just going to refer to the factory farming article from 80000hours: https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/factory-farming/ Considering that "Each year, 50 billion animals are raised and slaughtered in factory farms globally. Over a billion animals live in factory farms at any point of time in the United States. Most experience serious levels o…

People aren't going to start keeping the equivalent numbers of livestock as pets. If factory farmed animals fall out of fashion, most of these animals will all die without reproducing and their bloodlines will cease to exist. I agree that factory farming isn't ideal, but it seems to me that it is less ideal from the perspective of the animal for their entire bloodline to be terminated. To make a strong argument again…

> The question really comes down to whether or not you consider the opportunity to experience life, even a particularly difficult life, as a blessing.

This seems to be an extreme pro-life point of view. You could ask exactly the same question about contraceptives.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#199
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. I'll guess (can't access the original report) that it's something like "expressly designated vegan version of main course items". For example, this from the Guardian: ... the owner of I Am Doner, a pair of kebab shops in Leeds and Harrogate, said his vegan kebab routinely outsold chicken, halloumi and falafel. Made from seitan, a meat substitute derived from wheat gluten, the “voner” kebab sometimes outsells th…

I'm surprised by the recent popularity of seitan. Obviously you don't have to avoid gluten to be vegan, but I've always had the impression gluten avoidance is adjacent to veganism. At least for vegans who cite personal health as their primary motivator.

Gluten avoidance is nothing to do with health benefits - it’s a constraint imposed by celiac disease. If you don’t have the disease, there is no reason to avoid gluten.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#200
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it better for a being to not exist entirely than suffer? If so, then would this imply that if animals suffer even more in the wild that they should be wiped out?

Yes. If you had the choice between having a child that would live its entire life in agony, or not having that child, I think it's obvious which is better. No. For the same reason that murdering your 4 year old is not ethically equivalent to using birth control.

Should we sterilize animals in the wild since they suffer too, possibly even more than animals in captivity?
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