Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years • Hacker News Board

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#21

Post by colanderman » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:07 PM UTC

motohagiography wrote: post #13

sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

"The most intolerant wins," dynamic may explain much of it. The availability of vegan food may have grown because it is a complimentary good which lets groups that include vegans eat there. Previously, groups that included vegans either ended up in vegan restaurants, or didn't eat together at all. Other purity urges could seem to have the same property.

Your comment is correct, except that veganism is not a "purity urge", despite popular media. It probably is for some, but for most it is an ethical, health (as in, need to avoid cholesterol/dairy/etc.), or environmental concern. There's usually an external motivator.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#22

Post by wUabkSG6L5Bfa5 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:07 PM UTC

tobr wrote: post #11

sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

Bingo. I think this is a virtuous cycle. Even if only a small percentage of people are vegans, you only need one vegan in a group of people to pick a place that offers vegan food. Vegan food is also a safe bet for the larger group of vegetarians. That means more places want to offer some good vegan options, which in turn makes more people try vegan food, and makes it easier to be a vegan. I’m not a vegan nor a vegeta…

Nassim Taleb makes precisely this argument about the power of stubborn minorities. Which I think is 99% great.

Though I think the medium term equilibrium is just that more establishments will need to do better than a half-ass salad for a vegan offering. Which is 100% great.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#23

Post by dfxm12 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:08 PM UTC

Kaibeezy wrote: post #15

sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

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…

Falafel themselves might or might not be vegan (I've seen recipes that contain eggs, and some that don't), but it would almost certainly be served with a yogurt-based sauce.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#24

Post by Fogest » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:08 PM UTC

Kaibeezy wrote: post #15

sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

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…

It depends, many places I've been you can get a falafel based meal to be made vegan, but typically they will include sauces not vegan, thus they are vegetarian meals by default. Not hard to swap the sauce to make it vegan though.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#25

Post by janlaureys » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

strict9 wrote: post #16

After 15 years of not eating meat, the past 1-2 years have been a golden era of vegetarian options in the grocery store, restaurants, and fast food. Based on anecdotes and my social circles, the number of people completely avoiding meat hasn't changed. But omnivores adopting a semi-veg lifestyle has increased. If I had to pick one thing, I'd say environmental concerns are the main reason my omnivore friends and colle…

I'm one of those semi-veg people. I tried it a few years ago as well and I agree it's a lot easier now than it was back then.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#26

Post by woogley » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

davidweatherall wrote: post #12

What a terrible site. "This content is copyright protected" if you try and copy text from an article, and turning javascript off means none of the content is visible.

Reader mode (FF) works, even with the site blanked out from lack of JS

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#27

Post by ptah » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

colanderman wrote: post #21

motohagiography wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The most intolerant wins," dynamic may explain much of it. The availability of vegan food may have grown because it is a complimentary good which lets groups that include vegans eat there. Previously, groups that included vegans either ended up in vegan restaurants, or didn't eat together at all. Other purity urges could seem to have the same property.

Your comment is correct, except that veganism is not a "purity urge", despite popular media. It probably is for some, but for most it is an ethical, health (as in, need to avoid cholesterol/dairy/etc.), or environmental concern. There's usually an external motivator.

it is health and environmental to me. in practical terms it is no different from "purity"

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#28

Post by ptah » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #18

tobr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bingo. I think this is a virtuous cycle. Even if only a small percentage of people are vegans, you only need one vegan in a group of people to pick a place that offers vegan food. Vegan food is also a safe bet for the larger group of vegetarians. That means more places want to offer some good vegan options, which in turn makes more people try vegan food, and makes it easier to be a vegan. I’m not a vegan nor a vegeta…

> Even if only a small percentage of people are vegans, you only need one vegan in a group of people to pick a place that offers vegan food. Or you can just ostracize them. Saves lots of emotional turmoil in the long run, as the vegan friend telling everybody about their dietary choices quickly takes its toll on adults...

the toll of eating meat on environment is far greater than your concerns over your feelings. choose the lesser evil

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#29

Post by mytailorisrich » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

jbob2000 wrote: post #5

sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

If I eat an apple, am I eating vegan food? If you call anything that isn't carnivore food as "vegan" food, then you're labelling like 90% of our food as "vegan". That's obviously ridiculous, so I think it's more accurate to call food "vegan" when it's being eaten by someone who is respecting vegan principles. What I mean to say is that I think "vegan food" is defined by the eater, not the makeup of the food. Edit: I…

To me, 'vegan food' is a dish that would normally contain animal products and has been contrived to remove them.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#30

Post by michaelbrooks » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

colanderman wrote: post #21

motohagiography wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The most intolerant wins," dynamic may explain much of it. The availability of vegan food may have grown because it is a complimentary good which lets groups that include vegans eat there. Previously, groups that included vegans either ended up in vegan restaurants, or didn't eat together at all. Other purity urges could seem to have the same property.

Your comment is correct, except that veganism is not a "purity urge", despite popular media. It probably is for some, but for most it is an ethical, health (as in, need to avoid cholesterol/dairy/etc.), or environmental concern. There's usually an external motivator.

I became mostly vegan (also known as flexitarian) because I want to reduce my meat consumption due to climate change. I now cook vegan food as much as I can while eating meat every once in a while.