Just wondering what the consensus would be. Is it good and fine (if you like the taste, of course) because it is truly 100% vegan? Or would y’all consider it a horrifying simulacrum of a product of cruelty towards animals?
I am asking because I’m a vegan chef and I was excited to find out that they’re making animal-free “dairy” milk through bacterial/fungal fermentation, because plant based “milks” don’t really work the same as cow milk does. And theoretically if it has the right proteins/fats it could be used to make vegan cheese that has the actual properties of cheese? So like I think it’s very exciting personally. But I’d like to know what others think before I suggest we try to order some, since it’d be a waste if nobody actually wanted to eat anything made with it.
I’ve never gotten the “Oh wow this plant based replica is so close in taste and texture that it’s triggering guilt.” reaction, let the vegan treats flow.
I’ve had this reaction but not necessarily guilt, more like disgust because it makes me think my food was swapped for the real thing or something. Not actually because I’m not that paranoid, but thats the lizard brain reaction. This is less likely if I’m at a fully vegan restaurant.
That said, I’d try this too. It doesn’t have the same issues as lab grown meat if its literally just bacterial fermentation like making kombucha or something.
what issues with lab grown meat are you talking about? Lab grown meat is what inspired me to post this, iirc I remember several people expressing disgust towards it
I answered a little below. But it has to do with the process for creating it not being without animal cruelty in itself. If this milk requires exploiting cows to be able to create it, that’d be a similar problem.
This would be actual cow milk though, dairy milk like from a cow, except without the cow. The same way we make insulin, basically, they put the code to make the milk protein into a bacteria and let it rip
It looks like they add some other ingredients though (sugar, lecithin, etc) so I’m still not sure how closely it resembles non-vegan milk, but I can imagine it’s at least probably closer than rice/soy/oat/almond milk
I think its a very small subsection of vegans who would be opposed to it on these grounds and they would mostly be turned off by the taste/texture being too close to the real thing. But if you’re clear that it involves 0 animal cruelty (unlike lab grown meat where they use fetal bovine serum in many cases to start producing it), then theres no real ethical problems that should prevent vegans from partaking.
There was someone trying to start an unnecessary struggle session awhile back that said even having things like impossible burgers is wrong because burgers are associated with meat. Some people just like unnecessary drama for any reason
Not quite the same, but either Impossible or Beyond taste tests against real meat when they release new products. Idr which. So I get opposition to them, but on different grounds.
Random side note but we got some kinda “beef” crumble at work a while back, i THINK it was impossible branded but i don’t remember, i just remember it was made out of pea protein and it tasted very beefy to me. Like i’m reasonably certain if I made like chili with it and told people it was beef chili they’d have no idea they just ate vegan food