4 key food trends to follow (blog post)

[TofuRobot]

I happened to stumble on this blog (?) post last night rather indirectly and totally be accident. A friend posted that his friend was looking for a room to rent and I clicked a couple of times, saw that he works for this company. Had never heard of them (Avendra is a hospitality procurement services provider - never even heard of such a thing before), so I clicked again and found this:

www.avendra.com/company/news/2018-food-trends/?fbclid=IwAR1Ve5-d0yDQiDM1VEIxivsVCfb1kefEzTL3AXHs3n66hR4banvcudOTgCo

I found the bit about 'The Rise of the Flexitarian Diet' especially interesting. Interesting that they chose that term, and to focus on the idea of "plant-centric" rather than vegan. On the one hand, it's a good thing companies like this are taking notice, but telling that the advice was to avoid using the term 'vegan' or vegetarian because it doesn't "resonate" as well with consumers.

"Communication here is key and using terms like plant-based/plant-forward rather than vegan and vegetarian seem to resonate better with consumers."

It's only been not quite 16 mos. since becoming vegan, and I realize it took me really a long time to get here, but it feels very surreal... Eating animals feels so very 'dark ages' - it makes no logical sense whatsoever from any angle that you look at it. While I see that progress is being made, it feels so very painfully slow. These changes should have happened a century ago, IMO. *sigh*

 

[Forest Nymph]

A few months ago a study came out that said flexitarian is pretty much BS. Some sociologist did her graduate research on it and there isn't strong evidence that it actually gets people to eat less meat. Essentially it allows people to feel better about their choices while doing little to nothing. Sometimes I see the accusation that veganism is for white people. Nah, I can't think of anything that screams "white privilege" more than flexitarianism. It conjures images of entitled upper middle class jerks giving themselves a pat on the back for eating grass fed beef every day and a weekly veggie burger on Monday nights.

On the other hand this trend has helped increase the popularity of vegan products like Just Mayo.

The language thing may be true, that plant based is less intimidating to consumers who want to stop eating meat for environmental reasons but still be a lacto vegetarian or something.

 

[Lou]

Twenty years ago I stopped drinking dairy. My next step was to stop eating eggs. I felt that dairy and eggs were crueller than the meat industry. (well we keep those poor animals alive longer) So I was never a vegetarian or a whatever vegetarian. But over time I stopped eating beef, then chicken, then fish. If you asked me back then I might have said I was a flexitarian.

I'm also a Michael Pollan fan. I like how he describes Flexitarians, in a haiku.

Eat Food
Not Too Much
Mostly Plants.

 

[Forest Nymph]

Here's an article about the study I'm referencing:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/08/freeloaders-social-movements-veganism/569020/

Also ONE THIRD of Americans say they're flexitarian...and yet Americans ate more meat than ever last year.

So while it worked out for you @Lou I think the smug hypocrite who still eats as much meat as before just with some vegan products as snacks or condiments is more common.

One of my roommates drinks soy milk and never buys eggs but he eats meat every night. He stopped drinking milk because he thinks he's lactose intolerant. He doesn't call himself a flexitarian.

On the other hand a family who does Meat-free Monday might refer to themselves as flexitarians. Like whoo hoo what an accomplishment, when I was growing up we ate beans and cornbread once a week, and it's not because my grandparents cared about animals or global warming. Americans are so entitled that going just one day a week without meat makes them feel they deserve a special title. It frankly pisses me off.

I think people should cut an entire animal completely out of their diet before they pretend they're a flexitarian. Like ok please at least tell me you don't eat pigs or cows anymore.

 

[Lou]

"mostly plants" is not very specific, but when I think of "mostly," I think of 75% and above.

And even your Meatless Monday family is making a difference. I went looking for that statistic on gasoline saved by the Meatless Monday family. Instead I found this article.

20.6 MILLION ANIMALS SAVED BY EATING VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK FOR A DECADE, FINDS NEW REPORT​

https://www.livekindly.co/meatless-monday-saves-20-million-animals-vegetarian-meals/

 

[Forest Nymph]

"mostly plants" is not very specific, but when I think of "mostly," I think of 75% and above.

And even your Meatless Monday family is making a difference. I went looking for that statistic on gasoline saved by the Meatless Monday family. Instead I found this article.

20.6 MILLION ANIMALS SAVED BY EATING VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK FOR A DECADE, FINDS NEW REPORT​

https://www.livekindly.co/meatless-monday-saves-20-million-animals-vegetarian-meals/

It's better than nothing but I don't consider that being flexitarian either. We don't have a decade to stop climate change. Technically we have twelve years people need to stop their **** in the next three to five. Preferably now.

Your 75 percent stat is realistically flexitarian. That's more than one day a week.

One of my roommates doesn't eat cows or pigs. If she also went totally meatless one day a week I'd consider her a flexitarian.