The French government issued a decree Tuesday banning the term “steak” on the label of vegetarian products, saying it was reserved for meat alone.

  • barsoap@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    ITT: Vegans with a chip on their shoulder demanding that stuff they want to buy be labelled the same as stuff they don’t want to buy.

    Next up: People demanding that meat be labelled cauliflower to fight fire with fire. I mean it’s special meat engineered to have the texture and taste of cauliflower, why shouldn’t it be labelled cauliflower?

    • Vegoon@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      I have never seen a plant based product labeled the same as a animal product. What I see is is [Beef steak] or [Plant based Steak made from…]

      Vegan products have a clear label on them and they want you to know that it plant based because people buy it for that reason, be it to avoid animal cruelty, the destruction of the environment or their own health.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        Vegan products have a clear label on them

        And why shouldn’t meat products have a clear label?

        • Vegoon@feddit.de
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          8 months ago

          Yes, I think I advocated here alone two to three times for that and I will stay by your side if you do demand that.

          We could make it easier for all with a “animal product” label but at the moment it is only the animal industry which is lobbying for restrictive product names.

          If you don’t want to then legislate for a label like the (V)egan label and put it on all products made from animals, I would still support you.

          I am all in for clear description of food and a big label if it contains animal suffering and the destruction of the eco system or if it is plant based.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            That kind of label already exists: It resembles the shape of the letters “Steak” so closely one might even mistake it for the word.

            Why, pray tell, are you insistent on diluting the clarity of that label? Is it so aesthetically pleasing to you that you just cannot help yourself but enjoy it even though you don’t want to have to do anything with meat?

            • Vegoon@feddit.de
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              8 months ago

              Well, I guess it shows that some people learn only shapes instead of reading.

              Still unclear who was killed, maybe there are some more shapes around? They indicate what Animal it was, you know there is more than one?

              Now imagine if you will, we could use that space where it says “pig” and replace it with “saitan” for example? Mind blown, if you put 2 or more of these cryptic runes together we can transport more information.

              I don’t care much for it, it is for those who want to stop supporting the destruction of the planet and the murdering of billions of sentient beings for their pleasure. It makes it easier for them if they don’t have to change too much.

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Now imagine if you will, we could use that space where it says “pig” and replace it with “saitan” for example? Mind blown,

                Now imagine if you will, we could use that space where it says “organic” and replace it with “pork”, for example? “pork cauliflower”. Makes perfect sense.

                I don’t care much for it, it is for those who want to stop supporting the destruction of the planet and the murdering of billions of sentient beings

                No. It is for people who want to proclaim superior morality but are too lazy to switch their shopping habits from “steak” to “soy patty”. If y’all are so virtuous that should really not be an issue for you.

                • Vegoon@feddit.de
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                  8 months ago

                  Who do you think acts more superior, those who kill others for pleasure and destroy the ground, water and air by doing so, or those who don’t need that? Lion on top of the food chain, thats what you are, right?

                  • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                    8 months ago

                    That’s not the discussion at hand.

                    I tried very hard to have this discussion without getting into ethics, and I won’t have that discussion either, even if you try to force it on me, even if your personal set of ethics is all you care about in the world at the expense of everything else, including seeing other people’s point of view.

                    This is about labelling, in particular non-confusing labelling. And how “plant steak” is just as confusing and misleading as “meat cauliflower”.

                    Just as confusing and nonsensical as “plastic paper” or “liquid mug”. Are you cognitively capable of looking at those latter two terms without moralising? If yes, why not the the previous two?

        • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Good point. I have a fair and unbiased solution to the problem that will help everyone:

          Steak made from plants and fungus must be labelled as “meat-free steak”.

          Steak made from cultured cells must be labelled “cultured steak”.

          Steak made from dead animals must be labelled “corpse steak”.

          There we go. Now everyone knows what they’re buying. Thanks for your brilliant suggestion.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      8 months ago

      I don’t think people want products to be labeled as meat products when they’re not meat products that would be confusing.

      But what’s the problem in a vegetarian product in the style of a steak? Like maybe you don’t want it but who cares?

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        So you’re saying that mislabelling would be confusing, but if it affects me but not you you don’t care.

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          8 months ago

          You know that’s not what I’m saying.

          No one is going to mistake a vegetarian sausage for the real thing simply because the vegetarian stuff is labeled “vegetarian” in giant letters so people who will looking for vegetarian stuff can see it.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            I’m actually torn on sausage but this thread is more specifically about steak and escalope. How do you even take saitan, do a butterfly cut, and beat it until it’s flat, what you’d end up wouldn’t be an escalope but soy paste.

            • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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              8 months ago

              So you admit that it’s a completely pointless argument and yet you continue the completely pointless argument.

              Who cares what they label things. It’s not some weird conspiracy to get people to buy vegetarian products. It is literally the least important thing that’s currently happening, and you’re all behaving as if somehow it’s some great conspiracy.

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Who cares what they label things.

                Me. I care. You care. Because we both are consumers and if something’s on the label, then that thing should be in there. I don’t want to buy beer and discover it’s coke, or buy coke and discover it’s beer. When I buy steak I want meat to be in there, When I buy saitan I expect soy in there, and not soylent green.

                It’s not some weird conspiracy to get people to buy vegetarian products.

                …and noone ever claimed so? At least not in this thread as far as I remember. Might’ve missed something. But while I’m at it, two points of critique to the meat substitute industry:

                1. Do your homework and come up with good marketing terms that don’t piggy-back on words deeply associated with meat: In my mind we don’t even need to begin to talk about sausages because “roll” is a perfectly fine word for such a product. “Saitan rolls for grilling”: Why even start to bring meat associations into it.
                2. Sell your shit at sane markups. Many more people would buy meat substitutes if companies were willing to set prices for maximum sales instead of maximum ROI: Vegans are a (kinda) captive market, many are quite affluent, if you sell saitan for 30 bucks a kg they’re going to buy it because they want it even though it costs like 1.50 to produce. It’s cheaper to produce than mea sot it should be cheaper in the stores. Something something Zizek, companies are exploiting that phenomenon for profit while getting celebrated as ethical.
    • deikoepfiges_dreirad@lemmy.zip
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      8 months ago

      The problem is precisely that nobody has an interest in mislabeling animal product alternatives, but these policies create the impression that the problem they claim to solve is real. This is nothing but useless bureaucracy and a PR stunt for the animal product industry, disguised as consumer protection.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        The problem is precisely that nobody has an interest in mislabeling animal product alternatives

        You haven’t read the comments, have you. Tons and tons of purported reasoning of why saitan should be called steak.

    • gapbetweenus@feddit.de
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      8 months ago

      It had to be labeled meat cauliflower and seems to be reasonable to call it that way. But wait till you hear about coconut milk or even worse meat-cheese (Leberkäs/Fleischkäse - traditional german sausage with no cheese what so ever).