What’s wrong with vegan junk food?

A few weeks ago, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I got into a bit of a conflab with one of the holier-than-thou vegans that pop up from time to time on the vegan social media groups. It was a common theme, something along the lines of ‘real’ vegans don’t/can’t/shouldn’t eat vegan burgers (or indeed any other type of faux-meat processed product). The proponent of this argument felt that it was OK for meat eaters to consume them, because that is who they are marketed towards, but that anyone who considers themselves to be a ‘proper’ vegan should eschew so-called vegan junk food in favour of a whole foods plant-based diet. They even went as far as to say, “You couldn’t PAY me to eat a Beyond Meat or Impossible burger”. I was encouraged that about 99% of the responses rejected this argument and pointed out the disservice that such posts do to the vegan cause. It was good to see so many concur with my own personal view.

Why is it that so many vegans have an issue with so-called junk food or processed food? Precise definitions of the term junk food vary, but it is generally considered to be “food that is high in calories from sugar or fat, with little dietary fibre, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value” (Wikipedia). I don’t think you could accuse Beyond Burger’s 250 calorie offering with its 20g of protein, 25% RDA iron, and 0g of cholesterol and sugar of falling within this definition (yes, I know it’s got fat in it). Processed food is another term that is often used in a derogatory way, but once you start putting any raw ingredients together then the food is undergoing a ‘process’. In fact, convenience food such as ready-to-eat meals or pre-prepared ingredients that you just need to add water to or heat up dates right back to the Aztecs.

Back in September I wrote about vegans attacking other vegans and it strikes me that the anti-junk food lobby is another example. Whilst I accept that many people do become vegan for health reasons, and on that basis tend to adopt the whole foods plant-based diets promoted by the likes of the China Study and Dr Michel Greger, for some of us the main motivation is the animals. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive fan of WFPB eating. The China Study is one of my favourite books and I follow the advice of Dr Greger as much as possible. But, I also happen to be a big fan of the Vegan Junk Food Café in Amsterdam and Swing Burger in Vienna, to name just two of the most memorable vegan meals we have eaten. I will not deny that the VV household is very partial to a good vegan burger …and chips …and lashings of vegan mayo!

Vegan burgers have had a bad press. It started with the farming lobby complaining that plant-based drinks should not be called milk, then moved on to veggie burgers not using the term ‘burger’. On the basis that consumers would get confused – really? Nevertheless, some US states have banned the use of names traditionally associated with meat products, and similar regulations have been proposed by the EU. There was an outcry about the suggestion that burgers could be renamed veggie ‘discs’ when the EU Agricultural Committee voted in favour of the proposal in April 2019. So far as I can tell, the legislation has not yet come before the European Parliament. ProVeg International, founded by Dr Melanie Joy of Why we love dogs, is still campaigning against it, and it’s not too late to sign the petition here.

The meat eaters have also had their knives into vegan burgers (not literally, of course), with a range of objections from the suggestion that they contain unspecified ‘nasty additives’ to the fact they contain fat. Yeah, and meat doesn’t? Unfortunately these two arguments are also propounded by the sanctimonious vegan brigade who I was ranting writing about last week. Nevertheless, these issues seemed worthy of further investigation, and so I set out to dig a little deeper.

There’s a huge range of vegan burgers out there – we can even get some in our local French supermarket. The market leaders, however, seem to be Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger, both of which are based in the United States. We did get to try some Beyond Burgers on our last visit to the UK. Wow! I was really impressed. They’re now available in France and on the menu at Buffalo Grill, so that’s something to remember if we’re caught out whilst on the road. I don’t think that Impossible Burgers are available in France yet, although the company has done a deal with Burger King. Unfortunately, it is one burger that isn’t on my list to try. The USP of Impossible is that the burger ‘bleeds’ in the middle, just like rare meat. Yuck! Something that meat-eaters might like, but I do agree that this is unlikely to attract many animal-loving vegans. This effect is achieved with plant-based heme, but the catch is that this was tested on lab rats who subsequently died (or were killed). Apparently there was absolutely no requirement for it to be tested, and the company founder has no regrets about doing so. For this reason, it did not achieve approval from the leading vegan bodies like PETA, and personally I’d avoid this particular brand.

When it comes to promoting veganism we must not forget that in the words of Voltaire, “Perfect is the enemy of good”. Vegans come in all shapes and sizes, tastes and motivations. Some people are super healthy, others like the odd bit of junk food (and then some). No one is better is than the other. Just because you have been vegan for a good while doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy all the new products that are coming along, from Ben&Jerry’s to vegan Hellman’s to Beyond Burgers. Let people eat what they want, as long as no cruelty is involved.