3 Foods that are Just as Good when Vegan

The vegan trend is everywhere. It seems like just about everyone is going vegan, or at least trying to eat less animal-associated products. But vegan isn’t the same as vegetarianism and is a very difficult diet to sustain. Being vegan is more than a dietary issue. It is also one of a societal and lifestyle choice or belief.

Almost everything we consume, use or buy comes from the exploitation of animals. It is the belief of the vegan that anything developed from any kind of animal use should not be consumed. This includes food, drink, and furniture. 

Because the movement has gotten so large over the past few years, food manufacturers have put a lot of effort into developing plant-based alternatives. Many now taste just as good as the real thing.

These include:

• Fast Food
• Condiments
• Meats!?

Fast food is typically thought of as one of the most oppressive industries when it comes to animal exploitation and steps have been made to develop tasty alternatives while one of the first truly vegan products available was actually a condiment and you can now find actual meat products that have not negatively impacted an animal in any way.

Fast Food

For meat-eaters, fast food such as fried chicken, burgers, or hot dogs is one of the greatest joys of life when made properly. Massive fast food restaurant chains such as McDonald’s KFC and Burger King make billions of dollars annually from their foods, but the mass exploitation of animals is top of the vegan agenda.

However, recent developments in plant-based foodstuffs mean that such things as beef burgers, vegan pizza ^[7], and chicken nuggets are all possible using ingredients that are completely animal-free and vegan friendly. A combination of plant products and natural oils from such things as coconut allow things like vegan beef burgers to feel like the real thing as well as tasting similar.

Condiments

It might sound a little silly, but the mass shift in vegan manufacturing began in a San Francisco garage in 2012 when a startup named Beyond Eggs founded by two childhood friends began developing and testing ways of making mayonnaise without using eggs at all. Many thought this was impossible but they succeeded and the company is now worth over $1 billion.

It took them a couple of years, and by the time Beyond Eggs ^[8] had developed their flagship mayo product they had also begun testing for other condiments as well. Since then, large manufacturers have followed suit. Things like vegan chili sauce, ketchup, and cheese dressings are available to accompany your favorite foods.

Meats!?

Moving on from developing mayonnaise and then even a plant-based egg, Beyond Egg has since changed its name to Eat Just. And it seems to have branched out its vegan practices. Eat Just has developed exploitation-free meat. This is great for those that don’t eat chicken because of how they are exploited. 

How have they done this? Well, they grew the meat under laboratory conditions from a single cell of chicken breast ^[9]. Yes. From just one cell sample that doesn’t harm the animal in any way, a meat product can be cultured. Eat Just meat has undergone testing and is so good that it is already available for purchase in Singapore supermarkets.

So if you, like me, are trying to eat fewer animal products, consider giving some of these foods a try. Bon Appétit!