[Poll] Changing your diet to mostly plant based

[Dylanc1500]

20 minutes ago, Arika S said:

This.

 

in Australia, you can get 10 beef patties for $10.

or you can get 2 beyond burger patties for $11 (which is our version of the impossible burger)

If you don't mind me asking what is the weight of the patties. That got me curious how much does ground beef cost down under.

[Arika]

17 minutes ago, Dylanc1500 said:

If you don't mind me asking what is the weight of the patties. That got me curious how much does ground beef cost down under.

 

Beef

weight per patty = 100g

so $10.00 per 1Kg

 

Beyond Burger

weight per patty = 113g

= $48.67 per 1Kg

[Dylanc1500]

1 minute ago, Arika S said:

 

Beef

weight per patty = 100g

so $10.00 per 1Kg

 

Beyond Burger

weight per patty = 113g

= $48.67 per 1Kg

Is that AUD or USD?

[Arika]

Just now, Dylanc1500 said:

Is that AUD or USD?

AUD

[Dylanc1500]

25 minutes ago, Arika S said:

AUD

Thats roughly the same average price of ground beef at walmart (even here in cattle country) for 80/20. That being said we can go to local grocers or butchers and get 90/10 for ~$2.60.

 

That isn't as bad as I would have assumed.

[Triggeravus]

2 hours ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Only true if you ignore soups, stews, pastas, mousses, ratatouille, jams, frittatas, couscous, raw veggies and fruits, etc.

I can't eat none of that unless it contains, is accompanied by, or served after meat. 

[Triggeravus]

Double post lol

[whm1974]

2 hours ago, Caroline said:

Costs.

Doing the math a box of 4 "imitation" burgers cost about the same as a whole kg of meat, about 300g vs 1kg, the numbers talk by themselves. These are soy-based burgers, not Impossible, not sure what the difference is though.

 

Doesn't means I only eat meat, there are tons of foods that could be considered "vegan" if you like the term. Also there's a ton of synth processed crap being marketed as vegan right now, and when you read the label and nut facts it's probably worse than eating 3 steaks with an entire bag of salt on them so yeah, think I'll pass.

Just to clarify I don't like fast food name it burgers, hot dogs, corn dogs and so on, I wasn't raised by parents taking me to eat outside, I've only been once to a Burger King restaurant with a friend and ordered a burger that looked pretty standard (just bread and "meat") with fries, honestly it tasted awful and I'm not so sure what those things labeled as fries were, they looked like plastic and tasted like... nothing.

 

When it comes to me I wouldn't go full vegan or full carnivore, it's about having a balanced diet.

I wasn't aware in the front of my Brain that Mock Meats have a deal of Salt in them. Until my Dad told this. I did discovered that Mushroom based Patties close enough to the texture and taste of Meat that I can hardly tell. I forgotten the Brand of it.

[kasugatei]

IMHO the biggest downfall of majority vegetarian/vegan meals is their names. To be more precise I will use an example. Vegan wagyu. I had "cheap" wagyu, Matsuzaka wagyu, Kobe wagyu in the middle of Kobe city etc. and I would say that I know how wagyu should taste like. Vegan wagyu doesn't taste even close. I had some expectations and that experience was way below. 

On the other hand I went to some random vegetarian Indian restaurant in Singapore with business partners and I was delighted by the food there. And they used "similar to chicken meat" as the description for some of their meals. I am sorry, didn't remember the name of the dish.

 

So instead of using vegan insert_the_meat_dish name here, give it another name and give description that you are basing that dish on non-vegan dish.

 

Also, it is a bit offtopic, but I am seeing more and more brands using "vegan" for their climbing shoes. So instead of leather they are using synthetic materials which come from oil products. So if you think that by buying "vegan" climbing shoes you are saving nature - you are not. You are just victim of the PR stunt.

[Kadzo]

2 hours ago, Cvet76 said:

Oh, my...I have so many problems with this "poll" but that's a whole topic in itself.

 

Now, to get to the meat of the problem (pun intended, not sorry)

The answers to this are much more nuanced. As @Caroline (almost wrote Coraline) pointed out, costs and (to me) more importantly quality are huge factors. Just because it's vegan, doesn't mean it's sustainable and unprocessed. Like with everything, mass consumption is a game changer, and to think that mass producing vegetables for 7+bn people is somehow going to preserve nature as it is today, is absurd. I don't have a problem eating veggies only, if certain criteria is met. But I despise the pretentiousness behind it and resent it.

 

To add, @Red :) said something about the "negative stigma" surrounding some of the foods they want to eat but don't, because people would look at them weird. Here's a word of wisdom: Who gives a shit what you eat? If you're living your life the way other people think you should, you're not living your life. You're living theirs.

I do agree with this, just simply getting all the land that we need for agriculture to feed 7+bn people is enough to destroy half of the planet life.

 

Me personally i don`t have a beef with meat eaters (yes pun intended) and i was a vegetarian for over a year and stopped because i realised going in any direction too much is just constricting your choices, so going full meat is not sustainable like going full vege/ vegan and i believe that key is in the balance.

[FloRolf]

7 hours ago, Caroline said:

Costs.

Doing the math a box of 4 "imitation" burgers cost about the same as a whole kg of meat

The Problem i see is that this is both good and bad

Meat is just waaaay to cheap while the imitations are for some reason too expensive. In the real world the numbers should be switched. 

 

7 hours ago, Dylanc1500 said:

Question 2 ought to have an option for, "I raise my own livestock". My family has ran cattle and other livestock for generations (dairy and beef cattle, ducks, chickens, horses (not for eating), etc).

Well i guess you could say your meat supply is sustainable and local then.

 

4 hours ago, Cvet76 said:

to think that mass producing vegetables for 7+bn people is somehow going to preserve nature as it is today, is absurd

Well but it's actually not. Currently we are burning down the rain forests to plant more soy to feed more cattle. There's some big time efficiency loss here because you make an entire cow (for example) but only use some parts of it, the digestion of the cow itself is also not efficient. If you just ate the crops directly you'd not only be more efficient but also safe a LOT of crop land.
 

Spoiler

 

 

3 hours ago, Niksa said:

To be more precise I will use an example. Vegan wagyu. I had "cheap" wagyu, Matsuzaka wagyu, Kobe wagyu in the middle of Kobe city etc. and I would say that I know how wagyu should taste like.

okay i honestly have no idea what Wagyu is But you say there are different versions, Matsuzaka, Kobe, etc. and i guess they taste different from each other? So why can't vegan taste different? I mean if it's just plain tasting then that's obviously wrong but if it's just different then at least it has it's own personality that you just have to get used to?

 

 

1 hour ago, Kadzo said:

i realised going in any direction too much is just constricting your choices

I guess that's a problem of modern society. We are used to get literally anything we want in a matter of hours or days. If it was harder to get something or you'd even have to work for it then i guess a change would be much easier. ofc you'd get the meat in the same super market you get all your food instead of driving to a separate vegan super market just to get some vegan stuff. 

[Kadzo]

3 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

I guess that's a problem of modern society. We are used to get literally anything we want in a matter of hours or days. If it was harder to get something or you'd even have to work for it then i guess a change would be much easier. ofc you'd get the meat in the same super market you get all your food instead of driving to a separate vegan super market just to get some vegan stuff. 

Yes that is a large issue of the society, i personally have my own chickens and harvest eggs, also i grow some part of my diet also i by the rest of the meat from my neighbours and that is my way of helping the local folks instead of getting stuff from a large chain supermarket. 

Thing is even that i have some of my land where i grow food it is low efficient and it requires a lot of resources, and there are natural elements that can mess up your entire year so you have to use chemicals  to protect it which is a complete separate issue that is also causing to problems latter on.

Every year i have to chemically treat my fruit because one year a disease came and destroyed half of the yield of the entire region.

[soldier_ph]

As long as Meat and Fish are around and readily available I would never change my Diat. I try new dishes all the time and eat and would eat pretty much everything except for dried Bugs and you know non farm animals like Scorpions, Snakes and Spiders, I'm not going that far just yet. But trying never hurts as my Mom likes to say. I have tried planned based "meat" but obviously didn't like it, now I haven't tried the impossible Burger yet. Also I'm not a fan of having to swallow even more pills than I already have to everyday to compensate for stuff like Iron when I could as easily get that through meat and other animal Products. The only animal Product I reduced my Intake of was Eggs, but am still eating dishes with Eggs in them. I'm pretty much the opposite of a Vegetarian or Vegan I guess. I like to try new, foreign foods especially Asian and Indian ones so yea.

[Red :)]

7 minutes ago, soldier_ph said:

Also I'm not a fan of having to swallow even more pills than I already have to everyday to compensate for stuff like Iron when I could as easily get that through meat and other animal Products.

when it comes to iron, two words: red cabbage

[kasugatei]

1 hour ago, FloRolf said:

okay i honestly have no idea what Wagyu is But you say there are different versions, Matsuzaka, Kobe, etc. and i guess they taste different from each other? So why can't vegan taste different? I mean if it's just plain tasting then that's obviously wrong but if it's just different then at least it has it's own personality that you just have to get used to?

You are completely missing my point. First of all, wagyu is Japanese beef. Then let me use counter example. You have Fuji apple, Kiku apple, Jazz apple, Granny Smith Apple and although there is a difference in taste between all those types they still taste like an apple and have texture like an apple. Similar is with wagyu types, however vegan "wagyu" is completely off both in texture and taste. Same as comparing eg tomatoes and apples. I am not saying it is bad on its own, but if have to compare it with real wagyu - it is bad. And that is my issue. 

I had some vegan burgers and they tasted close to the meat burgers. No issues there, just when you make vegan counterpart that doesn't taste like meat counterpart at all don't name it like meat counterpart.

 

[tikker]

I can't really answer the poll honestly, because I think it is posed too strongly and doesn't imply just checking the general POV. The meat options are "hell no" and "go eat your grass". My answers are simply "no, I would not become vegetarian/vegan", because I like the taste of meats, dairy, cheeses etc. I do think our consumption patterns can do with a change.

 

I guess you could label me as a flexitarian. Growing up dinner was meat, veg and potatoes every day. Lunch was sandwiches with mostly meat or dairy. I have long broken that "tradition" and changed my perspective on food. Meat is still a regular, but once or twice a week maybe. Furthermore when I do eat meat, I opt for the (perceived) better choices.

 

2 hours ago, FloRolf said:

I guess that's a problem of modern society. We are used to get literally anything we want in a matter of hours or days. If it was harder to get something or you'd even have to work for it then i guess a change would be much easier. ofc you'd get the meat in the same super market you get all your food instead of driving to a separate vegan super market just to get some vegan stuff.

I think you hit an important nail on the head here. If the math backs it up, I'm not denying that going full vegan is ultimately the best option as long as it meets human needs. However, firstly (not towards you, just a general statment) if you need to take supplements to get your vitamins and minerals, I will not believe you are following a healthy diet. Secondly, I think this is also often portrayed too black and white and that we can get a long way if we get back in the mindset of some things simply being expensive, or requiring that little extra effort to get (e.g. a trip to the butcher, cheese shop, whatever). We should learn again to replace those 10 $1 floppy manhole covers McDonalds thinks are burgers with one good $10 one, to replace the kilo of plasticy supermarket cheese with a pound of real cheese. We have gotten greedy over the years and the almost unlimited availability of nearly everything in all price ranges has probably skewed our perspective of how expensive these things actually are or ought to be.

 

This ties in to some of the issues mentioned in question 2.

Taste: The vegan sausages, burgers etc. are an amicable attempt, but they have two problems for me: they all taste like cardboard to me and they are trying to be what they are not. You can have delicious vegetarian or vegan dishes, but you'll have to accept that it doesn't include a sausage (or not one made of cardboard at least). I've made "vegan rendang" with mushrooms. Was it good? Hell yeah. Is it a replacement for real rendang? Nope, and it never will be, because it is its own dish. Make it fun and realise there's more to it than not-a-sausage sausages.

Price: indeed the vegan alternatives are expensive, but as above, do people nowadays truly realise how expensive a good cut of meat, or a good cheese actually is?

Availability: yeah it can be pretty bad still. I wonder if this goes hand in hand with the cardboard vegan sausages.

[RGProductions]

I’d love to go vegan, but as it is I can barely digest any sort of plant protein

[GDRRiley]

I fit in so weird here.
I don't eat beef, pork or any large animal but I eat poultry and fish
I moved away from beef like 15 years ago.

[CT854]

Honestly, I'm all for reducing meat consumption. For a while I did Meatless Mondays for (i) lolz, (ii) cost reduction since I prepped a lot of my own food at the time and making good veggie dishes is cheap, and (iii) I had a problem with not eating as many vegetables as I should have before so dedicating a day to not eating meat kinda led to me bleeding vegetables over into the rest of the days of the week.  Honestly? It felt pretty good. I was eating more balanced meals and it felt good to save a bit of money on an extra day of meat.

 

I feel like half-assing it like this is still a pretty good route to choose if you're concerned about meat consumption for whatever reason.

 

I also think this perception that eating vegetarian/vegan is expensive is sorta constructed from the fact that a lot of people pushing these kinds of diets tend to be higher income. You can absolutely have cost-effective vegetarian/vegan meals if you cook for yourself, but that's understandably a barrier. I also absolutely wouldn't want to cut meat out entirely since it's both good and provides nutrients I don't feel like going out of my way to obtain if I didn't eat meat.

[WihGlah]

I have two eyes on the front of my head to see in stereoscopically.

 

I have incisors to rip flesh from the animals I catch.

 

I have the applicable digestive organs to digest animal flesh.

 

I am a predator. If you don't like it, that makes you prey.

 

[EL02]

i dislike every kind of fish, but i cant imagine not eating chicken nuggets occasionally. 

[Guest]

Not into the wanna-B Vegi-burgers at all.

 

There's a difference in taste between grain fed and grass fed beef that stands out.

The Vegi-Beef tastes nothing like either fed cattle, the grass fed always a better taste in beef (imo)

 

That being said, McDonalds used to add "beef" flavoring to their french fries.

This resulted in a 10 million dollar oopsie because some people with certain "religious" beliefs didn't like it. 

That's America for you right there.... I think McD's has been in law suit for just about every imaginable thing possible to get sued for haha.

 

I like natural veggies and meats. Both because by nature I'm omnivore. 

 

Also Try-Sexual. I'll try anything once, doesn't mean I'll like it and try it twice though  

 

[porina]

My stance is I'll eat what is best for me at the time. "Best" is a complex mix of cost, availability, taste, nutrition/health considerations, not in any particular order. Overall, consider me vegie-curious. I don't see any need to switch to pure veggie and vegan is right out of line, but for various reasons I probably should be having less meat and more veg in general. 

 

I think there will come a day when synthetic meats of a quality comparable to the real thing will arrive, and that will remove a large quantity of animal derived food sources. I think we're still a long way off that in any economic sense.

 

However, there is some low hanging fruit. Pun not intended. I tried Burger King's Rebel Burger and that is the closet so far I've come across to non-meat product being a good enough replacement to the meat offering. Don't know what they put in it, but as an overall product, it tasted pretty much the same as their standard offering. I think alternative substitutes for lower grade meat uses are kinda workable in limited cases now. I've tried various plant based products when I see them on discount, and they're about as good (or bad) as a chicken substitute. At best, some vague texture and generally rather bland. Synthetic animal fat substitute is when things will really take off.

[captain_to_fire]

I’m slowly going plant based is because of health reasons. Keto advocates will definitely disagree with this but the FAD diet named Keto is never healthy. 

[Gegger]

personally, i don't have any problem with going vegetarian itself, but the "veggie patty" type stuff near me is still mostly...like sawdust. vegan is another question, i like my ice cream and milk tea kek thanks. while there is the impossible burger and other similar things, they are usually about 2x the price of meat, and only at stores we don't go to often. in addition my family usually doesn't cook with ground beef much, its mostly whole pieces(if that makes sense), so we do not really have a use for the majority of the plant based meat that is available. as stated earlier, we don't go to the stores that carry plant based meat often, it is usually not worth it to make an additional trip for 1 item. as for the eating out part, asian restaurants usually don't have plant based alternatives, or are like the aforementioned sawdust variety.  

 

tl;dr - vegetarian - yes, vegan - no; good plant based price/availability; many sawdust like plant based things;