This Week's Vegan Bites For You - The News w/e 7th April 2024 - This is the online version of the Vegan Slate newsletter. You can sign up here ...
Hey Fellow Space Traveller,
I hope all is well in your world and you’ve had a good week.
I’ve spent most of the day compiling the latest vegan news from the four corners of the globe this past 7 days … and as usual, there’s no shortage of stories to choose from.
This week we’re looking at why sales of plant-based meat have somewhat stagnated, how animal agriculture is disproportionately subsidised by the EU and how to grow vegan shoes …
… literally!
So may I serve you up this week’s slate of plant-based & vegan news …
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… and now on with this week’s news roundup.
Thank you for being with us!
– Rohan 🙂
Recommend us to your friends …
This Week’s Top Story
Have sales of plant-based meat replacements plateaued as ‘big meat’ fights back ?
It wasn’t all that long ago that industry experts were shouting from the rooftops about how vegan meat alternatives would be seeing exponential growth over the next decade or two.
That previous link to a Yahoo! article from 2019 predicted 60% of all global market demand for meat would be plant-based by 2040. Quite some claim.
But figures from 2023 paint a very different picture.
Beyond Meat recently announced a major update to their range, focusing on better nutritional value and an even meatier taste. This in response to a more than 30% drop in revenue and a 10% devaluation of their share price in the late Summer of 2023.
This marked decline in the sector is more than partly to blame on the determined fight-back from traditional agriculture … big meat and dairy.
The lobbies attached to these behemoths of the food industry are supremely powerful and command almost unlimited resources.
They employ teams of people manning social media accounts 24/7 spreading misinformation and finding any tiny little chink in the armour they can to exploit.
Plant-based meat suppliers have come under increased scrutiny lately due to concerns over the nutritional value of their products. This is an easy angle for big meat to use when engaging the enemy.
… and make no mistake, this is a war of information and misinformation.
It highlights a palpable desperation on the part of big meat and dairy as the old guard refuses to make way for the new kids on the block.
But in reality the plant-based industry is just going from strength to strength. Every week here on Vegan Slate we seem to be reporting on some huge new factory opening to service the growing demand.
Consumers are becoming more savvy and concerns around environmental degradation due to the ‘old ways’ are less and less easy to ignore … no matter how hard the big ag keyboard warriors try to obfuscate the real issues we face as a species.
The worrying thing is, many people fall for it.
Don’t let the long tentacles of traditional animal ag cloud your judgement. Meat and dairy replacements certainly have their place but should not be seen as like-for-like substitutions.
Fresh fruit and veg is where it’s at and for me, has been for nearly 30 years …
… still waiting for the protein deficiency to kick in 🙂
Have a great week from all at Vegan Slate … see you next time.
– Rohan McAvee
Quick Links:
- Joey Carbstrong Arrested and charged, along with a group of fellow ‘Pignorant’ activists.
- New Thinking Allowed explores the merits of a vegan diet with special guest, Gina Carr, MBA.
- The Sexual Politics of Meat – exploring the links between meat-eating and cultural misogyny.
( paid link ) - How To Grow a Vegan Shoe – vegan leather shoes actually grown from bacteria! Whatever next?
- UK Supermarkets Recall soft cheese products amid fears of listeria contamination.
- Free Course – Vegan nutrition essentials.
- 10% Off Code for Vedge Nutrition Store-wide (use: VEGANSLATE)
( paid link )
(To help with running costs, Vegan Slate is a member of the Amazon Associates Program and as an Amazon Associate, earns from qualifying purchases.There’s no extra cost to you if you use a paid link)
Around The Vegan Web This Week Ending 7th April 24
Plant-based process retains 97% of nutritional protein value …
And now the science bit 🙂 The ever growing demand for plant-based products has motivated manufacturers to find new ways of creating highly nutritious foodstuffs from plants. Protein retention apparently is a thing and existing processes like thermal treatment can significantly reduce the protein content of the finished product. Although the tech is not new, Axium Process Ltd have adapted crossflow membrane filtration techniques to achieve a 97% protein retention rate!
PLANT CEO podcast joins forces with LA based UnchainedTV …
London plant-based podcasters, PLANT CEO have teamed up with the Los Angeles based streaming service, UnchainedTV. Described as a ‘vegan-centric’ operation, UnchainedTV is the ideal partner for PLANT CEO, helping to extend it’s reach globally. Exploring the entrepreneurs behind the plant-based and vegan movement, host Anant Joshi has grown PLANT CEO from humble beginnings to a well-respected podcast which deserves to have way more subs!
“Green Food Factory” is world’s largest plant-based facility
The ‘Sunlit Foods’ brand owned by Innohas USA Inc has opened what’s being labelled the ‘world’s largest plant-based food factory’. The South Korean site in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province had its grand opening this week and the company has stated the factory will work only with plant-derived ingredients. Aiming to bring the cuisine of South Korea bang up to date, Sunlit Foods plans to tap into the ‘growing global appetite’ for Korean food but avoiding the dead animal carcasses …
Vegan restaurant ‘Plates’ crashes computer with extreme demand
Kirk Haworth, the winner of the Great British Menu 2024 presided over a 70,000 strong tsunami of demand when pre-bookings were made available for his new vegan restaurant, soon to open in Shoreditch, East London. The interest was so strong that the computer handling the bookings had to have a little rest due to the sheer volume of people trying to secure a table. It’s not cheap though, with the opening season tasting menus costing £75 and £90 a head …
Animal-ag subsidised by the EU 300% more than plant-based
Vegan and plant-based living may be gaining worldwide appeal but this story from Green Queen illustrates just how far we have to go as a society. In a new study published in the ‘Nature Food’ journal the authors show that the EU sends over 80% of its agricultural subsidies to the ’emissions-intensive’ animal-ag industries. That’s 4 times more than the plant-based sector receives. The result is that animal-based foods have become ‘artificially cheap’ over time.
UK Vegan & Animal Rights conference lands this month …
Hosted at the Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel over the weekend of 13th and 14th April, when we checked there were less than 20 tickets available for the ‘VAR Conference’. Billed as a ‘powerful catalyst for change’ the conference will explore issues such as using the law to help animals, the pitfalls encountered by leaders in our movement along with the history and ongoing struggles of animal rights activists on the front lines. It promises to be an engaging and inspiring vegan event but hurry to secure your spot!
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Blog Post: Previously on Vegan Slate …
Do Horses Feel Pain When You Ride Them?
I’m writing this not long after the 2023 Grand National horse race in the UK because, for some reason, the gruesome spectacle touched me even more so than usual. It’s obvious these animals are pushed to painful limits at events like this but I started wondering, do horses feel pain when you ride them in ‘normal’ situations? Well, it turns …
Thanks so much for reading Vegan Slate and have a non-violent day 🙂
– Rohan
Vegan Slate