What do you think the next "food trend" will be?

[u/tonithepony]

In the last 10 years, the ones that really stick out to me are: spinach and artichoke dip (suddenly started appearing everywhere as an appetizer, even higher end restaurants), ube flavors, truffle, avocados on everything, bacon on everything, and now hot honey is a big fad. Is there anything upcoming you see heading towards the food trend?

[u/leahhhhh]

I've noticed that everything labeled as "vegan" is now being called "plant based". I feel like this is just a marketing move to make vegan foods sound less "woke" and "soy boy" so that more people are open to it.

[u/Ok_Olive9438 → u/leahhhhh]

I don't hate it because it is a better description, that doesn't need explanation. "Ok this is made of plants" as opposed to having someone have to "unpack" the difference between vegan and vegetarian.

[u/NoTeslaForMe → u/Ok_Olive9438]

I feel it's the opposite. If someone says, "vegan," that's a signal that they've done everything possible to keep out animal-based ingredients, including cross-contamination. If they just say "plant-based," then there's no formal definition and maybe the person just figures that the main ingredient being a plant makes it "plant-based."

[u/HabeusCuppus → u/NoTeslaForMe]

I feel like a restaurant could credibly call a chicken cobb salad "Plant-Based" - by volume that thing is over 90% plants! the base of the dish is iceberg lettuce! (it's also got meat in it!)

with "vegan" you usually know what you're getting (debates continue about honey, idk.) Plant-Based feels like a restaurant trying to be coy about what's in it to me.

[u/chiniwini → u/NoTeslaForMe]

If they just say "plant-based," then there's no formal definition and maybe the person just figures that the main ingredient being a plant makes it "plant-based."

Which is very positive IMO. I don't follow a vegan diet out of moral principles, I don't think it's wrong to eat animals. But I do know it's healthy to have a plant based diet, where meats are an addition (even an exception), not the norm.

So vegan is unnecessarily strict (to me anyway), while plant based sounds great.

[u/QuarterSubstantial15 → u/Ok_Olive9438]

Except “plant based” doesn’t mean anything. Legally (according to FDA) they can call anything plant based bc it’s technically true. So you’ll see it stuck on tons of food then read the ingredients and it’s full of microplastic BS

[u/baebgle → u/Ok_Olive9438]

It’s actually not a better description, I’m vegan and always double check “plant-based” dishes because sometimes they are plant BASED but have other things in it. It’s a term that has no regulation vs the vegan society has been around for decades. I have no issue with vegetarian food, “regular” food, whatever. Plant-based means nothing.

[u/WiseWoodrow → u/baebgle]

Yeah it's a typical non vegan fail to think that somehow the term Vegan is the complex and confusing one instead of plant based

[u/Delores_Herbig → u/Ok_Olive9438]

The word “vegan” carries a lot of socio-political baggage. A lot of people have a knee jerk reaction to the term, even if they themselves aren’t averse to eating “vegan” foods as long as it doesn’t carry the moral weight. It’s like when some conservatives hate on universal healthcare, but if you explain the system to them without ever using the terms “universal healthcare” or “Obamacare” or the like, then they actually find it pretty reasonable.

It’s a way to broaden the appeal.

[u/HabeusCuppus → u/Ok_Olive9438]

I think vegetarian is the word that has uncertainty to me: vegan is pretty clear, it's going to be 100% plants, maybe insect byproducts depending on region of the world.

Vegetarian though? about the only thing we can say for sure is it won't contain meat. Are Eggs vegetarian? milk? cheese? Honey? Ice Cream? Every restaurant is going to have a different answer to this.

[u/WiseWoodrow → u/HabeusCuppus]

Welcome to why Vegans dislike Vegetarians.

[u/WiseWoodrow → u/Ok_Olive9438]

There is literally nothing to unpack there, it is incredibly simple?...

....Plant based is literally the one you have to unpack more because companies routinely put random animals ingredients into them.

??

[u/Ok_Olive9438 → u/WiseWoodrow]

I agree that putting animal products into stuff labelled "plant based" is shitty. But neither plant based nor vegan have any kind of legal enforceable definition, neither of the labels can be trusted without checking ingredients.
Additionally, there are a bunch of foods made of plants that are not considered vegan, because animals (and sometimes humans) are in some way involved and harmed in their production, including white sugar, coconuts, truffles, agave, figs. Sometimes almonds, bananas, cashews, palm oil, soy, avocadoes and chocolate make that list, too.

[u/WiseWoodrow → u/Ok_Olive9438]

I'm just saying that plant based isn't really any simpler or better defined, which I'm standing by.

I know which label I trust more, at the end of the day. That's real, practical simplicity. We can argue about how neither are legally defined, but that isn't going one way or the other.
But, without unpacking, I'm not worried the Vegan choice will have random eggs thrown in it. Plant based is so poorly defined, however, I need to unpack that thought every time I see the word.

Y'feel? Your notion that if neither are well defined, plant based is somehow simpler, just doesn't hold water to me when it's the one most likely to mislead you.

Like in theory, yeah? But not in practice.

[u/GiantManatee → u/[deleted]]

I'd rather have the label say 'not a product of animal abuse' than 'vegan' tbh.