I’m sure you have seen the meme—a close up of a broccoli stalk with a label reading, “contains milk.” It is a huge exaggeration, sure, but really not, because in all fairness, there is milk in so many things it need not be.
I was so thrilled to see pot pies in the freezer section of my local grocery store with big bold lettering stating, “meatless.” As pot pies were something of a comfort food in my ‘way before I was vegan’ childhood, I excitedly read the box hoping it was really true—and yeah, sure, it had no meat. Unfortunately, it also did not have the beautiful vegan V either because, of course, for some strange reason, someone thought it a good idea to add milk to a meat-free pot pie. Why?
In a dish that has no cheese, they have to add some other dairy, so it isn’t vegan? It’s almost like it’s done deliberately.
Countless meatless products, for some strange reason, contain whey. With so many other options to fortify products with protein, why use a milk derivative? Energy bars are famous for this. How about peas, soy, almonds, peanuts (in many cases, these products already contain peanuts or peanut butter), use any damn plant protein out there and leave out the whey? Can we please stop thinking we need animal protein for energy?
More and more restaurants, even chains, are offering meatless patties for their breakfast sandwiches and burgers. Just remember to tell them to leave off the cheese and even egg. Really, if you bother with vegan meat, why put egg and cheese on there? Isn’t that counterproductive?
Vegetarians won’t be scared off by making something vegan. But you definitely lose the vegan if there is milk in there. So why wouldn’t these companies reach for a much larger consumer base—take it a step further, leave out the dairy? It just makes sense.
Why is making a product vegan and saving animals just too radical and scary?
