In my last post on misconceptions about veganism, I wrote about why some vegans eat things that taste like meat. In continuation of that topic, I’ll be discussing one of the responses non-vegans have when they see vegans munching on cashew cheese or tacos filled with walnut meat.
“Vegans should come up with their own names for plant-based milk, cheese, and meat. Their vegan versions are not real.”
The first time that I took my friend to a Mediterranean restaurant, she looked at the menu completely befuddled. She’d never heard of baba ganoush, dolmas, or falafel. These things were totally new to her.
To help her get an idea of what these items were, I translated based on foods she already knew.
I told her that falafel are kind of like hush puppies.
Are they exactly like hush puppies? No. They’re made with different spices and ingredients. But they are both round balls of dough that are deep-fried. It gave my friend an idea of what to expect.
Most vegans weren’t born vegan. Most of us were raised eating animal-based foods.
We know what mozzarella tastes like and the kinds of dishes where it’s used. From descriptions of, say, wheat meat, non-dairy milk, or nut-based cheese, we get an idea of what kinds of spices or textures might be involved. It gives a frame of reference.
And when people who are new to veganism are searching for recipes, they tend to google “vegan cheese” and “vegan pepperoni.” I could call it “vegan cashew block” or “vegan spicy log,” but not as many people would find it.
What’s in a name?
While some are quick to criticize vegans for calling walnuts flavored with sun-dried tomatoes and Mexican spices nut meat, it’s not as if vegans are the only ones or the first ones to hint at appearance or texture based on names.
Peanut butter is a creamy spread.
Coconut milk is a smooth liquid.
The flesh inside of a coconut is called meat.
Eggplant was such named because it looks like a goose or hen’s egg.
Grapefruits grow in clusters like grapes, and so that’s why they have the name they do.
Blood oranges have a deep reddish hue.
Is spaghetti squash an affront to wheat or rice-based noodles? When the Italians named rice-shaped pasta orzo after its likeness to barley (orzo means barley in Italian), were the barley-eating people threatened by it?
Candy corn isn’t a whole grain, jellybeans would be terrible in a burrito, and spaghetti strap dresses aren’t made with pasta. However, by drawing comparisons, people understand something about the size, shape, texture, flavor, or use of the object.
Sometimes when people give this criticism that vegans need to come up with their own names for, say, tofu chèvre or cashew cheese, there is this sense that they think the plant-based food isn’t good enough to deserve the name. It’s not valid enough, or legitimate enough, or hasn’t been around long enough.
Actually, soy milk dates back to at least 25-220 A.D. The oldest written reference to tofu was written in 1500 A.D. in a poem called “Ode to Tofu.”
The origins of wheat meat, also known as seitan, date somewhere between 2,000 years ago and seventh century A.D. when it was created by Buddhist monks.
Does feta taste different than chèvre? Of course. They’re both cheese, but one comes from a sheep’s milk and another comes from a goat’s.
So does soy milk taste different than cow’s milk? Obviously. One is made from the milk of a bean and another from a being.
But when I slather peanut butter onto toast in the morning, it would seem a silly question for someone to ask, “Is that real butter?”
Yes, it’s real. I poured peanuts into my Vitamix, added a pinch of salt, flipped a switch, and blended it into creamy peanut butter. It doesn’t get more real than that.
Look, I don’t eat fake burgers. I eat bean burgers.
I don’t drink faux milk. I drink cashew milk.
I eat wheat meat, not analogues.
(Does that sound good to anyone? Hey, mom. Pass the meat analogue and gravy, please.)
If I can call it almond butter and coconut milk, and I do, I see no reason why when I’m making an artisan cashew cheese I can’t call it that too.
According to that great philosopher, The Velveteen Rabbit, things become real when you love them. It may take several spoonfuls to know for sure, but hey, why not? I’m out to prove that Rabbit right… one mouthwatering scoop of cashew ice cream at a time.
There’s so much more to say! Click here for the next part in this series: My Take on Fake: Sausages and Other Shapes.
Anonymous
My whole family are vegetarian and me and my little brothers have been vegetarians all our lives so we eat a lot of quorn (a uk company that makes fake meat) meat.
We’ve started this thing of calling it ‘not ‘ so while bacon is ‘vegetarian bacon’ and hotdogs are ‘quorn hotdog sausages’ ham or chicken or turkey or anything that comes in sandwich slices is called ‘not ham’ or ‘not chicken’ and so on.
This is ok, but whenever our grandparents used to come over to look after us and they’d ask us what we wanted in our sandwiches we’d sound like a bad comedy sketch.
“What do you want in your sandwiches?”
“Not ham”
“Yes I know you don’t want ham, but what do you want?”
“I want not ham.”
“I get that you don’t want ham- but what do you want in your sandwiches?”
“Not ham”
“I know, you’re a vegetarian, I won’t give you ham!”
And so on….
Cadry
Ha! That’s very funny! I can see why your grandparents were confused. 😀
Robert Stanton
I hope it’s OK to repost a comment that I put on the other post, because it seems even more relevant to a post about “meat” and “milk.” Very nicely argued – thank you!
[repeated comment – I study medieval language and literature and teach History of the English Language, so these are the places my mind goes when I think about food!] I’d also like to point out that the earliest definition of “meat” was “food, sustenance,” and that dates from the 9th century. The first time it meant specifically “animal flesh” was in the 14th century, about 500 years later, although admittedly it pretty much took over after that. “Milk” is slightly different, in that the animal mammary secretion has always been the primary meaning, but the meaning of a liquid from plants also goes back to the Old English period. Just a little historical footnote!
Lisa @ Je suis alimentageuse
I was lead to this post after reading your post about why vegans eat fake meat. I’m not vegan, but I am vegetarian and I’m gradually transitioning towards the vegan lifestyle and diet. I love this post, especially because I once posted a vegan popcorn chicken recipe and one of the commenters criticized me for calling it “chicken”. Great post, I’ll be following you from now on =)
Maggie Muggins
It doesn’t even stop at food! After a coworker of mine asked me what vegan leather was made out of, I overheard her ranting to someone else about how they shouldn’t be allowed to use the word “leather” because it isn’t real leather, and somehow the fact that they did seemed to offend her. I mean come on! The things that people get their panties in a bunch over. Sigh.
I loved the info you pointed out above about things like orzo and spaghetti squash. No one gets upset over that! It just seems like another way for omnivores to make the items they consume appear to be more superior then vegan items, and it drives me batty, why can’t people just enjoy things for what they are and not nitpick everything?
Meg
I am so in love with this series! What you’re saying is exactly what’s in my head. And I am a huge lover of cashew cheese, there are three different homemade styles in my fridge right now 🙂
Cadry
Excellent! I’m so glad that this series is resonating with you! I envy your refrigerator bounty. Are you making recipes from Artisan Vegan Cheese? Cashews are kind of amazing when it comes to all of the things they can do!
Barb@ThatWasVegan?
My least favorite is when an omnivore says something like “well, it’s not real milk”… Oh, it’s not real? It’s imaginary? Am I just imagining this glass in my hand?
Arrgghhh!
Cadry
Ha! The timing is right for a Vegan Magician, a master of illusion! 😉
Jackie at Vegan Yack Attack
I love the cool facts that you have in this post (like tofu and orzo), it makes this series even better when you’re learning many new things! Thank you, Cadry!
Cadry
Awesome! Thanks for reading, Jackie!
Richa
i love love all your posts in this series.. I dont even bother with the semantics.. I mean seriously if someone has so much time in the world to have a lengthy debate about names.. please go ahead and do it with yourself.. I’d rather cook up and eat my delicious food and talk to anyone who is open to trying it, eventually likes it, makes it and replaces some of their whatever named animal based meals.
Cadry
Love your spunk, Richa!
Laloofah
Man, people who get their knickers in a twist over the semantics of “almond milk” or “cashew cheese” must go absolutely bonkers whenever they see a box of Grapenuts! 😉
Cadry
Oh, my god! That’s too funny! I so wish I had thought of that!
Laloofah
😀
Do you know how many times you’ve written something and “I so wish I’d thought of that” has been MY reaction? About seven gazillion. So at least I’ve closed the gap by one. LOL
Cadry
Aw, you’re sweet! Thank you!
Joey
Yep, always slightly confused by why people have a strong reaction (it’s not cheese! It’s made with nuts! Cheese is made with milk!) to something so arbitrary. A name is a name is a name. Nut cheese may not be made from milk nor taste the same, but chevre is different from cheddar – they’re both made from different things, and taste different, but still cheese, so nut cheese is cheese in my book.
Or, that’s just a long winded way of saying I couldn’t agree more with your post!
Cadry
Thanks, Joey!
Ashley F.
Really love this post! I love the analogy you use about the Mediterranean food names and how the easiest way to describe something new to someone is by comparing it to something familiar – so many great things here!
Cadry
Thanks, Ashley! That’s nice to hear!
Andrea
You are spot on with your discussion of naming conventions. Last year I heard Colleen Patrick Goudreau speak and she said we should never use words like “substitute” or “fake” or “analog” or make up silly names like cheez. The food vegans eat is real food. Almond milk is almond milk, not fake milk. As I’ve said before, a burger is a shape, and a bean burger is just as legitimate a name as, say, a turkey burger.
Cadry
I totally agree with Colleen on that one! There’s no reason that the animal-based option should be viewed as the default or neutral position while the kinder option is the “fake” version.
narf77
Isn’t it sad that we have to defend what we want to eat. I think that we might just have to develop thick skins when it comes to threatened and scornful omni’s because veganism just passed from “crazy fad” into mainstream when we rose above the “0.” of the population and became a force of our own. Everything new has to prove itself and we shouldn’t appologise for our choices. If anyone scorns nut meat or cheeze or non dairy milk just laugh and tell them to lighten up. Who cares what it’s called, its all about why we use it and what we are trying to do and I think we get bogged down with trying to legitimise our choices sometimes. I don’t force my views down anyones throat and expect them to do me the same courtesy. If anyone is rude enough to tell me that what I eat is somehow inferior to what they are eating they don’t stay in my circle of friends for very long. Life is too short to be mass-debating with omni’s who feel a need to take everyone down with their own personal food choices and legitimise their consumption. I say “Forgedaboutem!” 😉
Cadry
That’s the spirit!
narf77
We have to have spirit sometimes just to remember why we are doing this 😉
mjwenckus
Just a big thanks from me ’cause I hear this all the time — especially from meat- and dairy-eating grown step-children (thank heavens their father and I are both vegan coverts). So I guess I’m letting you give me permissions to just enjoy my seitan and tempeh “meat loaf”!
Cadry
You’re welcome! That sounds like a meal that’s definitely worth enjoying! 🙂
Caitlin
i love this post, cadry! it’s so true. thank you writing this series! also, i LOVE that you quoted the velveteen rabbit. it’s one of my favorites!
Cadry
Thank you, Caitlin! Oh, that’s great that you’re a Velveteen Rabbit fan too. I actually didn’t read it growing up, but the first professional play I ever did was the Velveteen Rabbit. So I have a soft spot for it!
An Unrefined Vegan
It’s ridiculous to get caught up in semantics when the real issue is about killing and eating animals. If I’m not mistaken, meat was a general word waaaay back when that meant food (I could’ve made that up, however…). Anyway – I don’t care what it’s called. If it’s plant-based, cruelty-free and it tastes good, pass the fork.
Cadry
One fork headed your way! 🙂 Yes, you’re right. It used to be that anything that wasn’t a drink was called meat – whether it was an apple or a steak.
Somer
I want to comment on this post, but I can’t stop drooling over the Chinese food dish in the center! Yum! Seriously thought, I love that you are busting myths and making sense out of issues that could be confusing to many. Keep it up!
Cadry
Drool away, Somer! We’re all friends here! 😉 Aren’t those fat rice noodles the best? If they’re on the menu, I have a hard time ordering anything else!
Somer
They often had them in Asian restaurants in Australia. harder to find locally, but man that image made me hungry 😉 !
Cadry
I like making them at home too, and I was having the toughest time finding the really wide noodles in grocery stores. For a while it was as if I was doing some personal tour of all of the Asian markets in the state! Once I finally found them, I bought three or four bags!
Somer
I’ve never seen them. Sigh. Maybe online? 🙂
Chef Amber Shea
Another wonderful post in this series, which I’m so enjoying, by the way.
We all deserve to get to speak the same “food language.”
Cadry
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, Amber! Thanks!
angela
I think you nailed it with this post. I had the nerve to post a recipe for a “raw vegan goat cheese” made with cashews on my Facebook and I had both omnivores and vegans irritated that the recipe said “goat” but was not “real” goat cheese. The author of the recipe intended that people would understand that it was similar to the taste and texture of goat cheese.
What we choose to call our plant foods is apparently political!
Cadry
Thank you, Angela! What nerve you had! 😉 I remember when that firestorm started around “raw vegan goat cheese.” The recipe was from my blogging buddy, Cara, over at Fork and Beans. VegNews got a lot of comments too when they reposted it on Facebook. I was taken by surprise at how vehement and heated people got over it on both sides. I recall that some people felt she should have misspelled goat, so that people would know that it didn’t actually come from a goat. I didn’t really get the logic on that one. I’d think that just calling it vegan, like she did, would be enough. I suppose you never know what’s going to set some people off!
Richa
i had that on my frittata which had almond feta too. i did not want to jump into that mess:) some others were already handling it well.
Cadry
Smart choice!