I’ve since a couple of articles about vegetarian/vegan alternatives that have confused me in the last couple of weeks and wondered what your take on them is.

Firstly I saw this posted on Twitter by an American dairy lobbyist group.

I also saw an article saying a number of Congress members wanting to ban the term “milk” for anything other than animal milks. (Sorry can’t seem to find the link).

Then there was this article from The Independent noting a German politician calling for banning terms such as vegetarian sausages, curry wurst or schnitzel.

I find this possessiveness over words and terms absurd. By calling “real” milk nice and plant based alternatives naughty do they really think people consuming these products will really think “oh gosh I wasn’t aware, I’ll go back to drinking animal milks now”. The plant based milk alternatives market is booming and don’t think aggressive marketing like this from dairy boards will change that. The dairy industry is heavily subsidised in the UK and if supply is larger than demand something will have to change.

I am equally baffled by the comments from the German politician which seem to insinuate that people are being tricked into eating meat free alternatives. I’ve never heard of anyone being tricked into eating a vegetarian product as most shout about being vegetarian! I also think him claiming certain terms as referring to meat odd. To me a sausage is a shape it is not a cow or a pig, a nugget can be of gold as well as chicken so why not soy?

These are terms we are familiar with and anyone I speak to uses terms such as milk when referring to plant based alternatives and I can’t see any ban on these terms on products changing that.

Are the meat and milk industries just scared of the rise of plant based alternatives?

Do you think these attempts will make any difference to what people consume?

Let me know in the comments

Plumes x