NYTimes article on the veganism movement and development

Any thoughts from the vegans?

It’s interesting. I think the emphasis on tasty, visually enticing food - food you want to eat and do enjoy - goes a long way toward making veganism appealing.

For me, I’m not interested in the health stuff; I eat primarily vegetarian out of respect for animals and the environment. And I shied away from lots of the vegan / vegetarian foods, initially, because they tasted “healthy” rather than “good” to my palate.

Once I learned to prepare vegetables so they had flavor, I was on my way. (Still don’t like kale, most grains, and lentils.)

I’m vegetarian yet eat a mostly vegan diet- I actually tried to post this but couldn’t from my phone.

It’s simply easier to be vegan/vegetarian/plant based/whatever in CA. I grew up there and visit often- the plentiful year round fresh and cheap amazing produce combined with an established vegetarian “lifestyle” or “culture” and restaurants that always have a minimum of one veg*n entree option.
I think this specific family that the article is about comes across as slightly obnoxious and pretentious but that may just be the writer’s point of view.

I encourage and am infinitely supportive of any and all people, press, media coverage, restaurant, website, book, etc… that encourages people to eat more plant based meals and rethink what a meatless meal is. My compassion and empathy for animals motivates my decisions, yet at the same time i believe it is ultimately healthier for MY body and i can and do eat really delicious food. It is not the right decision for everyone- but i think every meal anyone has that is veg*n is a step in the right direction.

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Hmm, I’m quite conflicted about this piece; extolling the ‘beautiful people’ as if there weren’t great vegan food before & that it’s somekind of aspirational lifestyle for the privileged. I grew up in NYC and when I went vegan in the mid 90’s it of course wasn’t fashionable, but I remember the great Adventist restaurant Living Springs…so delicious with cashew gravy, burgers, cream soups and their amazing pies & desserts, South Indian restaurants…I learned about the dosa and uttapams (lentil and rice crepes and pancakes), the thali (so many choices) that South India uses coconut instead of dairy, then mediterannean restaurants; having all those fab firsts: hummus, baba ghanoush, mujadarrah, felafel etc…Ethiopian food, that was super too, then Ozu the macrobiotic restaurant & finally the fab Buddhist restaurant in Chinatown…faux pork, fish, my dad adored this place. Now it’s mainstream which is great, but I do it for ethical reasons and there are plenty who do, as well as part of their natural cuisine. I do have amazing health benefits, which is helpful to broadcast but they really didn’t mention it beyond a ‘glow’ statistics would have helped; just check out the ongoing 60 year Adventist health study. But I guess that isn’t sexy enough for the NY Times…