Today I came across tofurky for the first time whilst in one my favourite stores on ‘the drive’ in the east end of Vancouver (just in case the Feds didn’t know I had left the country). I have also had some conversations recently with people who, like me, do not partake of such food items preferring using fruit/vegetables and other non‐processed items. This ties well with my comments and perspective on vat‐grown meat that was the subject of a podcast (and follow‐up) by Erik Marcus and also received a mention on subsequent VeganFreak podcasts.

To me, it seems that those on this continent are more open to such products than back home. And I think this ties in with the views on technology as progress here. I am not saying that such perspectives on technology are absent in Australia, rather they exist at a different and more intense and/or subliminal level here. And, given that the USA is apparently at the centre of the universe, I am sure I will receive some critical attention!

Before I go further, I would like to say heads‐up to Dino for his non‐fake stance in cooking alongside his ability to make tasty food with whatever is available and making things from scratch (i.e. without a recipe). To me, which is similar to Dino’s perspective, why would you want to eat something that is similar in look (at the least) to something oozing with exploitation, cruelty and anthropocentrism?

I have heard perspectives from people who were brought up veg*n and to them such products are seen as marinated soy (or similar). I can accept that, yet it is still a processed food and I prefer to avoid these as much as I am able. Then there is the notion of transitional foods. This is where I see the place for such products. My concern, however, is that people get used to these and do not really change towards a more holistic and grounded diet rather than maintaining a processed product existence.

I had no idea how to cook when I went vegetarian (I am sure there are loads of people who tried rice and tomato sauce – I was pretty poor too), nor really when I went vegan. And I did – when they were available – eat some of these products (which did draw criticism from the carni’s I temporarily lived with at the time). However, the process of learning to cook, and the subsequent tasty and amazing foods I began to prepare and eat was a (still continuing) journey I will always look back on.

As my previous post indicates, I was raised in what can be described as a meat n two veg household so had not taste, and a general dislike, for most fruit vegetables – which can be more accurately considered as resulting from not being willing to try anything different after the bias of such childhood/youth experience (indoctrination). So learning to cook, and also learning to embrace things I had never really tried – alongside overcoming a bias to these foods and the racism that had and still surrounds ‘ethnic’ foods – was a very challenging yet as mentioned an ongoing and rewarding experience.

The crux of all this is, I guess that I cannot see why people would buy such products, let alone eat them. Perhaps the only reason I would buy them would be if I was having people over that will not even try foods different to their carni ways. This is something I almost exclusively do not do, yet can see this as a possibility. What it comes down to more – and specifically labelled at people who live a veg*n lifestyle – is the notion of processed foods and technologically mediated society. We need to remove ourselves from such a ridiculous, destructive and false paradigm.

I hope the arrogance embodied in American culture can deal with this criticism!