People working in the meat industry: could/can you actually feel the effects of the rise of veganism of the last ~10 years? How (much) did it affect the area you work in?
People working in the meat industry: could/can you actually feel the effects of the rise of veganism of the last ~10 years? How (much) did it affect the area you work in?
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I'm not working in the meat industry, but in the german food industry. German meat consumption has gone significantly down, but the most "feelable" effect would be that vegan and/or vegetarian options are now a must for every restaurant owner who knows what he is doing. A few years ago it was normal for restaurants to have no vegan option on the menu or for them to be kind of crappy. Now there are so many vegetarians that you will run into problems with your restaurant if your vegetarian option is crappy - because those vegetarians will complain to their family and friends and lead them into other restaurants.
(and yeah, there are still restaurants left without good options for vegetarians. Your region also might play a role - but chances are that you can find a pizza without meat on the menu that is not a Margherita)
the most “feelable” effect would be that vegan and/or vegetarian options are now a must for every restaurant owner who knows what he is doing.
As a life-long lacto-ovo vegetarian, this is one of my favourite things. There are so many options now. When I was a kid, the options were few, and you never went out to restaurants (unless they were super specific weirdo niche vegetarian/vegan restaurants) because there weren't any options for you.
MacDonalds had a vegetarian burger here for a while, but they discontinued that after a while because it wasn't popular. Max, another fast food chain here, now has like three different vegan patties, and one vegetarian one, and there are dozens of burger/whatever variations. It's amazing and makes me feel like a normal person.
I was never a huge fan of the gluten free/vegan/whatever trends, but I'm so glad for the positive effects they had on food culture as a whole.
It helps a lot for the burgers that there are now actually good fake meat options. Before the Impossible burger you basically had to lie to yourself to think fake meat was equivalent.
I’ve never had a “real” burger is the thing, so personally I really don’t care. I think I even prefer the veggie patties with whole peas and stuff in them, they’re texturally more interesting. The impossible burger isn’t that nice in my opinion.
Max has four types. There’s an impossible-burger-esque one. There’s one that’s like a battered chicken thing. There’s one that’s somewhat reminiscent of falafel, and finally a halloumi one. They’re all okay.
I actually stopped going to Burger King when they started doing Impossible patties because they nuked their veggie patty.
I can see that. It's overpriced and boring. I'm really fond of the falafel-esque patty that Max has.
Even in the US, which consumes a pretty unhealthy amount of meat per capita, you can see that impact somewhat. Vegan options are still iffy compared to vegetarian ones, but there are definitely more places I can eat now than ever. The suburbs aren't nearly as good as cities, but that's to be expected, I think. Even compared to a few years ago, it's better - it's not just a sad plate of lettuce with no dressing or dry pasta.
I won't say that people's meat consumption is down here because data doesn't back that up, but at least those of us who don't eat it are finally getting a few choices.
Bonefish grill. There are no good vegetarian options at bonefish grill. So every company outing we have, we don't go there anymore, even though it's the closest place.
It seems like any place with a decent chunk of money will also be a place with more veg-friendly restaurants.
When even Culver's has a veggie burger, the times are changing.