The Rise of Plant Based Food:

What does it mean for non-human rights?

There certainly is a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the success and momentum of animal rights, and veganism in particular. Here are only a few headlines I’ve seen in the past few years shared across social media platforms:

The Unstoppable Rise of Veganism: How a Fringe Movement went Mainstream

We’re Winning: 10 Signs that Veganism Will Take Off in 2017

This is Why 2017 was the Tipping Point for Veganism.

Here’s Why You Should Turn Your Business Vegan in 2018

2018 TREND OF THE YEAR: PLANT-BASED FOODS GO MAINSTREAM

The World in 2019: The Year of the Vegan

While these headlines are exciting, let’s take a deeper look at the rise of veganism/plant-based foods. Is the plant-based market really growing? Who is driving the demand if it is growing? Where does our money ultimately end up when we “vote with our dollars”? And most importantly, does the rise of plant-based foods even necessarily correlate to progress for non-human animal rights?

PLANT-BASED FOOD IS EVERYWHERE

In just the last year, we’ve seen A&W, KFC, Quesada, Burger King, Del Taco, Carl’s Jr., White Castle, Tim Hortons, Pizza Pizza and a number of other major chains launch a high-profile plant-based menu item. While plant-based menu items aren’t necessarily a new thing, the prominent advertising of these items and their success feels different than the veggie burgers of 10 years ago. Vegetarian and vegan menu items were once an afterthought to customers and the companies who offered them. But now, A&W has prominently advertised the new Beyond Burger upon launch with commercial features and dressed all their staff in shirts promoting the “100% plant-based burger”. With this prominent advertising, it only took a few weeks for there to be a nation-wide shortage of Beyond Burgers at A&W across Canada. Additionally, KFC’s plant-based burger sold out in 4 days, performing 500% better than their average “product” launch.

It’s not just fast food chains who are jumping on the plant-based bandwagon. Major dairy companies Ben and Jerry’s, Magnum, Breyers and Haagen-Dazs all have released a plant-based ice cream within the past few years. Other major companies are coming out with their own plant-based lines of products; President’s Choice and Farm Boy are two I’ve noticed here in Canada. Tyson made a half-hearted effort to join the plant-based party but looking past the packaging reveals their veggie option actually contains animal flesh. With the launching of so many plant-based products and their success, there’s a great amount of enthusiasm and optimism in vegan communities and the animal rights movement. But are these products and their success an indication of progress for non-human animal rights?

WHO IS DRIVING DEMAND?

If we are going to point to the rise of these products as progress and an indication that current movement strategy is working, it’s critical to understand who is driving the demand. The short answer is that it’s not animal rights activists, vegans or even vegetarians. Burger King states that 90% of people buying their plant-based burger are people who still eat animals. Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, owners of plant-based companies Lightlife and Field Roast, also notes that the real opportunity for their plant-based products is not in the hands of vegans or vegetarians (and certainly not animal rights advocates):

Quesada’s founder also cited “flexitarians” as a primary reason for their plant-based menu items:

These companies understand that the money is in “flexitarians” because they have buying power that vegans simply do not. In reference to their burgers being sold in the “meat” section, Will Schafer, VP of marketing at Beyond Meat states:

Beyond Meat also reported that 93% of buyers of its Beyond Burger in Kroger grocery stores in the first half of 2018 also bought animal protein during the same period.

Vegans simply do not have the numbers to drive demand in this way. It should be obvious vegans aren’t the target audience given that most of these “plant-based” items come with some sort of animal secretion whether it be dairy cheese, egg mayonnaise or some other sauce. While we may be tempted to claim the rise of these plant-based items as a victory for the movement, it is not a trend for which we’re even responsible. Even if we were the ones driving demand for plant-based items, where does our money really end up when it’s all said and done?

WHO OWNS WHO?

Another challenge for consumer activism is trying to keep our money out of the hands of large animal-exploiting companies. We may vote with our dollars as it’s said, and buy plant-based milk, but often the plant-based brand is owned by a larger animal-exploiting company. For instance, Silk, the popular plant-based milk producer is owned by White Wave Foods who is a multi-billion dollar company who sells tons of dairy from exploited animals. They also own popular vegan brands Vega and So Delicious. To add to this complicated mess, it’s my understanding White Wave Foods is now owned by the even larger mega-company Danone.

In order to have a full appreciation for just how many vegan brands are owned by non-vegan entities, here’s some other examples: Gardein was purchased by Pinnacle Foods back in 2014, and Earth Balance suffered the same fate a year later. Pinnacle Foods sells a ton of animal flesh including the infamous Hungry-Man Frozen TV Dinners. In case you were wondering, Pinnacle Foods is owned by the even larger brand Conagra. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., a company that tests on non-human animals, purchased and now owns Daiya Foods Inc. As mentioned above, Maple Leaf Foods murders millions of chickens and pigs a year and owns Field Roast and Lightlife Foods.

There are still brands that are not owned by larger animal-exploiting companies: Follow Your Heart, Ripple Foods, Tofurky and Miyoko’s Kitchen are just a few. The larger point is that it’s increasingly difficult as a consumer to ensure your dollars aren’t ultimately ending up in the pockets of companies who continue to perpetuate non-human exploitation. Activists defending consumerism as a method of change may argue that the purchase of vegan items sends the message to these companies that vegan items are what we want and that exploiting animals is not acceptable. In response, I am always reminded of Wayne Hsuing’s words from his essay Boycott Veganism:

“And consumerism is an unwieldy method for conveying a political message; a meat-free diet does not necessarily imply standing up for the rights of animals, any more than a gluten-free diet implies standing up for the rights of wheat.”

Still, even devoid of a political message, the growth of plant-based product demand will surely lead to the fall of non-human animal exploitation, right?

THE FALL OF NON-HUMAN ANIMAL EXPLOITATION

As a movement we also may wrongly believe the rise of plant-based industry is equivalent to the fall of animal exploiting industries. The reality is that both plant-based and animal exploiting industries are growing, as we may expect in a system such as capitalism. We do not participate in a system where the rise of plant-based products correlates with the fall of animal-exploitation— the growth of plant-based industry does not equate to the downfall of animal exploiting industries. Worldwide meat production has tripled over the last four decades and increased 20 percent in just the last 10 years. Experts predict that by 2050 nearly twice as much meat will be produced as today. You can read more here about trends in “meat” consumption globally.

Plant-based trends are being driven by those who consume animals and animal exploitation continues to increase. This shouldn’t be surprising when our best data indicates the number of vegans is not increasing. If this statement is surprising to you, I highly recommend the Cranky Vegan’s “Are We Winning Series” and the “Stagnation or Success” presentation. If you’re more into reading than videos, check out “Is the Percentage of Vegetarians and Vegans in the U.S. Increasing?”, “Snapshot: Few Americans Vegetarian or Vegan”, “Is the number of Vegetarians on the Rise?”. Yes I understand that these reading sources have a serious American bias; it’s just where I’ve found the most consistent and reliable survey methodology.

If the number of vegans is not rising, it suggests the success of plant-based food is independent from ideological support for non-human animal rights. The rise in plant-based food may simply be tied to food technology, stronger advertising, concern for human health, anthropocentric climate change concern and animal welfare; all of which do not correlate to a rise in anti-speciesism or abolitionist veganism. We need to adjust our strategy accordingly and not rely on consumerism as a meaningful way to create or measure success. The expansion of plant-based products is not equivalent to progress for non-human animal rights. Our wallets will never be the tools to dismantle the oppression of non-human animals. We must focus our attention on becoming the best allies we can be and on creative action and strategy to truly take strides towards an anti-speciesist world.



