Philosophical Vegan Forum

Hey all.

I really love Asian food. I go to my Chinese restaurant/take out at least once a week.
They have no problem leaving out the animal products very nice!
I also buy delicious vegan noodles from a company called unox in the Netherlands. This company produces almost solely meat products but their noodles (I've checked a thousand times) are vegan.

Personally i'd say that: as long you are only buying the vegan stuff you're sending a message. (or something along those lines)

What is your position on buying vegan products from company's that also sells a lot of meat products?

I try my best to support smaller, vegan only businesses when I can, but if there are no alternatives then Im fine with encouraging non-vegan companies by purchasing their vegan items.

Me too. If there's a vegan business, it gets my support first. I'll even pay more.

But otherwise, it's not harmful to buy from non-vegan companies. Most companies (even ones producing only veg products) are owned by huge corporate empires that own dozens or hundreds of companies.

As the market sees that there's more demand for vegan products, they'll move in that direction.

Silk, for example, the dominant brand of soy milk in North America, is owned by the same company that has a lot of dairy interests. It makes sense for a company to diversity and hedge its bets.
I like to show them that their bets on the vegan market can pay off, so they keep investing in that area.

Also, don't be afraid to contact those companies, and thank them (for example, on the noodles) for making a vegan option. And express your interest in more vegan varieties so you can buy more of their products if you like them. Companies have ears.

brimstoneSalad wrote:As the market sees that there's more demand for vegan products, they'll move in that direction.

Exactly. This is how economy works. I have the same stance on this.
Buying vegan from places that also produce animal products, you're not participating in the harm and abuse of animals, you're doing the opposite.

I guess you could consider it a double edged sword.

At least locally when it comes to eating out there are no vegan businesses. This leaves me with two options, eat in or
chose the one item on the menu that is accidentally vegan generally a salad with no topping.

As for eating vegan products from non vegan companies I do. I look at it like this, if demand increases for there vegan products, but not there meat based products it could turn a company around.

dan1073 wrote:I guess you could consider it a double edged sword.

I think that's the best way to put it.