"In Defense of the Vegan Hot Dog" Topic

"THE FOURTH OF July is a holiday consecrated in meat smoke. On this day, lovers, neighbors, children, and friends gather around a BBQ, cold beers sweating in hand, to stare into piles of pork belly, strip steak, burger patties, and row after row of red hot dogs. We watch the embers char the flesh as we discuss the tragedies and triumphs of our United States.

It is my favorite holiday. I love the heat of it, the fact that it doesn't revolve around gifts or religious beliefs (unless you consider America itself to be a religion, which, fair). But mostly I love it because it's built for eating meat. And I am here for meat, especially when squeezed into a perfect intestinal casing. Like Mitt Romney, hot dogs are my favorite food, and I won't be ashamed. I love kosher beef franks, and spicy red hots. I go to baseball games for the chance to eat tubesteaks. I served bratwurst at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding, which fell on July 4…."
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Amicalement
Armand

There is no defense for fake hot dogs!

comprehensible as a product

And specifically, in context, this means to non-vegetarians. So, the question is still if you eat what you like, why do you care if others like what you eat?

I like food. I like to enjoy food. I talk about food with friends and colleagues all the time. Sometimes we find we like the same things. Other times we don't.

I like a lot of vegetarian food. I even like some veggie hamburgers and veggie hot dogs. But they are not hamburgers or hot dogs any more than a fried eggplant sandwich on rye with cabbage and Thousand Island dressing is a Ruben (which I also like).

If you're hiding it behind shape and name, you're hiding it.

Help me understand …

Some vegans just want or need a healthy option for foods they wish they could consume.

But some vegans sound so disgusted when they see you eat meat or even when you mention meat! Right away they want you to think of the animal it came from, the suffering, yadda yadda, and so on and so forth. A few, like my nephew, cannot stand the idea of the veggie-whatevers being cooked on the same surface as where meat has been cooked.

Well, when that second group of vegans designs their veggie or vegan versions, why would they shape it to look like a fillet or patty from that animal? And why would they give it names that resemble the name of the meat that disgusts them so much? It can't possibly be from lack of creativity, right?

Wouldn't it be similar to someone who was disgusted at the thought of eating bugs*, who then decided to shape all their food to look like bugs, and even flavor it like bug meat, so they could mingle and stand next to those who are eating the real bugs, and then, to top it off, the person would give his creation a bug name (perhaps something like a vegi-roach patty)?

Dan
* If not bugs, then re-read but think of kittens instead.

Help me understand …

I'm guessing you don't know many Vegans or vegetarians.

A lot of them love meat; it's taste & texture. But they have ethical issues with killing animals, the way food animals are treated & the impact of raising animals for food on the environment.

So they don't eat them. They do yearn for meat & will eat something that approaches the look & taste but meets their ethical requirements.

That should answer your question.