The French government issued a decree Tuesday banning the term “steak” on the label of vegetarian products, saying it was reserved for meat alone.

  • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 months ago

    I’m going to assume this is good faith.

    So lets talk about something different for a minute. Many people enjoy the taste of beer yes? but also alcohol is undeniably detramental to take as a drug. So people make stuff that is not beer, in the sense that it is not an alcoholic beverage, but is very similar. They call these products alcohol free beer. That’s pretty descriptive right? it’s going to taste like beer but it’s not alcoholic.

    So steak say, obviously it means a certain anatomical piece of the desecrated corpse of a cow. But also it’s an experience, eating a steak. So if someone says “plant based steak” they’re describing that experience. They’re saying “hey this will have the texture and taste of something analogous to a lump of muscle from a corpse, but it’s made of plants” with the name.

    I don’t see why this should be controversial, it’s just shorthand. What would you suggest they call it?

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      They call these products alcohol free beer.

      Alcohol free beer is beer that was brewed as usual, then the alcohol got removed. Which is a very different thing than making a tart soda and calling it beer.

      It’s the same thing as “lactose-free milk” vs. “almond milk”. One is produced by a cow (and an extra enzyme to split the lactose), the other by draining California’s water table.

      In fact in Germany one particular type of – colloquially – beer, Malzbier, (alcohol free) is not allowed to be sold as beer because it contains added sugar, which isn’t allowed according to Germany’s definition of beer. Otherwise it’s actually brewed like beer, keeping the temperature such that the yeast doesn’t produce alcohol.

      • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        It’s the same thing as “lactose-free milk” vs. “almond milk”. One is produced by a cow (and an extra enzyme to split the lactose), the other by draining California’s water table.

        Nah, you’re wrong. Lactose free milk could come from a goat, a human, or even a coconut. You think milk means cow milk cause you forgot what milk means.

        (Also what the fuck do you think cows make milk out of? Pixie dust and genie wishes? Nah. Cows make their milk out of California’s water table and corn that grows from California’s water table.)

    • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      LOL, asks for good faith and then go with desecrated corpse of a cow. I’ll bite, ignore the fluff and go straight to the question

      What would you suggest they call it?

      Don’t fucking care. Your marketing department comes up with something catchy, descriptive and that doesn’t confuse customers. And in this case in France, that doesn’t break the law.

      Piggybacking your comment about beer. I make a nice dry and sparkly wine that resembles Champagne but the grapes are not grown in the Champagne region.in fact its not a grape wine at all I use recycled shoe soles. I’d like to call it Champagne in the shops around Europe but if I am not allowed, what would you suggest i call it?

      • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        that’s… what it is. meat doesn’t grow on trees, you murder someone and take pieces of their corpse. you can say you think that’s good and fine but you can’t deny that’s what happens.

        • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Sure then lets call the meat substitutes that are the subject of this thread ‘ultra processed foods’, that are being mislabelled for genuine EU agricultural products by astute scammers

          • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            9 months ago

            Go ahead, but be consistent and apply that label to oils, flour, sugar, starches, bread, and juices. They’re literally just spices and gluten ground together.

            You’re a reactionary dumbarse using the status quo to argue for the status quo, which as I pointed out by inference would have us using the 13th century definitions if applied then. I guess you’re a bit thick for that though so there it is explicitly. You nong.

            • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              I do that, I am very serious about my flours and breads. And so should you.

              Status quo is not necessarily a bad thing. particularly if we are talking about things like food and places like France. It’s called culture, my friend, some people and countries care about it.

      • naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        as to the rest. If you called it shoe based champagne, and it tasted like champagne and you printed the nutritional information on it why would I care? protected regions are dumb and people that defend them are stupid.

        • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          LOL if you say so then we have settled this whole argument. Go ahead and let the France government know.

          From other comments it sounds like you might be vegetarian or vegan. Would you like product to be mislabelled and contain products thatbyoubare not okay to eat, just because someone else thinks it doesn’t matter and “vegan product” can be interpreted in many ways and it’s stupid anyway?

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          How to tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American.