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To get thinking about what you already know about this subject, answer the following questions as part of a quick write exercise or a class discussion. Your teacher will set a minimum word count. 1. Do you eat ? Why or why not? 2. Have you ever tried any “meatless” products? Did you enjoy them? Why or why not? 3. Why do you think that is becoming more widespread in ?

1. -based products have become a 50 billion dollar . ❑ TRUE or ❑ FALSE 2. The main reasons for going vegan are a. ❑ Concern for c. ❑ Environmental sustainability b. ❑ Healthy eating d. ❑ All of the above 3. Many vegan companies in B.C. have been purchased coined the term by international companies. ❑ TRUE or ❑ FALSE “vegan” in 1944. He started a 4. How many vegans are there in Canada? society in England for those who a. ❑ 460 000 b. ❑ 500 000 c. ❑ 2.5 million were committed to abstaining from exploitation of animals 5. Can being vegan reduce your risk of getting cancer? a. ❑ Yes b. ❑ No c. ❑ Maybe 6. Veganism is good for the environment. ❑ TRUE or ❑ FALSE 7. Emerging evidence shows that people are getting more of calories from ultra-processed and packaged , and that people eating higher amounts of these foods have an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. ❑ TRUE or ❑ FALSE

Consider pausing the video and giving students the opportunity to talk to an elbow partner for a few minutes or use these questions as part of a class discussion. Pause the video after the interview with Bedoya, senior lecturer at Simon Fraser University. 1. What do you see are the main reasons for becoming vegan? 2. What are some of the cautions for those who are vegan or want to become vegan?

1. Visit a vegan meal recipe site. Pick a meal that you might like to eat. Compare the calories and nutrients listed to a meal that you typically like to eat. What do you notice? 2. Research a company that offers plant-based meat or cheese products. Compare nutritional value, ingredients and cost to the “real” meat or cheese it is replacing. What do you notice?

Some vegans extend their philosophy to include the diet of , especially cats and dogs. This practice has been questioned and criticized because of the belief that carnivores need nutrients only found in animal flesh and they lack the required physiology to digest plant matter

Minds On may be connected to the fact How often do you think about that many people today care the environmental impact of more about the environmental what you eat? Would you be impact of production on willing to change your eating their health and on the planet. habits if you believed that the Ethical consumerism way your food is produced is harming the planet? This rise in ethical consumerism has led to and Eating and the entrepreneurship. environment A flexitarian is someone whose normally Companies who make More and more young meatless diet can occasionally include plant-based foods that people are becoming or meat. People who have a meatless diet look and taste like meat, vegetarians, vegans or but who will eat fish are called fish, chicken and cheese flexitarians. This trend pescatarians. are gaining popularity. A&W was one of the first Cdn, a significant increase The company was founded in Canadian fast food chains to from a value of $5 billion Cdn 2009. The profits generated by popularize plant-based meat on the day of its initial public this company reflects the in July 2018. They teamed up offering (IPO) on May 2, 2019. growing popularity of with the company Beyond “meatless” products. Meat to offer a burger patty What is an IPO? Plant-based processing made with “100 per cent An initial public offering is plant-based ingredients, So how is plant-based meat when a private company made? According to the including peas, rice, mung offers shares of its stocks to Beyond Meat website, they beans, coconut oil, the public. It’s called an initial pomegranates, potatoes, offering because it’s the first use “a simple process of apples and beets.” Beyond time that the company offers heating, cooling and pressure Meat specializes in producing up shares to general to create the fibrous texture of plant-based food products. As shareholders. This can also meat and layer in plant-based of July 2019, Beyond Meat had be called “going public.” fats, binders, flavours and a market value of $15 billion colours.” Many people who eat these plant-based have been as successful. In Better for the products say that they taste June 2019, began environment? almost identical to offering three breakfast Now the real question: Is animal-based . sandwiches that included plant-based meat production Beyond Meat breakfast A growing trend? better for the environment? . They also added two The University of Michigan Other restaurants have burger options featuring used their life cycle adopted the plant-based Beyond Burger patties. By assessment (LCA) of the menu options. In August 2019, September 2019, Tim Hortons Beyond Burger to claim that a KFC restaurant in Atlanta had decided to limit its Beyond the final product generates 90 tested Beyond Fried Chicken Meat menu to British per cent less greenhouse gas on its menu. The product sold Columbia and , before emissions, requires 46 per out in five hours and outsold a deciding to phase out these cent less energy, has 99 per typical week of popcorn Beyond Meat products cent less impact on water chicken sales. Not all tests of entirely. scarcity and 93 per cent less this product in the market impact on land use than the production of a quarter pound healthier and less carbon TO CONSIDER of regular . But, while emitting than producing 1. What do you think of the eating a Beyond Meat burger processed plant-based idea of eliminating meat may reduce your carbon products. While debates over from your diet and when compared to a which diet is best for the choosing a vegetarian or beef burger, environmental environment continue, the vegan lifestyle? How would researchers say plant diets are popularity and sales of your life change? What plant-based would become your meat, chicken, “go-to” food options? cheese and fish keeps growing. 2. Have you tried a Beyond Meat product? If so, what did you think? If not, would you consider trying one?

While veganism seems to take the Veganism and environmental and ethical high road, there are Indigenous some environmental challenges and ethical Indigenous people are concerns that come with the vegan lifestyle. frequently the target Veganism and Food Shaming of animal activist complaints. Whether it is Social media has many examples of vegans or hunting, vegans espousing their beliefs and adamantly trying to claim the Indigenous people are participating in convince others that their way of eating is the cruelty towards animals. Vegans can be best. Videos of aggressive vegans approaching insensitive to Indigenous traditions and history people in restaurants or grocery stores in order in their activism. to “shame” them away from meat eating has, in Many cultures, not only Indigenous cultures, some cases, led to a loss of respect for the include meat as a central ingredient in their vegan movement. dishes and diets. According to writer Rylee McCallin, asking Indigenous communities to not feasible to spend extra on plant-based give up their values and traditions of fishing and products when animal products are cheaper hunting to make up for the mistakes of colonial and more accessible. settlers and industrial capitalism is like asking Negative Environmental Impacts Indigenous people to apologize for the occupation of land that was rightfully theirs in Veganism is associated with environmental the first place. sustainability. However, the growth in popularity of avocados and soy has led to The Cost of Veganism increased deforestation in Mexico and Brazil. A vegan diet can cost the same or cheaper than like chickpeas, quinoa, cashews, and an diet (people who eat everything) coconut are being mass produced to meet the but only if someone lives in a prosperous new demands of vegans and vegetarians. country or neighbourhood. Some vegan Getting hummus, cashew butter and coconut restaurants can be very expensive due to the milk to consumers can cause negative use of locally-grown produce and organic environmental impacts to lands mostly in the ingredients. For people on a budget it is often Southern Hemisphere. It can also to the displacement of small farmers and Indigenous peoples around the globe. What's green, tastes great on TO CONSIDER toast and is a 1. Do you think the benefits of veganism water hog? outweigh its drawbacks? Why or why not? An articles in the What on Earth? 2. Some vegans have been criticized for newsletter, looks scaremongering and moralizing. Research deeper into the eco-impact of the much-loved two (2) vegan influencers on social media. avocado. This weekly CBC newsletter focuses Are they using positive messaging or on sustainability and climate solutions: shaming messages in trying to advocate for www.cbc.ca/news/technology/what-on-earth- veganism? newsletter-avocados-road-salt-light-pollution- 1.4991627 3. Do you think vegans should try to convince others to become vegan? Why or why not?

Persuasion is the ability to convince 1. Explore vegan websites and posts on someone that your opinion is correct. social media. What are the persuasive There are many ways that techniques being used? Are they people try to persuade people. effective or not effective in your One of the most common techniques opinion? is to use emotionally loaded words 2. Read the information found in “The or images. Other techniques include Complete Vegan Arguments ” using famous people or testimonials https://veganspeak.org/vegan-arguments/ highlighting positive characteristics. a. Which of the arguments are the most Scare tactics and an appeal to a person’s persuasive and why? can also be used to persuade. b. Which of the arguments are the least Whatever the technique, an effective persuasive and why? persuasion should make a strong argument 3. Create a persuasive ad or infographic that using evidence and opinion. supports a dietary lifestyle that you support.

McCallin, R.(December 12, 2018). Lakota News.Native Tradition versus Militant Veganism. Retrieved from: www.lakotalaw.org/news/2018-12-12/veganism

Nair, N. (September 29, 2019). The moral market: How a rise in ethical consumption pushed veganism mainstream. CBC News. Retrieved from: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vegan-series-ethics-1.5300813.

Nieves, K. (March 3, 2019). Vegan Activism and Anti-Indigeneity. Terra Incognita Media. Retrieved from: www.terraincognitamedia.com/features/vegan-activism-and-anti-indigenity-violating-indigenous-food-sovereignty2019.

Piracha, Y. (November 27, 2017). Decolonizing Veganism. McGill Daily. Retrieved from: www.mcgilldaily.com/2017/11/decolonizing-veganism/.

Zeidler, M. (September 29, 2019). 'Vegan used to be a dirty word': Vancouver's vegan pioneers share their stories. CBC News. Retrieved from: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vegan-used-to-be-a-dirty-word-vancouver-s-vegan-pioneers-share-their- stories-1.5298960

1. TRUE. Plant-based products have become a 50 billion dollar industry. 2. The main reasons for going vegan are d. ❑ All of the above 3. TRUE. Many vegan companies in B.C. have been purchased by international companies. 4. How many vegans are there in Canada? a. ❑ 460 000 5. Can being vegan reduce your risk of getting cancer? c. ❑ Maybe 6. TRUE. Veganism is good for the environment. 7. TRUE. Emerging evidence shows that people are getting more of calories from ultra-processed and packaged foods, and that people eating higher amounts of these foods have an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.