Surprise! McDonald's treats its workers like $hit.
There are, unfortunately, many ways to be an annoying vegan (just like there are many ways to be an annoying omnivore), but disease-shaming people has got to be the worst.
I allowed myself to get into a Twitter pissing fight with a lesser variety of sanctivegan last night. I'd tweeted my love for Native Foods' vegan cheeseburger (in response to @vegan's tweet about research into a vegan cheeseburger). Which prompted someone to helpfully inform me that home-cooked "whole" food is healthier. OMG. ya think?! I was getting a (vegan) bacon cheeseburger thinking it was a superfood! She specifically called out the salt content--as more than is ever healthy. So I pointed her to summaries of the latest research on salt:
It's Time to End the War on Salt - Scientific American
No Benefit Seen in Sharp Limits on Salt in Diet - NYTimes.com
Is salt really so bad for you? - Salon.com
But emphasized that the more important point was that it's good to indulge sometimes. I crave healthy food most of the time, but once in a while, a vegan cheeseburger really hits the spot, and it would be a pain to make at home.
I had this conversation in a less contentious setting earlier in the week, at happy hour. A very health-conscious, omnivore friend was disappointed with Native Foods because she'd hoped it would be healthier. She acknowledged that they had healthy offerings, but thought you could get better vegan at "regular" restaurants. Yeah, you can do pretty well at some regular restaurants... but sometimes a vegan cheeseburger really hits the spot. I get that that's hard to understand for someone who can just get a nonvegan cheeseburger whereever. For her, she was looking to 'vegan' as a proxy for healthy; to me, it's a proxy for more sustainable and less cruel. That's why Native Foods is for people like me.
I also don't dismiss the importance of nutrition for vegans in general. If you don't mind your nutrition, you risk ending up one of those assholes who vocally determines that veganism is unhealthy and that you immediately felt better upon eating animals. But the opposite can also be true: if you artificially limit your vegan diet with junk science (i.e., if you also try to eliminate gluten even though you don't have celiacs; if you eliminate salt because you're convinced it's bad; etc.) you also risk becoming one of those assholes who vocally quites veganism because you find it too limiting.
So do whatever works for you, but spare me the vegansplaining.
It's Time to End the War on Salt - Scientific American
No Benefit Seen in Sharp Limits on Salt in Diet - NYTimes.com
Is salt really so bad for you? - Salon.com
But emphasized that the more important point was that it's good to indulge sometimes. I crave healthy food most of the time, but once in a while, a vegan cheeseburger really hits the spot, and it would be a pain to make at home.
I had this conversation in a less contentious setting earlier in the week, at happy hour. A very health-conscious, omnivore friend was disappointed with Native Foods because she'd hoped it would be healthier. She acknowledged that they had healthy offerings, but thought you could get better vegan at "regular" restaurants. Yeah, you can do pretty well at some regular restaurants... but sometimes a vegan cheeseburger really hits the spot. I get that that's hard to understand for someone who can just get a nonvegan cheeseburger whereever. For her, she was looking to 'vegan' as a proxy for healthy; to me, it's a proxy for more sustainable and less cruel. That's why Native Foods is for people like me.
I also don't dismiss the importance of nutrition for vegans in general. If you don't mind your nutrition, you risk ending up one of those assholes who vocally determines that veganism is unhealthy and that you immediately felt better upon eating animals. But the opposite can also be true: if you artificially limit your vegan diet with junk science (i.e., if you also try to eliminate gluten even though you don't have celiacs; if you eliminate salt because you're convinced it's bad; etc.) you also risk becoming one of those assholes who vocally quites veganism because you find it too limiting.
So do whatever works for you, but spare me the vegansplaining.
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