Monthly Hopium Injection #7
2023/11: AI predicts the WORLD will be Vegan...but when?
To the 8 new people here, welcome! Here’s what this is:
Ho·pi·um
A Vegan cocktail of “hope” and “opium,” prescribed as a healthy dose of optimism, without the need for clinical trials.
Because here, the evidence speaks for itself.
This is a showcase of a VEGAN WORLD coming: hopeful Vegan news from the last month, all here, all NOW.
You ready?
Let’s hit it!
🇺🇸 Lawsuit Results in School Offering Soy Milk:
The case was settled by L.A. Unified on the grounds of free-speech. For US schools to receive federal funding, they must serve Cow’s milk and “shall not directly or indirectly restrict the sale of fluid milk products…” Non-soy milks can only be available with a Doctor’s note… NOT AT THIS SCHOOL! This battle was a win in the war against Ag-Gag policies.
🇭🇺 Hungary Talks About Building a Vegan Food System:
They used their own study on Hungarians to support their statements! Since Hungary is a small country we rarely hear of over in the West, it’s nice to know they’re making progress too.
🚭 Cigarette Style Labels Reduce Meat Consumption:
Even though other studies find that Health is the #1 reason why people go Vegan (keep reading!), this study shows that the label with a picture of a non-Human animal in a cage leads to greatest decrease in selection of the products. Compassion for others can be our strongest motivator!
📉 51% of Europeans Are Eating Less Meat Annually:
Other studies confirm the decrease, but also found that, at least in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK, out-of-home plant-based meat sales INCREASED by 48% since 2019. So despite price being a barrier, people are still choosing the better options, especially burgers, which had the highest increase! Speaking of which…
🍔 Burger King Opens 15th Plant-Based Restaurant:
Most of these green Burger Kings have been in Europe, but Puerto Rico is technically in the US, so could they be next?
🇬🇧 Major UK Restaurants to be 50% Vegan by 2025:
They’ll achieve this by partnering with consultants to aid in B2B partnerships for the restaurants. The initiative was launched at the Plant-Based World Expo this month and the response was phenomenal!
📉 US Has Another Year of Declining Meat Sales:
It’s not just in EU, but in the US as well! If there’s any good thing that’s coming from this economic downturn, it’s this, and that’s because “brands” are responding by shutting down their killing factories.
🏨 US Healthcare Facilities Increase Vegan Range:
🆕 Vegan Food Releases (US Edition):
🧀 Finally…the classic Kraft Mac & Cheese has a Vegan version!
🍗 Daring Foods dropped their first line of culturally diverse chick*n bowls at Sprouts, Publix, and Target.
🍝 More frozen Vegan meals like Wicked Kitchen’s Rockin’ Chili Mac can also be found at Target!
🥛 On the way home, you can now stop by Insomnia Cookies for their Vegan cookies and Oatly’s Oat milk!
🍫 Vegan “Nutella” is hard, and Nut-free Vegan
”Nutella” is even harder, but Voyage Foods did it, and did it well! You can now get their Vegan nut-free spreads at Walmart.
(I am not affiliated with any brand and get no financial compensation from these links whatsoever.)
🔬 You Can Now Study Cellular Agriculture at Uni:
With Boston aiming to become the US food-tech hub, this is a major vote for training the next generation of scientists who will engineer the world’s proteins!
🧪 World’s 1st Animal-Free Lactoferrin Deemed Safe:
Lactoferrin is found originally in Mammalian breast milk but used widely in infant formula. It requires ~10,000 liters of whey to produce just ~1kg of it (valued $750-1500) - that’s a lot of exploited mother cows for next to nothing! But this important protein is known to regulate iron transport, improving red blood cell production and gut health across the lifespan. TurtleTree has removed the cow suffering and plans on making this limited but powerful protein abundant in plant milks and infant formula across the globe.
🇳🇱 Netherlands Opens New Cultivated “Pork” Facility:
I like Meatable because they’ve never used Fetal Bovine Serum and they’re putting their focus on a meat that would save innocent Pigs from the gas chambers.
🛰️ We Can Produce Cultivated Meat in Space?!:
NASA has been studying this for 22 years now, and Aleph farms already achieved a part of this in 2019 by growing beef from Cow’s cells on the International Space Station! Self-sufficiency is a long way away, but I’m hopeful that their research on closed-loop systems that can recover nutrients and recycle metabolic waste will be huge for ethical food production on land.
🌱 World’s 1st Veganic Farming Summit is a Success:
Advancing cell agriculture is important, but improving traditional organic agricultural practices is essential. Spreading free information on how to grow plants without the use of synthetic fertilizer or feces as fertilizer is key to building a VEGAN WORLD NOW!
🌭 Ultra-Processed Plant-Based Meats Still Healthy:
A new study published in The Lancet found that consumption of Ultra-processed animal-based products were associated with an increased risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases whereas ultra-processed plant-based meats were not associated with risk.
This follows another new report by the Good Food Institute which concluded that,
“Plant-based meat offers people a straightforward swap that can meaningfully improve the quality of [one’s] diet [in places slaughter-based meat cannot].”
Science is slowly showing us that not all processed foods are equal, so as this idea continues to enter our collective consciousness, people will be less averse to those IMPOSSIBLE burgers!
🤖 AI Predicts The WORLD Will Be Vegan By 2075:
“Provide a timeline of the world going Vegan starting in 2024 when Gen Z and Millennials raise awareness on animal agriculture.”
I feel like that last sentence is what allowed ChatGPT to be so ambitious, as change won’t happen unless we make it happen. Tomorrow, I’ll be going to a local monthly event to do some street activism on behalf of the animals. Wherever you are, will you join me?
Do you feel the Hopium now, my dear reader?
Jokes aside, what from this list are you most excited about? Skeptical of? The discussion continues in the comments below!
If you want more before next month, there are dozens of developments that didn’t make the cut but are equally interesting. I share them on Substack Notes!
As always, I am grateful for your time and attention - thank you.
Be Vegan,
Dani
Thank you for making this newsletter! ❤️ I really need that vegan hopium 😔