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Generally vegan meats meat-fish-seafood-and-dairy-free when you see it on a generic packaging or restaurant.

Kosher at least in the US usually comes with a symbol and you know the ones that are legit (Orthodox Union is the most common in the US, the (U) symbol Ⓤ)




Vegan can also mean food that doesn't involve the exploitation of animals. That version of veganism means no food that requires insect pollinators.

A cutting-edge vegan discussion is whether lab-grown meant can be vegan. An animal need not have a brain to be an animal. And an animal grown in a vat is still an animal.


> An animal need not have a brain to be an animal.

How does that work? If I grew a chicken breast in lab, without the rest of the chicken, that's not an animal, right?


Is a human without a brain still a human? There are plenty of people in hospitals with zero brain function, some with virtually no brain matter, that still have full rights as humans.

If a jellyfish not an animal because it doesn't have a brain? A worm? Many vegans choose not to draw lines between different types of animals.


That’s not what I was asking though. If you grew just the organ, how is that an animal? I’m vegetarian for environmental and ethical reasons, if we have a way to create a chicken breast in a lab by assembling proteins, I would definitely eat it.


> There are plenty of people in hospitals with zero brain function.

Legal death is defined as brain death in many (most?) places. I think you mean these people are in a vegetative state, but their brain is still on autopilot so the body doesn't completely shutdown.


> Vegan can also mean food that doesn't involve the exploitation of animals. That version of veganism means no food that requires insect pollinators.

I'm curious: what foods fall under this?

Edit: I meant "what foods are OK to eat under this definition?"


Some don't eat anything "involving animals", nothing pollinated by bees, but others go with "not exploiting animals" and are ok with bees so long as it is natural pollination. Such vegans draw a line between natural pollination and the commercial delivery of bee hives to pollinate fields. Those hive often don't survive.


Lots of nuts, almonds for example require bee hives to be transported all over the country to pollinate orchards.


I just realized that I asked the opposite of the question I wanted to know the answer to. I'll fix it above.


Honey is the biggie. Also figs.





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