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if i told you that a brand new
restaurant had opened in london called
bad vegan what sort of food do you think
that you could get there probably vegan
junk food right but this is where it
gets really confusing because whilst you
can get vegan junk food at bad vegan you
can also get things like beef brisket
salami and bacon and no unfortunately i
don't mean the plant-based alternatives
i mean actual beef brisket salami and
bacon as in animal flesh because
according to bad vegan a bad vegan is
someone who eats meat now the concept of
an establishment serving both vegan and
non-vegan options is hardly
controversial or new but what's
different about bad vegan is how they
market and promote themselves in their
own words they say traditional
restaurants offer vegan alternatives
we've flipped it and offer non-vegan
alternatives and if you go on their
website to sign up to their newsletter
it says become a badass vegan but what
exactly does this mean does being a
badass vegan mean choosing to add meat
to what would otherwise have been a
vegan meal now i wouldn't normally make
a video about a topic such as this one
but what i think is interesting about
the case of bad vegan is how it
represents a broader and wider problem
which is the dilution of veganism and
what i mean by that is the dilution of
the true meaning behind being a vegan
now being a vegan means taking a
philosophical and ethical position we
try to as far as is possible and
practicable reduce the use and
exploitation of animals however bad
vegan and others who have a similar
mentality to bad vegan are viewing
veganism as being a diet something that
you can do badly it's almost like you
have a cheat day when you're on your
diet well they're saying you can have
meat and still call yourself a vegan
because being a vegan just means you
know eating more plants they've
completely missed the point of what
being a vegan is and this is what i mean
by the dilution of veganism the
conflation of being a vegan with just
eating a plant-based diet now the thing
is food is just a symptom of the problem
absolutely when we look at the
exploitation of animals the vast
majority of the exploitation takes place
for food but food is a symptom of the
problem the problem is our mentality the
problem is the fact that we normalize
and perpetuate the exploitation of
animals in all the different ways that
we do that's the issue is when we
conflate veganism we've just been about
food we ignore the true ethical meaning
behind being a vegan which is really
acknowledging and challenging that
speciesist mindset that allows
exploitation to happen in any form and
when we acknowledge veganism as being a
philosophical belief system we realize
very quickly how arbitrary and
nonsensical it is to say that you can be
a bad vegan by adding meat to a vegan
meal now before i move on to talking
more about bad vegan and more about this
idea i just want to say a huge thank you
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today's video so let's bring it back to
bad vegan because bad vegan have a
couple of arguments that they like to
use to justify why they include
non-vegan options on their vegan menu
and when you look at their arguments
they just seem so obviously flawed so
for example one of the things that they
say is that they offer non-vegan options
to encourage people to reduce their meat
intake but how does offering people meet
encourage them to reduce their meat
intake as soon as someone adds bacon
beef brisket or salami to their meal
they haven't reduced their meat intake
in the slightest i mean they've reduced
their meat intake as much as they would
have done if they'd gone to mcdonald's
and had a big mac or had literally any
other item that has meat in it
ironically because of the way that bad
vegan market and present themselves
there's a high chance that many
non-vegans have gone into bad vegan with
the expectation of consuming vegan food
however when they get into bad vegan
they see the menu and realize that they
can add beef briskets salami and bacon
to their meal in other words the way
that bad vegan presents themselves and
the menu that they have is more likely
to increase meat consumption than it is
to decrease meat consumption i mean
imagine how many non-vegans have gone
into bad vegan because they have a vegan
child a vegan partner or a vegan parent
and they decide that they'll go to bad
vegan with their vegan loved one because
they want to be supportive so they go
into bad vegan fully expecting to have a
vegan meal and they see they can have
beef briskets salami and bacon and they
think oh great i can add meat to this
meal and just call myself a bad vegan
anyway how cool is that now this point
seems fairly obvious to have to state
but it seems like i have to state it
regardless offering people meat does not
help encourage them to reduce their meat
consumption bad vegan also justify what
they do by saying that they don't want
to judge or alienate non-vegans which is
absolutely fine vegan establishments
shouldn't judge or alienate non-vegans
but you don't have to serve meat to not
be judgmental or to not alienate
non-vegan customers for example i co-own
a vegan restaurant in london called
unity diner when you walk into unity
diner the first thing you'll see is a
neon on the wall that says the future is
vegan if you use the bathrooms you'll
see wallpaper with illustrations of
animals and phrases like i am not meat
or i am not a test subject and also all
the profits that we raise go back to
helping animals especially at the search
sanctuary so by bad vegans logic we
should be alienating non-vegans and
being judgmental because not only don't
we offer meat but we make a big point of
being proudly vegan for the animals but
this isn't the case we have many
non-vegan customers and not only that
but we have returning non-vegan
customers as well so we talk about the
concept of judgment that doesn't mean
that you have to offer them meat to
appease them it just means that you
treat them with respect and you treat
them as you would any other customer
which is of course what we do at unity
diner so you can be unapologetic and
respectful at the same time however
let's bring this video back now to the
concept i was talking about earlier the
dilution of veganism the wider problem
that bad vegan symbolizes now bad vegan
on their website state this a bad vegan
is someone who is committed to adding
more plant-based vegan foods into their
diet no that's just not true here's the
crux veganism is not a diet it's an
ethical belief system if a man beats his
wife that doesn't make him a bad
feminist that makes him a misogynist if
someone chooses to eat meat that doesn't
make them a bad vegan that makes them
someone who pays for animals to be
killed unnecessarily which is literally
the thing that vegans are trying to
avoid now the problem with bad vegan
positioning themselves as being
non-judgmental is they're insinuating
that if you're vegan you are judgmental
because what they say is the reason that
we offer non-vegan options is to not be
judgmental in other words if you don't
offer non-vegan options you're being
judgmental and i think this plays out on
their social media because vegans have
obviously been going onto bad vegan
social media and saying things like you
know you shouldn't be serving dead
animals in your establishment especially
as you use the word vegan in your name
and i think what that probably does is
it almost justifies too bad vegan why
they exist because bad vegans say well
we're here to be non-judgmental and to
not alienate non-vegans and then they
see vegans coming over and criticizing
them for offering meat options and they
probably say well that's why we have to
be here because of all these judgmental
vegans it's kind of this
self-perpetuating cycle where bad vegan
create their branding and say it's
non-judgmental vegans criticize them for
it and so bad vegan go well we have to
exist because of all these judgmental
vegans judging us for serving dead
animals but the problem of diluting
veganism is it creates a false
impression of what being a vegan is so
all of a sudden someone can do a
week-long vegan cleanse or they can be
vegan one day and non-vegan the next or
they can go into a restaurant eat meat
and then call themselves a bad vegan and
the thing is the animals only have one
movement veganism is literally all they
have because the vegan movement is the
only movement that's actually trying to
consider the genuine best interests of
non-human animals and that's why it's
really frustrating for us when companies
like bad vegan come along because
they're not set up by vegans they're set
up by non-vegans who don't understand
the true meaning behind veganism and
therefore think that something like bad
vegan is an acceptable name and an
acceptable idea to perpetuate because
they don't understand that veganism is
about trying to protect the autonomy and
the fundamental rights that non-human
animals deserve and that's why it's
really frustrating for us to see these
companies come along who are profiting
off an idea and a philosophy that they
don't actually fully understand and then
when we talk about the philosophy behind
veganism when we say no no veganism is
about protecting the animals and trying
to consider their best interests we end
up getting labeled as judgmental because
unfortunately the dilution of veganism
has made veganism seem extreme and seem
judgmental because we're constantly
soldiers consumers the idea that
non-judgmental veganism is this kind of
laid-back attitude you know you do you
i'll do me kind of attitude and that's a
frustrating attitude because it
perpetuates the idea that those of us
who say well actually no it's a moral
obligation to be vegan for all of these
reasons when we say that we
inadvertently end up looking judgmental
and preachy because we've consistently
solved the idea that vegans should
appease non-vegans by creating labels
like bad vegan or creating the idea that
you could eat meat and still call
yourself a vegan if you eat plant-based
a few times a week and to further
illustrate the disappointing and warped
mindset that bad vegan have on their
website they refer to the animal
products that they sell as being not so
vegan options which to me just really
summarizes all that is wrong with bad
vegan and fundamentally the mentality
that has created bad vegan in the first
place i think there is a concerning
problem with the dilution of the meaning
behind veganism and i think that bad
vegan is an interesting case study
because it's quite an extreme case study
it's the first time i've heard of this
this concept of kind of a vegan
establishment offering not so vegan
options as they phrase it and i think
that's quite concerning and i think it's
important for us as vegans to therefore
be mindful of how we advocate and i
think fundamentally what that means is
that we speak with integrity and honesty
and we say look this is what veganism is
veganism is about protecting and
attempting to protect the autonomy and
fundamental rights that non-human
animals deserve because unfortunately
the more that we appease non-vegans the
more that we create a confusing
belief about what veganism is and we
don't want to do that we don't want
people to think that veganism is a diet
that you can dip in and out of it's not
something you can do for 30 days to
cleanse your body it's none of those
things it's beyond food it's a mentality
issue a speciesist mentality issue
that's what veganism is trying to
address and unfortunately bad vegan
further perpetuates that speciesist
mentality because it still perpetuates
the idea that animals can be used for
food and more disturbingly than that it
says that you can co-opt the name of the
one movement that's trying to stop that
mentality from existing but that brings
us to the end of this video thank you so
much for watching it it's been a little
bit different i know in terms of topic
and theme but i hope that you've enjoyed
it and definitely let me know down below
in the comments what you think of the
concept of bad vegan you know obviously
what i would like is for about a vegan
just to be 100 plant-based that's what i
want just get rid of those animal
products from your menu and embrace the
fact that you can give non-vegans
delicious vegan food and that's the best
way to encourage them to reduce their
meat consumption i really really hope
that that happens but we'll just have to
wait and see won't we but let me know
down below in the comments what you
think about this issue thank you again
for watching thank you to skillshare for
sponsoring and i will see you all in the
next video
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you