Agreed. I love the stuff, and I doubt there’s a bigger fan of animal flesh on this planet.
Vegans and vegetarians (hell, everyone) have to figure out what they’re personally OK with and set their standard there. If you’re eating vegan for health reasons, you may well have that method of eating only to avoid as much (for example) cholesterol as possible, rather than being concerned with animal welfare.
Holy shit. I thought this was a total woooooooooooosh until I clicked the link. Ho-leeeeee sheeeeeyit.
Just make sure he doesn’t lose his Vegan powers! (One of my favourite clips from ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’)
I once at in a restaurant in Kyoto in which EVERY SINGLE ITEM on the menu was made from tofu. It was good, too, but I wouldn’t go back because you had to sit on the floor. Okay there were thin cushions, but I wouldn’t repeat the experience.
I especially like fried tofu in Chinese restaraunts.
Tofu is wonderful! Stinky tofu, sweet silken tofu in ginger sauce, fried tofu, mapo tofu, tofu in soup, cold tofu with 1000 year egg…there’s a million things to do with them!
Heh, he won’t do that, I think. He’s doing a trial short term to see if it helps with his weight loss (which he has already done admirably.) But he doesn’t care about any of the ethics of it and he’s a Wisconsinite so he’ll keep it up as long as he feels like it’s doing good, but it’s not like he suddenly hates cheese and bratwurst.
Figs? Well, that’s a new one for me. At least that seems to be a fringe, fringe opinion on that vegan website.
Oh bloody hell. If we start like that we’ll end up eating pills.
I suppose that particular person never learned about the amount of bugs/bug parts that are in all grains. It’s funny how some choose particular rabbit holes to fall into, when there are so many they need to climb out and jump into the next one. I feel lucky that the number of vegans I know just aren’t that crazy or dumb. Most don’t really even talk about it.
I hope the OP’s dad carries some of what he learns for life! I bet he falls off the wagon with either cheese or bacon, though. It’s nice to hear about someone who has figured out that meat and animal products don’t have to be part of every meal, and I think that’s what’s really important.
Do you have any Supreme Master restaurants near you? If not, you should look for one.
For the uninitiated, the Supreme Master Ching Hai is a person/personality cult that also runs a number of vegan restaurants. The one near me is quite good, even speaking as a meat eater! But the restaurant has several TVs playing Supreme Master TV, and a bookstore of Supreme Master literature, and a wall of pamphlets of Supreme Master information… you get the idea. It’s all really bizarre and amusing. But the food is pretty good.
Meh. The point of being vegan is not to avoid getting animal parts inadvertently, it’s to avoid killing/exploiting animals.
If the wasp was held down and forced to pollinate the fig, the fig isn’t “vegan” even if he or she lived and flew away.
And as for tofu, it’s only cube-like if it’s been shaped that way. It’s not like real animals are hot-dog- or hamburger-shaped, ya know. At least tofu isn’t made of lips, ass and entrails. 
Well, I’m not vegan, but now I know I can’t eat fresh figs. vomit smiley
Exactly. If the stuff is already dead by course of nature, why should it bother a vegan? I mean, I’m not a vegan, so I don’t know, but I like to think I understand vegetarianism/veganism to a reasonable extent. Why would it be unethical to eat living matter that is “naturally” dead?
Wow, they run the Loving Hut restaurants! I think those are fantastic vegan restaurants, I eat there semi-regularly! Its quite delicious. I do wonder, however, how good they are for you. There seems to be a lot of oil in some of their dishes
You want down the rabbit hole? Remember, hardcore vegans need to eliminate most sugar as well as things like cauliflower and broccoli.
ETA: or, you know, kinda what other people said, about the sugar. But my understanding was it wasn’t bone char, it was lard or other fats they used to keep the machinery running.
Oooh, I love those restaurants. I’ve been to a couple in Silicon Valley, and I recently found one in San Diego. I think I’ve been to one in Seattle, too, IIRC. Great stuff.
Why would they eliminate cauliflower and broccoli?
ETA: OP, your dad is adorable.
Not sure about animal fats being used for machinery myself, but as I understand it, the “whitening” of sugar with bone char is the reason some sugars are not considered vegan by some vegans.
What’s the deal with cauliflower and broccoli? My googling is failing me.
Same reason why they’re very rarely, if ever eaten in orthodox households who keep kosher: there are lots of crevices where bugs can hide and an uncertainty if you can ever properly clean them enough to ensure you don’t consume one.