Fake meats terminology ramble

[tin_foil_hat]

Do you call fake-meats by their fake meaty names? eg. soysages, facon, tofurkey.

My friend does, and seems to think these are shibboleths that will gain him entry into our secret world upon use. To me they mark him out as not one of us *chants

Comments

[fe]

For me, it's a brand name. The name on my fake turkey slices is Tofurkey and my soy chorizo is Soy-rizo. I'm visually stimulated, so that's how I process things. This may affect how I refer to other fake meats, but that's along the lines of calling all facial tissues 'Kleenex' and all carbonated beverages 'Coke.' I generally try to correct myself, but I still refer to all cotton swabs on sticks as 'Q-tips.'

[tin_foil_hat]

Ahh, that might effect why I don't do it so much. My products don't have catchy names, they're "soy rashers", or "soy sausages", or "better-than-cream cheese".

[hell_or_glory85]

sAME HERE.

[devolute]

It depends. I find it difficult sometimes to be like 'oh man I really want a bagel with cream cheese right now' to omnis who know I'm vegan, but don't necessarily know I'm referring to Tofutti. I don't want people to think I'm inconsistent, because I've gotten comments like, 'um, cream cheese has dairy, doesn't it?' Duh.

I think basically I would use the vegan name with omnis and the regular name with other vegans. I usually say soy milk specifically because there are so many other kinds of milk, and I call dairy milk 'dairy milk' or 'regular milk'.

I feel like the 'way things should be' argument would often be counterproductive because people don't necessarily know you mean the vegan version, so you're propagating eating animal products as an accepted practice by using those terms.

Most of the time I don't eat fake meats, though. I refer to my tofu as tofu and my seitan as seitan, etc.

[tin_foil_hat]

I think basically I would use the vegan name with omnis and the regular name with other vegans.

I think I do this too, actually. But still "soy sausages" and not "soysages".

[devolute]

Yeah I never use the cute name. I would say Tofurkey though because it's a well-known brand name, but I never eat it. Maybe I would be saying 'tofurkey is gross'.

Usually I just add the word vegan. Vegan bacon, vegan sausage, etc.

[misledyouth00]

me too!

although sometimes i worry that i use the word vegan TOO much in clarifying. like most people i usually talk to obviously know i'm vegan and so i worry i come across as pretentious, especially when i'm talking about lots of different foods and i preface every item with 'vegan' like vegan chicken nuggets, vegan bacon, etc.

sometimes i just say, "chicken nuggets. bacon. meatballs," though just because i'm lazy and adding an extra 2 syllables is a bit too much work for me though.

[devolute]

Oh I usually say butter when I mean margarine, too. My family has never eaten real butter and we have always called it that.

[tin_foil_hat]

I do call it margarine, but in my head margarine and butter are synonymous, because we never had butter either. I find it odd that people ask in vegan communities "I have this cake recipe, but it calls for butter - will margarine be ok?!?!?!" when even as an omni I used margarine.

[bizwac]

Yeah, I lol heartily whenever I see that.

[blueheron]

I never understood that people feel that butter and margarine are synonymous. Interchangeable in most baked goods, sure, but otherwise the same? Not even close.

Though, it could be because our margarine is white and looks more like shortening, and it really doesn't taste anything like butter.

[shhhquietplease]

Using the real names feels... dirty, somehow. I just associate it as too meaty. Plus, if I say "I'm making chicken stirfry," all of the omnis in the room suddenly think I've seen the 'light.' So, yes, I tend to specify. I have to. Everyone's desperate to catch a vegan being "bad," and get goddamn annoying with the accusations. So I make the distinction.

[montrose_stop]

i hate that, everytime i go somewhere with omnis there all asking "are you sureeeee you can eat it", when its like an avocado or somthing. super frustrating.

[helen4morrissey]

Some of those are brand names, no? I tend to just say 'sausages/milk'. As a side note, 'actor' and 'waiter' are absolutely not gender neutral to my ears - they scream MAN! So I use 'waitress' and 'actress': I'd be really annoyed if someone described me as either a 'waiter' or an 'actor', as though the fact that I'm a woman had to be hidden AND male were the default gender. Anyway, end of rant!