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Comment by theogravity | Hacker News Reader

"The results suggest removing vegetarian and vegan labels from menus could help guide US consumers towards reduced consumption of animal products."

The menu items would need to be descriptive about the ingredients used for someone who is actually vegetarian or vegan to know if the ingredients used truly is or not then.

I also get that these kinds of meals are generally cooked alongside or on cooking materials that may have come into contact with meat, but I haven't found a vegan/vegetarian friend that has been sensitive to that detail (unless it explicitly states it's cooked on grills and pans that had meat on them).

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Negative encounters with vegan meals in regular restaurants or with inexperienced cooks can shape attitudes toward the term "vegan." Unappetizing taste experiences may lead to associations with blandness, while poorly balanced nutrition can raise concerns about sustainability and health. Additionally, frustration with limited food options in social settings or restaurants may result in perceptions of "vegan" as inconvenient and restrictive.

> I also get that these kinds of meals are generally cooked alongside or on cooking materials that may have come into contact with meat, but I haven't found a vegan/vegetarian friend that has been sensitive to that detail

Vegans come in all shapes and sizes, and although I don't care too much about contamination, veggies smelling like bacon would be very unappealing. I wouldn't visit such a restaurant twice.

> The menu items would need to be descriptive about the ingredients used for someone who is actually vegetarian or vegan to know if the ingredients used truly is or not then.

“this study did not find that vegetarians and vegans were more likely to choose items with meat when the labels were removed, indicating that removing labels did not negatively impact them.”

Of course, the quote doesn’t address the stricter requirements of vegans vs. vegetarians.

Just because vegans and vegetarians were able to find the food eventually doesn't mean they weren't negatively impacted. It's a huge pain in the ass to find the 2 items I can eat on your 30 item menu without labels. Maybe a separate menu would be appropriate if we want to move away from labeling.

It also doesn’t address the fact that vegetarians and vegans will spend more time making sure they don’t accidentally eat something that doesn’t fit with their dietary choice, but that trawling through every ingredient for every menu item is a huge faff that’s avoided by simply labelling vegetarians and vegan items clearly.

It feels like the argument of “removing labelling will result in more consumers choosing vegetarian and vegan options” relies on, ultimately, tricking the consumer. That can’t be a good proposition to start from.

It would be nice if they had letter codes for meats like they do for allergens. I generally avoid red meat, but not for any ideological reasons.

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