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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: November 16th, 2025

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  • I think what you’re missing here is the concept of the trophic pyramid or ecological pyramid which explains how energy is transferred from one level to the next. In general only about 10% of energy is transferred from one level of the pyramid to the next.

    Only 1 to 2 percent of the energy from the sun is absorbed by photosynthetic processes and converted into food.[2] When energy is transferred to higher trophic levels, on average only about 10% is used at each level to build biomass, becoming stored energy. The rest goes to metabolic processes such as growth, respiration, and reproduction.[3]

    Right now you’re just thinking of the cattle themselves, but to support the cattle there is the additional land space of all the food they eat (and also the lagoons for their shit). If we were to plot them in the food chain, then plants/grains would be the primary pruducer on the bottom tier of the pyramid, with cattle at the next tier. To gain 1 lbs the cattle would need to eat 10lbs of grains. Obviously cattle weigh much more than just 1 lbs so the land to support their 1100 lbs weight ends up being massive and not something a lot of people think about when they end up eating a burger. And above the cattle in this trophic pyramid we could place humans as a secondary consumer where there is another loss of energy as you go from one trophic level to the next. Not to mention 1 lbs of cattle is not 1 lbs of take home beef. A quick search on this number is ~35-45% of live animal weight ends up as take-home beef.

    You had asked about what the plots would look like with replacement foods grown instead of animal agriculture. The trophic pyramid answers that and we could forecast if we were to remove an animal based product then we would require only 10% (on average) to replace it with primary source non-animal food

    This is why I believe that if anyone seriously cares about the environment then the single, biggest thing they can do at an individual level is to reduce or eliminate their animal consumption. This doesn’t mean I think we shouldn’t care about AI data centers and other major elements of environmental impact, it just means that for me personally my diet I have direct control over. I can and should still care about other environmental impacts but I don’t need to ask a city board to stop feeding me animal products–I can make that choice on my own.





  • Cattle contribute to methane gasses through their burps and farts, as well as their shit fermentation ponds and maybe other things im forgetting.

    Cattle, like cows, deer, sheep, and buffalo, belong to a specific group of animals known as ruminants. Characterized by their four-chambered organs, ruminants are able to rapidly have a large meal of grass and hay and later digest it by re-chewing it in their mouth. In the cattle’s stomach, a rumen microbe called methanogen converts the excess hydrogen and CO2 produced during the digestion of this high-fiber food to methane. This methane, called enteric methane, is expelled from the cattle’s body as belching or burping.

    In 2022, methane from enteric fermentation accounted for 27.4% of total anthropogenic [caused by humans] methane emissions in the US and 3% of total gross emissions.

    Source (links the EPA report these numbers come from)

    There have been other studies on this topic I’ve read in the past but that was just first one that i came across






  • Looking at indianapolis this is laughably bad:

    Joella’s Hot Chicken offers a unique twist on Southern comfort food with a fully vegan menu that includes flavorful plant-based chicken and house-made sauces.

    Um… no. Not fully vegan. I think they briefly had one option but idk if that’s still a thing, not seeing it on the menu.

    Jasmine Thai Restaurant

    🌿 100% Vegan

    Delight in an array of authentic Thai flavors with a fully vegan menu at Jasmine Thai Restaurant.

    … the picture has shrimp in it, so also not 100% vegan

    10th street diner - vegan friendly

    This is one of the few vegan only restaurants in the city and is being done dirty here. There’s no option to report it as actually 100% vegan.

    Anyway, the project seems neat and could be useful in the future. When i say laughably bad im referring specifically to the AI model being used to categorize these restaurants. I can only assume it was an AI mislabeling these obvious mistake


  • Tofu is a general go-to as a meat alternative because of the high amount of protein, the many ways it can be cooked, and for being able to take on flavors well. Basically it’s very versatile. Lots of advice online for cooking tofu for a curry. My general advice is to freeze every block of tofu to give it good texture, then thaw and press. For a curry just think about if you want the tofu to be hard and firm, or more tender as this will impact how it is cooked.




  • I will once again and ask you the question you asked:

    Wouldn’t you agree that endeavoring to do less harm […] is better than nothing?

    Your comment is arguing against itself by suggesting insects are not worth the same level of endeavorment to no harm as other animals.

    This goes back to the definition of veganism i shared, where it’s a way of life to exclude animal exploitation, cruelty, and death, as much as possible. I can’t prevent killing every insect, but i can go out of my way to not kill them. I can let my yard grow wild, i can plant plants that create a vibrant ecosystem for various insects. I can let a jumping spider live on my desk and visit me during lunch because it’s not bothering me. This is not an exhaustive list.

    Ive already excluded animal meat from my diet, why would i introduce animal exploitation so i can eat lab grown animal meat?

    You seem to be thinking on a global scale when you poise your question. I’m not. I’m thinking about me as an individual and my own way of life.

    So why do you, specifically, need to consume meat so badly that this need must have at least some level of animal exploitation if not cruelty and death as well? And if you don’t already, are you willing to eat only lab grown meat going forward? If not, why not?

    These can be rhetorical questions, mostly because i don’t come to vegan communities to debate or convert non-vegans so I’m unlikely to respond again. But if you’re being genuine in reducing harm then giving some thought to those questions i think will help you better live your beliefs.



  • Veganism isn’t a diet though. It is a way of life aimed towards excluding consumption of things that result in animal cruelty, exploitation, or death.

    I’m not vegan because the vegan cheese is good. I’m vegan because i value life and, among many reasons, the dairy industry is atrocious.

    You say if they can’t make the vegan cheese taste better then don’t bother, which is also problematic. The OP talks about how it is aimed to be more sustainable and mentions current vegan cheeses might use palm oil. Palm oil can be vegan if ethically sourced but the problem with the industry is that is not sustainable and leads to deforestation.

    But even if you are not vegan, choosing to eat non-meat and non dairy alternative foods for even some of your meals can have a positive impact on the environment and your health.


  • It’s not that people think of it as “good”, they just don’t think about it at all. Most people don’t think about where their food really comes from, and where their demand for meat exists, capitalism maximizes profits.

    Then there are other issues, like lack of empathy, or just not regarding animals as deserving of life. Some non-vegans may know the source of their food but they simply don’t care.

    And then there’s always cognitive dissonance where they might care, but they shove that in the back of their mind and justify eating meat anyway.

    All this makes it difficult for a one-size-fits-all approach to educating non-vegans in hope they’ll change their eating habits. It’s not a matter of truth or good, it’s a complex matter of knowing, having the capacity for empathy, recognizing animals as deserving of empathy, and then believing that this information is more important than their desire to eat meat.



  • I usually make stuff from scratch and follow vegan recipes so i don’t have to “veganfy” a recipe. Like my family loves Nora Cooks in general and there is a great nora cooks pancake recipe . We’ve made that as pancakes but usually go the waffle route. It’s pretty easy to make and leftovers are great in airfryer (ok in microwave). We usually make extra and have leftovers for 2-3 days

    If i need to do a conversion on the fly i usually just do a quick internet search, check 1-3 sources and go with the consensus. My search is usually “[x] to [y] substitute ratio” or similar.

    For your plant milk i would generally go 1:1 but it would depend on the type of plant milk since some is thinner than others. If you can’t find anything specific then do your best guess and treat it like an experiment, take notes, and adjust next time. For your specific case this post seemed fairly detailed, mentions usually 1:1 but goes more in depth. For the things i usually make though 1:1 seems to work fine for our Almond or soy milk.