Plant based chips?

lustycourtier

Emp_Fab said:

maharg101 said:

I can assure you that chips cooked in animal fats are definitely not plant based. 

I would argue to the contrary.  The chips are plant based.  The method of cooking them does not change what they are.
Cooking them in animal fat (who the fuck deep-fries in animal fat anyway ??!!) would render them non-vegan, but they are still plant based.  If you wrap a carrot in prosciutto, it's still a bloody carrot !

Many many chippys still use beef dripping. In fact, as soon as I get Yorkshire side of Manchester or south of Crewe, I cant eat chips. Seems Veg oil is only used in Northwest. 

thecolourbox

It's just a search filter on an app that allows quick and easy browsing of the foods you can eat if you're veggie, without having to scroll through descriptions or photos of cooked dead animals etc. I'm from the Black Country where chips are routinely cooked in dripping, or you could end up with the magical Orange Chips which are battered, neither of which would be suitable to somebody who follows a plant based diet.

I'm not a veggie or vegan but do tend to err towards those options when seeking junk food as its invariably crap (albeit tasty crap) and I feel less bad about eating it if I know an animal hasn't been killed for this pathetic looking greasy patty. So the plant based search filter is useful, inclusive, and only seems to be a problem to those who take a fundamentalist style view of the literal meaning of two words on an app built for convenience of use for all, rather than considering that two words together as a phrase may nean something specific,  all so they can moan about something completely irrelevant to them.

If I piss on somebody's chips, are they still plant based?

Reverend

elstoof said:

Beef dripping is still widely used in god-tier chippies

ftfy

munckee

lustycourtier said:

Emp_Fab said:

maharg101 said:

I can assure you that chips cooked in animal fats are definitely not plant based. 

I would argue to the contrary.  The chips are plant based.  The method of cooking them does not change what they are.
Cooking them in animal fat (who the fuck deep-fries in animal fat anyway ??!!) would render them non-vegan, but they are still plant based.  If you wrap a carrot in prosciutto, it's still a bloody carrot !

Many many chippys still use beef dripping. In fact, as soon as I get Yorkshire side of Manchester or south of Crewe, I cant eat chips. Seems Veg oil is only used in Northwest. 

Not down proper south as far as I know, except maybe Rick Steins. But then we don’t put gravy on either as we are not savages.  

DefaultM

Plant based isnt to be taken as meaning vegan. Burger King have got a vegan Royale, but I recently found out they have to call the Whopper version plant based because they cook it on the same grill as the meat.
So its got a plant base, coated in animal juices.
So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

RaymondLin

Emp_Fab said:

maharg101 said:

I can assure you that chips cooked in animal fats are definitely not plant based. 

I would argue to the contrary.  The chips are plant based.  The method of cooking them does not change what they are.
Cooking them in animal fat (who the fuck deep-fries in animal fat anyway ??!!) would render them non-vegan, but they are still plant based.  If you wrap a carrot in prosciutto, it's still a bloody carrot !

You are confusing the difference between potatoes and chips.

One is the raw ingredient, one is the final product.  They are not selling raw potatoes, they are selling cooked chips.

Potato is a plant, Chip is the final product for sale, the METHOD of cooking affects the final product, if it does not, then the potato won't be cooked and it won't be a chip.

How can you ignore the very ingredient that turn it into a chip?  They are equally as important as the other.  Try cook it without oil, try it.  Try steam it, try boil it, try bake it or even air fry it.  Without oil.  What do you get?  Not a chip.  It might be crunchy, it might be cooked, but it does not have the same characteristics of a chip.

This is as simple as 1 + 1 = 2.  

I am amazed it needed to be explained....

lustycourtier

DefaultM said:

Plant based isnt to be taken as meaning vegan. Burger King have got a vegan Royale, but I recently found out they have to call the Whopper version plant based because they cook it on the same grill as the meat.
So its got a plant base, coated in animal juices.
So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

The plant based whopper started out as the rebel whopper that had the risk of contamination, but now (at least my local BK) has a section to cook without risk as do many branches. Its best just to ask. 

SteveRobinson

munckee said:

lustycourtier said:

Emp_Fab said:

maharg101 said:

I can assure you that chips cooked in animal fats are definitely not plant based. 

I would argue to the contrary.  The chips are plant based.  The method of cooking them does not change what they are.
Cooking them in animal fat (who the fuck deep-fries in animal fat anyway ??!!) would render them non-vegan, but they are still plant based.  If you wrap a carrot in prosciutto, it's still a bloody carrot !

Many many chippys still use beef dripping. In fact, as soon as I get Yorkshire side of Manchester or south of Crewe, I cant eat chips. Seems Veg oil is only used in Northwest. 

Not down proper south as far as I know, except maybe Rick Steins. But then we don’t put gravy on either as we are not savages.  

Rick Stein offers the choice of beef dripping or vegetable oil in the chipy

RaymondLin

DefaultM said:

Plant based isnt to be taken as meaning vegan. Burger King have got a vegan Royale, but I recently found out they have to call the Whopper version plant based because they cook it on the same grill as the meat.
So its got a plant base, coated in animal juices.
So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

Perhaps because the chips are cooked in the same oil as the fish, sausages, burgers etc is why it is not labelled vegan?

thecolourbox

DefaultM said:

So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

It does tell you something though, it's absurd to take it as meaning nothing at all. It tells you it's cooked with the intention of being as vegetarian friendly as possible but there's a risk of contamination so you pays your money you takes your chance. But at least it's an informed choice. If you look at a lot of food packaging, it says may contain traces of nut as nuts are used in the same factory. Does that mean nothing as well? That you might as well go and eat a bag of raw cashews with your nut allergy because this loaf of bread was once within 50m of a nut?

Also I think I'm a sort of flexitarian as they call it, I mix and match between meat diet and plant based depending on what I'm having and what I fancy, so it's useful for my niche as well as I'm not going to be too bothered if it's plant based but risks meat contamination, but obviously for others it matters either morally or healthwise. My sister is fully vegan but not because she disagrees with eating animal products, it's just her digestive system is better off without it so she made the choice. If she happens to accidently have some cheese her stomach is in knots for a few days, but a bit of goose fat isn't going to be an issue for her. There are lots of different people with different needs, so a bit of extra info makes lives that little bit easier and literally makes no difference to those who don't need it there.

Not all fast food places use the same grills for veggie stuff as they do for meat, some might do but again it's wrong to assume everywhere does.

Sporky

thecolourbox said:

two words together as a phrase may nean something specific

Ta-da.

Consider it like poetry; there is meaning beyond the literal interpretation. 

DefaultM

The fries are meant to be 100% separate, as is the Vegan Royale. The Whopper can be vegan like @lustycourtier ; says, but they've said you should assume it's being cooked on the same grill where they've just had meat. 
I found this out because I asked for the Vegan Whopper and the manager suddenly shouted over it's not vegan, it's plant based because in most it's cooked in meat juices on the grill. So it seems some companies will use 'plant based' as a way of getting round things so that if it's not vegan they can't be blamed. 

So for me it means further investigation needed. I've already shit out the few I did eat now so it hardly matters, but it's a bit of a piss take to market it with all the usual vegan style imagery and packaging, but when you look in to it they never use the word vegan and they're usually cooking them in meat juice.

DefaultM

thecolourbox said:

DefaultM said:

So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

It does tell you something though, it's absurd to take it as meaning nothing at all. It tells you it's cooked with the intention of being as vegetarian friendly as possible but there's a risk of contamination so you pays your money you takes your chance. But at least it's an informed choice. If you look at a lot of food packaging, it says may contain traces of nut as nuts are used in the same factory. Does that mean nothing as well? That you might as well go and eat a bag of raw cashews with your nut allergy because this loaf of bread was once within 50m of a nut?

Also I think I'm a sort of flexitarian as they call it, I mix and match between meat diet and plant based depending on what I'm having and what I fancy, so it's useful for my niche as well as I'm not going to be too bothered if it's plant based but risks meat contamination, but obviously for others it matters either morally or healthwise. My sister is fully vegan but not because she disagrees with eating animal products, it's just her digestive system is better off without it so she made the choice. If she happens to accidently have some cheese her stomach is in knots for a few days, but a bit of goose fat isn't going to be an issue for her. There are lots of different people with different needs, so a bit of extra info makes lives that little bit easier and literally makes no difference to those who don't need it there.

Not all fast food places use the same grills for veggie stuff as they do for meat, some might do but again it's wrong to assume everywhere does.

 It's very different to your contamination examples. A lot of food packaging says may contain milk, but it just means there's milk in the factory and a speck might have got in where it shouldn't. That's a risk. At Burger King the standard is that they're intentionally cooking these particular plant based burgers in meat juices, but you might get lucky and they haven't. So it's an example of why if you're vegan you can't take plant based to mean vegan.
Plant based isn't a standard, if you're vegan it doesn't tell you anything, but a lot would think it just means vegan.

In general I take a view that as long as I'm trying then it's good enough.
If I pick up a packet of something in the supermarket that says 'Plant Based' but there's no Vegan symbol because in small writing it says prepared in a factory that may contain milk and eggs I'm still going to buy it. 
If it says plant based and the small writing says "because we've cooked it in animal juices that are now fully absorbed throughout the burger" I'm not going to buy it because it 100% is not vegan. Burger King know that, which is why they never use the word vegan but instead use one that implies it.

thecolourbox

DefaultM said:

thecolourbox said:

DefaultM said:

So yeah calling the chips plant based doesn't really tell you anything.

It does tell you something though, it's absurd to take it as meaning nothing at all. It tells you it's cooked with the intention of being as vegetarian friendly as possible but there's a risk of contamination so you pays your money you takes your chance. But at least it's an informed choice. If you look at a lot of food packaging, it says may contain traces of nut as nuts are used in the same factory. Does that mean nothing as well? That you might as well go and eat a bag of raw cashews with your nut allergy because this loaf of bread was once within 50m of a nut?

Also I think I'm a sort of flexitarian as they call it, I mix and match between meat diet and plant based depending on what I'm having and what I fancy, so it's useful for my niche as well as I'm not going to be too bothered if it's plant based but risks meat contamination, but obviously for others it matters either morally or healthwise. My sister is fully vegan but not because she disagrees with eating animal products, it's just her digestive system is better off without it so she made the choice. If she happens to accidently have some cheese her stomach is in knots for a few days, but a bit of goose fat isn't going to be an issue for her. There are lots of different people with different needs, so a bit of extra info makes lives that little bit easier and literally makes no difference to those who don't need it there.

Not all fast food places use the same grills for veggie stuff as they do for meat, some might do but again it's wrong to assume everywhere does.

 It's very different to your contamination examples. A lot of food packaging says may contain milk, but it just means there's milk in the factory and a speck might have got in where it shouldn't. That's a risk. At Burger King the standard is that they're intentionally cooking these particular plant based burgers in meat juices, but you might get lucky and they haven't. So it's an example of why if you're vegan you can't take plant based to mean vegan.

Sorry, my example probably wasn't quite as congruent as it could have been, I think I got a bit lost in my own views there and what I was trying to say. What I meant more was that the notes attached to foods aren't necessarily ever 100% one way or the other, there's always a risk taken but any info is good info in making an informed choice whether you want to go for that vegan burger than might be slightly meat tarnished, or that meal deal sandwich that may have been within a few yards of a nut. It's still useful information for those who need it.

Sorry for the essay before haha I get carried away when i'm trying to distract myself from other boring tasks

DefaultM

I think I edited in what I was trying to say while you were posting sorry, but yeah basically it's not a standard like the vegan symbol is. This chip shop could be a set of knobs and say "yeah a potato is plant based isn't it but then I've cooked it in beef dripping haha". I don't think it's likely, but that's what Burger King are doing.

I've seen quite a few things where it's all green packaging with leaves on it and bullshit phrases that want to make me feel hip and cool and I think oh yep here it is, the latest thing for me to try. Then I read it and suddenly oh wait no it's not.

Clecko

This thread has made my morning. 

thecolourbox

DefaultM said:

I think I edited in what I was trying to say while you were posting sorry, but yeah basically it's not a standard like the vegan symbol is. This chip shop could be a set of knobs and say "yeah a potato is plant based isn't it but then I've cooked it in beef dripping haha". I don't think it's likely, but that's what Burger King are doing.

I've seen quite a few things where it's all green packaging with leaves on it and bullshit phrases that want to make me feel hip and cool and I think oh yep here it is, the latest thing for me to try. Then I read it and suddenly oh wait no it's not.

I know what you mean, but still better than nothing I suppose. In general though i find vegetarians and vegans to be much more clued up about things (and therefore less easily led by marketing), as it sounds like you are as well, as it's a dietary choice rather than say a more woolly type of fad like only eating organic rice krispies or only eating marshmallows from the mallow marshes of Peru

Snap

Plant based is a marketing term that's all. An attempt at being with the zeitgeist, rather than saying simply "vegan".

As a vegetarian, I do ask, if it's not obviously stated, if the chips are done in lard or veg oil. If you go somewhere like Whitby, most chippys use lard as it's traditional. Seems to be more of a seaside thing, the lard (also present on lots of the clientele that frequent said areas).

Sporky

I'd thought beef dripping was the traditional choice.

You live and learn etc. 

thecolourbox

Sporky said:

thecolourbox said:

two words together as a phrase may nean something specific

Ta-da.

Consider it like poetry; there is meaning beyond the literal interpretation. 

No no, Ta means thanks and Da means dad in Northern Ireland  and i'm not your Northern Irish dad, though I do accept your thanks gratefully