oy vey it's the end of may
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CW: intro discusses anti-Black violence, gun violence
both chronically and acutely, U.S. grocery stores have been the epicenter of national devastation. over the past few years we’ve seen grocery stores as the stage upon which humanity has acted out chapters of a global pandemic; fights for toilet paper, performative appreciation of grocery cashiers turned front line workers, and shoddy iPhone videos capturing how far people will go to show how little they care for the wellbeing of others. within the past week a grocery store was the setting for an act of domestic terrorism, a racist massacre in a majority Black community. 10 people lost their lives grocery shopping.
immediately following such a violent tragedy comes panic-inducing bare shelves where infant formula should be. these two most recent events alone have forced millions of people (deeper) into survival mode. with every accomplishment of a modern, technologically advanced world we have completely failed to keep people safe and fed. we failed to prevent the preventable. we bear witness to it all and we are willfully continuing to fail.
please keep this in mind as we discuss the following bits of news from across the food system. for my non-Black subscribers, please don’t let reading the news be the extent of your reaction. if you don’t already have a trusted organization to direct your money towards, here is a twitter thread with the opportunity to pay Black people directly for grocery assistance.
if you want to reach out or share resources or mutual aid opportunities please reach out to oyveyitskay@gmail.com 💌
what i’ve read
Office snacks might be dying off. Good.
saw this trending one day on LinkedIn. any time I have had an internship or a job where I was offered snacks I took full advantage, even when the animal-free options were severely limited or just shitty. mostly because these positions were unpaid or extremely underpaid. I would absolutely rather bring my own snacks (if I ever work in an office again) if it meant a healthy work environment, supportive team, good equipment, unlimited PTO, and accommodations for disabilities.Call This “Meatless” Rather Than a “Vegan” Hot Dog to Increase Demand by 16%
I downloaded the study referenced, but it didnt disclose sample size or go in depth about methodology so take the conclusions with a grain of salt. I’m curious what I would choose if I were to be a participant in a study like this and asked to rank products based on labeling. I don’t really care what my products are called as long as I know what is or isn’t in them. do you have preferences between “meatless” “veggie” “plant-based” “animal-free” and “vegan”? comment below!
Key Takeaways from New Report on Veganism
this piece mentions veganism’s search term popularity is declining, according to Google trend research. the article actually mentions the study linked from the Vegconomist article above. interesting that they acknowledge the variety of labeling available on the market now but didn’t quite connect the dots to speculate that the variety of labeling terminology could be watering down what used to just be called vegan.Nespresso: Known for Human Rights Violations, Now B Corp Certified
i'm always curious to see how deeply certifications impact consumer perception on a product. it's especially interesting when you actually read through the certifying standards of certifications that are on products you purchase yourself. the context of parent company/subsidiary (Nespresso/Nestlé) dynamic adds another interesting layer to the conversation when considering accountability and responsibility.Kellogg’s to challenge new UK rules for high-sugar cereals in court
(directed to the story by Marion Nestle’s Food Politics) (CW: obesity)
the UK government has implemented new restrictions on food products that are high in fat, salt, and sugar. some of the restrictions prevent “junk foods” from being displayed prominently in places like store entrance, checkout, aisle endcaps, aka the prime grocery real estate that gets brands to shell out big bucks. Kellogg’s legal team is using a loophole to fight including breakfast cereals in these restrictions, their claim is that cereal only meets “junk food” standard if it’s eaten dry but not when consumed with milk or yogurt. I wonder if these restrictions will also impact online grocery shopping/virtual grocery real estate and how third party grocery delivery companies will have to accommodate?Hell in Amy’s Kitchen
a recent update on the complaints from employees against Amy’s Kitchen and a reminder to continue to boycott the company to support the people who have risked their job and personal security by taking this issue to the public.Infant formula: what’s the shortage really about?
Marion Nestle’s roundup of resources to learn more about the infant formula shortage.Faith-based foodies don’t stop at kosher or halal in search of sustainable eating
as someone attuned to the kosher food movement I found this article interesting. I also learned 2 new terms: eco-kosher and eco-halal that I am glad to be aware of.Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?
thanks for asking, my favorite quote is, “In an email response to questions from Grist and The Counter, the air resources board disputed the term ‘double counting’ but did not dispute that it was counting the same emissions reductions multiple times across different climate programs.”
it seems California is over-incentivizing methane capture programs and creating an alternate revenue stream for dairy farms and helping to pad financial projections for corporations like Chevron.
P.S. will dearly miss The Counter, who sent their last newsletter 5/19
coming up
events & announcements to keep on your radar
New Harvest 2022 - June 9&10: a conference digging into “elephant in the room” topics within the field of cellular agriculture
Cook for the Climate - multiple dates: an interactive cooking class hosted by Planetary Health Collective and various guests
Vegan Fast Food - cookbook by Thee Burger Dude now available for pre-order
kvetch sesh
I remember going to Starbucks with my (very very lactose intolerant) family when I was younger. At one point, both my Grandma and Dad were Starbucks Gold Card holders (major brag), this was back in the day when soy milk flowed freely. More specifically, benefits for the coffee chain’s loyalty program used to include free soy milk and free flavored syrups along with an entirely different reward structure.
Free syrups and soy milk benefits were removed in 2012 and our family trips to Starbucks got about $0.60/person more expensive. A lot has changed since 2012 (I paid $0.70 extra for a tall flat white with soy milk this morning) but the dairy debacle continues with recent updates like: Starbucks UK announcing the end of the upcharge for their oat, soya, coconut, and almond milks, actor and activist James Cromwell super-gluing his hand to a NYC Starbucks counter in protest of the extra charges, and a U.S.-based interfaith group calling for Starbucks to drop the charge.
The plant milk upcharge isn’t specific to Starbucks, my guess is the chain remains the focus of activists because of its global power and the scale of the example it would set if the protests succeeded at dropping the charges. In non Starbucks news, Blue Bottle has apparently championed an oat milk default initiative in its stores and has always offered plant milks at no upcharge, so it is feasible for a coffee chain. In the majority of coffee shops, choosing a plant milk instead of a cow dairy option tacks on an extra $0.60-$2.00 (yes I have seen with my own eyes a $2 plant milk upcharge) to the price of your coffee. Many of the articles discussing the “vegan tax” do a fine job acknowledging reasons to drop the upcharge; it’s unfair considering the majority of the global population is lactose intolerant (lactase persistence is an evolutionary adapation), dairy milk is one of the most common dietary allergens, industrialized dairy (and the related animal meat industry) production is horrible for the environment according to most metrics of carbon emissions, water use, etc.
Often the logic justifying plant-milk upcharge is that these milks cost more so shops charge more or plant-milk is considered a customization, like getting whipped cream or adding 5 pumps of caramel drizzle, so the additional cost is passed on to the consumer. So many questions immediately come to mind when this reasoning is presented. Why do they not charge when people swap skim milk for the 2% default or when people order sugar-free vanilla syrup instead of sugar-containing vanilla syrup? Why is swapping whole dairy milk for the default 2% not more expensive when whole milk costs more? Why is the plant milk upcharge a flat fee instead of calculated by drink size? How come anyone can walk over to the condiment counter and pour as much half & half or other dairy milk creamers into their cup at no additional charge but plant milks are locked down behind the counter…?
I can feel your eye roll coming so, to clarify, yes I know most of the questions have a simple answer; companies will make an extra buck at every opportunity no need to bring nuanced logic into this when it’s simply another opportunity to maximize profits. I also know that I don’t have to order a coffee with plant milk if I don’t want to pay more or I could continue to work around the charge by bringing my own cup (get a $0.10 discount because #sustainable) and add creamer at home as I often do, I also have the privilege of not worrying much the impact of shelling out $0.70 extra per occasional outside-my-home coffee order.
While I am absolutely in favor dropping the upcharge, I also think we need to dig deeper when challenging institutions. If every single Starbucks dropped the plant milk charge tomorrow, most of the protesters and organizers would consider it a success. Starbucks would fade into the mass of other exploitative global corporate powers that can claim it’s #VeganFriendly! Of course we have to accomplish small goals before we can reach big ones and every step of progress adds up; however, this conversation has been on my radar for about a decade and I have rarely seen the scope of discussion go beyond the additional cost for plant milk.
This Paul McCartney quote exemplifies the issue I take with framing the upcharge as our end goal.
So many more questions.
Tell me, Mr. McCartney, how will saving consumers $0.70 per latte will be causative (or correlative, frankly) in achieving environmental justice and improving animal welfare? Is there data from other countries where Starbucks has dropped the charge that I’m missing? Will Starbucks dropping the charge impact the amount of cow dairy milk the company purchases? Will shifting people’s coffee milk preferences also shift their purchases of other animal-containing food and beverage items to animal-free ones? Will Starbucks not raise all the drink prices by $0.70 to compensate for the loss as they simultaneously market themselves as being environmentalists and animal lovers?
Animal-free food and beverage options are continuing to increase but that’s not changing our agricultural policies or lessening the production of foods made from animals. According to the NY Times we haven’t yet reached peak plant milk market, though demand for plant milks is substantial and growing. The dairy industry also happens to be struggling, as it has for decades, but even the USDA knows we can’t really blame or credit consumer purchase of plant milk for this. Despite every person I follow on Instagram declaring their love of oat milk lattes, annual production of dairy milk in the U.S. increased from 2020 to 2021.
Our food system is still systemically and systematically rooted in industrialized animal agriculture, same as it was before there was a Starbucks on every corner and same as it will be when every Starbucks cafe drops the plant milk upcharge. Big Meat and Dairy will continue to consolidate power and have a ridiculous influence in our government, agricultural landscape, food policies, nutrition research, etc whether or not you and I pay the upcharge at Starbucks and/or our local coffee shop.
Ditching the upcharge and encouraging people to drink plant milk can be part of our strategy. Let’s move away from framing environmental justice and animal welfare as fights that can be won by half-assed corporate gestures that do more for a brand’s PR than anything else. Acts of consumption are not radical solutions and will not bring about necessary systemic change.
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Hi Kayla! Thanks for sharing the contents of your brain :) I was really intrigued by the articles you shared, especially the Nespresso B Corp one. It's interesting, a former employer of mine once considered applying to become a B Corp. During my research I was very surprised to see a number of MLMs listed as B Corps, which immediately signaled to me that it truly is nothing but a marketing scheme at its core. Same goes for Nestle/Nespresso. I think the concept of this kind of certification for consumer goods is a good one, but this is the "force for good" equivalent of greenwashing (morals-washing?).