New Delhi: Just as the term ‘veg biryani’ has no business existing, neither do terms like ‘vegan sausage’ or ‘plant-based meat.’
That is why the European Union’s (EU) proposed legislation to stop plant-based and lab-grown products from using labels like ‘veggie burger’ or ‘vegan sausage’ is not outrageous. This is not part of some anti-vegan or anti-science movement. It’s more on the lines of clarity and above all, common sense.
Beatles legend Paul McCartney has also publicly slammed the EU for the decision, but with all due respect, this isn’t the cultural apocalypse that requires McCartney’s wisdom. It’s simply about calling things what they are. And also stopping manufacturers from treating consumers like gullible toddlers who can’t tell the difference between a banana and broccoli.
The vegan sausage in conversation is traditionally and also factually, ground meat (pork, beef, lamb, or poultry), seasoned and stuffed into a casing. It can be loose, linked, smoked, grilled, roasted, whatever. But it is, by definition, meat.
Now, if I mash chickpeas, add paprika and oregano, and shove the mush into a tube, you may end up with a tasty product. But what you do not have is a sausage. What you do have is a seasoned chickpea cylinder or a legume log. Dress it up however you like, but it doesn’t change the product’s identity.
And Europe knows this.
They have strict rules on nearly everything: champagne is only champagne if it comes from Champagne, feta must be Greek, and Parmigiano-Reggiano is only Italian. Certain products require specific origins, production methods, and traditions, making them legally distinct from generic versions and also guarded by their regions.
But suddenly, when it comes to meat, people like McCartney want to suspend centuries of culinary identity so a pea-protein patty can cosplay as a burger? Please.
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Beyond West
If anything, Europe’s stance is consistent. India’s experience with liquor labelling is a perfect parallel to this plant-based meat fiasco.
Many Indian blended whiskies are actually high in molasses, which makes their profile closer to rum by Western standards. So in Europe, they can’t be sold as whisky.
Now, one can see it as Europe insulting India, but instead, they are simply protecting the meaning of a category. And, standards do matter.
But this is not a Western-only issue. Japan protects the term wagyu. Italians will probably chase you across continents if you try to call your home-baked flatbread pizza Napoletana.
Even in India, calling paneer, cottage cheese, causes a mini-identity crisis, and calling a vegetable-loaded rice, biryani, can lead to a full-blown war.
Honestly, in this whole conversation and the proposed legislation by the EU, nowhere has it been pointed out that plant-based products are the problem.
They are innovative, even healthier for some and maybe better for the planet overall. So, I am all in for a lab-grown chicken and mushroom-based lamb. But the issue is not what these foods are, but what they pretend to be.
Why do they have to impersonate? Why does every plant-based product need to masquerade as its meatier cousin to be appealing? Why do vegans or vegetarians need to build their diets around imitation meat in the first place?
If something isn’t something, don’t call it that. You don’t call almond milk “cow juice lite”. You don’t call tofu “soy paneer” (okay, some people do, but they shouldn’t).
Just provide new terminology. After all, if you are creative enough to create plant-based meat, I am sure naming wouldn’t be much of a hassle.
So, the EU’s proposed law makes sense. Because at some point, you have to stop pretending a chickpea is a chicken. A spade is a spade. And no matter how catchy the branding is, a sausage is a sausage, until it isn’t.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)