Animal-Free Life
Veganism is in vogue. Fashion house Hermès now offers luxury handbags made from a type of fungus rather than leather, while a long list of automakers including Porsche offers vegan automobile interiors.
Not eating animal products is of course the original major tenant of the ‘ism,’ but veganism has expanded into a lifestyle choice that can be embraced by both one’s hippie relative as well as the New York City socialite. Firms are lining up to offer the finer things of life – in vegan form. Lab-grown caviar is being created in the UK by Exmoor Caviar, the same company that pioneered sturgeon caviar farming in the English countryside back in 2012.
Exmoor’s CEO Kenneth Benning says he believes it will become increasingly socially unacceptable to eat caviar that comes from actual fish, and while that might have sounded silly a decade ago, today his assessment seems highly likely to prove correct. Ethical living is what the cool kids are into. A far cry from the hedonism their parents and grandparents revealed back in the day.
Health, wellness, social responsibility, and environmental awareness are what a fast-increasing sector of consumers are demanding, and companies and corporations are stepping up to the plate – in the case of food; quite literally. Perhaps the biggest factor that’s helped drive an increasing number away from consuming or using animal products is the invention or development of substitutes that are not inferior.
Instead of a boring bean-paddy veggie burger, high-tech startups are now creating plant-based 3D printed meat so close to the real deal that even celebrity chefs and barbecue experts are giving it the thumbs up. In short, you no longer have to sacrifice comfort, style, taste… or much anything anymore, should you choose to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
