“Mushroom leather” as sustainable & vegan alternative

[Introversion]

Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

Vegan leather alternative isn’t just the hot fashion must-have – it could teach us about consumption and waste

www.theguardian.com

 

[stephenf]

The Idea is not new myvegantown.org.uk/listing/vegetarian-shoes

 

[ChaseJxyz]

If you really wanna piss off a vegan, tell them that most "vegan leather" is just plastic lol. Mushroom leather seems like a good option.

 

[stephenf]

If you really wanna piss off a vegan, tell them that most "vegan leather" is just plastic lol. Mushroom leather seems like a good option.

why would you want to piss off a vegan ?

 

[ChaseJxyz]

I dunno, same reasons you'd want to piss of any person for any reason. In this case, it would probably be because this hypothetical vegan is being very holier-than-thou because by not eating meat they're healing the planet, and you and your stinky hamburgers and cow farts are ruining everything.

Every material that has a non-animal product alternative still has some sort of cost to create, process and package those materials, which still takes gas/diesel, chemicals, factories, people laboring in unsafe conditions etc etc. At least when you kill a cow to make meat, you can use the leather for something else (like how you can eat dairy cows once they're past their milking age), so it's not like cows are being raised/slaughtered JUST for leather (most of the cow is rendered into something that's usable in some way)...while a mushroom leather farm is probably only going to make leather. So even if we stopped killing cows for meat + leather, there's a ton of other products that we'd need to find vegan alternatives for, and I'm sure some of them would end up being environmentally-unfriendly.

idk I just really can't stand the PETA-type vegans who think that even having fish in your museum in Animal Crossing is animal cruelty. Or they protest horse racing even though the only thing people are doing there is giving out covid vaccines, so the whole thing has to be shut down for the day and that screwed some people over. So maybe I'd want to piss off someone like that if they're doing dumb stuff that doesn't actually help real animals.

 

[Tocotin]

why would you want to piss off a vegan ?

People like to do that. Veganism isn't about ecology or sustainability or health, it's a social justice movement, and as such it can be hard to understand. People get defensive and triggered just by having a vegan around them, and sometimes even that is not needed.

There are other interesting vegan substitutes for leather, for example cactus leather or cork leather.

 

[mccardey]

I'd be too scared to pick a fight with a vegan.




ETA: No wait - that's a Vogon. But I wouldn't pick a fight with a vegan either. Vegans are cool.

 

[Ellis Clover]

People like to do that. Veganism isn't about ecology or sustainability or health, it's a social justice movement, and as such it can be hard to understand. People get defensive and triggered just by having a vegan around them, and sometimes even that is not needed.

There are other interesting vegan substitutes for leather, for example cactus leather or cork leather.

Pineapple leather too!

Also vegans tend to have a decent idea of what most things are made from, it's kind of our thing. So's reading labels before we buy stuff

 

[Tocotin]

Pineapple leather too!

Also vegans tend to have a decent idea of what most things are made from, it's kind of our thing. So's reading labels before we buy stuff

Exactly! And I actually enjoy reading labels

 

[FrumosUniverse]

Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

Vegan leather alternative isn’t just the hot fashion must-have – it could teach us about consumption and waste

www.theguardian.com

I'm a Teacher Assistant for a Biology teacher and a few months ago she bought a few of these "mycelium bricks" to have me try it out before she bought them for the entire class. I tried out 2 different bags and both of them got moldy before actually growing. I think that in terms of on a large scale, it could possibly be incredibly reliable and easy to manufacture, but on a smaller scale, it could be challenging.

 

[SciSarahTops]

People like to do that. Veganism isn't about ecology or sustainability or health, it's a social justice movement, and as such it can be hard to understand. People get defensive and triggered just by having a vegan around them, and sometimes even that is not needed.

There are other interesting vegan substitutes for leather, for example cactus leather or cork leather.

Confused because I thought veganism was exactly about ecology, sustainability and health.

 

[lizmonster]

Vegans have a reputation for being insufferable.

Interestingly, so do I, although likely not about the same things.

None of the vegans I’ve known personally have ever expressed judgement about my food choices - at least not in front of me, and they’re perfectly welcome to grumble behind my back.

Which is to say, generalizations aren’t always the kindest way to approach a topic, I think.

I do eat meat, but I loathe mushrooms, and would feel a sense of personal satisfaction carrying an attractive bag made of mushroom leather. Like I’d defeated the bastards in battle.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Reminds me of an item I once saw on TV where a company was working hard to distill a taste additive out of a specific type of mushroom that was said to taste just like baked bacon. I sometimes wonder whether that project is still ongoing...

Whether I would consider mushroom leather instead of animal ones will depend on the durabilty. All my leather products are chosen for hard-wearingness first, not fashion.

I do not actually like mushrooms for food, but I love looking for and at them in autumn.

 

[Tocotin]

Confused because I thought veganism was exactly about ecology, sustainability and health.

Vegans may care about all these things (just like non-vegans), but veganism is mainly about refraining from exploiting animals.

 

[Introversion]

I do eat meat, but I loathe mushrooms, and would feel a sense of personal satisfaction carrying an attractive bag made of mushroom leather. Like I’d defeated the bastards in battle.

That’s why I wear the skulls of my chicken tenders. Take that, birds, you thumbless wonders! Thought you could defeat us monkeys, did you? Ha.

Personally, I have no qualms killing and eating animals. I’ve butchered chickens. It’s not fun, I didn’t enjoy it, but I like to eat meat. And as you know, we used to know the names of the steers that our steaks came from. But, the small-scale family farm that was, is not the experience most meat animals have. (Our chickens, hogs, steers, etc had pretty good lives.) I’d be highly in favor of vegan-approved alternatives that tasted and chewed like the animal products they replace, because I’d rather not eat the product of modern horrible factory farms.

I do wonder whether, if lab-grown meat is ever good enough and cheap enough, will most vegans be willing to eat it? If your hamburger was never an animal, that was killed, is the fact that it was cultured from some ancestral animal still an uncrossable line?

 

[ChaseJxyz]

I do wonder whether, if lab-grown meat is ever good enough and cheap enough, will most vegans be willing to eat it? If your hamburger was never an animal, that was killed, is the fact that it was cultured from some ancestral animal still an uncrossable line?

I've seen it go both ways. PETA, for example, is actually investing in lab-grown meat because it can lead to a future where animals aren't abused/used to make meat. But also they have spoken out against Impossible Burger (which is plant based) because they tested the heme-y protein on rats so it could pass the FDA (and the rats had to die, as all test rats do). And this was AFTER Impossible Foods collaborated with PETA to have the tests be as humane as possible, they still got thrown under the bus.

I don't think that there's currently any sort of USDA and/or FDA process for approving lab-grown meat, so I imagine there is going to have to be SOME sort of testing on this for it to be approved. So I can see PETA losing it over any rats that have to go through the tests, even though a small number of rats dying would mean saving the lives of billions of cows, chickens, etc.

Whether or not lab-grown meat is kosher (both figuratively and literally) is probably going to turn into a philosophical thing. As well as there's plenty of vegans/vegetarians who just do not like the taste/texture/smell of meat or can't digest it anymore, so they're going to skip this, regardless of their personal beliefs. And I'm sure every vegan/vegetarian is going to get really tired of people asking them "oh are you gonna eat THIS?" once the first of these products hit the market lol

 

[Introversion]

And I'm sure every vegan/vegetarian is going to get really tired of people asking them "oh are you gonna eat THIS?" once the first of these products hit the market lol

I’m sure, but I’m still genuinely curious, and not interested in “gotcha” questions.

The Kid was in a discussion with vegan friends. Someone asked, “So if I cut off my arm, and gave you permission to eat it, would that be vegan?” The consensus in that group was yes, because no animal had been exploited for that meat.

So, these are the philosophical questions I get curious about. I’m very much not vegan, so I have no dog in this hunt.

 

[mccardey]

I like to think of it as an evening-up kind of thing. We've had millenia butchering and eating meat and for all that time I'll bet there have been many many people distressed or disgusted or enraged by the practiseand all it entails. Historically we have not been brilliantly caring about feed animals.

I'm glad that voice is being given to other living things. I don't see vegans as more problematic than meat-every-day people. And they're much less awful than feedlot farmers or industrial farmers or backyard puppymills.

 

[Introversion]

Damn our economics framework that encourages a race to hellish bottom in industrial farm practices. Damn puppymill owners to hell and places lower and more intolerable. Damn people who can’t be bothered to care about either.

 

[mccardey]

Damn our economics framework that encourages a race to hellish bottom in industrial farm practices. Damn puppymill owners to hell and places lower and more intolerable. Damn people who can’t be bothered to care about either.

Damn!

 

[Tocotin]

I do wonder whether, if lab-grown meat is ever good enough and cheap enough, will most vegans be willing to eat it? If your hamburger was never an animal, that was killed, is the fact that it was cultured from some ancestral animal still an uncrossable line?

Honestly, I haven't given this issue too much thought. I assumed it's going to be years before lab-grown meat comes to my part of the world. I didn't even know how the stuff was made, and I had to read up a little on this, so thank you!

So yes, cultured meat isn't vegan, and it's not being made for vegans. It's for people who want meat, but are concerned about the environmental impact of their meat consumption.

When I first heard of lab-grown meat, I thought that I might eat it, because I like the taste and smell of meat, and I still miss it from time to time. But then, when I occasionally eat something that had been made to resemble meat very closely, I get squicked out. Perhaps it's because of what the concept of eating meat represents.