Jumping On The Beanwagon

Once a polarising trend, veganism is finding its space around the world as consumer appetites grow for eco-friendly alternatives that don’t compromise on taste.

- Angela Low

Banana peels substituting pulled pork. Tofu made to mimic meat. The thought of vegan food used to prompt puckered faces until Patrick Brown’s Redwood City-based start-up Impossible Foods hit the ground running.

Officially halal- and kosher-certified, this culinary tour de force landed on Singapore’s shores in March, leaving even the staunchest of skeptics openmouthed. This is no doubt a miracle, made attainable through years of R&D, but how did we go from cavemen hunting to sustainable dining?

An evolving idea

The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras broached the idea of vegetarianism in 500 BCE. But it wasn’t until 1944 that the term, vegan, was introduced by an English carpenter named Donald Watson to describe people who abstained from animal by-products (milk, eggs, honey, mayonnaise, etc) as well.

While many are opting to go vegan for health reasons, veganism these days is tied to the larger animal rights movement, with strict devotees eschewing all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty. This means no leather shoes, silk pajamas, pearl necklaces, fur rugs, ivory-keyed pianos or animal-tested make-up.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the agricultural process was fairly straightforward. Only when technology ramped up food production did extreme cruelty rears its ugly head.

To squeeze the most profit out of selling food, agricultural factories decided to cut costs in production. So that plate of chicken rice you ordered for lunch? Chances are, those succulent slices of cooked flesh came from a desolate, debeaked fowl that spent its life cooped up in an overcrowded prison.