Monday, 10 January 2022
Veggie Ads
The other evening found us watching TV and both Mrs H and I remarked on the number of ads there were for brands of prepared vegetarian or vegan meals. Inspired by the unsubtle Veganuary nudge of course. Naturally the ads depicted healthy families bouncing around tables laden with healthy food. Apparently they loved to drool joyously over prepared veggie grub sold in recyclable trays.
Mrs H and I are not vegetarian but we prepare a few vegetarian or vegan meals for ourselves simply because we like the recipes. My home-made soups are all vegetarian for example. What we are not so keen on are prepared vegetarian meals found in supermarkets, especially those which try to imitate meat such as veggie sausages, veggie burgers or veggie chicken fillets.
Some of those TV ads showed close-up delights such as a ladle dripping globules of brown goo with an unpleasant sheen to the goo surface. It didn’t even look tasty which surely missed the whole, drippy point. Didn’t work for us at all but fortunately we had the sound turned off so we couldn't hear the drips. We always turn off the sound for the ads.
One of our favourite veggie meals is a bean and tomato pie we buy from a local farm shop. Red beans, onion, tomato and herbs in a pie and very tasty it is too, with not a drop of brown goo to be seen. Sometimes I wonder if TV ads put people off the products they push so hard. Those bouncy families are just so annoying.
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11 comments:
One of the problems here is that the "ready meals" are probably targeted heavily towards the "concerned mums". Whereas young committed vegans will be into cookbooks and fresh food and nutrients, the ready meals are more for mum or auntie cooking for their recently veganised kids home from University or for Christmas. So it's got to look like meaty gravy and chunks of meat in a brownish sauce. And making that out of soya and caramelised cornflower or whatever is a bit tricky...
"Those bouncy - - - families are just so annoying. You left out "mixed race" and "in their shiny electric cars".
It makes me somewhat cross when vegans and veggies try and emulate meat dishes, like sausages etc.
Why can't they invent their own descriptions, so that normal citizens can recognise the slop they really are, and avoid the stuff!
Nothing against vegetables but the push towards veganism is very obvious, our local Sainsbury's post Christmas has a whole new section devoted to vegan ready meals.
I also have never understood why they have items like sausages that are not meat, you never get the reverse of a sausage looking like a Brussel sprout..........
I served a commercially prepared 'nut loaf' as an accompaniment to the Christmas turkey. People commented how tasty the 'stuffing' was. Had I served it as the main meal item the comments might have been different...
People under-rate how important the shapes of fruit and veg are. The ones that are best for you are banana, cucumber, asparagus, and corn-on-the-cob. Carrots too, I suppose. Anyway, not feeble stuff like grapes, apples, oranges, pears or Brussels Bloody Sprouts, or floppy, flimsy things like lettuce.
Not a lot of people know that.
The Jannie beat me to it. I on e remarked to a Jamaican friend, married to a white girl, that his is the only mixed race couple I know, yet TV ads are full of them, his reply was that he and his wife have noticed it too, and are not comfortable with it.
"Naturally the ads depicted healthy families..."
Every single one of them a mixed-race couple, of course.
Sam - I'm sure you are right, it's how the ads are slanted. A family thing where much of the focus is on pleasing the kids.
Jannie - very much mixed race. It's so obvious it's embarrassing, we can almost see the cast being counted beforehand.
Scrobs - they may as well give up on the idea and stick with what works better, but maybe acceptance is in there too.
Wiggia - add in the the gluten free stuff and it all begins to feel a little faddy.
DJ - if the nut roast resembled stuffing I'd want a good thick slice. I've always liked stuffing.
dearieme - we eat a wide range of veg but not floppy, flimsy lettuce. Lots of bananas, cucumber, asparagus, and corn-on-the-cob. Roast beetroot is good too.
Andy - interesting. I can understand them not being comfortable with it. It could be seen as patronising.
Anon - and it's not as if anyone fails to notice the mismatch with real life.
Truth to tell I don't mind vegetarian food as long as it's got some bacon in it.
Dearieme!
Fabulous - tea-sur-keyboard!
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