My vegan beef with Russell Brand?

so russell brand recently released a video where he was criticizing plant-based meat substitutes and so i thought it would be a good opportunity to respond to what he says but more importantly discuss the wider debate around plant-based meat substitutes and how they're being weaponized by the meat industry to try and discredit being vegan but before i do that i have a really big announcement which i am so excited to be able to tell you about which is that i've just launched my own ethical vegan clothing brand and it's called idea studios with the idea being an acronym for i don't eat animals now i've been working on this brand for quite some time now and so it's really really wonderful to be able to finally tell you about it and actually launch the brand as well but there's a reason why it's taken quite a bit of time to get to this point and that reason is the ethos behind the brand now obviously idea studios is an ethical vegan brand which means that we don't use any animal products or any animal derivatives but as well as being an ethical vegan brand it was also really important to me that we were ethical in other ways as well which is why we only work with manufacturers and producers who are ethical in their treatment of humans so all of our clothes are produced in ethical facilities where humans are not exploited or abused because of course human exploitation is a huge issue in the garment industry and as well as being ethical it was also really important to me that the brand is sustainable which is why we use materials like organic cotton and recycled plastic water bottles and so this is why it's taken a little while to get to this moment where the brand is being finally launched because from the very beginning it was always so important to me that it was done in the right way but i'm just so excited to be able to finally tell you that the brand is now live and so if you go over to our website which is we are ideastudios.com you can officially start ordering the clothes for yourself so just a quick point on shipping because we're actually shipping the clothes from canada and there's two major reasons for why this is the case the first is that the production team who are very close friends of mine and a lovely vegan couple are actually based in canada now they've had many many years of experience in this particular industry and as a consequence have some very good contacts with manufacturers in canada who align with the values i was just talking about so that makes sense but also the second reason is that the majority of you guys are actually in north america and so it makes sense from a shipping perspective to have our base of operations in the area of the world where the majority of you guys currently reside so i'm going to play you the launch video in just a moment but i really hope that you like the clothes because i've had so much fun designing them and the whole process has been really really exciting and a little bit different for me as well so it's been a wonderful process for me one that i've thoroughly enjoyed and so i really hope that you like the clothes and i hope you feel proud wearing them and i hope you feel proud displaying the strong vegan messages that are emblazoned on them all right guys here's the launch video i really hope you like it [Music] [Music] [Music] so that was the launch video i hope you liked it and i hope that you like the clothes and if you are interested in purchasing any then you can do so by visiting our website which is we are idea studios.com all right then let's get back to the video at hand and let's see what russell brand has been saying about plant-based meat alternatives being vegan or at least flexitarian and having a partly plant-based diet is one of the healthiest things you can do isn't it or all those new meats that are synthetic disgusting evil processed things that are going to kill you and so straight off the bat we see the overarching problem in this discussion which is that because plant-based diets have been touted as healthy that means that all plant-based foods have to be held to the standard of being objectively healthy however that's not the case and it also removes all nuance from the conversation because of course a whole foods plant-based diet is incredibly healthy but at the same time there can also be unhealthy plant-based foods as well which is why when we advocate for a healthy plant-based diet we advocate for a whole foods plant-based diet and look i don't want to misrepresent the arguments that russell is making in his video because really the purpose of this video is to highlight the wider discussion around plant-based alternatives and to highlight how they have been hypocritically weaponized to try and present an argument which just doesn't make any sense that argument being that because some plant-based alternatives aren't healthy that means that we shouldn't be plant-based going to linga on this point for too long but whilst there hasn't been a huge extensive amount of research comparing processed plant-based alternatives to their meat counterparts the research that has been done so far shows that if anything actually these processed meat alternatives are healthier than their meat counterparts including even for gut microbiome health and actually a study that compared beyond burgers with red meat burgers found that consuming beyond burgers was actually shown to reduce cardiovascular risk factors in other words consuming beyond burgers over red meat burgers was better for your health and these weren't just any red meat burgers these weren't ultra processed bad red meat burgers these were red meat burgers from a high-end high quality butcher shop so in other words even the best of the best when it comes to red meat was seen to be worse for you than consuming processed plant-based alternatives and of course on top of that it's worth bearing in mind that processed plant-based alternatives haven't been listed as class 2 carcinogens like red meat has or indeed class 1 carcinogens like processed meat has so there's that as well plus that notion of something being processed equaling that thing being bad doesn't necessarily always hold up as being true take watermelons bananas peaches and aubergines or eggplants if you're in the u.s these foods as well as many others like them are very different to the way that they naturally used to be and the reason they're so different is because we've selectively bred them and the reason we selectively bred them and changed their genetic characteristics is because doing so actually made them more edible for us as humans and so making them more edible actually made them healthier and more nutritious for us so in effect the processing of these foods actually made them healthier now obviously processed foods can be incredibly unhealthy for us and i'm not going to try and argue against that simple and objective fact but the point of what i'm trying to say now is that it's easy to fall into the trap of believing simplistic and reductive ideas for example that processed means bad and unprocessed means good but from a health perspective it seems more important that things are not processed because as a consequence of that logic we could fall into the trap of saying well this process plant-based food must be bad because it's processed whereas this unprocessed red meat must be good because it's unprocessed so ultimately the question shouldn't be which food is more or less processed but which food is healthy a forest based on its nutritional content and the outcomes that it causes in the body but to be honest this is all kind of besides the point because the purpose of this video is not to try and claim that there are not unhealthy plant-based alternatives of course there are unhealthy plant-based alternatives so i'm not trying to say that they should be held up as a symbol of health and wellness but instead what i'm trying to say is they're being held to an unfair and unnecessary standard and by holding them to this unnecessary standard we're actually overlooking what veganism is actually about firstly these foods are replicating foods that are already unhealthy for us take vegan bacon as an example vegan bacon is replicating pig flesh bacon from a pig which is literally one of the most unhealthy foods that we can consume so yes vegan bacon is healthier than bacon from a pig but no it's not objectively healthy but then why does it need to be why does it have to be held to such an unfair and unnecessary standard after all if we're choosing to eat vegan bacon we're not choosing to eat vegan bacon because we think it's the healthiest food that we can consume the problem is the media and also vegan advocacy groups as well have often touted veganism as something that you do for your health i think the mentality behind that is that talking about health is an easier entry point into plant-based diets than talking about the morality of what we do to animals but by making veganism about health it means that when plant-based food companies release food items that aren't objectively healthy they open themselves up to criticisms because the credentials of these food items are based on the healthfulness of these food items when actually it would be much more pertinent and effective to make the credentials of these food items around the morality of these food items you see when veganism is framed correctly as a movement that is trying to reduce the exploitation harm and death of animals it becomes obvious that it doesn't matter if these plant-based alternatives aren't as healthy as say a kale smoothie or a chickpea salad because the point of these alternatives is to not replicate the healthfulness of whole plant foods is to replicate the taste and texture of their meat counterparts and the reason for replicating the taste and texture of their meat counterparts is that people no longer perceive meat dairy and eggs as being something that they need in their life by creating plant-based alternatives that tick all of the boxes of what people want from meat dairy and eggs it means that in the future the meat dairy and egg industries will no longer exist now of course that doesn't mean that these plant-based alternatives shouldn't be healthier than their meat counterparts of course these companies should make their alternatives healthier than what they're replicating and it certainly seems from the studies that have been done so far that that is the case but do i eat a beyond sausage because i think it's the healthiest food that i can consume well no of course i don't the reason i consume a beyond meat sausage is because i like how a beyond meat sausage tastes if i wanted to consume the healthiest foods i could consume i would consume a whole plant food instead so the reason for consuming the beyond meat sausage isn't because i believe it to be a staple of a healthy diet it's because by consuming the beyond meat sausage i'm voting for a world where pigs aren't gassed in gas chambers or have their throats cut in slaughterhouses to create a product that we have an ethical plant-based alternative for i just find it so hypocritical and obviously contradictory that the meat industry is trying to weaponize the fact that these plant-based alternatives aren't objectively healthy as a reason to therefore not be vegan because the logic is basically saying oh hey you do realize that vegan bacon isn't objectively healthy i guess that means you should continue consuming bacon from a pig which is a class 1 carcinogen and involves causing so much suffering and harm to sentient animals that's fundamentally the logic that they're using when actually the logic that should be used and to be fair to russell this is the logic that he's using in his video is hey these foods aren't the healthiest foods you can consume so if you're concerned about your health then maybe choose whole plant foods instead and this is why brands like vfc are so important because bfc makes their branding all about the animals they say that they're an ethical vegan company and by centering the animals as being front and center in their branding they're signaling that the reason they exist is to produce a food that in the future will be a part of the reason why chicken farming no longer exists and i think we need more of that we need more food brands and food companies and more pioneers in the plant-based food space championing the animal rights aspect of veganism because that's what veganism is all about and it lends credibility to the existence of these plant-based alternatives because fundamentally that's the reason they exist to produce delicious alternatives to their meat counterparts which show people who are interested in veganism have been hesitant because of taste texture and flavor reasons that they no longer need to be hesitant by buying plant-based foods they're not giving up anything except the needless and abhorrent animal suffering that comes with the animal products they currently buy ultimately if we only want to eat healthy foods that's a totally understandable and amazing thing to do and of course we should all make sure that we center our diets around fruits vegetables whole grains legumes nuts and seeds and make those the foundations of our diets but it's also okay to eat unhealthy foods from time to time as well so let's bring it back to russell brand at the end because ultimately the arguments that russell makes in his video are not necessarily the arguments that i've responded to i've used russell's video as a mechanism to talk about the meat industry's propaganda so that brings us to the end of the video thank you so much for watching and if you're interested in purchasing some idea studios clothes then you can do so at our website which is we are idea studios.com all right guys thanks again for watching i really do appreciate it and i will see you all in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Earthling Ed

Views: 121,068

Keywords: earthlinged, earthling ed, vegan, veganism, russell brand, response, criticism, commentary, plant-based alternatives, are plant-based alternatives healthy, the truth about, is veganism healthy, plant-based meat, beyond burgers, impossible burgers, processed meat alternatives, why veganism is bad, why veganism is unhealthy, vegan fail, vegan owned, meat, dairy, eggs, reaction, the problem with veganism, reasons to not go vegan, debunking, debunked, destroyed, reasons to be vegan, red meat

Id: bfHVe2LCRsw

Length: 14min 43sec (883 seconds)

Published: Tue May 24 2022