Dairy-free cheese juggernaut Daiya has been sold to a large pharmaceutical company called Otsuka, who apparently tests on animals and therefore isn't a vegan company.
And there's something of an outburst in the vegan community, questioning their morals and calling for a boycott.
[Daiya itself will not begin to test on animals when they make their products. So the issue isn't that Daiya has stopped being vegan, but rather that they're owned by a company who isn't.]
My first thought was, where are these all-vegan supermarkets where people were buying Daiya products in the first place?
So the standard of not adding profit to non-vegan companies goes pretty deep, if anyone actually believed in it. And I'm not sure it accomplishes what they think it would accomplish anyways.
Yes you're supporting a non-vegan company, but you're supporting them because they're being more vegan.
The world today, imperfect as it is, generally favors large companies over smaller ones. So that being the case, the best way to distribute delicious vegan products in a cost-effective way will sometimes be that they're owned by large non-vegan companies.
If it weren't possible for a vegan company to "sell out" to a large company who probably won't be vegan, then there's less incentive for people to grow vegan companies. (The gold at the end of the rainbow is part of the reason people do it.)
So if you actually want the world to be more accessible to people who don't want to eat meat and dairy, or who want to eat less meat and dairy, you should be happy to let this happen.
The non-vegan companies are helping to distribute veganism.
I'd suggest that the people who complain about this don't actually care about the animals and the planet as much as they care about their own feelings of righteousness. (Ironically, to the point of no longer helping the cause they're righteous about.)
Here's a gem I happened to see on Facebook:
So.. lol.. while we're eating vegan food at a non-vegan restaurant, it's a concern of hers to support a vegan product owned by a non-vegan company.
Asdfwnejsnticgwkfgh.
Typically when people criticize vegans, they're just projecting their own issues.
The "pushy vegan" stereotype is actually way more true of meat eaters in my experience. I've never really known a vegan who goes out of their way to criticize someone's choice, but it's so common for meat eaters to be like "TOFU!?? lol" or to be like "psshh that's dumb" or start lecturing you about why it's fine to eat meat or about how you're not gonna get enough protein or something.
But in this case, all criticism is warranted IMO lol.
I feel like there's a broader lesson here too, that people aren't defined by one thing that they do.
You can support someone in their capacity of helping an old lady cross the street or being a good parent or whatever without endorsing absolutely everything about that person.
And supporting their behavior that's good is really the best way to tackle their flaws too. Because now they have more motivation to do those things and less hours in the day for the rest.
So I'd even suggest that supporting non-vegan companies when they behave vegan is the very best use of your vegan dollars.
And that calling for a boycott of Daiya is causing things to be worse for the animals. (At least, if anyone listens to you.)
