[Y_Y]

Looks cool. I wonder how it compares to classic plant fibres like hemp.

Also I think "vegan" is a bad tag to add, even if it was done by the journo. I don't want to open that can of soy worm-substitute, but the point of this doesn't seem to be avoiding the use of spiders or anything like that, rather it's just an efficient way to grow a cool material that bears similarities to spider silk.

[rob74]

Yeah, "artificial spider silk" would be better. "Vegan" underlines that no animals are involved in its production, but it should be pretty obvious that using real spider silk for such applications would be prohibitively expensive...

[piercebot]

Do you think it's worth editing the title? Will I step on any metaphorical landmines because the HN community (for example) prefers immutability?

[mimimi31]

I don't think you should have. The HN guidelines say

>[...] use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.

While it being vegan is kind of beside the point, I wouldn't say that it's misleading.

[buran77]

This being said, the word "vegan" is not properly used here, causing confusion. "Vegan" relates to diets and food in general according to the dictionary. The author probably simply meant "plant based" and erroneously used "vegan" instead. Unless they meant it's a dish in which case... yeah, I guess.

[tmp538394722]

It’s also used to talk about things like clothing made out of leather alternative.

[buran77]

I imagine that's also used erroneously. It may make it into the dictionary with this meaning at some point but right now people just ad-hoc borrowed the diet/food-related term "vegan" and apply it for things that use no animal products. Now imagine if someone called coal a "vegan energy source". :)

[elric]

Probably marketing nonsense, like "vegan leather" ... polyurethane just doesn't sound as sexy or as "eco conscious".

[Tobani]

fat-free sugar & sugar-free lard

[piercebot]

Thanks for pointing that out -- I've updated the title :)