Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by janderson215 256 days ago
As an American currently in Germany, the food situation is soooo much better here and they would do well to not allow incorrect or misleading labels on consumer products. I understand what you’re saying about censorship, but this is a pretty weak example, IMO. We had something similar in the US with attempts to ban the word “milk” from “almond milk” [0]. Are there other examples that are more egregious?

[0] https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/almond-milk-can-keep...
2 comments
FinnKuhn 255 days ago
It’s not misleading in any way for consumers though. The consumer protection agency in Germany explicitly stated that no consumers have been confused so far (https://www.wiwo.de/100160889.html). The vegan/vegetarian sausages such as the soja sausage, which Konrad Adenauer invented more than 100 years ago, are in a completely different section and shelf in the supermarket and clearly marked as vegetarian. This law is a clear example of the government banning people from calling their products what they are and it is the opposite of free speech.
link
aziaziazi 256 days ago
I dont understand that view : peanut butter, coconut milk, cacao butter and plenty, plenty others exemples exist probably since languages apparition. A vegetal burger shouldn’t be called beef burger obviously but we all know what almond milk means. The misleading argument isn’t serious but an attempt to block a cultural changes some don’t like or profit from.
link
hshdhdhj4444 255 days ago
Further, then the term beef shouldn’t be allowed.

They should call it what it is. Cow corpse flesh.

The concept of calling a food that is meant to mimic another food with an appropriate modifier in front has existed forever.

So, for example, white chocolate isn’t chocolate…but with the appropriate modifier no one is confused about it.

link
janderson215 255 days ago
Also, in regards to the “cow corpse flesh” comment, I think we (particularly Americans) are far too detached from the fact that eating meat is downstream from killing an animal. If we had more appreciation for that fact, perhaps we would be eating more plant-forward meals. Whether or not that would lead to a decrease in obesity or other co-morbidities would be interesting to test.
link
janderson215 255 days ago
In English, we frequently use the French-derived version of the same animal to mean the food version.

I agree with you on white chocolate (and Hershey’s chocolate bar for that matter).

link