Chocolate sour cream cupcake with rich dark chocolate frosting
The negative effects of palm oil on our environment and the habitats of local populations of humans and non-humans in palm producing regions is detailed in many places. Like here and here. As a May 2010 piece in The Atlantic concludes, palm oil is”… wreaking havoc on the environment.”
As responsible consumers, we have a decision to make – do we or don’t we consume products containing palm oil. I see this as very unfair. Why should we take on this burden. Those of use that are vegan find ourselves faced with a particularly tough choice. The most popular, palatable and healthy options to dairy products available in stores contain palm. Having chosen to reduce our impact on the environment and respect all life, we have elected a vegan lifestyle. We have gotten used to the joys of vegan alternatives and now we are learning many of them are not so vegan after all.
So what are we going to do? I think it is important that we let these manufacturers know that we can no longer support their products if they do not come up with new products that respect our vegan values. We need to support companies that do not use palm in their products. Our beloved Daiya cheese heard our concerns and took the palm out of their products. Wayfare Foods provides some good palm free options and is discussing a new margarine that will be palm free. Now we’re talking!
We need to continue to let the manufacturers of palm containing (so-called) vegan products know that we will no longer ignore their use of palm. We need to come together and make a statement. We need to use our voices to create a popular movement to make this issue the manufacturer’s responsibility, not ours.
Earth Balance is the most popular “vegan” butter alternative on the market. The manufacturers of Earth Balance have offered us a product they say contains palm oil that is responsibly sourced. The comments section of this post contains a few very crucial points that expose the inaccuracies of Earth Balance’s claims. It appears Earth Balance is trying, just not hard enough.
I have written to Earth Balance with my concerns. I used this email address, hello@earthbalance.net, which Earth Balance gave me via twitter when I asked them if they had any products without palm oil in them. I asked politely and received no reply.
It is time for us to put down the Earth Balance – and other palm containing products – until they respond to our concerns with a truly vegan product. We will no longer be complicit in their use of ingredients that we as responsible consumers think are inappropriate. We know that if they put their creative processes to work, they can come up with a tasty palm free alternative.
There are several really nice “cream cheese” (one example) and “sour cream” (one example) recipes available on the internet. This is surely no where near as convenient as running to the store. At Gone Pie we have been making “sour cream” and “cream cheese” for our products for a while now. This makes sense. We are a bakery and have all day to do this kind of prep work. It may seem daunting to folks at home to do the same. Please look at these recipes. They are so easy. And you will find it is SO much cheaper to make your own! Using home made versions just requires a little planning ahead.
There are also margarine recipes I have found on the internet, but none I am willing to recommend. I am maybe two steps away from fine tuning mine and I will publish it here when I do. It has a strong coconut taste and is no where near as neutral as Earth Balance in flavor. It works for our purposes in baking, but isn’t nearly as good a solution as the public deserves. And, in all fairness, I must admit I have never made a margarine based frosting in my life, so I have no idea how it will work in frosting recipes.
What about frosting?!?! I didn’t make butter cream before I was vegan, and I don’t make the vegan counter part now. But if your tastes are a bit more normal than mine, you crave it! There are several recipes out there for coconut oil based frostings. If you want some frosting, you can make it happen! Check out “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World” for a good coconut based frosting. I’m sure there are others out there.
The point of all this is to say, we need an option and we need the companies that claim to cater to us to realize we are serious. Come on folks. What do you say? Let’s speak up for what we want! And until these companies respond positively, we will work around their products and continue to create fantastic and tasty cruelty free food. These companies need us far more than we need them!
And now I am going to have a palm free chocolate sour cream cupcake and a cup of tea….
Tags: palm oil, vegan baking
First off, I absolutely care about the animals that are displaced for new farms, wherever and whoever they are.
However, I think it’s wrong to focus on palm oil. ANY new farms are going to displace animals. And there will be new farms so long as there is growing demand for food and especially for very inefficiently produced food such as animal products. The reason why people are so focused on palm oil is that in some places this is affect orangutans. But why are they more deserving than animals elsewhere? Because they look more like us? Because they share more of the same genes with us? That’s speciesism. What about the animals that are displaced elsewhere for alternative oils?
Palm oil is no less vegan than coconut oil or soybean oil or other plant oils. If we all switch to other oils then there will be new farms for those, too, and animals will be displaced/killed. And by focusing on palm oil then we open ourselves up to attacks by the “nothing’s ever good enough so why try” and “well, if palm oil isn’t vegan, then vegans aren’t even vegan and I can go have my steak in peace” crowds.
I don’t condemn people for trying to do better. I actually admire that. And I hope people will consider the animals affected by plant farming. But it’s getting to the point where it’s more a holier-than-thou competition where people are calling vegan foods unvegan and vegans eating those foods unvegan.
Thanks for your comment Meg.
Please note that I did not once mention orangutans. My exact phrase was “humans and non-humans in palm producing regions”. This localizes my concerns to a very specific area, not species. I am addressing a single issue , not the only issue.
If you feel OK using palm products, go for it. I personally try to keep my impact on this planet as small as possible. I think palm is a particularly troublesome crop to grow.
I know the issue of habitat destruction is universal to farm expansion. For me the biggest problem facing our planet is animal agriculture which is completely inefficient. But that was not todays discussion. I was making a case to vegans, so I felt the destructive effects of animal agriculture were already well known. As I said “Having chosen to reduce our impact on the environment and respect all life, we have elected a vegan lifestyle. ” I was merely suggesting we fine tune our activism and demand more from the companies that supply our vegan products.
What part of that is speciesist? And what part is holier than thou. You are free to ignore my concerns if you like. I certainly wasn’t calling you or any other individual out. I was calling out the corporations that want our vegan dollars.
You are right. You did not mention orangutans specifically. However, the first three links in the first paragraph all do, as does pretty much every other post I’ve seen (elsewhere) on this topic.
But if you’re not focusing on orangutans or other specific species, then why focus on that specific area at all? What makes that area special except that it is home to certain species that we humans consider “special” whether it is because they are more like us or more exotic?
Is palm oil really that much worse for the environment than other oils? Yes, there is the matter of taking over the habitat or wild animals, but again, that’s a problem with any new farms no matter where they are. Is there anything better about doing that for soy or rapeseed or olives compared to palms?
Veganism is about not exploiting or using other beings. Why wouldn’t we try to avoid industrial products that we find are critical sources of harm to other animals and the environment? And as the author pointed out, it’s not that it’s an individual’s choice of palm oil versus ‘switching to other oils’ – it’s the fact that so many of the products we consume, especially those specifically marketed to vegans, are loaded with this unhealthy, processed, cheap oil.
“Consumers can try to avoid palm oil … but consumers need the food industry’s help. Food processors should use the most healthful oils possible.”
“A leading cause of [Indonesia's] deforestation has been clearance for oil palm and timber.”
(These two quotes from one of the above links to the “Palm Oil Report.”)
Why not hold industries responsible for products that are cheap, that involve exploitation at the human, animal, and environmental level? What on earth is wrong with that? Veganism means standing for a deep ideal and philosophy. It doesn’t mean avoiding sticking up for particular issues for fear that we will be dismissed by a steak-eating crowd. In fact, pursuing the most peaceable path possible means enacting fully our vegan values and showing how deeply we care about the interconnectedness of all of us. I’d say that just by standing up for justice we are already “opening ourselves up to attack” – as most vegans have experienced first-hand!
I mean these words in kindness Meg. Not to embarrass, but to challenge you to re-think your position. There’s no reason to dismiss this issue. Any way that we can have less harm done to the world on our account is a good thing! And other oils are produced on already-productive farms – crops like canola, sunflower, safflower, flax, sesame, corn, and soy are usually grown on pre-existing farms and not crashed down into intact rainforests the way that palm (and to a much lesser extent, coconut) plantations are. People in the northern hemisphere can focus more on oils that are grown in their actual hemisphere; this reduces shipping distance as well.
But we can only do so much as individuals without the co-operation of industry and I’m so glad that Gone Pie points this out; so much of advocacy today reduces people to “Making their dollar count!” and being “Responsible Consumers!” as if humans can have their worth defined and their impact calculated by how much paper they can wave around and choose the lesser of evils with! In fact, it’s NOT just our individual choices (such as going vegan) that matter; we have a world full of industries, supported by governments, that are built on exploiting habitats of free-living animals, and all that too has to be challenged – and stopped!
Agreed. Earth Balance has got to change its recipe. This is devastating orang-utans, tigers, sun bears, birds, snakes – and indigenous humans…
We’re talking about 30 square miles every day being torn down for palm plantations. Think about it. Thirty square miles every day.
At the same time, we need to make a fuss with groups such as Rainforest Action Network (linked in your first para), Defenders of Wildlife, and other conservation groups that evidently don’t think veganism is a principle worth promoting. It’s ~the~ principle worth promoting (and as you point out, destruction of rainforests is a vegan issue; veganism encompasses conservation of forests as well as defending the forests’ inhabitants).
Quote from http://ran.org/content/our-mission-and-history follows.
Begin quote / In our first direct-action campaign, we led a nationwide boycott of Burger King. Burger King was importing cheap beef from tropical countries where rainforests are denuded to provide pasture for cattle. This campaign succeeded in several ways. After sales dropped 12% during the boycott in 1987, Burger King cancelled $35 million worth of beef contracts in Central America and announced that they had stopped importing rainforest beef. The rainforest issue also began to gain ground in the public’s awareness, and consumers began to appreciate the power they have to change things through their purchasing choices. / End quote
Uh, wait a minute…the campaign succeeded? Now BK knows the proper place to make their profits and all is well? Where is the beef coming from now? Is there really some good place to commit acts of beef?
There’s a lot of talk about rainforests of South America and Indonesia, and that’s very good.
Also, what people are doing in our immediate vicinity must be addressed. How many people know that the United States is the area with the most known extinctions in the most recent 500 years?
Well, back to your point. Good point! Come on, Earth Balance: raise your game.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by GonePie Vegan Bakery, Vegetarian Mom , Bill Nigh, J Muir, Vegan Wheekers and others. Vegan Wheekers said: RT @gonepie: New blog post: No more palm oil please – Can't we have true vegan alternatives? http://gonepie.com/blog/?p=2063 [...]
I think it’s absolutely fair to focus on palm oil. It’s the “poster child” for so many wrongdoings, and the industry just keeps growing, fueled by demand from U.S. business and consumers.
And I don’t agree with the statement above that “If we all switch to other oils then there will be new farms for those, too, and animals will be displaced/killed”. Using palm oil in EVERYTHING is a pretty new phenomenon, and by giving it up we might discover OLD, struggling American farms that are more-than-capable of meeting our needs.
I absolutely agree with you, both from a compassion perspective and an environmental perspective. What is the footprint of shipping that oil?
An alternative: what if palm oil is grown and harvested here in the US? What if another oil, such as olive, is used instead? These things make the price of the finished product go up a few cents, and that is what we pay for a healthier, more compassionate planet. I’m willing to pay that price. Some things are worth it.
[...] No more palm oil please – Can't we have true vegan alternatives … [...]
My company, Kelapo, sources and sells organic, Fair Trade certified coconut oil from Sri Lanka. We are helping to rebuild a country that has been devastated by natural disasters and civil unrest through use of their naturally occurring coconut palm trees. Coconut oil is also a viable option for vegans who don’t want to use palm oil. (Note coconut oil and palm oil are not the same.) You can read up on our sustainability and Fair Trade practices on our website. And ps, coconut oil makes for great frosting when mixed with a little powered sugar!
Palm Oil Forum…
[...]No more palm oil please – Can’t we have true vegan alternatives? « “Just a little slice of light”[...]…
Thanks for your comment Alisha. There is nothing to support the claim that local people benefit from palm oil plantations. Quite the opposite actually. This is one of the many articles I have read that discusses the problems with Palm Oil, including the impact on indigenous populations.
I do understand that there is a percentage of palm oil that is grown ‘unsustainably’ but I do feel that it is a lot smaller than people make it up to be based on reports by the RSPO. Besides, which oil doesn’t have this problem? and my question is, what is our other option in feeding 7 billion people on this earth, if we all decide not to use palm oil, and they stop growing it due to the fall in supply? Grow more coconut and soybean plantations which take up 90% more land to produce the same quantity of oil? Good thinking except it will just exacerbate the problem we face now. I feel that instead, we should work together to support sustainable palm oil.
I honestly have trouble accepting the RSPO as the overseeing organization. They involve some of the largest and historically most problematic corporations in the certification process. This bothers me.
I will continue to avoid palm oil in my bakeries products. It just feels right to me. A lot of the products made with palm oil that vegans use are luxury items. I don’t need Earth Balance or Tofutti to live. I don’t think sacrificing faux butter cream frosting, for example, is such a big deal.
Thanks for the discussion Alisha. It is always good to re-think a stance and decide if you still embrace it. I do in this case.
There is a list of vegan palm oil free products in this guide — http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/guide-vegan-products-and-palm-oil/
Hello,
I agree with you regarding palm oil, it became a plague, it’s almost everywhere even in soap, so-called organic palm oil from Colombia is indeed organic but not ethical at all (see this for example : http://www.befair.be/en/content/organic-palm-oil-causing-stir), on the other hand if you want to stay logical, you should boycott chocolate too, there’s almost nothing ethical in it, very few companies don’t employ kids or simply fairly pay or treat their employees and regarding the few that seem to care, it’s hard to check they really do… (see here for http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html)
Thanks for your article anyway.