Bord Bia has just been handed a wonderful opportunity to spread the gospel for Ireland’s animal-based food sectors.
News coming out of the UK today (Monday, July 24) would indicate that sales of vegan and other plant-based food options are falling significantly.
The reason behind this comes under a range of headings. But these all boil down to two basic trends – the increasing cost associated with these food options and the seeming perspective that vegan foods aren’t really that tasty.
Opportunity for animal-based food
From my point of view, all of this adds up to a wonderful opportunity for Bord Bia to really push the boat out and profile the tremendous quality of the wonderful meat and dairy options produced by Irish farmers.
And it’s an approach that can be taken using an argument that endorses the principles of a ‘balanced diet’.
Everyone agrees that the role of fruit and vegetables within our daily food consumption trends cannot be overlooked.
But the same principle must also hold where animal-based food such as dairy, beef, pork, lamb and the other animal proteins are concerned.
The vegan and vegetarian movements have risen to prominence on the back of their abilities to keep hammering away at the popular media in order to get their core messages across.
So now that these organisations are on the back foot, surely it’s time for the likes of Bord Bia and the National Dairy Council (NDC) to step up to the plate and give the other side of the story.
Vegan
A survey of UK consumers strongly indicates that lack of taste is putting them off vegan foods.
Surely, this issue alone is strong enough to help develop a public debate around the fact that animal-based foods are so strongly associated with the concept of ‘great taste’.
And the vegan sectors know this. Why else would we have the panoply of oat and other plant-based ‘milk drinks’ that are available in the shops today?
This was a clear case of using a term that was positively embedded in consumers’ minds – for all the right reasons – to successfully transition the entry of these new products into the market place.
Meanwhile, consumers throughout China and so many other countries across Asia cannot get enough animal protein and other associated products into their diet.
These people are not fools; they fully realise the value that the likes of dairy, beef and other animal products bring to their diets.
Surely it’s time for consumers in the UK and Ireland to be reminded of this salient fact.