This is a photo of a 100% vegan burger! I took it myself, no photoshop!

Vegans are up in arms (at least on twitter) about the fact that VegNews used stock photos (at times edited) in lieu of actual vegan dishes. The magazine has issued an apology, yet the issue isn’t over yet because, well – vegans are difficult!
Is it a bad thing that stock meat imagery was used in lieu of actual vegan dishes? Not always! For general vegan food stories? Not a big deal. For recipes? A bigger deal for sure. I can’t speak for me, but for those of you talented enough to cook, I’ve seen you  look at the finished product and at the image. I wonder how many frustrated people created delicious dishes that never quite looked like the images in this magazine? The folks at VegNews issued an apology and claim that there are not enough vegan stock photographs available to them, I view this with a bit of cynicism.
One of my favorite vegan hashtags is #whatveganseat. Without fail, clicking on this will yield a wide variety of vegan food photos because vegans love taking photos of their food and sharing it with others. There are also many vegan food blogs where the bloggers use actual cameras for their images, not just their smartphones.
That said, let’s look at the big picture – is the magazine purposely setting out to ‘dupe’ it’s readers? I don’t think so.  Are the people there trying to get out a message of compassion and veganism to the masses? All evidence points to yes.
I’ve seen the militant “more vegan than you” police come and go. At one point I was a card carrying member and shudder when stories of my earlier jerkiness are told to me “You made me take off my Doc Martens before I could step into your apartment” ooof. I digress. Let’s focus on the real issues before we burn (using sustainable wood from fair trade lumber) VegNews at the stake.

Bottom line! VegNews needs to not be so apologetic and hyperbolic vegans, so apoplectic.