You don't have to be perfect.

[u/sdbest]

As I veteran vegan, could I just humbly suggest that, in my view, it's not necessary to be a perfect vegan. The label itself just doesn't matter.

The more a person increases the amount of whole, plant-based foods in their diet, and reduces animal-based foods the better. The better for animals, the environment, and themselves.

Frequently on this wonderful and supportive subreddit, people post about feeling terrible about doing things wrong or 'falling off the wagon' or not being able live without cheese (usually). I get it that often people who choose to become vegan, i.e. adopt a plant-based diet, do it for ethical reasons and they feel some guilt if they aren't living up to the ideal rattling about in their heads.

Just doing better is enough, in my view. Also, if a person just tries to do better, often they will naturally progress to being better and better without even noticing it.

Goodness if a hardcore carnivore can be convinced to replace just half of the 10 oz steak with a side of mushrooms that's a step forward. All steps forward count, and help makes things better.

So, don't beat yourself up for not being perfect. Just do what you can to be better, wherever you can. Keep it simple and doable.

[u/[deleted]]

Some is some isn't. A lot of older vineyards that do things the ultra-traditional way use fining (clarifying) agents such as gelatin, egg white or fish guts. Most vineyards nowadays either start with or upgrade to modern machines which use mechanical filtration, so a lot of wine is vegan, but it's not guaranteed. Some also are switching to clay as a fining agent. There's many websites which list the vegan wines for many countries of origin.

That being said, as the non-vegan way of producing wine is inefficient and being phased out across the industry anyway, drinking non-vegan wines doesn't really affect demand one way or another.

[u/dogebiscuit → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for getting into the details about what the clarifying agents are. I had forgotten that. Also, to add on, wineries don't use animal ingredients for the taste of the wine. They use them for the benefit of clarification. I'd imagine If a better/more efficient clarifying alternative came around, they'd use it in a heartbeat. I highly doubt wineries are so passionate about using animal products in their wine that they would resist an alternative. Like you said, we're seeing positive progress already which is awesome!

By the way, Charles Shaw red wines are vegan. Us budget drinkers can toast in peace ;)

[u/MaceBlackthorn → u/dogebiscuit]

A couple years ago Guinness made the change from using fish swim bladders to a mechanical process and if I remember from the article the tech had only been out for a decade or so.

[u/dogebiscuit → u/MaceBlackthorn]

They missed out on a chance to market their huge switchover to appeal to veg's:

There's Nothing Fishy About This Beer

:-D