About

Vegan Food vs. Real Food, also known as Vegan Food vs. Normal Food or Vegan vs. Animal, refers to an exploitable template that compares the ingredients of vegan food and natural food in which the vegan ingredients are long and complicated compared to the real ingredients that are humorously simple. The trend manifested in both image macros and videos, predominantly posted to TikTok in early 2024, using the song "E. Gadd's Lab" from the video game Luigi's Mansion.

Origin

On July 1st, 2021, Facebook^[1] user doctorgabriellelyon posted an infographic that humorously compared the ingredients of a Beyond Beef Burger and Beef Burger, showing that the latter was just "Beef" compared to the list of ingredients in the first. Over three years, the image received over 300 reactions (shown below).

On September 13th, 2021, Instagram^[2] user @eatnosetotail posted a similar infographic comparing the ingredients of plant-based beef and animal-based beef. The image gained over 3,000 likes in three years (shown below, left).

On September 21st, 2021, iFunnier^[3] @TheREWgarou posted an exploited version of the infographic that added the Soyjak vs. Chad template, receiving over 26,300 smiles in three years (shown below, right). Also on September 21st, the same meme was posted by Redditor^[4] finessingyamind to /r/exvegans, gaining over 460 upvotes. It is currently unknown which creator posted the meme first.

Spread

Going into the 2020s, the exploitable gained usage. For instance, on January 3rd, 2022, iFunnier^[5] @Bong_Jesus used @eatnosetotail's template, adding the word "Dog" to the right side, receiving over 10,600 smiles in two years (shown below).

On December 25th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @steve__nerf posted a video showing the ingredients of vegan steak vs. real steak labeled "Animal." The ingredients of the vegan steak were a long list while the real steak's only ingredient was a picture of a donkey. The video used the song "E. Gadd's Lab" from Luigi's Mansion as its sound. The post is currently the first discovered upload of the video, gaining roughly 2.5 million plays and 365,600 likes in five months (shown below).

Going into early 2024, the video was reposted elsewhere, such as by Redditor^[7] Brans666 on February 11th, 2024, who shared it to /r/197, gaining over 1,700 upvotes in three months.

The format received usage going into the year. For instance, on April 29th, 2024, TikToker^[8] @gefriertruhe_ posted a similar iteration about beef, gaining over 4.6 million plays and 799,500 likes in 16 days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References