Today, corporations like Google, Facebook and Microsoft have been dominating tools and deep learning frameworks that AI researchers use globally. Many of their open-source libraries are now gaining popularity on GitHub, which is helping budding AI developers across the world build flexible and scalable machine learning models.

From conversational chatbot, self-driving cars to the weather forecast and recommendation systems, AI developers are experimenting with various neural network architectures, hyperparameters, and other features to fit the hardware constraints of edge platforms. The possibilities are endless. Some of the popular deep learning frameworks include Googles TensorFlow and Facebooks Caffe2, PyTorch, Torchcraft AI and Hydra, etc.

According to Statista, AI business operations global revenue is expected to touch $10.8 billion by 2023, and the natural language processing (NLP) market size globally is expected to reach $43.3 billion by 2025. With the rise of AI adoption across businesses, the need for open-source libraries and architecture will only increase in the coming months.

Advancing in artificial intelligence, Facebook AI Research (FAIR) at present is leading the AI race with the launch of state of the art technology tools, libraries and frameworks to bolster machine learning and AI applications across the globe.

Source: Analytics India Magazine

Here are some of the latest open-source tools, libraries and architecture developed by Facebook:

PyTorch is the most widely used deep learning framework, besides Caffe2 and Hydra, which helps researchers build flexible machine learning models.

PyTorch provides a Python package for high-level features like tensor computation (NumPy) with strong GPU acceleration and TorchScript for an easy transition between eager mode and graph mode. Its latest release provides graph-based execution, distributed training, mobile deployment and more.

Flashlight is an open-source machine learning library that lets users execute AI/ML applications using C++ API. Since it supports research in C++, Flashlight does not need external figures or bindings to perform tasks such as threading, memory mapping, or interoperating with low-level hardware. Thus, making the integration of code fast, direct and straightforward.

Opacus is an open-source high-speed library for training PyTorch models with differential privacy (DP). The library is claimed to be more scalable than existing methods. It supports training with minimal code changes and has little impact on training performance. It also allows the researchers to track the privacy budget expended at any given moment.

PyTorch3D is a highly modular and optimised library that offers efficient, reusable components for 3D computer vision research with the PyTorch framework. It is designed to integrate smoothly with deep learning methods for predicting and manipulating 3D data. As a result, the library can be implemented using PyTorch tensors, handle mini-batches of heterogeneous data, and utilise GPUs for acceleration.

Detectron2 is a next-generation library that provides detection and segmentation algorithms. It is a fusion of Detectron and maskrcnn-benchmark. Currently, it supports several computer vision research work and applications. Detection can be used on Mask R-CNN, RetinaNet, Faster R-CNN, RPN, TensorMask as well.

Detectron is an open-source software architecture that implements object detection algorithms like Mask R-CNN. The software has been written in Python and powered by the Caffe2 deep learning framework.

Detectron has enabled various research project at Facebook, including Feature pyramid networks for object detection, Mask R-CNN, non-local neural networks, detecting and recognising human-object interactions, learning to segment everything, data distillation: towards Omni-supervised learning, focal loss for dense object detection, DensePose: dense human pose estimation in the wild, and others.

Prophet is an open-source architecture released by Facebooks core data science team. It is a procedure for forecasting time series data based on an additive model where non-linear trends fit yearly, weekly, and daily seasonality, plus holiday effects. The model works best with time-series data, which has several seasons of historical data such as weather records, economic indicators and patient health evolution metrics.

The code is available on CRAN and PyPI.

Classy Vision is a new end-to-end PyTorch-based framework for large-scale training of image and video classification models. Unlike other computer vision (CV) libraries, Classy Vision claims to offer flexibility for researchers.

Typically, most CV libraries lead to duplicative efforts and require users to migrate research between frameworks and relearn the minutiae of efficient distributed training and data loading. On the other hand, Facebooks PyTorch-based CV framework claimed to offer a better solution for training at scale and deploying to production.

BoTorch is a library for Bayesian optimization built on the PyTorch framework. Bayesian optimization is a sequence design strategy for machines that do not assume any functional forms.

BoTorch seamlessly provides a modular and easily extensible interface for composing Bayesian optimization primitives such as probabilistic models, acquisition functions and optimizers and others. In addition to this, it also enables seamless integration with deep or convolutional architectures in PyTorch.

FastText is an open-source library for efficient text classification and representation learning. It works on standard and generic hardware. Machine learning models can be further reduced on mobile devices as well.

TC is a fully-functional C++ library that automatically synthesises high-performance machine learning kernels using Halide, ISL, NVRTC or LLVM. The library can be easily integrated with Caffe2 and PyTorch and has been designed to be highly portable and machine-learning framework agnostic. Also, it requires a simple tensor library with memory allocation, offloading, and synchronisation capabilities.

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All The Machine Learning Libraries Open-Sourced By Facebook Ever - Analytics India Magazine

Using neural networks, Flatiron Institute research fellow Yin Li and his colleagues simulated vast, complex universes in a fraction of the time it takes with conventional methods.

Using a bit of machine learning magic, astrophysicists can now simulate vast, complex universes in a thousandth of the time it takes with conventional methods. The new approach will help usher in a new era in high-resolution cosmological simulations, its creators report in a study published online on May 4, 2021, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

At the moment, constraints on computation time usually mean we cannot simulate the universe at both high resolution and large volume, says study lead author Yin Li, an astrophysicist at the Flatiron Institute in New York City. With our new technique, its possible to have both efficiently. In the future, these AI-based methods will become the norm for certain applications.

The new method developed by Li and his colleagues feeds a machine learning algorithm with models of a small region of space at both low and high resolutions. The algorithm learns how to upscale the low-res models to match the detail found in the high-res versions. Once trained, the code can take full-scale low-res models and generate super-resolution simulations containing up to 512 times as many particles.

The process is akin to taking a blurry photograph and adding the missing details back in, making it sharp and clear.

This upscaling brings significant time savings. For a region in the universe roughly 500 million light-years across containing 134 million particles, existing methods would require 560 hours to churn out a high-res simulation using a single processing core. With the new approach, the researchers need only 36 minutes.

The results were even more dramatic when more particles were added to the simulation. For a universe 1,000 times as large with 134 billion particles, the researchers new method took 16 hours on a single graphics processing unit. Existing methods would take so long that they wouldnt even be worth running without dedicated supercomputing resources, Li says.

Li is a joint research fellow at the Flatiron Institutes Center for Computational Astrophysics and the Center for Computational Mathematics. He co-authored the study with Yueying Ni, Rupert Croft and Tiziana Di Matteo of Carnegie Mellon University; Simeon Bird of the University of California, Riverside; and Yu Feng of the University of California, Berkeley.

Cosmological simulations are indispensable for astrophysics. Scientists use the simulations to predict how the universe would look in various scenarios, such as if the dark energy pulling the universe apart varied over time. Telescope observations may then confirm whether the simulations predictions match reality. Creating testable predictions requires running simulations thousands of times, so faster modeling would be a big boon for the field.

Reducing the time it takes to run cosmological simulations holds the potential of providing major advances in numerical cosmology and astrophysics, says Di Matteo. Cosmological simulations follow the history and fate of the universe, all the way to the formation of all galaxies and their black holes.

So far, the new simulations only consider dark matter and the force of gravity. While this may seem like an oversimplification, gravity is by far the universes dominant force at large scales, and dark matter makes up 85 percent of all the stuff in the cosmos. The particles in the simulation arent literal dark matter particles but are instead used as trackers to show how bits of dark matter move through the universe.

The teams code used neural networks to predict how gravity would move dark matter around over time. Such networks ingest training data and run calculations using the information. The results are then compared to the expected outcome. With further training, the networks adapt and become more accurate.

The specific approach used by the researchers, called a generative adversarial network, pits two neural networks against each other. One network takes low-resolution simulations of the universe and uses them to generate high-resolution models. The other network tries to tell those simulations apart from ones made by conventional methods. Over time, both neural networks get better and better until, ultimately, the simulation generator wins out and creates fast simulations that look just like the slow conventional ones.

We couldnt get it to work for two years, Li says, and suddenly it started working. We got beautiful results that matched what we expected. We even did some blind tests ourselves, and most of us couldnt tell which one was real and which one was fake.

Despite only being trained using small areas of space, the neural networks accurately replicated the large-scale structures that only appear in enormous simulations.

The simulations dont capture everything, though. Because they focus only on dark matter and gravity, smaller-scale phenomena such as star formation, supernovae and the effects of black holes are left out. The researchers plan to extend their methods to include the forces responsible for such phenomena, and to run their neural networks on the fly alongside conventional simulations to improve accuracy. We dont know exactly how to do that yet, but were making progress, Li says.

Reference: AI-assisted superresolution cosmological simulations by Yin Li, Yueying Ni, Rupert A. C. Croft, Tiziana Di Matteo, Simeon Bird and Yu Feng, 4 May 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2022038118

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AI Magic Just Removed One of the Biggest Roadblocks in Astrophysics - SciTechDaily

AI, RPA, and machine learning, you must have heard these words echoing in the tech industry. Be it blogs, websites, videos, or even product descriptions, disruptive technologies have made their presence bold. The fact that we all have AI-powered devices in our homes is a sign that the technology has come so far.

If you are under the impression that AI, robotic process automation, and machine learning have nothing in common, then heres what you need to know, they are all related concepts. Oftentimes, people use these names interchangeably and incorrectly which causes confusion among businesses that are looking for the latest technological solutions.

Understanding the differences between AI, ML, and RPA tools will help you identify and understand where the best opportunities are for your business to make the right technological investment.

According to IBM, Robotic process automation (RPA), also known as software robotics, uses automation technologies to mimic back-office tasks of human workers, such as extracting data, filling in forms, moving files, etc. It combines APIs and user interface (UI) interactions to integrate and perform repetitive tasks between enterprise and productivity applications. By deploying scripts which emulate human processes, RPA tools complete autonomous execution of various activities and transactions across unrelated software systems.

In that sense, RPA tools enable highly logical tasks that dont require human understanding or human interference. For example, if your work revolves around inputting account numbers on a spreadsheet to run a report with a filter category, you can use RPA to fill the numbers on the sheet. Automation will mimic your actions of setting up the filter and generate the report on its own.

With a clear set of instructions, RPA can perform any task. But theres one thing to remember, RPA systems dont have the capabilities to learn as they go. If there is a change in your task, (for example if the filter has changed in the spreadsheet report), you will have to manually input the new set of instructions.

The highest adopters of this technology are banking firms, financial services, insurance, and telecom industries. Federal agencies like NASA have also started using RPA to automate repetitive tasks.

According to Microsoft, Artificial Intelligence is the ability of a computer system to deal with ambiguity, by making predictions using previously gathered data, and learning from errors in those predictions in order to generate newer, more accurate predictions about how to behave in the future.

In that sense, the major difference between RPA and AI is intelligence. While these technologies efficiently perform tasks, only AI can do it with similar capabilities to human intelligence.

Chatbots and virtual assistants are two popular uses of AI in the business world. In the tax industry, AI is making tax forecasting increasingly accurate with its predictive analytics capabilities. AI can also perform thorough data analysis which makes identifying tax deductions and tax credits easier than before.

According to Gartner, Advanced machine learning algorithms are composed of many technologies (such as deep learning, neural networks, and natural language processing), used in unsupervised and supervised learning, that operate guided by lessons from existing information.

Machine learning is a part of AI, so the two terms cannot be used interchangeably. And thats the difference between RPA and ML, machine learnings intelligence comes from AI but RPA lacks all intelligence.

To understand better, let us apply these technologies in a property tax scenario. First, you can create an ML model based on a hundred tax bills. The more bills you feed the model, the more accurately it will make predictions for the future bills. But if you want to use the same machine learning model to address an assessment notice, the model will be of no use. You would then have to build a new machine learning model that knows how to work with assessment notices. This is where machine learnings intelligence capabilities draw a line. Where ML fails to recognize the similarities of the document, an AI application would recognize it, thanks to its human-like interpretation skills.

The healthcare industry uses ML to accurately diagnose and treat patients, retailers use ML to make the right products available at the right stores at the right time, and pharmaceutical companies use machine learning to develop new medications. These are just a few use cases of this technology.

No, but they can work together. The combination of AI and RPA is called smart process automation, or SPA.

Also known as intelligent process automation or IPA, this duo facilitates an automated workflow with advanced capabilities than RPA using machine learning. The RPA part of the system works on doing the tasks while the machine learning part focuses on learning. In short, SPA solutions can learn to perform a specific task with the help of patterns.

The three technologies, AI, RPA, and ML, and the duet, SPA hold exciting possibilities for the future. But only when companies make the right choice, the rewards can be reaped. Now that you have an understanding of the various capabilities of these technologies, adapt and innovate.

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AI, RPA, and Machine Learning How are they Similar & Different? - Analytics Insight

ARPA, a blockchain-based privacy-preserving computation network, has announced that The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers P2830 standard has reached the ballot stage of the IEEE Standard Association (SA) Standard Development Process. Alibaba led the working group in which ARPA is participating, with representation from Shanghai Fudata, Baidu, Lenovo Group, Zhejiang University, Megvii Technology, and the China Electronic Standardization Institute.

With the recent Ledger hack, blockchain privacy has become a hot topic since transactions can be tied back to wealthy users. It creates security and privacy risk for individuals. Moreover, the recent surge in the DeFi coupled with the fact that the space is highly unregulated has raised serious concerns in the crypto community. As a result, investors are pouring money into blockchain-based security protocols. The retail giant, Paypal, recently acquired Curv a cryptocurrency security startup that uses multiparty computation (MPC) technology to secure its network. On the other hand, Zengo has raised $20 million in funding to further its development plans of the keyless cryptocurrency wallet.

The soaring crypto market has brought in the excessive need for multiparty computation platforms like ARPA and Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocols to preserve the privacy and anonymity of users.

MPC technology is based on the principles of Shamirs Secret Sharing. According to these rules, a blockchain-based network breaks the private data into small pieces and then shares them among the participants without revealing the data source. MPC is leveraged by APRA to secretly share the data on its network, thereby preserving the anonymity of its users.

The IEEE is the largest technical professional organization that promotes high-quality engineering, technology, and computing information. The IEEE Standard Association (SA) is an Operating Unit within IEEE that nurtures, develops, and advances global standards in multiple industries, including IoT, AI, ML, Power and Energy, Consumer Technology, etc.

The IEEE SA P2830 standard defines an architecture for machine learning. It is referred to as training a model using encrypted data accumulated from different sources and getting it processed from a trusted third party. This standard is used by engineers and developers worldwide.

Alibaba initiated the submission for IEEE SA P2830, which was later joined by ARPA and other representatives from academia and industry. All of them formed a group together and submitted the draft copy of the standard to the association. As such, the IEEE SA develops a new standard using a standard process consisting of six stages. ARPA has now passed three stages and proved that the standard is sufficiently stable. The draft is now at Balloting the Standard step.

In order to pass, a minimum of 75% of all ballots from a balloting group must return, and all these ballots must bear a yes vote. The working group comprising Alibaba, APRA, and other contributors are now waiting for the result as ballots usually last 30 to 60 days.

Since its inception in 2018, ARPA has been developing and researching privacy-focused solutions. The platform uses Multi-Party Computation technology to separate data utility from ownership to enable data renting. In 2019, ARPA partnered with MultiVAC to enable developers to furnish mathematical guarantees of security and privacy of their dApps. A year later, its broader focus on privacy led APRA to win the 2020 Privacy-preserving Computation Emerging Power award.

In the last few months, ARPA has collaborated with industrial partners and standardization institutions to draft various privacy-preserving computation standards for multiple industries. The submission of the IEEE P2830 standard is a part of ARPAs mission of working with global companies and academies to provide the framework and practical advice to developers and architects. Moreover, it also acknowledges the projects contribution to building privacy-based frameworks.

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ARPA and Alibaba-led Group Set to Introduce The IEEE Shared Machine Learning Standard - bitcoinist.com

Veganism involves a number of tricky to navigate issues, so lets dive deeply into the question: What is a vegan? I will strive to define the term as sensibly and helpfully as possible.

Vegan and vegetarian diets both exclude meat and seafood. A vegan diet goes a step further, though, by also nixing every other food of animal origin. So, in addition to avoiding meat, vegans steer clear of dairy products, eggs, and honey. Additionally, vegan foods never contain any byproducts of animal agriculture, such as tallow, whey, or gelatin.

A vegan diet delivers powerful advantages over a vegetarian diet. Eating vegetarian merely reduces farm animal slaughter and exploitation, whereas a vegan diet eliminates every last bit of it. A vegan diet may also offer health and environmental advantages over diets that include substantial amounts of dairy products and eggs. For these reasons, many vegetarians ultimately decide to go vegan.

Becoming vegan takes surprisingly little effort. Consider the enormous variety of vegan foods available:

You wont miss out on your favorite indulgences either. Many of the most popular brands of chocolate, coffee, wine, and beer are vegan.

The worlds great cuisines offer an endless variety of incredible vegan meals. Whether you go vegan for life or just try it out for a few weeks, youll never lack satisfying things to eat.

Every supermarket stocks a vast assortment of vegan foods. And a good natural foods store offers even better options. Most carry a nice assortment of vegan milks, cheeses, and meats. In the frozen section, youll find vegan waffles, burritos, and pizza. The desserts wont disappoint, eitheryou can buy vegan ice cream, cookies, brownies, and many more favorites. Better natural food stores sell at least one vegan alternative for every popular non-vegan foodcream cheese, mayo, eggs, you name it. And your options will only improve as time goes by, since vegan food companies introduce delicious new products every month.

If you feel like you could never give up cheese, youll be happy to discover that there are dozens of delicious vegan cheese brands. On top of that, you can easily make vegan cheese at homejust pick up one of the many vegan cheese cookbooks.

When it comes to cooking, you can choose from hundreds of vegan cookbooks covering every conceivable niche and specialty. Youll never find vegan food monotonous. Even the most basic vegan meals can be prepared with different ingredients, dressings, sauces, and seasonings every time. Consider these simple but satisfying possibilities:

When it comes to eating out, you can visit thousands of vegan restaurants worldwide. And all the best fast food chains are rushing to add more vegan items to their menus. So dont let anyone persuade you that a vegan diet is difficult or lacks variety!

The meaning of vegan can extend beyond food. People also make use of the vegan concept when it comes to clothing, cosmetics, and other consumer goods.

Whatever the item, you can call it vegan if it contains nothing produced by or derived from animals.So, for instance, a leather jacket is not vegan. But you could certainly buy a vegan leather jacketseveral companies make beautiful and durable vegan leather, not sourced from animals.

Vegan can refer to a sandwich, a car seat, a shampoo, or a person. Unfortunately, the words remarkable flexibility can lead to bickering over competing definitions.

Some vegans are, ironically, incapable of speaking productively about vegan topics. Theyll commonly define the word in absurdly restrictive terms. Or they may have a habit of expressing key points in a judgmental manner.

Ive often heard vegans assert that only people with particular motivations can claim to be vegan. They argue that if your intention isnt animal protection, then youre not vegan but instead merely plant-basedeven if you eat no animal products whatsoever. I cant imagine a more pointless distinction, or one more likely to antagonize anyone contemplating dietary change. People who try to set themselves up as arbiters of who gets to call themselves vegan need to drop the vegan police routine and go find a hobby.

Motivation is irrelevant. I might eat vegan simply because I want cleaner food, or because I dont want to contribute to increasing the risk of a worldwide pandemic. Shoot, I might follow a fringe religion claiming our extraterrestrial overlords require us to eat vegan in order to attain fifth dimensional unity consciousness. Whatever the case, what possible benefit arises from demanding people embrace a particular reason for ridding their diets of animal products?

I find it obnoxious to claim that, unless they are motivated in a particular way, people who abstain entirely from animal products arent vegan. If somebody eats no animal products whatsoever, why would their motivation for eating this way matter to anyone?

But the plant-based term does serve a valuable purpose in other contexts. Plant-based is generally thought of a a less strict variation of vegan with some deliberate wiggle room. In other words, its often understood to allow a minimal amount of animal products. For instance, lets say you eat nothing but vegan food plus a couple pieces of chicken a month. We could call your diet plant-based since its almost entirely made up of plants. But we would certainly never call this diet vegan.

Plant-based meals may contain entirely vegan ingredients or they may contain tiny amounts of animal products. The concept can motivate people who want to make substantial dietary change while maintaining some flexibility to cheat.

Now lets turn back to veganism. Towards the end of this essay Ill try to define vegan in the most reasonable and inspiring terms. But first, lets review the very first definition offered for the word.

Donald Watson coined the term vegan in 1944. That year, in the first issue of The Vegan News, he introduced the word and defined its meaning:

We should all consider carefully what our Group, and our magazine, and ourselves, shall be called. Non-dairy has become established as a generally understood colloquialism, but like non-lacto it is too negative. Moreover it does not imply that we are opposed to the use of eggs as food. We need a name that suggests what we do eat, and if possible one that conveys the idea that even with all animal foods taboo, Nature still offers us a bewildering assortment from which to choose. Vegetarian and Fruitarian are already associated with societies that allow the fruits (!) of cows and fowls, therefore it seems we must make a new and appropriate word. As this first issue of our periodical had to be named, I have used the title The Vegan News. Should we adopt this, our diet will soon become known as a VEGAN diet, and we should aspire to the rank of VEGANS. Members suggestions will be welcomed. The virtue of having a short title is best known to those of us who, as secretaries of vegetarian societies have to type or write the word vegetarian thousands of times a year!

Watson did an admirable job of laying out the vegan concept in clear and inspiring terms. Youll notice that he defined vegan solely in terms of diet.

You might think a given foods vegan status is obvious, but it turns out that all sorts of edge cases exist. Lets now contemplate the main ones.

In light of Watsons definition, determining a particular foods vegan status seems simple enough: if the item contains no animal ingredients, its vegan. I dont see any harm here in erring on the strict side. For instance, a chocolate bar that contains one percent milk powder should not qualify as vegan.

But now I must throw you a curve ball. Some chocolate bars made exclusively from vegan ingredients nevertheless contain traces of milk. This apparent paradox occurs because they were produced on the same manufacturing line as milk chocolate bars. Ditto for several other foods like vegan ice cream.

These products usually carry a warning beneath the ingredients panel stating something like, may contain traces of milk. These warnings exist to alert consumers who have severe allergies. To deny these foods vegan status could create the impression that vegans have absurdly strict standards, which in turn could repel people from embracing plant-based eating.

I believe you can still sensibly call these sorts of foods vegan since they arent formulated with non-vegan ingredients and consequently dont fund animal exploitation. To whatever extent you ingest a few molecules of milk because your vegan product shares a manufacturing line, an omnivore inevitably consumes a few extra vegan molecules that came from your product.

The same goes for veggieburgers cooked on the same grill as hamburgers. The only sensible reason to avoid eating such food involves personal disgust. Eating a veggieburger cooked on a shared grill obviously wont cause any harm to animals, or jeopardize your vegan status.

Veganism offers by far the most effective way to rid your diet of foods tied to animal cruelty and slaughter. But a vegan diet cant root out all exploitation associated with your food choices, since a great many widely-planted crops involve deeply objectionable farming practices.

Consider palm oil, which is made by squashing palm fruit and squeezing out the oil. What could possibly be more vegan? Yet the industry is a primary force behind cutting down rainforestwhile exterminating at least a thousand endangered orangutans every year. Or consider coffee or chocolate, two tropical foods often harvested by slaves.

Other crops carry hidden but horrific human costs. For instance, workers who process cashews often suffer disfiguring skin damage to their hands. This harm arises from the caustic oils coating the inedible fruit thats manually removed from each nut.

Many of the worlds farmworkers toil under abominable working conditions and receive extremely low pay. And even the most sustainable small-scale farming involves more killing than most people realize. The farmer growing your local organic lettuce may poison gophers or shoot deer who threaten the crop. Pesticides applied to orchards and fruit crops likewise inflict grievous harm on honey bee populations.

As the examples weve just reviewed make clear, many vegan foods involve abhorrent farming practices. Its therefore tempting to redefine vegan in a way that excludes any and all exploitation of humans, farmed animals, and wildlife.

Unfortunately, gaining consensus on such a redefinition would prove impossible, and the attempt quickly renders the word useless. Revoking the vegan status of crops farmed in particularly unethical ways would require consensus on where to draw the line. Some people might only want to exclude uncertified palm oil, while others would demand exclusion of dozens more food crops. The word vegan would become meaningless, since nobody could agree on the criteria establishing which foods merit inclusion.

If you want your food produced in the least harmful manner, going vegan deserves strong consideration even though the diet could never address every ethical concern. You can always go beyond the vegan concept when warranted in order to make the most compassionate and sustainable choices. For instance, vegan chocolate protects cows, whereas fair-trade vegan chocolate protects cows and people.

Practically all vegans oppose exploitative methods of food production, even when the item in question happens to be vegan. Superior alternatives nearly always exist. Sometimes itll be a sustainably grown version of the food, and sometimes itll be another choice entirely. Your food may end up costing more, since fair-trade certified foods and the like invariably carry a premium. But overall, youll find it requires minimal effort and expense to better align your food purchases with your values.

Crops grown or harvested in odious ways are best regarded as vegan yet utterly objectionable. Although our food system operates under enormously complex ethical realities, we can keep the definition of vegan clear and unambiguous. Simply going vegan doesnt solve every problem related to food. But it does offer a solid foundation to stand on, while we work individually and collectively to root out the remaining injustices that permeate our food system.

Could any debate inspire greater disgust and disinterest than who gets to call themselves a vegan? Whenever possible, I prefer to sidestep the topic.

I rarely tell people Im vegan, because doing so suggests this lifestyle choice is part of my identity. By bringing attention to how you identify yourself, you often draw attention to how you differ from others. This inevitably complicates the task of finding common ground on important points.

So instead of using the words, Im vegan, I prefer to say, I eat a vegan diet. If I want to communicate that I avoid animal products in both my food and non-food purchases, Ill say, I follow a vegan lifestyle.

I try to keep my dietary choices out of conversations that relate to veganism. The topics I most want to discuss involve the cruelty and the environmental damage associated with animal agriculture, and the wealth of excellent vegan alternatives.

Having said all this, its worth remembering that a vegan diet was initially defined in terms of food. So if somebody wearing a leather belt tells me theyre vegan, I wont protest. I think we all have better things to worry about.

Its not as if being vegan guarantees a kindhearted and exemplary character. Some well-known vegans fall among the most despicable people Ive ever encountered. If you expect decency and integrity from someone just because they follow a vegan diet, you may end up bitterly disappointed. Instead, think of veganism as just one more avenue toward becoming a better person, like telling the truth, keeping your speech kind, and refusing to steal.

When presented carelessly, vegan diets sound excruciatingly restrictive to newcomers. We can avoid scaring people off by discussing the topic in ways that entice and encourage. I often use the foot-in-the-door technique, which seeks to convince people to make a small but immediate change in a vegan direction. Even the tiniest concession today often leads to much bigger changes tomorrow.

Many animal advocates dont want to merely reduce animal sufferingthey want to eliminate it outright. They therefore seek to redefine veganism in a way that excludes as many foods and consumer items as possible. But imposing such onerous standards can needlessly repel people. Most of the incidental uses of animal byproducts will automatically disappear as slaughterhouses shut down because weve stopped raising animals for food. For that to happen, we must talk about veganism in ways that motivate the majority of people to shift their diets towards plants.

What could possibly be more counterproductive than overwhelming aspiring vegans with aggressively extreme demands? Someone just beginning to contemplate a vegan diet shouldnt be urged to immediately focus on relatively minor points. Think about it: these people are just now deciding to abruptly remove all meat, dairy products, and eggs from their lives. Do we really need to hit them right away with worrying about the fourteen ingredient of their shampoo?

I avoid making veganism a big part of my identity. Even during long conversations about food politics, I rarely feel compelled to disclose that Im vegan. And I refuse to take the word too seriously, especially as a marker for who I am as a person. I see the vegan concept much the same way I regard a plumbers snake. Its merely a tool to get a job done.

I use the word vegan in whatever sense I can to inspire change. Just like a plumbers snake does its job by bending this way and that in order to clear obstructions, I bend the word vegan in whichever way serves my purpose at the moment.

Let me share some phrases I often make use of to nudge people toward plant-based lifestyles:

These phrases tend to enrage vegan fundamentalists. Theyll insist, a little bit vegan makes no more sense than, a little bit pregnant. Sometimes theyll even confusion over what mostly vegan or 80 percent vegan is supposed to mean.

But I presume a functional level of intelligence on the part of my listener. Qualifiers like mostly or 80 percent can add to the vegan concepts utility, while expanding the variety of potential commitments that people feel ready to take.

Weve just reviewed the most important issues and controversies surrounding the vegan concept. Now lets try to define vegan in the clearest and most reasonable possible way.

Since its founding by Donald Watson and others in 1944, the Vegan Society has continued on to this day. Over time, the organization has revisited the task of defining veganism, and produced this effort:

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to excludeas far as is possible and practicableall forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

Since that definition sounds like it was written by a committee, I feel inspired to offer my own:

Vegan refers to any food formulated without ingredients produced by or derived from animals, or any diet consisting exclusively of these plant-based foods. A vegan lifestyle, whenever safe and practical, additionally avoids the purchase or use of any products linked to animal exploitation.

Youll notice that my definition isnt just simpler and briefer. It also removes motivation from consideration.

I find it counterproductive to exclude someone who is eating no animal-derived foods from calling themselves a vegan. Humility is always a plus in any sort of activism. Who am I to say that somebody elses reasons for avoiding animal products are less sensible than my own? And what possible benefit exists for refusing to call someone vegan, if their diet contains not a trace of animal products? I think the Vegan Society got it wrong here by taking a needlessly exclusionary position.

Put another way, its fine to promote whatever you regard as the most powerful reasons for dropping animal products from your life. But its not-so-fine to assert that unless people swear off animal products for those particular reasons, they cant consider themselves vegan.

Since no definition can please everyone, I dont consider either my definition or the Vegan Societys to offer the final take on what vegan means. But even though society will never unanimously agree on a precise definition, we can certainly agree on what it takes to move in a vegan direction. If youre not making use of the vegan concept to avoid animal products or to encourage others to do so, there seems little reason to spend time debating the words nuances.

The main difference between the Vegan Societys definition and mine is they view veganism as a philosophy bundled with a set of beliefs. I view veganism as a practice that carries a staggering assortment of large and small benefits. I think my approach offers greater simplicity, and less room for disagreement and confusion.

Some vegans base their entire identity on their diet. Invariably these people try to keep the definition of vegan as exclusionary as possible. Veganism becomes all about reinforcing their personal sense of identity.

This sort of behavior amounts of vegan fundamentalism. And no form of fundamentalism, whether spiritual or secular, ever gains widespread appeal. Invariably the rigidity of fundamentalist thinking repels the vast majority of the population. If we want plant-based lifestyles to become the norm, we gotta be cool. That means using the vegan concept to invite and encourage rather than as a means of exclusion.

Now that we have explored the words meaning with some care, more important topics await. Specifically, its time to move past what vegan means, to why people embrace this concept.

My Why Go Vegan? essay explains the most compelling reasons to go vegan. You can finish the piece in under an hour. If you find the arguments persuasive, youll also want to check out my How to Go Vegan guide. Ridding your life of animal products requires surprisingly little effort.

When moving toward a vegan lifestyle, start with diet. This delivers the biggest and easiest payoff since the overwhelming majority of animal exploitation arises from food production. Adding more vegan foods to your life couldnt be easier. You have so many delicious vegan foods to discover, so try them at every opportunity. You should also read up on vegan nutrition, to guard against coming up short on key nutrients.

As your diet becomes increasingly plant-based, you may also wish to transition your clothing and personal care purchases as well. Just review our list of common animal ingredients.

Vegan is undoubtedly the most powerful word ever coined in the service of animal protection. Unfortunately, the word often gets misused in ways that repel mainstream audiences. Ive therefore sought to define the term in a spirit that unlocks its full power, without coming off as rigid, preachy, or uptight. I hope youll use the vegan concept in whichever ways enable you to remove animal products from your life, while inspiring others to do the same.

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What is a Vegan? A Straightforward Definition - Vegan.com

If you've ever longed for your own food to look as interesting and colorful as the bright bowls, salads and snacks that permeate Instagram squares as they scroll by, Sakara Life may be able to help. The posh lifestyle brand and vegan food delivery service has sought to capture those looking to eat healthy food that looks good enough to eat -- and post.

With (allegedly) organic endorsements from the likes of Drew Barrymore, Gwyneth Paltrow and a slew of Victoria's Secret models, Sakara Life has been dubbed the new "model" or "celebrity" diet by some. The good news is that it's far healthier than the old model diet -- cigarettes and Diet Coke -- but does Sakara Life food actually taste good? And is it worth the decidedly high cost?

Get the latest tech stories with CNET Daily News every weekday.

Read more:Our list of best vegan and vegetarian meal delivery services for 2021

I tested a week's worth of meals from the trendy, plant-based meal delivery program to channel my inner influencer and write an honest review of Sakara Life.

Sakara Life is a vegan and organic meal delivery system designed to keep you eating healthy all week. Sakara sends fresh and never frozen harvest bowls, soups, salads, breakfast items and snacks to your door via messenger service so you don't have to think about cooking or preparing meals.

Unlike most of the meal delivery services we've reviewed such as Trifecta and Fresh n' Lean, Sakara Life doesn't freeze or vacuum-seal the food and it's meant to be eaten as soon as possible and not stored in the freezer for later. This includes salads and bowls that usually contain fresh greens and raw vegetables that wouldn't freeze well at all. (Something to keep in mind if you have an unpredictable schedule.)

Two full days of Sakara Life meals.

The brand also offers cleanses and some other supplement and dietary products but the main focus is healthy meal delivery. Between the branding, imagery and language, it's clear Sakara Life is marketing towards women and it is a highly aspirational brand with an energy similar to Goop or women's magazines like Elle or Women's Health.

First, you'll sign up for Sakara by choosing a meal plan type. I went with the Signature Program since it's the most popular but there's also a more intensive detox plan and a 20-dayBridal Cleanse.

For the Signature plan, you'll select how many Sakara meals you want per day (one, two or three) and how many days per week (two, three or five) you'd like to receive them. You can buy one, two or four weeks of Sakara Life meals if you're looking for a shorter, plant-based diet cleanse or subscribe and the meals will keep coming.

Read more:Fresh n' Lean review: The best prepared meal delivery service we've tried

With Sakara Life you don't select individual meals but you can view next week's menu which changes slightly depending on where you live. Meals are delivered on Thursday if you choose two days of meals, Sunday if you choose three days and Sunday and then again on Wednesday if you choose meals for five days so the food is always fresh.

Sourdough with ricotta, hot honey and walnut crumble.

Sakara Life meals are best described as high-end spa food you eat at home. If you follow Instagram influencers that frequent destinations like Tulum and Palm Springs, this is what they seem to eat -- or at least what they post that they're eating.

Super colorful salads, soups and vegan bowls full of nuts and grains with organic rainbow carrots, berries, brightly colored sauces, dressings and even the occasional edible flower.

A pretty, vegan earth bowl with ginger-tahini dressing.

Sakara Life's weekly menus are inspired by world cuisines with Indian curries, Middle Eastern spreads, Japanese noodle bowls, all with a lot of fresh vegetables -- like, a ton of vegetables. Breakfast foods seem to draw from the yoga retreat or resort world with fancy nut bread and whole-grain toast served with honey-ricotta spreads and tropical jams. (I noticed that breakfast and snacks were generally a little sweet, just something to keep in mind.)

Nut and grain toast with guava jam.

Sakara uses lots of organic, whole foods in its meals and everything is made from scratch down to the jams, jellies, sauces and spreads. I found my week of meals to be a nice balance between light salads and heartier bowls or curries so I could choose to eat whichever matched my hunger at any particular mealtime. Portions were generous.

One thing I noticed is all the ingredients are provided for each meal but Sakaradoesn't bombard you with calorie and nutritional information. I think the idea is to focus on eating good, healthy wholesome food and not sweat numbers.

I had a full five days of Sakara Life meals and enjoyed most of what I had. Nothing was bad and most meals were good or better but there was the occasional boring salad or grain bowl (perhaps something that's to be expected over the course of a week).The flavorful sauces and dressings were a huge highlight for me.Everything arrived fresh and in-tact, which I was concerned about initially. I'm not big on sweet food or yogurt for breakfast type of guy so that was a bit of an adjustment but I made it work.

The following is a sample of highlights and lowlights from my week of Sakara Life meals.

Plant protein granola with maple mylk: The sweet granola was excellent and went well with the maple mylk, which is something I'd never tried.

Butterfly bowl with tie-dye carrots: This bowl was anchored by chopped kale and topped with purple rice, carrots and walnuts finished with a bright pink beet spread. I really enjoyed this one, especially the zesty, creamy spread.

A colorful butterfly bowl with carrots, kale and purple rice.

Wild tropics toast with guava jam: This was good, the toast was definitely healthy and dense (maybe too healthy?) but I really liked the guava jam. Nothing to go wild over but it worked as a light breakfast.

Roasted peach chana masala: I absolutely love chana masala and so was especially excited for this one. The masala curry had just enough heat and the roasted peach provided a sweet foil. I ate this one hot and it was a big winner.

A very tasty and vibrant chana masala with roasted peach and spinach.

Ginger almond noodles over greens with sweet potatoes: This was also very tasty and that's largely due to the sauce: a heavenly combination of ginger, cumin, garlic and tomato paste. I could have eaten it by the spoonful (and may have).

Vegetable moussaka: I absolutely adore the Greek's take on lasagna (moussaka) and this meal made for a very filling and delicious dinner.

Healing baked veggie moussaka. A winner of a dinner.

Ciao Bella soup: A simple soup similar to minestrone without the noodles and was tasty if not a little boring. It felt like a detox soup and probably could have used another pop of flavor.

Harvest grain bowl with broccoli, sweet potato and roasted red pepper sauce: This one was good and filling but nothing special. I would have liked something else to jazz it up. I don't know what, exactly, but that's not my job.

Here's the catch. While plans differ, all of them are pretty darn pricey. If you choose five days of meals it breaks down to $70 a day and when you choose just two or three days per week it's $80. A more affordable option is picking just lunch and dinner, which nets out to $54 per day -- still not cheap by any stretch. All of this includes shipping but it's still a hefty sum to put up weekly.

The five-day Level II Detox cleanse is a whopping $400 but includes meals, supplements, detox teas, detox water drops, snacks and more. The 20-day bridal cleanse is *gulp* $1,395.

A filling mint chocolate parfait. The perfect breakfast for a warm day.

If you've got a few extra bucks lying around and want to try an organic "food cleanse" that doesn't skimp on the food part, this would be a good week of meals to treat yourself to. Since the food is all freshly prepared and sent ready-to-eat, it's good for anyone looking to take cooking and meal prep off their plate but still keep things super healthy. Also, if you're someone who loves sauces Sakara has some of the best.

The carnivorous should steer clear of this meal program unless trying to make a serious dietary pivot. With lots of sweet potatoes, jams and jellies this is also not a good option for those keeping to a keto or a low-carb diet. Finally, Sakara Life is definitely not the right meal delivery service for someone on a budget.

I struggled with Sakara Life because the food was actually really tasty with bold flavors -- especially the delicious sauces -- but I don't know that it's quite worth the money. If you can afford the cost and are searching for unique, interesting and healthy food but don't want to prepare it yourself, Sakara Life won't disappoint. Because the brand delivers on both Sundays and Wednesdays the meals don't lose their life sitting in the fridge either.

For me, really healthy food is not as fun to cook so if I were looking to reboot my system or do a quick cleanse I might look to Sakara Life, but it would be hard to justify those costs on a consistent basis. That said, if you're tired of cooking (and who isn't at this point?) and want to let your inner food influencer run free for a bit with tasty, healthy meals that are pretty as a picture, give Sakara Life a whirl.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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Sakara Life review: Healthy, vegan food that's delivered fresh and camera ready - CNET

Musician Gavin Rossdalethe lead vocalist of 90s British rock band Bushis convinced that vegan food, particularly meatless bolognese, is the future. Rossdale was invited to share a cooking video with PEOPLE for its What I Really Cook for Dinner segment and chose to prepare a vegan meal. Im going to make a vegan bolognese. Ive grown up having bolognese and I just thought that coming on here I just wanted to do something a bit more mindful, the 55-year-old musician said. Making vegan bolognese is the future.

For the recipe, Rossdale made his own eggless pasta dough and created the bolognese sauce from scratch, seasoning it boldly with bay leaves and rosemary along the way. When youre not using meat, Im just kind of mindful about what I can do to really make sure Im elevating every single flavor, Rossdale said before pulling out Miyokos Creamery butter to add to the dish. This is the most incredible vegan [product] made by this lovely lady. Butter is a mood enhancer. Rossdale also added plant-based beef grounds to the sauce and finished off the dish with grated vegan parmesan cheese. No animals were hurt in the construction of this dish, Rossdale said.

In addition to sharing the vegan bolognese recipe, Rossdale showed off his refrigerator which is stocked with mostly vegan items such as Foragers yogurt, Oatly oat milk, seitan, and plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Love the plant-based lifestyle as much as we do? Get the BEST vegan recipes, travel, celebrity interviews, product picks, and so much more inside every issue of VegNews Magazine. Find out why VegNews is the worlds #1 plant-based magazine by subscribing today!

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Gavin Rossdale Says Vegan Bolognese Is the Future - VegNews

A giant spotlight is on plant-based dining after Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm made a major announcement earlier this week. When his New York City restaurant reopens on June 10, hell introduce a $335 completely vegan tasting menu, and eliminate the unique dishes that made his three Michelin-starred restaurant a worldwide sensation.

Reactions were mixed from those who support a known chef taking a stand towards sustainability, while others grumbled out loud about the impact. Some felt Humms shift isnt new, as other fine dining chefs made similar leaps into plant-based cooking, including Dominique Crenn, who in 2019 announced she would no longer serve land animals in her restaurants. And while Wolfgang Pucks menus are not plant-based, the LA-based chef served a mostly vegan menu for the 2020 Oscars with dishes like sweet potato tempura and wild mushroom bolognese.

As an incredibly inventive chef, theres little doubt that Humms menu will move plant-based dining into a different realm. But Los Angeles has played a large hand into shifting plant-based foods for decades, with some of the nations longest standing Indian and Ethiopian restaurants. The city also has chefs who push the entire genre forward by introducing new approaches that appeal to omnivores as well as vegans.

To illustrate some of that forward thinking, here are five plant-based dishes in Los Angeles that showcase that innovation and creativity.

Note: We do our very best to make sure our stories are current, but menus frequently change. Please reach out to these restaurants to confirm these menu items are still available.

In the middle of 2020, Jasmine Hernandez opened her family-run restaurant Chicana Vegana. Stationed in the middle of Downtown Fullerton, the lively space hardly speaks vegan with neon pink and purple walls adorned with Latina cartoon characters, and a dish thats full on flavor: the jackfruit sopes. Traditionally made with a fried masa or corn flour base and topped with pork or chicken, Chicana diners can substitute luscious jackfruit carnitas with shredded cabbage, plant-based crema and cheese atop wonderfully prepared masa. Its all technique and seasoning, which Hernandez has in droves.

Michelle Jane Lee is an LA-based visual artist who had no prior experience cooking for crowds, until she launched a sit-down vegan Korean tasting menu from her Lincoln Heights apartment in 2019 called Sung. Lees popular pop-up dinners took a pause during COVID-19, but still creates stunning takeout, including her tribute to Los Angeles with fried mushrooms and kimchi waffles.

One of the common concerns by some vegans is giving up eggs or butter. A traditional florentine uses a healthy dose of both for hollandaise, but Plant Food + Wine owner Matthew Kenneys smoked tofu florentine has a certain richness to it that really shows his technique.

Chef Tal Ronnen opened Crossroads Kitchen in 2013, where he introduced an entirely plant-based menu with white tablecloths and full bar. He introduced a pasta carbonara, complete with a runny tomato-based egg yolk for added effect and flavor. The entire dish is a huge step forward in plant-based cuisine, as fresh pasta usually requires the use of eggs.

Ronnen also co-founded Kite Hill Foods in 2014, introducing store bought vegan cheeses that simply taste better and with more variety. This field evolved considerably thanks to Ronnen along with Plant Food + Wines Kenney.

Whittiers plant-based restaurant Masa Taco placed celery root on a traditional trompo, layered it with pineapple, marinade, and onion to produce something new and fun for Los Angeles. Masa Tacos plant-based asada was featured in 2019 at Dodger Stadium during a vegan takeover in the Left Field Pavillion.

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Five Vegan Dishes That Illustrate LAs Innovation With Plant-Based Foods - Eater LA

United Kingdom-based brand OGGS has saved 1,026,688 eggs by using aquafaba (the brine from cooked chickpeas) in its cake ranges instead of animal-based eggs since launching in supermarkets 18 months ago. By using aquafaba instead of eggs, the brand has also saved more than 226 metric tons of carbon dioxidethis is equivalent to driving around the world 22 times.

Last year, OGGS launched its flagship product, OGGS Egg Alternative Aquafaba, in three major retailers across the UK. The liquid egg alternative claims to whisk, bind, and emulsify just like a traditional egg and is available to buy in ready-to-pour 200ml cartons, which is the equivalent of four eggs. OGGS also offers pre-made cakes, cupcakes, caramel squares, brownie bites, and seasonal mince pies made using aquafaba.

OGGS is committed to finding ways to remove unnecessary and often hidden animal products from the food chain. To do this we are starting by making eggless cooking and baking accessible to as many people as possible, OGGS founder Hannah Carter said. This is a change for home bakers, caterers, and large-scale manufacturers by swapping eggs for a plant-based liquid egg alternative: aquafaba. So far, we have been successful in giving 177,941 chickens a weeks holiday. We realized if we want the big manufacturers to stop using barn eggs in their products, we need to provide a cost-efficient, bulk solution that provides consistent and stable results.

Aquafaba is a term coined in 2015 by software engineer Goose Wohlt after he discovered that chickpea brine can replace egg whites without the need for emulsifiers. Since then, home cooks and food manufacturers around the world have created new ways of using it.

In 2016, Sir Kensingtons became the first brand to launch a commercial product featuring aquafaba: a vegan mayonnaise that is now available at Whole Foods Markets nationwide. In 2018, Pennsylvania nut butter brand Vr Foods debuted vegan Aquafaba Powder, a shelf-stable product that can be rehydrated and used in place of eggs to create baked goods and condiments. That same year, Brooklyn, NY-based brand Fora Foods debuted vegan Faba Butter using the infamous brine.

Love the plant-based lifestyle as much as we do? Get the BEST vegan recipes, travel, celebrity interviews, product picks, and so much more inside every issue of VegNews Magazine. Find out why VegNews is the worlds #1 plant-based magazine by subscribing today!

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This Startup Saved 1 Million Chicken Eggs With Its Vegan Aquafaba Alternative - VegNews

California-based vegan eatery Honeybee Burger is aiming to become the next big fast-food chain, taking on the likes of Shake Shack and McDonalds, but with an entirely vegan menu and sustainable approach. Honeybee Founder Adam Weiss is a longtime financial professional who launched the vegan concept in 2018 with the goal of taking it national and becoming the de facto plant-based chain in places such as airports, sports arenas, business districts, and malls.

Through its colorful branding and informative messaging, Honeybeenamed after the hard-working food pollinatoraims to educate consumers about the benefits of eating plant-based for animals, health, and the planet. Its menu features vegan versions of American classics, including burgers (made with a choice of Beyond Burger or Impossible Burger patties), chicken sandwiches (in Original, Buffalo, and Nashville Hot styles), and breakfast options (such as sandwiches, burritos, and bagels stuffed with JUST Egg). Honeybee also offers the Sea Bee Burger which features a patty made from kelp, mushrooms, and other superfoods; creamy vegan mac and cheese; and a variety of milkshakes.

Through its menu, customers are able to discover branded vegan products (such as those made by Beyond Meat, Oatly, and kelp company Akua) while learning about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. Honeybees sustainability mission also expands to other areas as the business avoids single-use plastics, containers with waxed coating (which render packaging non-compostable), and glossy advertising materials whenever possible.

From store designs to menu names, we have created a distinctive and somewhat unique presence in a very crowded market, Weiss told VegNews. Our branding appeals to who we refer to as the decision makers of tomorrow: millennials, young families, women, and children.

In February 2021, Honeybee launched a campaign on crowdfunding platform StartEngine and raised more than $1 million in the first six weeks (a goal it planned to hit within six months) from more than 1,400 individual investors. While the funding could have been accomplished through other channels, Weiss chose to go through StartEngine to give like-minded individual investors an opportunity to support Honeybees bold mission on the ground floor.

I could have pursued that capital base for Honeybees expansion, which probably could have been accomplished with just a handful of investors, if not a single one. That certainly would have been the more typical way to finance a business at this stage, Weiss said. Instead, I wanted investors in Honeybee to be as passionate about our mission as we are. Unfortunately, most professional investors dont think that way. Honeybees oversubscribed funding round now has a waitlist for investments starting at $240.

Currently, Honeybee operates one location in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, CAa pilot location it used to optimize its menu and operations. Honeybee will use this location as a model for its future outposts, including its next location on La Brea Avenue in West Hollywood where it will feature a live camera feed of natural bee hives around the world meant to educate customers about the intricacy of bee colonies, along with a modern digital art display. Honeybee also opened a cloud kitchen in West Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic that it will scale to future cloud kitchens to leverage its brand across Southern California and, eventually, nationwide.

Using these templates, Weiss goal is to open four to six additional locations within 12 months and have 12 to 20 Honeybee Burger outposts operating within the next 24 to 36 months. Weiss says Honeybees approach and branding will set the business apart from other players in the plant-based arena, which include Veggie Grill, Plant Powered Fast Food, PLNT Burger, Slutty Vegan, and other quickly growing vegan chains.

Now is a great time to grow Honeybee, as there is no established national plant-based burger quick-service restaurant (QSR) with incumbency. Plus, we have the incredible tailwind of increasing demand for plant-based food and diets everywhere, Weiss said. Five years ago, we didnt have the amazing plant-based options that we have today, and we see very few QSRs embracing these products as we do. But probably the most compelling reason to grow our business now is that we need to start changing our dining habits, and reduce our demand and desire for animal-based food. Our planet needs the help, and theres no time like the present.

Love the plant-based lifestyle as much as we do? Get the BEST vegan recipes, travel, celebrity interviews, product picks, and so much more inside every issue of VegNews Magazine. Find out why VegNews is the worlds #1 plant-based magazine by subscribing today!

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Could This Vegan Chain Become the Next Shake Shack? It Just Raised $1 Million in Six Weeks to Do It - VegNews