This is our first blog-post that we have co-authored. While we always bounce our recipes and thought-pieces off one another, there is usually one distinct author. Occasionally, we find ourselves talking and/or writing about the same issues. For such pieces, as you will note above, we have decided to designate the author as “The Vegan Mos” in order to share equally in the authorship.

As vegans, we want to see all vegan businesses, restaurants and products do well. However, sometimes they fall short of the mark. We have noticed a trend over the years that, when this happens, there seems to a reluctance among vegan bloggers to say anything critical about them for fear of being negative and harming the cause. Many choose to give them a pass simply because they are vegan and that has always struck us as really wrong. Why are vegans so willing to accept less than the best in terms of quality and service? Moreover, why are we so reluctant to say anything critical or negative publicly about anything vegan? As vegan bloggers, we put our reputations on the line when we review something. Not everything is great or wonderful. Sometimes, things are simply not good. In fact, sometimes things are just awful. While we should always strive to find something positive to say if our expectations have not been met, we should not be afraid to say so. After all, these reviews are nothing more than our opinions.

When we don’t give honest reviews, we end up doing more harm to the movement than good. First off, we hurt our own integrity by saying something is good when we think it isn’t. Simply put, that’s lying and trust is broken when we lie. If we give a good review of something we don’t like, when someone else tries it based on our review, that person might no longer trust us. This is not to say that everyone has to agree with what we think. In fact, it is the opposite. Knowing how your own opinions differ from a reviewer’s is a valuable tool. For example, if you tend to disagree with a movie critic most of the time, you know that when you see a good review, you will likely not care for the film. Conversely, if the reviewer pans it, then you will probably love it. We also should consider the effects of an undeserving positive review of a vegan product or venue on non-vegans. If every new vegan product is “a game changer,” or every new vegan establishment “redefines X-Y-Z cuisine,” when only a select few deserve this designation, non-vegans will try the products, not be impressed and will then mistrust our judgements or tastes. False positive reviews can thus have the effect of pushing people away from veganism. They will come away thinking something like, “if this is how vegan food tastes, forget it!”

We could always choose to not review something we don’t like, but that would be just as dishonest. If we try something, don’t like it and then fail to speak up, we are saying that we want others to have the same bad experience. It also doesn’t give the business the feedback needed to make improvements. If we remain silent, there is no chance for change. If we speak up and offer constructive, specific feedback, many businesses listen and take it into consideration. When we posted our review of Beyond Meat’s “The Beast,” we were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming and consistent feedback over all forms of social media thanking us for the “honest review.” People want honesty, not unwarranted praise. We even heard from Beyond Meat asking us to send them additional feedback so they can review what we thought and work on improving the burger.

Not every product can be the best, or a “game changer.” If they were, then nothing truly would be. Sometimes things just aren’t good and need work. Of course this is easier to do with a product or a restaurant than with something like a cookbook, but that should not discourage us from giving our honest opinions of things. When we first began Vegan Mos, we were hesitant to say anything negative about anything vegan. We chose the “remain silent” method when something failed to meet our expectations. We’ve talked about this with other vegan bloggers and have all come to the same conclusion: poor reviews are just as important as rave reviews. Clearly, we should be kind and compassionate with our wording and there’s always a polite and gentle way to say “I didn’t care for it.”  By not being completely forthright and honest, we lose our credibility as bloggers and, as a movement, veganism suffers.

The truth is that a lot has changed for vegans in the past 5 years. The number of commercially available vegan food products available has grown exponentially and vegan food venues continue to pop up everywhere. We don’t need to settle for “meh.” There is competition in the market. Business and restaurants should be competing for our dollars, not simply expecting them because we are vegan. As long as we settle for mediocre and don’t speak up publicly to demand better quality, that is all we will ever get.

So here’s our committment to you: when we don’t like something, we will let you know. We will always do our best to include positive aspects of all things we don’t like because, let’s face it, few things are ever completely bad. And if we encounter that rare instance of something that is completely awful, we’ll be sure to express our views in the gentlest and kindest of terms. After all, at its core, veganism is about compassion and kindness, and this applies to human animals just as much a the non-human ones. As a valued reader, we want you to know that you need not fear that we will refrain from saying that we don’t like something. The more we speak honestly and openly, the more we can all have an honest dialogue that will hopefully improve vegan products and businesses everywhere.