Companies that sell alternatives to meat and dairy products are generally prohibited from using words like ‘chicken’, ‘milk’, or ‘cheese’ to help describe and define their products. At its core, this is a result of persistent lobbying from the animal agriculture industry. Those involved in the exploitation of animals often want to prevent plant based food companies from ‘appropriating’ their language.

This is certainly the case in the EU. Ever since a European Court of Justice ruling in 2017, plant based milk companies have been banned from using the word ‘milk’ both in their marketing and on their packaging. Take a stroll through your local supermarket: you are likely to see some pretty funny vegan product names in the free-from section. Instead of ‘soy milk’ and ‘almond milk’, you will probably notice products with names such as ‘oat drink’, ‘m*lk’, or just ‘soya’.

Plant based food companies are forced to creatively rework their language in order to adhere to the law. To do so, they must improvise when naming and marketing their products. These names tend to come across as amusing - and, sometimes, a little sarcastic.

A vegan play on words

Perhaps the most notable way in which funny vegan food names find their way onto product packaging is with a play on words. This is displayed aptly in the plant based cheese sector. Take Honestly Tasty, a plant based cheese brand from London, as an example. Whilst they no longer market their award-winning plant based blue cheese as ‘Veganzola’ (instead sold as ‘Blue’), they do retain a play on words for their camembert-style, almond-based Shamembert. Cheese-naming innovation is not the only string to Honestly Tasty’s bow – their cheeses are delicious, and belong on any plant based cheese board.

It would be difficult to mention vegan cheese and play on words in the same sentence, without giving a shout out to La Fauxmagerie – the first vegan cheesemonger in the UK, based in Shoreditch. Derived from the well-known word ‘fromage’, ‘fromagerie’ is the French term for ‘cheesemonger’. The clever people over at La Fauxmagerie not only remember their GCSE French, but they also know their cheese. Some of their classics include Camemvert, Balham Blue, and Shoreditch Smoked.

Outside the cheese world, many other brands also employ a play on words in their marketing. Of particular play-on-words fame is The Vegetarian Butcher, whose array of impeccably-named products is vast enough to warrant a dedicated article! In no particular order, their products include What the Cluck chicken-style chunks, the Good Karma Shawarma, and the Patty on the Back vegan burger. Not all of their products are vegan, though, so make sure to check.

Just, ‘no’

Some plant based companies keep it simple, content with using nothing more than a form of ‘no’ or ‘not’ in their product names. This strategy is two-fold. Firstly, these names make it clear to the consumer that the product in question does not contain animal products. Secondly, they help to make it clear what animal product it aims to imitate. Loma Linda follows this philosophy with their TUNO, a plant based alternative to canned tuna. Crack’d take a similar approach with their No-Egg Egg. Some companies even use this naming convention for products aimed at our canine friends; The Pack produces plant based dog food, with a range that includes the No-Moo Ragu, the No-Cluck Casserole, and the No-Fishy Dishy.

Loma Linda

Vegan sarcasm

Some of the UK’s best known plant based brands opt for sheer sarcasm in their marketing. Perhaps as an overly-explicit attempt to prevent the consumer from becoming confused, these companies use irony and sarcasm in a refreshing approach to plant based marketing. Here, it is nearly impossible to forget to mention THIS, who are blunt but to-the-point when they tell the consumer that This Isn’t Bacon and that This Isn’t Chicken. Alpro also tell the consumer in plain words that This Is Not M*lk.

Earlier this year, Oatly aimed its crosshairs directly at EU legislators when they ran a campaign that read; “we can’t legally call this ice cream, but you still can”. This represented an unapologetic critique of the naming conventions by which plant based companies were legally forced to abide. These final examples just go to show that plant based companies – in one way or another – will always find innovative ways to tell the consumer what it is that their products aim to replace. As long as legislation is in place to regulate plant based companies, funny vegan product names are here to stay.

Many plant based brands not mentioned here use similar, comical names. Some honourable ‘muncheons’ include: I am Nut OK’s Fetamorphosis and Bluffalo Notzarella, Veg ‘An’ Love’s Shepherd-less Pie, Yogan’s Vegandelphia and Moo Free Chocolate

If all of this talk of plant based cheese makes you feel hungry, go check out our article on the best vegan artisan cheeses on the market.