The winter holidays bring their share of meaty classics: baked turkey, poularde with morel mushrooms and foie gras from Périgord. To make these culinary classics accessible to all, vegetarian and vegan influencers are sharing meat-free versions of the recipes. A case in point is Mélanie Sancery-Gay (aka @melanie_en_veganie, 174,000 followers on Instagram), who in December 2024 posted the recipe for a vegetarian bourguignon made with mushrooms and seitan, a wheat flour-based food. As the video surpassed 800,000 views, the young woman faced a wave of hatred, mixing hostile comments – "That looks disgusting," "taste buds need replacing" – and "vomit" emojis. Others went so far as to accuse her of "defamation" for using the term "bourguignon."

When she took over a gastronomic totem pole, this 29-year-old enthusiast expected these reactions. Since the creation of her account five years ago, her plant-based dishes have regularly been accused of undermining France's heritage. "People tell me that I'm distorting French gastronomy, that I should eat hay or grass, that I'm a woke extremist," said the jaded influencer, who sometimes has to put up with a hundred mean spirited messages a day. But the Montpellier (southern France) native still has a mind of steel: "In a way, the haters do me a favor, because it allows me to reach a wider audience, thanks to their algorithmically enhanced interactions!"

You have 74.1% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.