Faux taxidermy lines the walls in the newly opened Vegan Junkfood Bar in Amsterdam’s gentrified De Pijp neighborhood. It hangs along brightly colored murals “tagged” by decorative graffitti with embarrassing slogans like “fuck me I’m vegan.” The restaurant is marketing itself as “vegan takes on comfort food” (keyword being “takes”). So much appropriation I might explode. And, of course, lining the walls are a variety of fake taxidermy busts of bulls and deer made of bronze, wood, and woven grass. The atmosphere screams, “vegans have fun too” and, “just because we’re vegan doesn’t mean we can’t fuck around!” This leads me to question the ways in which white people are trying to make veganism mainstream. And this is where fake meat and fake taxidermy differ. With food, the goal seems to be You Won’t Believe It’s Not Butter whereas with the decor, you will certainly believe it is not a deer. What might the implications be of “faking” slaughter? (need better picture – did lucie take any??)


I type “politics of fakeness” in the Google search bar and find little of interest. A list will have to do for now: fake meat, fake leather, fake fur, fake taxidermy, fake milk. Where to go from here?