I think it happens to every vegan or vegetarian at some point. You all know what I am talking about. You are in a conversation with a person or multiple people and somehow the conversation gets to food. Everyone talking about what they had for dinner/lunch/snack whatever. Then it happens. You get asked if you have ever eaten insert animal product here. Time stops and you sigh. At this point you have 2 choices. You can lie to avoid it or you can tell the truth and be bombarded with it. You know….the “OMG I can’t believe you are vegan/vegetarian and whatever do you eat??” The conversation quickly moves to how unhealthy it is not to consume animal products. This, of course, coming from people who are a picture of health themselves. Eventually it will lead to the famous “I knew someone who was a vegan/vegetarian and they died/got sick/got cancer/got a disease whatever. I can almost recite it even before anyone speaks up.
I know that I am not alone. For some reason when people find out that you are a vegan/vegetarian they feel it necessary to tell you how wrong it is. As a vegan I think it is very important to send the right message about veganism, it is a responsibility almost. It’s unfortunate that (as with anything or anyone with strong beliefs) some groups or people feel that the right way to teach about veganism is through radical, unreasonable acts that very few can relate to. I read somewhere today someone calling vegan radicals “vegangelists” today. Doesn’t that speak volumes of how we can be perceived? Is the point to be so radical that you can’t get through? Wouldn’t we serve the animals better if we approached veganism for what it is? A peaceful way of living.
Veganism isn’t about a diet. It isn’t a fad. Being vegan is a way of life. It is a belief that each living animal has a right to it’s own agenda. Treading lightly to leave as little of a footprint as you can.
And I try. I try not to loose my patience with people who, for lack of a better word, are stupid. But today, friends, today I did. I was reading a blog (a favorite past time of mine) and just lost my patience. This gal is fairly funny, but not a vegan by any means. Still, I appreciated her humor. Well, she decided to write a food post because someone asked her what she eats or what foods she prefers. And somehow it turned into describing a friend she knew (who obviously had serious mental issues) who was a vegetarian that turned vegan. I won’t go into it all, you can go here to read it for yourself.
My problem with the post is that it is an extreme case of someone limiting their food intake. It isn’t a representation of what a vegan lifestyle is, it isn’t even close. It is an exaggerated diet that is quite simply the craziest shit I ever read. And of course the people who took the time to comment…yeah they jumped on the “veganism is so unhealthy” bandwagon.
I have a real problem with someone starting one of her blogs with “I am extremely fond of Chick-fil-A on the east coast and In-N-Out burger on the west coast. Both companies, I feel, have a lot of integrity and high quality food. Plus, the food tastes really, really good.” recommending to anyone how to eat healthy.
And just for the record, integrity if you look it up in the dictionary means “the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles, moral uprightness”.
How can killing chickens, cows and abusing animals fall into that category? Integrity, to me, would be letting the animals live in fucking peace. But that…well that’s just me.
What about you friends. Tell me your story. I know you have one….
I couldn’t even read the post….the comments pissed me off too much. Why do people feel the need to talk so negatively about things they admittedly do not know much about? Seriously. The guy talking about 80/10/10 was genius…. /sarcasm. I was going to leave a witty comment but I know it would fall on deaf ears. Eyes? You know what I mean.
I swear I lose my patience at work all the time. My coworkers ask me the same freakin questions all the time. “What do you eat? tree bark?” Then they proceed to tell people that I’ve gone crazy because I’m vegan. Then the customers get in on the act with the whole “animals were made to be eaten thing”. The funny thing is….I started being vegan because I had such adverse reactions to animal products. The animal rights came next (a very close second though). Living my life with allergies (and not just food ones. I’m allergic to most commercial cleaning products including laundry detergent) makes me “an extremist”. Stupid people. And my favorite one was this vegetarian telling me that veganism isn’t healthy……I swear to you I’m still trying to figure this one out.
i get the, “oh, you don’t have to watch your weight, you’re too skinny as it is.”
listen a$$h@le, i’m not too skinny, i’m perfect for my height and can kick your a$$ all day long! lay off the steak n’shake and walk your dog once in a while- you might not be so wheezy walking up that 2 flights of stairs.
seriously though, i usually say, “i don’t believe in the unnecessary torture & slaughter of animals for food- neither did Einstein.” then, under my breath, “bitch.”
Oh boy this is a hot topic, one that can make my blood boil. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
You take one vegan who’s diet isn’t great and that somehow makes all vegans unhealthy in the eyes of these stupid people. I wish this were done with meateaters as well. Looking at all the people who get high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, nobody ever says “Oh it’s because she ate all that meat and she has acne because she drinks milk”. No then it’s because it runs in their families, or because they smoked or just because.
My own family doesn’t invite me to birthdays because it makes them, in their own words, uncomfortable that we won’t eat their cake, yet my brother is so fat he hasn’t seen his own short and curlies in decades, he has to take meds for his skyrocketing blood pressure and he is on the brink of developing diabetes, his daughter seems to be rapidly expanding and nearly needs two seats on a plane at the age of 21. Both of them sat in my kitchen telling me how unhealthy it is to be vegan and that they know vegetarians who have to take supplements (oh my freaking gawd, the horror of having to take supplements) Ah but I’m the unhealthy one. Most people know nothing about nutrition but become experts as soon as a vegan enters the room and know exactly why veganism is wrong. You ask them if they know what protein is and they just say protein equals meat (my nephew’s words). My own mother thinks we have to eat animals or the streets would be overrun with them and grass would grow sky high. I’ve had people tell me that they are just too sensitive to even look at mistreated animals, and with that sensitive heart they sit inside a McDonalds contributing to the misery animals have to endure.
People who can’t think beyond their own wants and desires need to make us the bad guys to justify their own ignorance and lack of compassion. And sometimes just the sight of them makes my stomach turn.
it sure is nice to read about other people who suffer from the same lack of understanding from thier peers. sucks that we all have to deal with it, but it’s nice to finally know i’m not alone.
How can you not lose your patience with stupidity? I find it a daily challenge (sometimes an hourly challenge!) to try to remain in a space where I can feel compassion for those who chose to live in blissful ignorance. But it’s extremely difficult to extend compassion to those who willfully cause so much suffering to others. I think that many of us have chosen to be vegans in this life in part, to learn to fully manifest both patience and compassion. Why else would we be confronted with these challenges with such frequency?
Every time someone at my job goes to lunch looks at me and says “lets go eat some chicken, hahah” I’m so tired of all that crap. I don’t even want to waste my time explaining the suffering of animals. “how about milk? cows don’t get killed for milk” oh man! And when i DO try to explain, they just nod then follow with a huge bite into the ham sandwich. ’sigh’ sometimes i think people are hopeless, untill i read you comments :).
I find it easier not to treat every conversation as a conversion session. People tend to react negatively to a “hard sell,” no matter what it is. So when coworkers or others joke, “Let’s go get a steak,” I usually respond in a similar humor (“only if they’ll wrap it in bacon”). I figure, everybody needs to have their own epiphany moment before they’re going to make a major life change. I continue to bring vegan food to office potlucks, they continue to taste it, and sometimes we get into serious discussions about where gelatin or rennet comes from. Mostly, though, I hope to portray a good example of being (almost) vegan and just a regular person, not some fringe political freak, and break down some of those barriers that can make meat-eaters so defensive.
Well, I too encounter ignorance quite frequently. My situation is that I am vegan as of 5 months ago and I am overweight, so when it is necessary for me to say, “No thanks” to food and them I am asked “Why?” and then I say “I’m vegan” I get strange looks. I think people expect vegans to be rail thin, along with all the ignorant expectations. I am also amazed that when animal treatment does come up as the topic of conversation, people are so crass and unapologetic. Humans are inhumane to such a terrible degree on so many levels. Usually, when people engage in a nutritional debate with me they decide to back down pretty quickly, because I am a RN and I am well-versed in human nutrition AND every day for the last 5-6 months I have studied and researched nutrition as related to the vegan diet!
My dad invited me to a picnic in the mountains last year and he said not to worry about bringing food – knowing that my son and I don’t eat meat or dairy. What does he bring? Bratwurst and cookies and cow milk. He tells me that if a person gets hungry enough, they will eat whatever is available. I had crackers. My son and I were starved by the time we got home.
When I first stopped eating meat, I got the – What do ya eat -rabbit food? and well, I don’t care what you eat – just don’t try to make me into one (a vegetarian) – hardy har har!!!! Stupid morons.