Why do so many people criticise vegans?

I’m a lifelong vegetarian and have dabbled with veganism over time. I don’t have a problem with vegans and know I should be more positive about it but this is my issue.

i spent the best part of 35 years having to explain, justify, defend my reasons for being vegetarian. I was constantly attacked, belittled, ridiculed and argued with by friends family and strangers. I am not and have never been someone who promotes vegetarianism or declares my reasons or argues why you should be.i cook meat, I respect all peoples food choices etc this is just mine.

I spent the 80s and 90s and longer struggling with food options in restaurants.

and then suddenly 2017 arrives and so does Veganuary (or whenever it was) and all of a sudden I’m going out of my way to provide vegan food for all the pricks who ridiculed me for not eating meat and now in restaurants I STILL can’t get vegetarian options I now have to ask for vegan with changes such as normal cheese etc! I’m no further on than 1986!

I respect anyone giving up meat for moral/environmental reasons but that’s my frustrated take on it!

It is purely managing expectations. In the same way you might order a fake plant, faux fur etc.
Vegans aren’t demanding any terminology, the manufacturers are simply using easy to understand names.
It’s really not a big deal 😆

Oh yes, I forgot that one. Give it time. 😉

There's 2 vegans at work who never shut up about it and constantly suggest I try their oat milk. Not once have I suggested they try a bit of my (delicious) cows milk or made comments on their food choices. I'm a perfectly happy meat eater and nothing will change my mind about that.

I loved the taste of meat, but I always felt like an hypocrite. 'I love animals, and hate to see them suffering, but it's just a little bit of chicken, lamb, beef'.

I'm not a healthy vegan by any stretch and I love fake meat.

maybe because the products are designed to fill a taste like the products they are proposed to be? Hence the use of the word "vegan chicken". You know, for people who like the taste of chicken, but can't bear to eat real chicken?

I've never heard vegans being picked on more than pescatarians or vegetarians or carnivores for that matter. Depends where you live and what you read and watch.

Straw man argument. Why can't we do both?

Oh and another bug bear.

vegan or veggie chicken is NOT chicken
vegan ham is NOT ham

The list goes on. If you object that strongly to eating meat why do you use the words associated with meat?

And there was me thinking that persuading world governments to reduce the use of fossil fuels by increasing the production of sustainable energy might be a useful way of spending my time.

Canine teeth?

Bingo card filling up. Have we had what about bees yet?

No they don't 'like to ignore it' its a common argument they get from idiots trying to be smart. Watch any video where a vegan is trying to have a rational discussion with a fool. It always ends with the last resort excuse of 'plants feel pain too!'. Might as well get a tinfoil hat on and a placard that says 'save the cauliflowers'. Always the last resort that argument

Would you equate the 'suffering' involved in picking an apple to killing a pig in a gas chamber? Of course not!

Because they can. The pool of people we can joke about these days is very small!!

My husband and I hosted a family bbq a few years back. The family hadn’t seen each other for many years and it was going to be a great catchup.

So not to exclude a 2nd cousin who’s vegan we extended her an invite. We bought vegan produce and a 2nd set of utensils and cooked on a separate bbq. Never again. You know the joke “ how can you tell whether someone’s a vegan? Because they tell you, again and again……” She managed to alienate almost everyone constantly talking about vegans, vegan produce with a holier than thou attitude. We could have taken it with a pinch of salt if she’d had looked healthy but she didn’t. Grey isn’t a good skin colour. And her vegan mantra was punctuated with the vitamins she took in favour of meat and dairy.

It didn’t ruin the day but she won’t be getting another invite.

You are correct, I think this demonstrates that not all vegans are preachy and judgey and just like anything one or two annoying people can give everyone a bad name.

So you are trying to disprove or discredit the largest study of its kind, carried out over many years by Oxford University?

It seems you may have tried to do that with ChatGPT generated "answers"?

I’ve been vegan for 8 years. I think people have this impression of us that we are preachy, just because some are. In my experience over the past 8 years, regardless who I’ve been with someone always makes a negative comment on my food. I don’t preach veganism, I just mind my own business yet in I believe meat eaters are more preachy than vegans. It’s constantly like ‘your food looks disgusting’ or ‘why would you want something that replicates meat?’ (we want the taste not the cruelty. Or it’s them preaching about how vegans are malnourished or lacking nutrients, ‘don’t you miss bacon’. It’s endless drama when I just want to eat in peace.

the thing is, as a vegan, no one would know unless I end up eating around them. Yet we have the stigma of constantly talking about veganism.

I’m a single parent yet raising my son to eat ‘normally’ - I buy and cook meat for him. I believe all people should have a choice and I would never force my beliefs on other people. Yet people believe we’re all the protestors who stand on the street with graphic pop ups, or the people who start arguments at the dinner table. we are not all like that

Almond milk is shite in comparison to oat milk. Why do people think all vegans drink Almond milk?

@MissysMeemaw

You can’t defend yourself can you, I also asked you a reasonable question about veganism but you can’t give a response to that either, I thought you were here to teach everyone how they should be living the vegan way, but you clearly can’t give answers

@Kenway01 By the way did you ask ChatGPT for that?

not that I would promote almond above oat milk, for example. But compared to dairy the evidence is clear.

@Kenway01 for starters, here's the data on environmental impact of all milks, including almond, the evidence speaks for itself.

I kimd of admire vegans for their commitment, wonder if some of them manage to achieve a balanced diet

I respect their choice but would like a little more appreciation / respect that I've catered a separate meal for them when I'm hosting. It's extra work and shouldn't be taken for granted IMHO

They may not have complex emotions or be capable of reasoning, but let me tell you that mammals do have very similar central nervous systems. They have nociceptors and can therefore feel noxious stimuli. That is a fact!