A good friend of mine has turned Vegan (rant alert)

[LEMmingaround]

And is banging on about how disgusting the meat industry is etc etc, putting provocative shit on facefuck and generally shoving it down my throat. (and her other friends too i imagine). She has two young children and is now thinking about feeding them a vegan diet too - great, im sure its very healthy, whoopie. But i don't want to become a vegan, i was veggie for a while but found it too restrictive i am too lazy and expensive to eat properly. Whatever.

You know what - if you want to be veggie, great, if you want to be and can manage to be vegan - respect! but fuck off with trying to make me feel guilty for not doing the same thing. EVERY fucking time i see or talk to you. especially when the last time i saw you shopping in tesco before you met a new group of friends you were buying battery farmed eggs

She tried to make me have soya milk and really got shitty when i said, no i'll have proper milk please, because actually, and i can't be 100% sure it was the soya or quorn but i had an allergic reaction and had to be blue lighted to hospital when i ate a veggie spag bol once before, so no thankyou very much. Thinking back i could have just had black coffee but was tired and mind fucked from her going on about the poor fucking cows....

Rant over

this is probably a really stupid question, but do vegans eat honey? i would assume not? (plus red food dyes containing cochineal?)

Just answer every point she makes by saying the word "sausages" and nothing else. Preferably in a 'Churchill' (the dog) voice.

"Veganism is the only way to be. The meat industry is evil".

"Shaushages"

Repeat.

Just tell her! She deserves to be told off because she's being a pratt.

Loads of people are allergic to Quorn they've even tried banning it in the USA. My son is allergic to it.

Loads of people are allergic to Quorn they've even tried banning it in the USA. My son is allergic to it.

WillieWaggledagger

I think it is seen as exploiting animals to eat the product of their labour?

Quorn is horrible. I dislike any soya protein.
Also tofu. No thanks.
I couldn't be a vegan. Life is way too short to say yes to tofu and no to carrot cake with a cream cheese topping.
Fools.

A balanced diet contains fat protein and carbohydrate. All of these are present in a a vegan diet. The only thing vegans have to artificially supplement is B12. A vegan diet is at least as healthy as an omni diet.

Vegan cat food has all that is necessary for an cats health (is supplemented).

Yes, hardcore vegans are irritating and in some cases downright scary (esp when linked to animal rights extremists etc). But anyone who has a strongly held belief (religion, running etc) can be the same.

I think some people (not necc the OP) don't like vegans/vegetarians partially because it makes them realise that some people care about where their food comes from, and this makes them feel a wee tinge of guilt.

pictish

I dislike most soya and Quorn products (someone on another forum said that Quorn is vegetarian rather than vegan because of egg protein) but as I mentioned upthread I have found some of the nut 'milk' dairy alternatives very nice and the Sojade range of soya and rice dessert products are delicious although I eat animal products. I don't think the two things are mutually exclusive to a meat eater anyway.

I do think it is a bit selfish for meat eaters to eat the vegetarian options at a buffet without letting the non meat eaters choose first though as someone upthread pleaded!

Vegans do not eat honey as it is produced by animals.

Vegetarians and vegans do not eat cochineal as it is an animal product that requires the death of the animal.

Look I'm being flippant. I don't really think 'fools' - i think people should eat in whatever way they so choose. I will pretty much eat anything including vegan food, quite happily.
But not tofu, or soya protein. It's not quite food.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine

Vegan cat food has all that is necessary for an cats health (is supplemented).

Why feed a pet supplements when they can get what they need from the food that they naturally would eat though? Also some people have said that a vegan lifestyle is incompatible with pet ownership anyway.

I think some people (not necc the OP) don't like vegans/vegetarians partially because it makes them realise that some people care about where their food comes from, and this makes them feel a wee tinge of guilt.

I can't speak for other posters but I don't feel any guilt for my diet as I try to make sure that I choose as ethically as possible and I do eat some vegan products because I actually like them.

I don't understand how being upset at the mass torture of animals is a bad thing?

I get that it's not important to you, but honestly you scroll past it in less than half a second.

Quorn is made by the devil himself.. those bad bellys will stay with me for a long time. Who wants to do that to themselves?

i actually laughed at the twinge of guilt thing.. no guilt here, twinge or otherwise.

i also laugh... if the world ended as we know it and food wasn't as readily available.. those none animal eaters would have little tiddles and bruno chopped up and eaten faster than you can say tofu.

Pictish - if you went and tried tofu in Japan or China you might change your mind. When it is fresh, it is delicious as it is, uncooked, just sprinkled with a little grated ginger and dribbled with soy sauce. It is definitely food, and a very good one at that. Unfortunately the tofu sold in British supermarkets is only good for frying, preferably with strongly-flavoured sauces.

what lacktoastandtolerance said!

Why feed a pet supplements when they can get what they need from the food that they naturally would eat though? Also some people have said that a vegan lifestyle is incompatible with pet ownership anyway.

That statement was in answer to the poster that said that vegan cat food didn't meet a cats nutritional needs. The vegan pet food thing is a cause of very robust debate in the vegan community though. There are three positions.

1. Proper vegans don't have pets.
2. Proper vegan love animals so have pets and would never impose their own beliefs on another animal (so feed meat based pet food)
3. Vegans don't eat meat so why would their pets.

I can't speak for other posters but I don't feel any guilt for my diet as I try to make sure that I choose as ethically as possible and I do eat some vegan products because I actually like them.

Those that do end up veggie/vegan eventually

Dad is a no meat (except for a drunken turkey sandwich at Christmas he thought was cheese) vegetarian but isn't fussed about checking sweets for gelatine. My sisters were both gelatine free zone vegetarians. A minor comment once in a blue moon from any of them.

Now my sisters have both become vegan in the last year. One sister is still quite laid back, the other is posting links on fb of articles, videos, speeches. Tells you what a bad person you are, uncaring, cold etc. Its pretty draining. My step sister made the mistake of saying of course she cares about animal welfare but...... The argument/lecture went on for hours. No exaggeration.

People can eat what they want. Personally I think cheese and onion crisps were created by the devil and eating them is akin to stepping in the bog of eternal stench.

When dealing with people like my sister when questioned about the animals, just say you don't care (even if you do). It stopped her in her tracks as I was then a lost cause in the vegan world :)

DP has become pescatarian in the last month.... But that's another story

I don't eat meat. I really hate people questioning what I eat or rather what I don't eat. It is amazing how many meat eaters suddenly start asking me to justify why I don't eat meat. I NEVER criticise people for eating meat and I even feed it to my children.

Each to their own. I'd just tell your friend that you would prefer it if she would accept your differences.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine
Why feed a pet supplements when they can get what they need from the food that they naturally would eat though? Also some people have said that a vegan lifestyle is incompatible with pet ownership anyway.

That statement was in answer to the poster that said that vegan cat food didn't meet a cats nutritional needs. The vegan pet food thing is a cause of very robust debate in the vegan community though. There are three positions.
1. Proper vegans don't have pets.
2. Proper vegan love animals so have pets and would never impose their own beliefs on another animal (so feed meat based pet food)
3. Vegans don't eat meat so why would their pets.

That was me I think who said about cats (because my friends have turned Vegan and have cats and dogs), 1 and 2 are what I (can't comment on what anyone else thinks) think is acceptable as I think that having pets is good for you but 3 is never acceptable, if you want a non meat eating pet as a vegan then get one that eats that diet naturally, don't force your beliefs on an animal that can't care what you believe.

I can't speak for other posters but I don't feel any guilt for my diet as I try to make sure that I choose as ethically as possible and I do eat some vegan products because I actually like them.

Those that do end up veggie/vegan eventually

Nah, I like meat far too much to ever go down that route! I do think though as I said up thread we in the UK probably eat too much meat and possibly it is also not the best quality so eating less but better quality is something to aspire to for health reasons if nothing else.

Re the egg industry.
To the people who aren't happy about the mass industrial slaughter of male chicks, can i ask what you think would happen to these male chicks if they were born in the wild?
Chickens don't form mating pairs. They have one male to a flock of females. Any additional males born surplus to flock requirements will be slaughtered by the adult rooster (their dad!) as soon as they display signs of being a young rival male.
Male chickens all have the odds stacked against their survival. That's just nature. If humans didn't manage the flock, the chickens would deal with it themselves.

I can totally understand people not wanting to eat eggs, or meat for that matter, but I don't understand the issue of male chick slaughter as a reason to boycott eggs.

Do the male chicks get used in pet food or meat pastes? Just wondering. I've seen them fed to birds of prey.

Agree with the posters who say it isn't the diet - it's the preaching.

I did get annoyed with a vegetarian friend when the horse meat scandal was going on.

She assumed that meat eaters ate meat indiscriminately, so what difference did it make

She's not normally like this, but she got quite lecturey about it. I asked her how she'd feel if any animal products got into the highly processed vegetarian products she sometimes eats.

I did get annoyed with a vegetarian friend when the horse meat scandal was going on.

She assumed that meat eaters ate meat indiscriminately, so what difference did it make

Kind of depends why the horse meat thing bothered Omni's. If it was because they were upset at eating horse then they are being hypocritical. If it is because of the lack of traceability and not knowing what they were eating then fair enough.

The horse meat thing was because people thought they were eating something else.. if you want to sell horse then label it as horse.

Just like a veggie wouldn't be happy if they were tricked into eating meat.

It's bugger all to do with being hypocritical.