*I want to sit and enjoy my meal without people making faces, constantly asking what I eat, saying 'ooh I could never eat meat I love animals too much'. If you are genuinely interested don't ask me at the same time you are tucking into a plate of vegetables.
Everything works both ways.*
Of course it works both ways. What people seem to forget is most vegans ate meat at one point in their past. Very few vegans who were raised that way. I've also been pescetarian, vegetarian and now vegan.
Eating out as a meat eater absolutely no one asked me why I was eating that. No one said to me I shouldn't be eating meat, even my non meat eating friends and family. I was a meat eater half my life, so I'm pretty confident having never have personally experienced it that what you are describing is either non existent or very rare.
As a pescetarian, not one comment. People presume you prefer fish.
As a vegetarian, people assume you choose not to eat meat as you care about animals and therefore don't really ask you about it.
As a vegan though the experiences are completely different. As soon as you have a different menu to them or you ask for a dish to be adjusted the floodgates open. It doesn't matter how discreetly you do this, they are there waiting to jump on you. And it's at pretty much every social event you go to. It doesn't matter how you answer the questions either, the result is the person doing the questioning gets annoyed. "I'm sorry I've just come to enjoy the occasion, I'd really rather not discuss this issue" = angry person. "Well I don't eat those because of x,y,z" = angry person. Politely pretending you didn't hear = person who then asks again and again and then gets angry.
Just some of the comments I have had so far -
Vegans are extreme though aren't they?
What would you do if you were stranded on an island and there was only a pig with you?
What do you eat though?
Why don't you eat dairy, no animals die for dairy?
Why do you not eat eggs, they are not cruel?
But what are your shoes made out of, I bet they are leather?
But you drive a car?
But the phone you are using probably had animal parts in it therefore you can't really be a full vegan can you?
But where do you get your protein?
Where do you get B12, because that only comes from animals?
Must be so restrictive being vegan, you poor thing!
You don't look like a vegan, I though they all wire 'hippy' clothes!
Seriously, I'm just out to have a good night, enjoy myself and the company and don't want to have to answer this fricking nonsense every time I go out! I don't bring it up, other people do that for me!