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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to find vegans really annoying?

422 replies

seriouslynowdontbesoearnest · 16/05/2017 00:12

Just that really. I know a few and my god do they ever preach on and on about their coconut oil macha powder cacao powder chia seed energy balls and milk industry and calves being killed etc. It's the over earnestness and attitude that they are the most enlightened people to walk this planet that wind me up. It reminds me of being 18 again.

OP posts:
Hannabananarama · 18/05/2017 08:11

I'm vegetarian for ethical reasons - have been for the best part of forty years. I cannot argue at all with the case for veganism. They are right, as far as I'm concerned - dairy is barbarically cruel and exploitative.

However, for me, being a veggie is hard. Eating out and generally only having a choice of two dishes from the entire menu (spinach and ricotta tortellini or mushroom risotto, usually) is shit and annoying. Not being able to sling a tray of fishfingers in the oven as a quick meal after Brownies on a Tuesday is a pain in the hole. If I grab a sandwich from Greggs, then I have a choice of one in the whole shop. All of this makes me cross, and yes, I feel as though it's a sacrifice.

I can't centre my life around food in the way that I'd need to if I were vegan. I just don't have time, and it would make me incredibly resentful: the constant checking of ingredient lists, the massively time consuming preparation of pulses etc., the criminally expensive and inconvenient to source 'alternatives' you have to buy...

And that's without going into the fact that it's incredibly restricted. I like veggie curry, but I don't want a version of it every other night (just because you use sweet potato in it on Monday and then cauliflower in it on Tuesday does not actually make it a different meal - it's still bloody veggie curry. Same goes for soup.) Lentils do make an alright alternative to mince etc, but eating lentils every other day is an utterly soul destroying thought.

So basically I deeply admire vegans - they are excercising moral choices that I absolutely agree with, and this is not annoying at all. What is annoying is the type of vegan who is absolutely insistent that being vegan is really really easy and provides a really really varied diet. Neither of those things are true.

CakeAhoy · 18/05/2017 08:26

Personally I think their doggedness, poor mood and lack of humour is a vitamin B deficiency. I also wonder why they have meat eating teeth and enzymes in their guts, but I don't really engage with them as their breath smells of granola

See there are a minority of twats on both sides Grin

Hannabananarama I'm not preachy but you'd probably find me annoying then.

I really haven't found the switch from full on meat and cheese devouring machine to vegan that difficult at all.

Maybe it's because I loved home cooking anyway? I've never had a 'veg curry' 😁

From recommendations on here I used a few cookbooks to get started. I haven't had the same thing twice in a week ever.

And it's rarely taken more than an hour to knock up (most meals are around the 30 minute mark)

I can highly recommended the 'thug kitchen' books. If you have a quick nosy on their site you'll see that it isn't all lentils and salads.

Their skillet beer mac and BBQ bean burritos are a huge heat with my carnivore family Grin

LauraMipsum · 18/05/2017 09:38

I sort of agree Hanna particularly if you're cooking for a child too and need to ensure they get a balanced diet so you can't just live on hummus sandwiches! The reason I gave up on veganism the first time I tried it was that I was really hard up (as in my rent was more than my income and I was living in overdraft frantically trying to get a payrise or another job) so I was living on rice, lentils, and whatever was cheap at the market - I had pumpkin and ginger soup for about a fortnight.

Being able to afford the variety of herbs and spices, or the expensive replacement products, definitely makes it easier to have variety and easy meals (Quorn now do vegan fish fingers so that's Friday evening sorted!)

I tend to cook once for two meals so a typical week might be Thai green curry Mon / Tues, bean chilli with cabbage, baked potato and tofu white sauce Weds / Thurs, fishless fingers / sausage, chips and peas Friday, fakeaway (curry / Chinese / pad Thai / burgers) Saturday and a roast dinner Sunday.

LauraMipsum · 18/05/2017 09:39

*tofu sour cream with baked spuds, not tofu white sauce, doh

Lightship · 18/05/2017 09:46

Personally I think their doggedness, poor mood and lack of humour is a vitamin B deficiency

And I think that the stereotype of humourless, preachy vegans says far more about the defensiveness of the people who perpetuate it.

Clandestino · 18/05/2017 11:18

The problem with extreme veganism can be that it can end up tragically:

www.mamamia.com.au/dangers-of-giving-babies-extreme-diets/

The poor baby would have been better on a supermarket bought formula.

Natsku · 18/05/2017 15:18

That poor baby :(

RebelRogue · 18/05/2017 15:40

Extremes of any kind are not good and tend to be harmful.

fascicle · 18/05/2017 18:04

Clandestino Why are you linking that story to 'extreme veganism'? The article does not say the family were vegans.

ShowMePotatoSalad · 18/05/2017 18:16

I have a lot of vegetarian/vegan friends and none of them preach about their diets at all. I don't know who all these people are talking about chia seeds or whatever but I've never met a vegan in real life who had that attitude. Most people just want to live their lives how they see fit and don't try to push it on others.

What I have noticed however, is meat eaters who make fun of people who are vegetarian or vegan, refer to it as faddy (which is ridiculous IMO) and generally preach about the benefits of eating meat as opposed to not eating it. This thread is the perfect example.

Not all vegans are healthy - it doesn't make veganism bad. Not all meat eaters are healthy either, There's fear-mongering on both sides.

CakeAhoy · 19/05/2017 08:08

That poor baby Sad

I must say though, these severely neglected children being trotted out in discussions about veganism do get my soya replication goat.

They have been abused.

Severely neglected, starved and it's never just a 'vegan' diet. It's always extreme and nothing to do with an average diet (gluten free, nothing cooked, no grains etc.)

Like that daily mail woman who saw the light about being vegan as her children were getting il.

Of course they were, she had them in a 'raw food' only diet etc.

Honestly, when 'those' people I have come across (wheedle out that you are a vegan by almost harassing you then go massively on the offensive) start googling on their phones....all sorts of claptrap get spouted.

Sadly, these poor children are the first to be used, to make a point usually.

CakeAhoy · 19/05/2017 08:12

In the interests of being upfront, my dc are not vegan.

I've decided not to make that choice for them, however I can see how it's perfectly possible to raise a healthy vegan child (hello 6ft fireman in 'forks over knives')

Also I don't faff about cooking different meals, Dh just cooks some meat/fish at the beginning of the week and adds that and dairy to some of their meals.

DoorwayToNorway · 19/05/2017 23:13

Now, the American and Brazilian laws are extraordinarily lax and treatment on feedlots is hellish and inhuman

Please don't lump Brazil into the same category as the USA. 95-98% of Brazilian and Argentinian beef is free roaming on 200 + year old ranches, that are thousands of acres. No need for feed lots, the animals can be reared all year round outside. Cowboys are very much part of South American life. People here do not like feed lots and very few use them. Our neighbour tried to introduce it, he needed to abandon it because he was boycotted for cruelty and insanity. Brazil cannot import meat from the USA, their laws are too slack and the crap they pump into their cattle is illegal here. Our farm is organic, it's not common but it's gaining ground rapidly in Brazil. But even though most farms are not organic, where I live in rural Brazil is like stepping back 100 years in the UK, I know a lot of dairy farmers that still hand milk and the calves are kept with the cows, in mixed herds. Everything is locally grown and produced.

I eat meat, but as are family we eat far less than average Brazilians and have one veggie child. I have nothing against vegans, I think some are doing the best they can do on what they have and where they are. Wouldn't work for me as we rely on seasonal fruit and vegetables. Variety is not so easy to get hold of. You have to pretty much eat what's available every month.

Rantymare · 20/05/2017 02:24

hannahbanana sorry I know I'm in disagreement but I'm not disagreeing because I have an argument. I find being a vegan easy. I wonder if some things in life are making it difficult. If you want any advice feel free to pm. I'm 99% vegan (the1% is I still wear old leather things etc ).

Of that baby, that has utterly bugger all to do with being vegan and everything to do with being neglectful parents. Surely anyone with half a brain recognises that.

user1487175389 · 20/05/2017 07:53

I agree ranty I also find being Vegan much easier than i'd anticipated. It quickly becomes second nature. I feel like it's rekindled some ancient part of my brain that knew it was always supposed to avoid animal products. Just a hunch, buy certainly fits in with my smallish mouth and teeth, very long intestinal tract, and visceral repulsion to gore.

malificent7 · 20/05/2017 10:17

Ime when i was vegan the amount of grief i got was amazing.
I wish id never told anyone abd just wuietly got on with it.
But then you get all the why arent you eating steak crap.
We went to visit some friends. Dp is vegetarian and not at all preachy and when our hosts heard they sais. "What do you want to do that gor... br a caveman. " as though it wss a statement about his manhood.

Ironically we cost them less money in food so we weren't being inconvenient guests.
It was their extreme reaction that infuriated me. How dare they insult him like that. I eat meat abd dp has never criticised me.

I am contemplating veganism again as im going off meat fast.

malificent7 · 20/05/2017 10:18

Aggggrrr. Typos!

malificent7 · 20/05/2017 10:19

Let me translate.. " What do you want to do that for... be a caveman. "

Bea1985 · 20/05/2017 10:56

Most, no hang on, ALL of the intensely annoying people I know are not vegan.

YABU and lazy.

Unless it's in a relevant discussion, like this, or I'm asked about it, I never talk about being vegan. What does happen though is I'm asked about it, whilst out for dinner in a group say, and immediately interrogated and attacked. I try my best to stay out of debates but sometimes people just will not leave off. And then, after making a huge song and dance, someone ALWAYS says "huh... How do you know if someone is a vegan?! THEY'LL TELL YOU!" I mean.... Just fuck off you boring , predictable cunt.

And it does boil my piss when people post artcilcles about abused, starved children whose parents refused to take them to a proper doctor and say "see these are the dangers of enforcing veganism / "extreme diets" on poor babies. That baby died because it's parents were abusive.

It's perfectly possible to be 100% healthy on a vegan diet, like with any diet you need to be nutritionally aware and not be lazy. I'm pregnant , vegan for 15 years, and have had all the blood tests etc, everything is perfectly fine, midwife and gp unconcerned.

I think many people that hate vegans simply for existing do so because they feel they have to justify their own lifestyle choices to themselves, and sometimes find it difficult to think about.

And if someone posts something annoying on Facebook just be a grown up and ignore it, like I do with some of my family members who make Britain First type remarks or post pictures of their bloody Sunday roasts, or whinge about how they have another cold. PEOPLE are self obsessed and annoying, just ignore them!

Totallypearshaped · 20/05/2017 16:48

Blerp you're having a laff.

EU legislation to protect your environment is already being dismantled by your Tory government, but don't let the truth get in the way of your opinions.

You can the EU restrictive? Well restrictions are needed to protect the environment, ensure humane treatment of animals, including a right to a natural diet and space to roam, and laws regarding the humane slaughter of animals. It's the USA that has few of these so called restrictions, but by all means think of these as restrictive if you're hell bent on racing them to the bottom.

You'll be having feed-lot beef as part of a UK USA deal in no time, now you're not in TTIP with the rest of us.

Negotiating TTIP as part of the EU negotiating team will not be an option for the UK as you've voted to leave. You're all on your own against the undeniable clout of the USA. You don't have an empire anymore to support you, so good luck with that.

Maybe you have a opinion based on fantasy about that too, but I suggest you take a reality check and do your homework before you post about it.

CoteDAzur · 20/05/2017 18:22

"I feel like it's rekindled some ancient part of my brain that knew it was always supposed to avoid animal products."

What ancient part would that be? Reptilian? Grin Reptilians ate meat. Cro-Magnon? Ate meat. Homo Erectus? Ate meat. Homo Sapiens? Eats meat.

Our species has never been herbivorous.

"Just a hunch, buy certainly fits in with my smallish mouth and teeth, very long intestinal tract, and visceral repulsion to gore."

Are you claiming you are not human? Shock

Also... You measured your intestinal tract? Grin

Natsku · 20/05/2017 18:59

You mean you haven't measured yours??!!

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