to find vegans really annoying?

[seriouslynowdontbesoearnest]

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.

Is the world not totally fucked up if people think that watching a video of how their food is produced will traumatise them?

Yes actually! Bloody good point. Agree with the rest of your post too.

sentientcushion I agree with you about the video. I agree lots of people turn a blind eye about things they don't want to see. I still find the evangelical holier than thou attitude of many vegans irritating.

Moggle that is my point and you made it better than me!

Off to enjoy some jammy dodgers now. Hope they're not too alkaline...

Yabu to generalise. I think veganism can be a very sound, ethical lifestyle choice. The only thing which annoys me is when some vegan bloggers etc, (I've only ever encountered them online), who speak about how wrong it is to eat animal products, then promote eating lots of low grade, imported soy and palm oil laden, convenience foods, (Oreos, jammy dodgers, vegan margarine etc).

I don't know enough about it to say which is worse for animals, our health or the environment, (cheap, imported palm oil vs responsibly sourced, local, animal products), but I do find it annoying when ethical eating gurus promote the former while calling people every name under the sun for consuming the latter.

The best possible choice imo would be to eat locally, sustainably and vegan and I'm sure lots of people do this.

If they're too alkaline then a chia seed and kale smoothie should rebalance your chakras for you.

Oh meant to say that I've never had any vegan preach to me irl about what I eat. I have only actually had this sort of preaching from one friend, who is an advocate of low carb eating so advised I increase my meat and fat consumption.

"If you cant visit a slaughterhouse then you shouldn't be eating meat imo. If you couldn't look an animal in the eye before it died"

No problem at all. That is one good thing about growing up in a Muslim country where streets would run red with the blood of sacrificed sheep, chickens, and even the occasional cow during Ramadan - you know exactly how the meat on your plate gets there.

Personally, I am perfectly comfortable with my place in the food chain and bemused by those of you lily-livered quinoa-munching 1st-worlders getting all teary-eyed about animals dying so you can eat their meat

"Since most vegans believe that killing animals for food is wrong, of course many will want to persuade people over to their view."

So if I believe it is wrong for them to inflict their self-imposed method of malnutrition on their children, for example, of course I would be expected to keep telling them so and bombard their FB feed with stuff that supports my view?

erm I know loads of people who post stuff about the benefits of low carb high protein diets all the time. There's such thing as an unfollow button you know, you actually can choose what comes up in your newsfeed.

Vegans aren't malnourished if they're doing it correctly. You can get all the proteins and iron you need from veggies.

I just don't understand why vegans have to tell everyone they're vegan and shout it from the roof tops.

Posts all over Facebook for example.

Nobody cares! I eat meat, I'm not ignorant of how the meat/dairy industry works as all vegans seem to think.

I enjoy eating meat and don't plan to stop but you don't see me posting a picture saying "save a cabbage, eat a cow" or looking down on people's diet choices.

Vegans don't help themselves though, most do come accross as totally up themselves.

I tend to agree, people don't want to know where their dinner cake from or how it was treated, we as a society want to totally detach ourselves from the killing of an animal do we can chew on its flesh, we chose not to make the connection.

I know where my meat came from. I know an animal had to die so I can have my chicken soup right now. I honour it by buying organic and by making sure the soup is good and will be eaten by the whole family.
My Grandma used to have farm animals. We always knew where our roast chicken or rabbit or the delicious roast duck came from. We fed them and saw them being killed and made into food. They had a very good life but their existence served a purpose. My childhood experience taught me to respect the local produce and my food and be picky about my meat. My DD loves her meat so I am teaching her the same. I want her to have the connection between her food and the animals she sees.

And it's hardly a new 1st world fad to be vegetarian or vegan many Hindu and Buddhist nations are primarily vegetarian.

I think some personality types find lifestyles like veganism attractive, and they are the ones that get irritating. No one notices a vegan unless there is a practical reason such as eating with them or unless they announce it.

A school friend became "vegetarian" as a manifestation of her anorexia. Being "vegetarian" was an easy, socially acceptable reason to impose controls on her diet. Restrictive lifestyles can be attractive to people with a strong need for control.

Having catered around dietary exclusions for allergies/ intolerances (cooking for a vegan would be no problem), I wonder if some vegans self- validate a lot to keep control of their choices, particularly in the early days. A lot of alternative foods just aren't quite the same (and others are very nice)

I once knew a sanctimonious prat who decided to become vegetarian to neutralise his carbon footprint of a long haul flight... so while we ate local meat based foods in Russia and Mongolia, he ploughed through masses of imported vegetables

Context matters with the ethics of food. British lamb raised on land that is unsuitable for any other form of agriculture will have a different impact to American corn fed cattle. Sudden increases demands for foods like palm oil and quinoa are causing deforestation and affecting local markets for staple food supplies thus creating their own ethical problems. It is more complicated than animal products = bad, vegan = good.

frenchmartinitime

"save a cabbage, eat a cow"

Thankyou so much for that one liner. Really tickled me

If you think vegans are annoying...wait until you meet a raw vegan! They take annoying to the next level. Loads of them where I live.
I don't actually think vegans are annoying, not all of them, I know quite a few and used to be one myself until I started eating eggs from our rescue hens. The annoying ones then told me that I was being unethical clearly they had forgotten how good a poached egg tastes!

The holier-than-thou attitude is based on entirely false premises.

Its only when the hunter-gatherer became an agritultural farmer that animal wild life and their habitat was decimated.

Archaological research now shows that hunter gatherers were fitter and healthier than their slaving agricultural cousins!

I've known a few vegans and vegetarians in my personal life and they weren't particularly nice or special people either, no different from everyone else, so no real moral highground there either! My only vegetarian boyfriend was pretty horrible to me too!

Let's all go back to hunting and gathering then, that'll feed everyone on the planet

I've no issue with seeing an animal killed for food, I'd go hunting if I had the opportunity and I've killed my own fish since I was about 5 or so.

I buy local meat as much as possible, from family farms not big commercial farms when that's possible (usually with chicken they have on the label what farm it comes from here) and local seasonal veg as much as possible too - my local prison grows delicious tomatoes!

Sentient, vegans aren't worried about feeding people on the planet, they are by definition worried about animals. But the whole agricultural process takes land away from animals . Some people might call that hypocritical .

.

I'm vegetarian and a former meat-eating friend has suddenly gone vegan and is all evangelistic about it. She hasn't done it for animal welfare reasons but is concerned about CO2. Which is lovely but she's constantly flying around the world, away from the UK at least a couple of times a month and I can't for one minute see how dropping cheese can make a dint in off-setting all of those flights.

Haven't read the thread but I only know one vegan and she definitely doesn't preach about it.
I actually think ethically vegans are right. In fact I think eating dairy is worse than eating
meat from animals that are well treated because diary is so cruel.
I wish I was a better person and could give it up!

I am not vegan or veggie but my friend is. To be honest everyone is passionate about something and it's about being respectful. I am very aware of her beliefs and make sure if we go out there is vegan options, it's never been an issue to be honest.

"Vegans aren't malnourished if they're doing it correctly."

Like Gwyneth Paltrow, you mean, who managed to give herself pre-osteoporosis at the grand old age of 38? Good example of natural selection (for intelligence) imho.

"You can get all the proteins and iron you need from veggies"

1. Not all.
2. Lower bioavailability from plant sources means that you will have to eat heaps of peanuts, broccoli, whatever to get the nutrients that you would get from a cup of milk or a small steak.

Varied diet with everything in moderation is the best diet you can possibly have. Pretending that you have a better diet after cutting out entire food groups is an exercise in futility.

I know two vegans.

Friend One is very annoying, preachy and condescending, forces her beliefs on everyone.

Friend two is not, she will
Passionately speak about her beliefs but only when asked.

I do think vegans as a group are getting a bad name for being like my first friend.

"friend has suddenly gone vegan and is all evangelistic about it. She hasn't done it for animal welfare reasons but is concerned about CO2"

Why can't she just plant a few trees if she's so worried about CO2?

Besides, eating a cow would mean one less animal consuming O2 and giving out CO2