Broken my veganism today

[Stepstepmother]

And had to tell someone!

I’ve been a vegan for a few years - for environmental reasons and the argument that it’s much more possible to feed the world when we eat a plant based diet. It’s genuinely been a sacrifice as I love eating meat and fish and dairy - but I’ve done it. Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of giving myself a secret day off. Just one day, then back to it. That day was today. So I’ve eaten...

A buttery cheese croissant for breakfast
Rare steak with beef dripping chips and creamed spinach for lunch
A chicken thigh pita with halloumi cheese, caramelised onions, and garlic aoli for dinner.

It’s all been epic. And totally secret. I’m back on the straight and narrow vegan route again tomorrow and will look forward to my next cheat day in a few years time. But I just had to share.

(I know I’ve posted in AIBU - so, was I unreasonable?)

You can choose to do both!Vegan and eat animal products occasionally

Nope. Mutually exclusive words. You can't be a meat eating vegetarian. I mean, come ON people, have we entirely given up facts in the post truth era? Words have no meaning at all, anything can mean the exact opposite, in a neo-Trumpian existentialist nightmare?

Good for you OP
I’m an omnivore because I love meat and cheese. I hate the dairy industry and admire your diet for the last 3+ years.
🙌🏻

So what people are saying is you have to be in it for proper approved vegan reasons (the animals) and enjoy every Chia seed and lentil and hate meat rather than doing it for environmental reasons.... interesting

Nobody said that! They said to be a vegan you have to not eat cheese and steak. It's only controversial if you have the IQ of a King Edward.

It's the people who are shrieking about the OP not being a vegan who would put me off anything to do with veganism

Thankfully it's extremely easy to be a vegan without having anything to do with "veganism" beyond the fact that you don't eat animal products.

Interesting to see the mix of vegans as diet-followers vs vegans as ideologists here. One type tries their damned best to avoid animal products and might either take a day off once every few years (YEARS, FFS!) or their friends or restaurant staff screw up and serve them meat or dairy by mistake, but instead of wasting the food and resources they just eat the damn sandwich.

I think OP has a better idea of how to be ethical in her diet than say the goofball at work who insists on a separate spoon to be used for making her tea in case milk has touched it and it might touch her tea. Who or what is benefitting from extra spoons being washed JUST for one vegan? Surely it's worse for the planet that way, and by extension the animals living on it?

What's especially ridiculous is that for the ideologists, if you screw up even once, then you are no longer a vegan (you're impure!!) and you might as well throw in the towel. It's all or nothing. They would rather you just gave up and ate meat and dairy altogether than you dared to call yourself vegan because they know about that one steak you ate one time 2 years ago. When it's like that, it has absolutely nothing to do with being good to animals and/or the planet, and everything to do with being holier than thou.

@HotblackDesiatoto

Was the OP a vegan before today?
Is it possible for her to regain vegan status? If so, when?

PurpleDaisies - happy with omnivore, happy with flexitarian.

You don't have to be a vegan to enjoy vegan food, you don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy vegetarian food. But remember that it annoys the hell out of vegetarians and vegans if you're a meat eater (including omnivores and flexitarians) and you eat all their food at a buffet or barbecue because it looks, and tastes, good and leave none for them.

Well I've alerted the Vegan Society's paramiltary wing. They'll be round any minute to pelt you with baba ganoush and Linda McCartney sausages. Be afraid.

HollowTalk. That was not the way it was intended. The VS is agreeing that it is not always possible to follow such a strict diet and that there can be flexibility. They're really not telling anyone how to think of behave. So everyone needs to chill out about it.

Me personally? Very strict. I have vegan and veggie friends that have blind spots when it comes to wine. I don't bring it up with them, but I don't drink it myself. Not my business what anyone else eats or drinks. Can't imagine having a day like the OP. But if she can do it. And not be stuck on the toilet all night, that's her business.

Oh come on OP has eaten a small amount of meat for the first time in years and tomorrow will be back to lentils and beans of course she’s a sodding vegan. It’s 1 day I don’t think she needs to hand back the vegan badge!

How do people get so worked up over this 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's the people who are shrieking about the OP not being a vegan who would put me off anything to do with veganism

Why? Unless you are planning to be steak eating vegan what would it matter to you?

A whole thread of people getting irate because people think someone eating rare steak and chicken is not a vegan! A dictionary for everyone in the audience!

Haha shite - I was hoping no one would alert the ‘society’

I have no angst here! I’m genuinely at peace with my choices. I chose to spend one day (ONE day since January 2915!!) eating everything I wanted. Absolutely everything. From tomorrow I’ll be back following a strict vegan diet. And yes, tomorrow, if people ask if I have any dietary requirements, I will say ‘vegan’ as that is what I will be eating

I hope all those shouting that OP is not a vegan have never ever allowed animal products past their lips on any day since birth. Otherwise, they are not vegan.

I don’t understand why we describe ourselves ‘as xxx’ when discussing what people eat. Why do people say they ‘are gluten free’ or ‘are vegan’ most human beings indeed are free of gluten and certainly aren’t part of a vegan diet. Why don’t people say they ‘eat a gluten free diet’ or a ‘vegan diet’ which is something you could ‘do’ rather than ‘be’ allowing for the possibility of eating a vegan diet 5 days a week or 364 days a year (or every other Wednesday) and this still being better in many ways than not doing it at all.

Obviously that should say january 2015. I’m not a militant vegan from the future

I'm really sorry but I read the title as I broke my vagina today (I am very very tired!) I'm glad you only broke your veganism!

Mumshotel. Look at the Barnivore website. You can find out there. Most gin will be. Vodka is. Happily for me amaretto is. But most win, particularly red, contains isinglass. Which is essentially fish bladder.

Also, I found out not long after going vegan, purely by accident, that some sugar has remnants of bone charcoal in as a result of the refining process. That made both veggie and carnivorous friends of mine bork when I shared.

When you look into it, many ingredients are pretty grim.

I think this is bloody hilarious. It's like a bloody cult. It's less tolerant than a religion is honestly people cannot have an off day.

Are we actually saying that? Have people got to the point of such narrow-mindedness that nobody can err from the narrow path without being CAST OUT of the cult of the most virtuous FOR EVER.

Oh come on.

Even the most stringent of religions allow for the prodigal son, those who have a crisis of faith to come back to the fold.

Veganism will eat its own head (pun entirely intended) if it becomes such a cult where those who have an off day are forever cut off and cut out.

You don't have to be a vegan to enjoy vegan food, you don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy vegetarian food

Oh absolutely and amen to letting us have first go at the non-meat stuff at a buffet etc.

There are definitions associated with being vegan or vegetarian. It’s totally fine to eat what you want, but don’t refer to yourself as something you’re not. I’m looking at you, fish/chicken eating vegetarians. It makes it more difficult for those of us that actually adhere to what the word means.

With regards to labels I would say they are helpful in restaurants so you know what you are getting. But also with friends. If I said I follow a predominately vegan diet but have a cheat day once every three years, they would expect me to eat whatever they served to me. Or not understand if I felt a restaurant wasn’t suitable. Labels are usually for other people rather than ourselves - so others know our boundaries

I've been vegan for a few years now, I was vegetarian till 14, then I ate meat for years before finally deciding to stop. Mostly because it made my stomach ache and i couldn't stand the smell, so i became vegeterian again. Then with a bit more research I realised perhaps i would be better off becoming vegan. I think people telling op she isn't vegan is a bit ridiculous, that would be like saying because I ate meet from ages 14 to 32 I can never be vegetarian or vegan. She may not be vegan today but she can be tomorrow. It's not something I would personally do or something i really agree with but I suppose it's like being on a diet that you don't exactly enjoy and having a cheat day which i can understand.

YANBU. I was vegan for two years and it crippled me towards the end, I was literally having dreams about eggs and cheese . I caved and never went back...

I don’t eat meat and haven’t since I was 12, the thought really doesn’t entice me but I really struggled without dairy.

If no one ate animals, I'm not sure there would be enough space to grow enough plant food for the whole human population. I try not to eat much meat because I feel bad about eating animals, especially if they haven't had a good life (or death). I take comfort in the fact that some animals would happily eat me. However, human teeth are designed to eat an omnivore diet. It's a tricky subject. What I've never understood is why vegetarians would want to eat food designed to look like meat ( vegetarian sausages/mince etc.)

What I've never understood is why vegetarians would want to eat food designed to look like meat ( vegetarian sausages/mince etc.)

Because they like meat but don’t want to eat dead animals? It isn’t rocket science.

Good for you OP x