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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask why people are so critical/judgemental of vegans?

240 replies

abacucat · 22/09/2018 16:16

Just wondering why?

OP posts:
NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 22/09/2018 17:45

Not judgemental of vegans am judgement of sacumenous cockwombles that spout a load of shit about how every one should be vegan even Cats and foxes that need tautrine to survive and feed them vegan diets.

Whitter on about how meat eaters shouldnt have pets because they cant be animal.

I know a couple of vegans and tbh you wouldnt know unless it came up in converstation but "vegans on the internet" fuck me they talk bollocks

highheelsandbobblehats · 22/09/2018 17:46

I'm a vegan and I abhor evangelical vegans. They give the rest of us a bad name. I don't mention it unless it's relevant (such as if you're cooking for me, or like yesterday when someone offered me a shortbread biscuit and refused to take my polite 'no thank you' for an answer, insisting that I shouldn't worry about my figure all the time. I simply responded that I couldn't eat them as they have milk in, as an aside, I love shortbread so any tips on where I can get vegan shortbread and I'll forever be your friend). I joined a local Vegan FB group as I'd heard that they organised picnics and things. Left when I read a post that said they were setting up a stall in town and looking for volunteers to 'educate people'.
It's annoying when we're all tarred with the same brush. Eat your meaty burger. Fine by me. Just don't wave it in my face and tell me how good it tastes, that's just bad manners.

BonnieF · 22/09/2018 17:47

What you choose to eat or not eat is entirely a matter for you. It’s none of my business. I’m not interested and I don’t care. All I ask in return is that you extend the same basic courtesy and respect to my dietary choices as I do to yours.

Unfortunately, some vegans appear to struggle with this simple idea and insist on proselytising about their own choices while judging mine.

This is where the problems start.

So, vegans. You do your thing, I’ll do mine and we’ll all stay friends.

ADastardlyThing · 22/09/2018 17:50

The only vegans I judge are the hypocritical ones, the ones who are quite hostile with their own judgements, while failing to acknowledge that they too consume animal products, whether it's in the components in the device they use to post their judgements to the ones in the television they watch their dairy farming documentaries on.

BestBeforeYesterday · 22/09/2018 17:53

I was a vegetarian and all this "I don't give a shit about vegetarianism/veganism, it's only when people get preachy that I get annoyed" is so ridiculous. I was painfully shy, the last thing I would have dared would be to explain why I was vegetarian, let alone preach. Nonetheless I was on the receiving end of numerous snide comments, lectures on nutrition and unwanted advice.
People don't like vegans because they automatically feel judged by their superior ethical choice regarding food.

groundcontroltomontydon · 22/09/2018 17:59

Idiocy transcends diet

EndeavourVoyage · 22/09/2018 17:59

When I go out to eat, no one knows if I am a vegan or not, I order food and eat it, it just happens to contain no animal products. I get annoyed when people are out with me and felt they need to check I can eat something on the menu, I am very good at getting a chef to make me some food I want to eat without a fuss or anyone knowing, until it arrives then everyone says ooh what did you have? I can’t be bothered with other vegans who feel it is their place to judge others about their choices. It is generally the noisy vegans who get judged IME.

VeryBerrySeptember · 22/09/2018 18:09

I often like the vegan options eating out, I can get my veg count up.

So thanks for that vegans!

ksa103 · 22/09/2018 18:16

I think many people are critical of vegans because they realise, sometimes subconsciously, that vegans are doing a good thing. People often express guilt etc by being critical of other people's moral decisions. Just my opinion.

ElainaElephant · 22/09/2018 18:19

People don't give a damn what other people choose to eat, until the other people decide that their way is the only right way and they want to make sure that you know that.

Thankfully, most militant (insert eating choices here) tend to ease off a bit once the novelty of their new way of eating wears off. But not all.

RrreCansada · 22/09/2018 18:22

I think it's easy to forget the animal who is at the centre of the discussion. They have pretty shit lives and are killed at the end of it.
There is no humane knife that slits their throat. Animals are dying in their millions,surely US being offended isn't a biggest issue... Confused

Theweasleytwins · 22/09/2018 18:41

I had a friend who was vegatarian- always forgot she was except when we were out at a restaurant and id suggest something containing meat and she would remind me😅😅whoops! She knows i have a terrible memory though

I also have a friend who has recently turned vegan who i have unfollowed on fb because of all the annoying anti-meat stuff she posts. I am an adult- i will make my own choices on what i will eat

rainbowsandsmiles · 22/09/2018 18:48

People have a problem with preaching not vegans. If, as a pp said, you just eat, no problem.

You'd think, wouldn't you?! Not the case though. DH is one, and the sheer amount of people who have a problem and have to pipe up is unbelievable, from friends to family! You don't have to say a word.
I'm not vegan but rarely eat animal products or dairy through choice.
You get when we go out for a meal one family member apologising for him, "sorry, he's vegan" to the waiter say vegan with an eyeroll in your tone
or "get some meat down you"
or people telling you how much vitamins you're missing because you're not eating meat.
Plus the favourite "but where do you get your PROTEIN from? You don't have any protein."
Just leave us alone and concentrate on your own food eating lol! Grin

Janus · 22/09/2018 18:56

dials it’s a great school!

RrreCansada · 22/09/2018 18:56

But the thing is, you do have a choice. They don't,and they pay dearly for it.

myusernamewastakenbyme · 22/09/2018 19:02

My 20 year old son is vegan and does not tell anyone or preach....he gets annoyed with me when i tell people....as he then gets all the stupid questions.

Marioki · 22/09/2018 19:09

I have an issue with the terminology they use. Somebody earlier on in the thread used the phrase I hate 'I can't eat that, I'm a vegan' when what they really mean is that they have chosen not to eat it as they're a vegan. I have no issue with them making that choice, but don't use the word can't. I have a dairy allergy, my mum has a severe shellfish allergy which has hospitalised her more than once. She's also on warfarin which means she can't have certain foods as they interfere with that. She literally cannot eat certain foods because they will adversely effect her health or worse. A vegan isn't going to die if they accidentally have a bit of milk, unless they have an allergy too, but someone with allergies may.

Solasshole · 22/09/2018 19:09

Because I don't like to me made feel guilty for eating the eggs of my own chickens, chickens whom I know have a good life, and have laid unfertilized eggs that they forget about 0.25 seconds after they've laid them because Yum! Chicken seed/lettuce/dirt baths/whatever

NotUmbongoUnchained · 22/09/2018 19:10

I’m judgmental of my vegan friend who wouldn’t eat the cake I baked because it had eggs and dairy in it, when that morning he had eaten the black pudding off of my plate Grin

LongSummerDays · 22/09/2018 19:11

So why do you tell people what your adult son chooses to eat or not eat? Hardly your business, is it.

LIVVI1234 · 22/09/2018 19:23

I've been a vegetarian since I was 12 (so 19 years) and the only thing that bothers me about vegans, is people who have been vegan for all of 5 minutes lecturing me on my diet. Criticising me for eating dairy etc. and praising the benefits of being vegan. When they have been vegan (and a proper vegan, ie no leather, no animal testing etc etc) for 19 years they can come and talk to me. I have no issue with proper vegans - sometimes cooking can be inconvenient but as a veggie I probably am too to some people.

blueskiesandforests · 22/09/2018 19:25

Nobody gives a shit what you eat or don't eat, they get critical when you evangelise, judge, preach or impose on them.

blueskiesandforests · 22/09/2018 19:29

Bestbefore how did anyone even know you were a vegetarian?

Biologifemini · 22/09/2018 19:39

Because you cannot get vit b12 without fortified food or supplements. Hence the diet is ‘un-natural’ in that you couldn’t be vegan just anywhere in the world, or even 50 plus years ago here.
I totally support the vegan plant based diet but it is quite difficult to reconcile with being practical. And it can be dangerous for people who are not well informed: and not everyone is.
Teenagers and children are particularly vulnerable because if their parents are idiots they will become b12, iron and protein deficient quickly. Non of these things are in any way safe.

MrsHoodwink · 22/09/2018 19:40

Some vegans just really screw it up for everyone else.

I commented online at a video where they had blocked a farmer from entering his own farm and he hit one of them. I was about to comment my disgust at this assault but state that it’s a non-peaceful protest to prevent someone going home/to work, when I saw the “vegan group” had replied to a man’s comment...

His comment was the usual “you shouldn’t have been in the road” and their reply was “how would you feel if someone had chopped up and eaten Dexter”

Confused about the reply I clicked on the guys profile to find that his cover photo was his much-loved, deceased dog ‘Dexter’. I was absolutely horrified at their response and made my opinion clear (that this is not how you put a valid argument across, ever)

Their response to me? “Well clearly YOU would like it! Horrible you”

I’m fucking vegan Hmm

This was a well-known “professional” page/group... honestly some vegans just act like uninformed children (the same as any other people in the world) and it tarnishes the rest of us. I don’t tell anyone I’m vegan unless it’s when eating out and that would be to the chef/waiter