Why is there so much hatred towards vegans?

[keysonthehighshelf]

I'm veggie, and slowly cutting down on certain things with the aim of being fully vegan by the end of the year. I'm not perfect, and I in no way dislike those who eat meat. I know some vegans are really aggressive but the vast majority are quietly vegan for their own reasons. I am raising my son vegetarian simply because I have never prepared meat before. I've seen a nutritionist and they've confirmed it's absolutely fine to raise a baby vegetarian and has given me meal plans and advice re supplements (which aren't actually needed). I still have had at least 4 people imply that I'm damaging him, and have had people aggressively tell me that 'vegans are hypocrites for wanting their food to look and taste like meat' - it doesn't really bother me but my sister who is vegan finds it upsetting. AIBU to think it's odd that people have such annoyance towards vegans? Or is it in my head?

Babies and toddlers will not get all the nutrition they need if fed only vegan because there is NO B12 vit.
So you must supplement
If you think a good diet is one dependent on taking extra manufactured Vitamins then you are being a bit stupid.
All these little ones being denied full nutrition what will their brains be like as they grow?
You are experimenting with your child.
Does that sound wise?

Are you avoiding all manufactured foods?
Is the farming method for the foods you are eating ethical?
have you checked?

in case it adds some light heartedness to the thread

I was out with a friend and we both ordered hot chocolates. Different staff members started making them and we watched as they slowly piled up the cream, higher and higher and higher and higher....then started outlandishly decorating these towers of cream that looked likely to topple any minute...

then I said "OMD! Have you two got a bet on or something?"

They did. They even had a little line drawn on the side of the counter to see how high they could pile the cream without it toppling.

I suppose the media have something to do with it too, as they publish some off the wall stuff that some vegans do which provoke extreme eye rolling amongst us. Such as the recent media story about some protesting vegans going into a fast food place shouting out about how bad it is to eat meat, intimidating families in there just wanting to enjoy a meal out. Like others have said, just get on with your life choices and leave others alone who don’t share them.

I think it's the preachy ones ruining it for everyone else. I don't drink or smoke and you hear the odd "party pooper" comment etc. I'll gladly be designated driver and can usually be found out in the smoking shelter chatting to people so it certainly doesn't bother me, I just don't want to do it, but because certain people get preachy there's an assumption that everyone who follows a lifestyle choice that's often lauded as healthier will also be evangelical about it.

I'd like to cut down on the amount of meat I eat but I couldn't go totally vegetarian/vegan as there are so many nuts involved and I don't want to restrict my diet any more than I already have by being a coeliac with a nut allergy

I don't understand it either, especially in a nation of so called animal lovers. Somebody has to speak up on behalf of the innocent animals who have no voice. If people don't care about what's happening to these animals then that's up to them but alot of people will care and will try and change their diets as a result. We have a group of vegans in my town who stand in a circle with masks on, they don't speak or interact with people but they hold laptops showing undercover footage of the abuse animals are induring inside abbotoirs and people get really irate about them being there. People try and argue with them, get really aggressive saying that they shouldn't be showing it. If no one ever dares to speak out about these things nothing would change so I'm glad they're doing it. I'm not vegan although I am trying to head that way gradually where I can and have total respect for vegans and them defending innocent animals.

I do know a few vegans who slowly became vegan, cutting down on meat then going veggie and then going vegan, but then became super aggressive about how evil meat is and how everyone should go vegan right now. That annoys me because it's hypocritical. They didn't become vegan overnight.
Other than that I have no problems with vegans.
I'm trying to cut down on meat but I don't think I'll ever go fully veggie or vegan bc I have a buttload of weird food allergies so me being vegan would just be me being sad eating salad.

I don't hate vegans as people, but I do find them incredibly difficult to cater for.
Not a specific "Would you like to come round for a meal", but the everyday "Do you want a cuppa?" or "lets just get a takeaway" or "anyone want an icecream" or "I've brought sweets in to work, they are in the staffroom" or "let's do a bring and share lunch" or "We're going on camp where catering is pretty tricky in the first instance...." scenarios.

What I can’t stand is the obsession with food in society and how vocal people are about it.

Be vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, meat eating or a mix of all of the above but stop discussing it in front of children.

My children are all young adults and can make their own choices but over the festive period, we’ve been in the company of families where food, fasting, documentaries on food and its provenance have all been discussed ad nauseam in front of their children.

My diet may not have been perfect growing up in the 1970s but at least I didn’t sit down to a plate of worry, guilt and fear at every mealtime.

There is a difference between being aware of what we eat, what is nutritionally beneficial and what isn’t and turning food and mealtimes into a minefield for children.

If you can feed your family decent, nutritious meals within your budget and in an atmosphere of warmth, you’re doing something right.

I know 3 people who are vegan, plus a few friends are vegetarian.

1 of them is more a friend of a family friend. She is hardcore vegan, very much an activist. We come into contact at family friends house maybe once a year.

There’s always a meal, made lovingly with a variety of vegan, vegetarian and meat options made by the family we have in common. She won’t hesitate to loudly say “get the plate of dead animal away from my food” “enjoying your mushed up organs are you?” “I will have the soya milk with my tea, I don’t torture animals like you lot”

She is very brutal and upfront. Clearly passionate. I don’t dislike her because she’s vegan, I dislike her because she pushes her view across as the only view: anyone who eats meat can f&ck off she says. Anyone who eats meat is a c*nt.

More to the point though, she’s aggressive in everything. Only she has the right taste in music, so one else understands a true musician. Anyone who believes in any sort of God is a twat (her words). Anyone who gets a pet from a breeder “ought to be shot because they’re murderers” (her words)

So, I don’t hate vegans. I hate her because she’s rude and generally a pretty nasty human being.

What people hate is having views pushed down their throats. I don’t like being preached at by hardcore religious people, I don’t like being told constantly that what I’m doing or believe is wrong. I don’t like being told my taste in Tv is rubbish. I’ll move away from people who put me down for my tastes.

Like any group, it’s the ones shouting the loudest that make people judge the whole group. I’m hats where things are going wrong for people who are vegan.

Because there seem to be a large number of vegans who are sanctimonious and judgemental of anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

Especially as numerous high profile vegans clock up air miles and conveniently ignore the eco-unfriendly aspects of their lives.

What anyone chooses to eat is their personal business. Preaching about it is patronising & dull.

I wasn't aware that there was any animosity towards vegans.

I have read about he recent legal case and I think the judge made the right decision when he concluded that 'ethical veganism' is a philosophical world view equivalent to a set of religious beliefs. He has not yet ruled on whether the League against Cruel Sports discriminated against the individual, but this does mean that vegans (or anyone else for that matter) have the right to know about whether their work-based pension scheme is being invested in a way that fits with their values. There is a strange irony in the League Against Cruel Sports trying to cover up their investment in companies that test on animals. I am not even vegetarian, but I never buy products tested on animals, just as I never buy eggs that are not free range.

With regards to catering, any kind of special dietary requirements that are not for serious health conditions can, at times, be an added burden. Especially if there are multiple conflicting dietary requirements within a group. It is much easier to be able to feed everyone the same thing. I am very much of the 'When in Rome' persuasion. Catering is different from a pension scheme investment and I it should be normal to be able to request only ethical investments.

Mumsnet has a real issue with veganism I don’t see elsewhere?
I am vegan and not preachy/sanctimonious about it. I do it very much for environmental reasons. And no I don’t eat loads of avocado... But I keep my trap shut as I have no interest in being told much about what anyone else eats. I cringe a bit at the meat at every meal brigade but I don’t say anything.
The only reason work found out was when the boss paid for pizzas for all the team and I just politely said I can’t have it when people can’t pushing it my way!

There are two ladies from real meat and two veg families who often ask what I am eating/how I made it.

The only thing that ever annoys me is to used to get one of my ex fiancées friends going on about how it was unhealthy... from someone that ate take out food at least once a day.

Live and let live

Dairy is pretty dam necessary considering we're mammals

Human milk yes
Animal milk no.

I say this as someone who eats dairy.

Human milk yes
Animal milk no

And if human milk isn't available for whatever reason, animal milk is the next best alternative.

Mumsnet has a real issue with veganism I don’t see elsewhere?
I haven't seen many issues with veganism on here to be fair.
I have seen a lot of issues with the behaviour of some vegans who act like they are svaiours of humanity and then claim anyone who says they finds this behaviour irritating only does it because they feel guilty for their own immoral actions so they hate on vegans to make themselves feel better for eating dead animal carcasses.

It suits the evangelistic moral superiority lecture types to selective interpret criticism of "behaviours displayed by some vegans" as "criticism of vegans as a whole" because it reinforces their own belief that they are members of a special club who both better than everyone else and a victim of society who haven't woken up and seen the light. It's an increasingly common approach to take on issues at the moment (want to feel in a special club + compete to see if your special club is the most hated).

Most people would have no issues with your approach.

How do you know if someone is a vegan

Don’t worry, they’ll tell you

Gosh that's the first time I've ever heard that! How original.

I've been in my job 8 years. Nobody knew until it came up at the last Christmas party that I was a vegan. I've never met a 'preachy' vegan in my life, yet posters on here would like us to believe that they can't walk down the high street without being assaulted by preachy vegans.

I'd like to cut down on the amount of meat I eat but I couldn't go totally vegetarian/vegan as there are so many nuts involved

Eh? I must be vegetarianing wrong then. Other than some dry roasted peanuts as a snack I don’t really eat that many nuts.

I've never met a 'preachy' vegan in my life, yet posters on here would like us to believe that they can't walk down the high street without being assaulted by preachy vegans.

Exactly. I’ve had far more shitty snide comments from meat eaters than from vegans.
If you read the comments about the vegan cafes (and soon to open vegan pub!) in our town then you would think that people were going to be taking their steaks off them.

Someone said upthread that Sherpas are veggie and vegan. So far as I know, this is bollocks. I have had a fair bit of Nepalese food over the years, cooked by Nepalese people, and it's included meat and eggs. A quick Google for Sherpa food threw up recipes including meat.

I can understand veganism on ethical grounds.

What I don't understand is why veganism I being pushed as a healthier way of eating?

What is inherently unhealthy about meat, fish, eggs and dairy?

It is a major dietary change, so I can understand people wanting to talk about it - just look at how people go on when they join slimming world or go carb free etc.

@MsChnandlerBong
I don't want to stereotype vegans, as I know quite a few and 99% of them are actually lovely. The aggressive vegan I talked about in my post is actually a member of my family, and for a time after they became vegan they were almost impossible to talk to because they would find a way to make the conversation about how everyone should be vegan.

I think they're just very passionate, and I think it might also be a 'new vegan' thing because now they've been doing it for a few years they're much much easier to talk to.
I certainly wouldn't want to insult vegans, because they're clearly doing a good thing.

As someone with insulin resistance, a vegan diet is a nightmare for me. I’ve tried it. Twice. And I started waking up in the night with shakiness etc. as I’m not used to consuming so many carbs. A lower carb, protein rich diet is far better suited to me. The AIP diet is the best thing of all if you’re autoimmune, but it’s very hard to stick to.

@Soupdragon, I disagree. If these preachy meat-eaters felt fine about eating meat, they might just say that they enjoyed meat too much to give it up. They would have no need to tie themselves in knots trying to persuade everyone that veganism is unhealthy or unethical.

I’ve met at least twenty vegans, and none of them were preachy. (Well actually, one had a strong dislike of American English and you could say he preached about that, but he didn’t preach about veganism).

I’m vegetarian, not vegan, but I would be vegan if I had more self-control.

I agree it’s not quite as hilarious as a poster with a great big stick up their arse

It’s not hilarious at all, meat.

It’s a tired old trope usually posted with a smile or wink emoji as if the poster thinks they’re saying something original.