How far would you go to accommodate a vegan?

[Juicyj1993]

In a few weeks we're hosting a bbq for my Husband's birthday.

We have about a dozen guests coming, one of whom is vegan. As we don't normally buy vegan food I've started looking at what we'd normally buy and what is and isn't vegan. To make sure the vegan has the same variety of choice as everyone else I'm going to have to spend quite a bit on alternatives. As we have the non vegan alternatives we won't be eating the vegan versions, so they'll either go home with the guest or be thrown.

How much would you accommodate a vegan?

Would I be unreasonable to provide vegan burger with vegan cheese, plus bun and nothing else or do I need to go the whole hog and get vegan sausages, vegan condiments and vegan coleslaw?

Ps they are vegan by choice, not for medical reasons

@Emmamoo89

'Animals eat other animals', 'I love animals but steak, mmm', 'What happens to all the cows if we stop eating them?', 'I'm fed up with vegans getting at me', 'Veganism isn't perfect and has a negative impact on the environment'.

Waiting for 'What if you were stranded on an Island with just a pig as a food source?'.

Yes, animals do eat other animals, they really don't have the ability to choose another option. They also don't kill over 75 billion land animals each year, unlike humans. Oh, and the majority of the meat you eat comes from animals who do not eat other animals.

You say you love animals, but aren't bothered that they are killed for you to eat - don't you see the contradiction there?

If we stop breeding cows for human consumption, the numbers would rapidly decrease.

Vegans aren't getting at you, but when you throw out such comments on a thread about a vegan attending a BBQ, expect some resistance. We've heard it all before, and we've done our research.

I've never heard one vegan say that veganism doesn't have any impact on the environment and that their lifestyle is perfect and 100% cruelty-free.

I love animals but I love meat too. We can do both

Oh god I'm pretty sure I used to go around saying this too. The cognitive dissonance required for animal lovers to eat meat is strong.

So does that mean that vegans hate all trees and plants, then, if they don't leave them living peacefully instead of tearing them up and eating them? Logically, either both or neither must be true, no?

party rings on a barbecue, oh yum!

Plants (of which I'm sure non vegans eat too) aren't sentient beings so no not really the same is it, nice reach though. A ridiculous and boring one but still.

So does that mean that vegans hate all trees and plants, then, if they don't leave them living peacefully instead of tearing them up and eating them? Logically, either both or neither must be true, no?

I can only presume this is a joke. 😬 No one can be this stupid.

He would check if they were using disposable and if not take one.

@Letittow but one we've never, ever heard before of course.

I don’t know why some meat-eaters get so het up by someone calling themselves ‘vegan-ish’ or similar. Particularly given that someone who labels themselves as ‘vegan-ish’ is openly acknowledging that their diet is not fully vegan.

I’m broadly vegetarian. I don’t eat anything that is recognizably meat and avoid cheeses that are generally known to not be vegetarian. I wouldn’t eat anything with meat stock, but am rather casual as to whether or not a product contains gelatine.

If ever asked for my dietary requirements, I will generally say ‘I’m vegetarian’ as it’s generally easier for me and for the person asking, rather than giving them a fulsome description of food stuffs that I do and don’t eat (and, if I did give them an answer like the above, I imagine they’d respond with ‘so, vegetarian then?’)

It always seems to me that there are a lot of meat eaters who, if they are honest with themselves, don’t feel entirely support various aspects of the meat and dairy industries and so the existence of vegans, in particular, causes them to feel uncomfortable with their own eating habits. The easiest way for them to deal with that is to attack people, who have made a decision to abstain, for any minor lapse or for being ‘preachy’ or whatever else.

It’s all a bit pathetic really, just get over it.

Expecting them to have a separate one really isn’t reasonable. He should always provide.

Veganish is not vegan.

I imagine because dealing with people's dietary requirements is annoying and if you cater for them only for them to decide they fancy your cheeseboard that's quiet irritating.

I used to have a friend who said she was vegan, expected to be catered for as vegan (very inconvenient as I have an intolerance to most vegan substitutes and to beans, chickpeas, lentils and all others legumes) but would then pop some cheese on her carefully veganised dish.

Thankfully she now is clear she just mainly eats plant based foods and doesn't expect alternative catering which is a great improvement.

Sure, here are links to a selection of papers examining the impacts of different diets / foods on the environment, emissions, health, and biodiversity. I'll even throw in a graphic too.

Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change

Which Diet Has the Least Environmental Impact on Our Planet? A Systematic Review of Vegan, Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets

Rapid global phaseout of animal agriculture has the potential to stabilize greenhouse gas levels for 30 years and offset 68 percent of CO2 emissions this century

Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers

Multiple health and environmental impacts of foods

Preserving global biodiversity requires rapid agricultural improvements

Biodiversity impacts due to food consumption in Europe

Health and environmental impacts of plant-rich dietary patterns: a US prospective cohort study

Planting A Seed: The Vegan Diet in 2019 (an interview with one of the authors of the above paper)

Plant-Based Diets: Considerations for Environmental Impact, Protein Quality, and Exercise Performance

I'm not vegan or vegetarian btw, just able to accept reality. Now, will you read, and more importantly accept, the above?

I’m vegetarian and appreciate it’s hard to accommodate at bbq. I would be happy with one burger so long as there was plenty of sides. Hummus and veg sticks, crisps or crackers maybe. If it’s a big bbq you could make your own coleslaw for everyone and use a vegan mayo or Greek yogurt rather than buying.

Eh? I have literally just provided you with an answer. Which part of it do you not understand?????

Big meat eater here.

but I don’t think you understand the meat industry. The cows are bred for meat. If we stopped eating them they just wouldn’t exist. That simple.

but please don’t because then price will go up.

Not really. There's no source

Actually I do. I know they're bred for that but my point is, it's a little too late now to do anything about it.

I'm never going to stop. Dw.

They’re bred for demand. The whole world isn’t going to suddenly turn vegan. If there’s a surplus / under sell they breed less the following year. They don’t keep the cows alive. They’re still slaughtered. You really aren’t getting it.

Fair enough but it's not going to stop me scoffing my face on meat.

Most vegans are actually not entirely vegan.

Loads of foods that are otherwise vegan inadvertently contains some insect parts. Canned tomatoes, frozen brocolli, mushrooms, peanut butter, most berries, pasta, coffee, various spices, etc etc etc.

Indulge in purity spirals and gatekeeping if you like but ‘vegan’ or similar labels are almost always used in a general, guiding sense and not as 100%, exception-free absolutes.

I fucking give up. Trying to prove a point to the vegans. I'm not saying the whole world is going to turn vegan but the vegans obviously want that to happen. Either way the cows would die and vegans dont want that to happen because its cruel. My dad's a butcher. I do get it. Trust me.

Then they aren’t vegans. 😂

No one cares if you do but you can't claim to love animals if you eat some of them

Veganism on mass would result in the cows not being bred for meat. The existing cows would still be slaughtered by the next generation wouldn’t be bred so they wouldn’t be slaughtered.

Well you clearly do care 🤣 you can't say how I feel.