Why do so many people criticise vegans?

[trunch]

I'm a meat eater!

However, I don't understand why people criticise vegans so much.

They aren't hurting me and are trying to save animals and the environment.

What's wrong with that?

Surely people should be more critical of me because animals are killed for me to eat?

As well as experts in land use, conservationists, environmentalists etc.

Not here to argue with you on this, and I am not an expert on your type of land or vegan farming, but I can guarantee you that there are vegans with ideas about how this kind of land could be used which don't involve animal husbandry. I watched several videos about it on youtube some time ago! But I don't personally know enough to debate it with you - but just wanted to say that there are definitely some vegans who have different ideas about this kind of land use.

And they are welcome to purchase a croft and have a go. I'm not quite sure what they'll grow in a peat bog but they can try.

Livd and let live, not the animals though. Ironic.

That's probably why people are arsey about vegans. This right here.

I think of it more as at least they don't have to suffer the indignities of old age. Win win really.

Where I live, there is also a environmental issue with red deer overpopulation. They have no natural predators, so need to be culled.
It would be bloody wasteful not to eat them.

I think a lot of vegans feel certain types of land which is entirely impractical for growing veg, could be rewilded (without animal husbandry) for nature, rather than used for animal husbandry.

And who would pay for that. Not you I’m guessing

To be fair, there are far worse indignities they have to suffer instead. Mutalations, cramped squalid conditions, artificial inceminations, hooked up to machines that give them skin lesions...etc...

And many are killed as babies. Like male chicks newly hatched in the egg industry. And pigs at 6 months etc...

Deer wise I'm inclined to agree with you in those circumstances...but that's not really the same as mass factory farming.

Oh come on. If someone is going to say live and let, then they’re going to be answered when eating meat literally kills billions of animals a year and subjects others to an unnatural factory farmed life.

‘Win, win’, lol. Yes, we’re really doing animals a huge favour when we breed them to often live an unnatural life and then kill them years before they would die...because we’re saving them from the indignity of old age.

The mental gymnastics displayed here is astonishing.

Not really. A years supply of B12 is about £15. You simply swallow a pill a day and you're all good. Much much easier and cheaper than faffing about buying cooking and eating meat. Not to mention that its only really red meat, liver or fish that does the job. You'd have to eat 8 portions of chicken breast a day to hit your daily requirements.

Sshhh...don’t mention those indignities.

Oh oops! Never mind me, dont want to traumatise anyone 😆 The animals are all happy and loved and only slaughtered (humanely). At a ripe old age (But not so old that they need to suffer the indignity of being elderly, of course).
They even get to see sunlight on their journey to be...gently put to sleep.

Way to go! How to be sanctimonious to the extreme about your own lifestyle choice - no wonder people criticise you!
Now, most vegans I know (and I know a LOT), don’t display their veganism like a performance art, showing us cruel and heartless people with our omnivorous, (in line with our species) diet, that WE ARE WRONG AND SHOULD BE FEELING GUILTY.
Those vegans that I know don’t get criticised, because they don’t tend to bore on about their lifestyle choices, nor make a fuss when they are eating vegan, while their companions aren’t.

They also get treated with respect and when invited for a meal, get a nicely-prepared delicious vegan meal that our whole household happily eats, because everyone in our household knows that omnivores can also eat vegan food!

I'm plant-based and my parents don't even know because they would be so furious about it. It actively offends them. They cornered my childhood best friend at my wedding to try and convince her to stop being vegetarian - which she had briefly been at about 12 and they remembered 20 years later! My dad will rant and rave about carnivore teeth and other nonsense. It's very, very odd.

Can’t say I’ve really noticed much (not in person anyway) any, but what there is, I dare say is because some are so self-righteous/virtue signalling, and bang on about it to people who really are not interested. And e.g. make 🤮 faces if anyone’s eating meat in their vicinity.

The vegans I’ve met are the ones posting the pictures and videos of the bad treatment the animals suffering on their Facebook, TikTok’s and they are not from this country and hate being corrected on it

I had one that said it was the equivalent to World War Two with the Jews and Nazis I was rendered speechless but he got his arse handed to him for that one.

I’ve done the vegan diet for health and my own GP told me to stop doing it for my health as most of it is UPF unless I just ate veg which I love anyways but the weight loss was scary.

I was called a liar for that one and I said you do you and I’ll do me stop inviting her over after that. I found out she was trolling my accounts with vile videos of animals being tortured. I stopped using SM for months after that. just plain nasty that was.

There are a lot of vegans who buy land for the sole purpose of rewilding! And yes I would personally be happy to contribute money if I felt the project was doable.

The point being if the land that is currently used for animal husbandry (not the type of land we are discussing), was converted to crops / veg etc, we would need way less land overall for our food to be grown on. So more land COULD be rewilded, if we as a country were more committed to the environment and so on.

As opposed to some meat eaters making animal noises or telling me how they love their steak bloody, when I’m sitting quietly eating my vegan meal. There are twats in all groups of people.

I'm sure people being sanctimonious is annoying but I experience far more serious disrespect from meat eaters. I've had friends refuse to go on holiday with me if I didn't eat meat. I've had my MIL invite me to dinner and then pile meat on my plate 'by accident' or tell me there is a vegetarian option available only for it to turn out to have meat hidden in it. She also randomly starts telling stories about all of her nonexistent friends who were vegetarian before they got anaemia or their head fell off or something. When I go to restaurants with friends they've bored on about how they could NEVER have a meal without meat, what do I even eat, my food looks rubbish etc etc.

AND YET, if I ever DARE speak about the reasons why I'm plant-based, such as the health benefits or animal welfare concerns, even when DIRECTLY ASKED, then apparently I need to shut up and stop trying to push my beliefs on people. Someone once ranted about my vegan sausages being 'unnatural processed shite' and I just replied 'yep, as opposed to regular sausages, the known health food' and I got shouted at for being an obnoxious veggie.

It is utterly exhausting.

But you say you've never noticed any of that. So where are you getting this narrative from?

Because something like one in ten people is vegan. So has every tenth person you've met felt the need to bang on to you that they are vegan?

I'm not vegan but I try to minimise my consumptions of meat and dairy. On many occasions I've had people have a go at me for simply trying to keep things veggie. Usually from the older generation who seem to think its an insult to them that you don't eat meat.

I've never had a vegan preach at me. Save one who once said 'it's not YOUR bacon' and she was just a young lass, new to the lifestyle. And tbf, although I was taken aback at the time, she was still correct and I respect her for pointing it out.

Oh oops! Never mind me, dont want to traumatise anyone

You won't traumatise me. I grew up rurally in a country where people home slaughtered. I now live in an area that raises sheep and cattle for meat so I'm surrounded by the animals when I look out of my window.

A lot of the stuff you're referring to doesn't apply to animal farming in the UK (pigs and chickens could definitely see improvement though).

I don't feel any guilt for eating meat, but I do get a little irked at the misinformation. There are vegans who are swallowing whatever information they're getting from US-based sources, that have very little idea of rural realities in the UK.

I know and I sympathise with you. why are people like that?
Someone (your DH?) needs to step in and speak up for you…
My own reaction to people criticising other people’s vegan diet choice is to point out that if they’ve ever eaten just a salad, or baked beans on toast, or have enjoyed vegetable soup or a beetroot and hummus wrap, then they have also eaten a vegan dish, followed by (if the vegan hasn’t been sanctimonious) pointing out that they are not having a go at YOU for your choices, so wind your neck in!
It normally works!
I’m not vegan, but I love stepping up to the challenge of making vegan food and having it appreciated by both vegan friends/family and the more normally steak-inclined family and friends.

indeed - should we all go vegan where would the 2.7 million beef/dairy cows live for the next 20+ years?

Where would the 3.7 million pigs live out their lifespan averaging 15-20 years?

The 14 million sheep and 129 million chickens might be easier to house - put your hand up if you can offer a suitable home to these cuties for 10-12 or so years?

Of course all potential new animal homes will need to be fully vetted and pre approved prior to adoption, and the animals will need to be neutered before being rehomed. Who will cover the cost of this?

The cost of feeding, housing, vet bills for these millions of new pets would be ruinous both personally and as a society.

There are 28 million UK households - so that's roughly 5.5 animals per household. I don't want a cow/pig/sheep/chicken though- which vegan will take my 5.5 animals?

Who knew chicken neutering would be in such demand?

Or shall we eat them all first and then go vegan?

In reality, it won’t be an overnight thing. There will be a gradual decline of meat eating and so a gradual decline in numbers. Watch some interviews with expert scientists in how they believe it could be done. I don’t think you’re actually interested in hearing it though, you’re just here to rant.

I don't care whether somebody is vegan, or vegetarian, or dairy free or coeliac or anything else provided they don't bang on about it to me or expect me to be the same. If I ask - and I do mean IF - that means I am happy for you to tell me something about it, but quite frankly it is unlikely that I'm going to ask. The only time I need to know is if I'm going to cook for you, and if I am then I will make every effort to provide you with a delicious, nutritionally balanced meal.

And for the PP who said it is easy to be vegan... No it isn't. Not for everybody. I don't like most vegetables. I don't like beans and pulses. I don't like tofu. That severely limits what I can cook with and what I can eat. And DON'T bang on to me about how delicious a kale and chilli stir fry with chick peas is - no it isnt!

I'm not just fussy - I'm a super taster so anything bitter tastes super bitter (kale). I loath chilli. Chickpeas also taste bitter to me. I can - and do - provide a delicious meal for visiting vegans, and one that I can eat too, but I couldn't go the rest of my life eating one of the three vegan dishes I find reasonably palatable.

If you are vegan and don't go on about it to me that just means you are a person who eats differently to me. (Hi Ed from work!) That is very different from being a Vegan who insists that I know about it and that I should repent the error of my ways. THOSE are the people that other people don't like.

Wow, you know some very strange people. We have all sorts of dietary requirements in our circle and literally no-one comments.

I've never criticised anyone for their diet, never mentioned weight, whether over or under, but I will not stand being preached to, or fail to deal with incorrect information about nutrition and choices when someone gets on a soapbox!. Worked with many whose diets have been severely restricted due to necessity and some through choice, but the only time I've seen anyone rant at another person was a vegan objecting to what was being eaten in a shared kitchen area and it got completely out of hand and downright aggressive and that's was not on, especially given the person they were ranting out was autistic and ate the same foods every day and they knew that he did! We often have meals that would count as vegetarian, I think many people do, but vegan nope. Your body, your choice, no reason to persuade anyone of why you do what you do if you are happy with the choice, is there.