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?

No. I would assume they are vegan or preferred that choice on a menu.

Literally the most ridiculous thing I've read re vegans on MN and I've read a lot of shit about them on here.

I think it is the fear of vegan food being forced on them. I’ve tried some nice vegan recipes (I breastfed a baby with such bad CMPA that I had to cut out dairy, so always ended up eaten vegan when out and about. I have now developed lactose intolerance myself) but vegan chocolate is at best tolerable (unless we are talking about something super expensive like bouja bouja) and vegan cheese is just an absolute joke. Then there is some of the awful processed stuff like quote, that is hard to digest.

I also don’t quite believe all of the hype about vegan food being healthier. When I was feeding my daughter, I was told by an NHS dietician that it is actually extremely difficult for a bf’ing mother to get anywhere near the daily nutritional requirements of calcium without consuming dairy. Ditto for menopausal women . Apparently the calcium in vegetables isn’t very bioavailable and so doesn’t get absorbed.

I think much of the info on vegan diets take men’s bodies as the norm. I’m not sure veganism is at all suitable for women and children (in fact I read an article on the bbc years ago that gave statistics in the massive cognitive deficits suffered by children in countries where veganism is the norm).

But don't you think that finding out about people is a normal social interaction? Maybe some people are just genuinely interested in why people are veggie / vegan etc? It's maybe just something to make conversation about?

It would seem that people can't do right for doing wrong sometimes!

(Obviously if it's aggressive or insulting it's not a general social interaction, but if it's 'Oh, why? Tell me more', it's just chit chat. Like you'd ask how many kids someone has if they mention a child, or pets if they mention a cat / dog etc.)

Even David Attenborough has stated the myth that because we have canine teeth we should be eating meat. Dogs and cats have canine teeth which are useful for holding prey in the mouth.

However, primates generally have big canine teeth, bigger than ours. Yet nearly all primates are vegetarian. The canine teeth are for fighting other members of the group. Perhaps also defending against predators.

So if they understand this will they now use their teeth for what they are meant for? For biting other humans who try to steal your sandwich.

I don't disagree with this at all, and I think that most vegans will be aware of this. Could this have been misinterpreted if someone has posted something along these lines? I haven't seen it.

What I would say though, from my experience, is that there are people who do feel bad eating meat, I mean I was once that person, and they just don't know how to take the steps into eating vegetarian/vegan.

That’s great. Honestly. I don’t think any food should make people feel guilty. The food that made me feel guilty is the food I stopped eating. I don’t feel any guilt now and if other people are happy with their choices that’s great too.
Happy people tend to attack others less.
I do think a lot of vegan-hate does come from people who feel a little guilty though, but not guilty enough to do anything about it than shout and argue, the guilt is replaced with anger I guess.

I am vegan, I have been for years and TBH I only ever talk about it when people (normally meat eaters) ask me about it or with my nutritionist. Why? Because what people eat, vegan or otherwise, is pretty dull and in my case, in no way defines who I am.

Is it easy ? I wouldn't find it so, but certainly possible.

How many vegans do you know who have actually said this? I have never met any who would say anything like this but maybe you hang around with more vegans than I do.

Have you read the full thread?!

Yeah totally, but it’s hard to be happy to have conversations about it with interested people and then constantly see that “how you do you know someone’s vegan, they’ll tell you joke” for the millionth time.

I have a friend who bangs on about saving the planet....and then shops at Shein 🤣

While we're on the topic, I've asked before but when you see some shops selling substitute meat and call something like "not pork" or "no chicken chicken" (can't think of genuine examples right now) do they taste different from each other?

I've eaten vegan food before but not meat substitutes.

Genuine question.

(When I asked on a different forum before I didn't happen to get any recipes)

TBH not all 21 pages... Would all of them give context to this comment?

Yeah as @NoWordForFluffy implies it's literally on the thread @herpastcanchangethefuture

There are a number of posters referring to how they feel meat eaters feel guilty about their food choices when faced by a vegan, yes.

This is why people hate vegans. They spout sanctimonious claptrap. Eating meat is not cruel. The farm where my business is treats its animals better than you do your children.

I eat meat and fish because it provides for a better all round healthier diet. Vegans mostly look half dead and twice their age. I can guarantee my body age is below yours.

Calcium has been in the news recently because there was a study that shows increased calcium intake reduces the risk of a common form of cancer. The news report mentioned milk but went on to say that soya milk is just as good and contains just as much calcium even if it is added. So I don't know why this NHS dietician is telling you that.

Does anyone remember reading about a study from a few years ago. It was a big study of many people over many years. They could identify what aspects of lifestyle correlate with early death. The one thing they found was that drinking milk every day correlates with early death. They didn't know why, but there was a suggestion that milk sugars can be a problem at least for some people.

It could be that a glass of milk a day would indeed reduce your risk of this common cancer. But overall the effects of people drinking more cow's milk might not be good. That doesn't apply to soya milk though.

Yet nearly all primates are vegetarian.

This is untrue. In fact, most primates eat some meat, even gorillas, who were previous thought to be vegetarian exclusively.
Baboons catch and eat a lot of insects, small mammals and fish. Chimpanzees actually predate on monkeys.

Wow! This is quite the statement - hate vegans and they look old and all unhealthy.

Can I just say I certainly don't hate vegans! This is part of the reason I felt chary about going on the thread. Not just the vegan opposition

I do tend to avoid vegan meat but I think quite a lot of the various products taste the same but different shape.

Thanks @herpastcanchangethefuture .

I thought it was likely to be cynical companies exploiting the rise in vegans but wondered if there was wrong.

It looks like ultra processed crap that I'm guessing most vegans would want to avoid.

I can't say I've eaten them all, but the ones I've tried do. We eat Vivera Shawarma (sp?) kebab probably every other week and if you add salad and sauce, I think it's better than a donner kebab (I've had them). We also had This Isn't Roast Chicken and stuffing for Christmas dinner and it is really good. If someone had served me a Beyond burger before I'd tried it myself, I'd have thought they were trying to trick me.