Anybody get teased for being veg?

[Zach]

Does anybody else get teased for being vegan/vegetarian? People often ask me why I don't eat meat, and I tell them I don't like it or it makes me sick (which it does). Often when I go to Subway or Taco Bell with some friends or non-veg family I get asked why I want beans instead of meat in my taco or a veggie-only sub.

Once in a while, though, I get teased for being a vegetarian. Someone even called me a wimp one time for not wanting to kill animals for food. Kind of funny how people are always making up new reasons to tease.

[elainevdw]

My dad pokes at me mainly out of concern for my health... but what really gets me are my boyfriend's parents. They are unable to understand the concept of a vegetarian diet. They say things like, "Good thing you can eat fish!" or "Prosciutto doesn't count." You can only guess how little they understand the concept of a vegan diet. What, no veggies doused in butter? No burritos with sour cream? No cheese?! Incidentally, my parents can't even pronouce it -- to them, "vegan" rhymes with "ray gun." It's kind of cute; my dad also says "shushi" for "sushi."

My boyfriend is funny about it, too. He understands the concept perfectly, but spent 15 minutes trying to convince me that Dairy Queen is nondairy, and that California rolls don't contain fish. (Imitation crab may not be crab, but it's still seafood.)

At least they'll all go to the local vegan restaurant with me! And my dad has started doing veggie shishkabobs on grill nights.

Thankfully, I work with a lacto-ovo who's interested in going vegan and a piscatarian. That makes things easier at work -- I had some annoyances with being vegan at my old job, people always trying to get me to eat chocolate cake or nonveg Chinese food. The toughest part about switching is that people kept wanting to give me my favorite foods, like chocolate and baked sweets, and I have to turn them down, but they are very insistent because they know how much I enjoy the food (and the sentiment).

[Hsiang-Lin]

Haha yeah I expected to be teased for it although I didn't really give that much thought about it.

I think as long as you have a strong personal reason for making the switch, it won't matter what other people think about it.

At this point, everyone I've met or talked to hasn't made a legitimate reason for eating meat so I'm happy with the change now. Unless there is some great reason for eating meat, I don't think I will change back. There's just too much scientific information to support the health benefits of being vegeterian/vegan.

But as always, trying to keep a beginner's mind to learning

[David Hausladen]

Yeah, my brothers give me trouble for being vegan sometimes. More often, when I order food at restaurants I'm given the occasional questioning look.

Heh, these things are part of what make veganism so fun.

[micth]

you guys are vegetarians? hahahaha... freaks

nah just joking

as long as you think you're doing the right thing, I wouldn't be too fussed about what other people say, especially when they're uneducated on the subject

[Akashic_Librarian]

I'm Vegetarian and my parents seem to think its OK. I suggested to them I want to become vegan and they nearly had a massive heart attack, told me that it was stupid, and unhealthy...Shows how much they know .So I have contented myself with Vegetarian until I move out of the house (But I have sneaked in Soya Milk and Vegan "Butter")

[Natsu]

I tried, and I didn't get teased, but got a lot of questions. Mainly the, "Is it healthy?" stuff by friends and family and all that. They look weirdly, but at least the people I know take out their scientific knowledge to discuss veganism, and not the "you're a freak" answer.

My fiancé, for example, says that meat and dairy are not unhealthy. He says "well, Americans are right in veing vegan because, honestly, if a cow is fed with cement dust, antibiotics and hormones, I don't want to eat it either. But many African people eat just meat and milk and are healthy. I would like to know what the difference would make if we ate food from animals who just ate grass and grain, and not artificial stuff".

Another person told me: "About the vegans, if they do it for healt, OK. If they do it for pity towars animals, I'd like to put them in front of a starving tiger". Though, of course, this person admits that it's not the same to eat an animal who's been eating fresh grass in the outside, that one who's been encaged, filled with antibiotics and chemicals, and given transgenic grain. Here it is more difficult to sell the "respect towards animals" ideal, because even in winter, you can see flocks of cows, horses, sheep and other farm animals eating grass in the countryside and moving freely. So people think that the animals are well treated and have mostly eaten grass (and clenbuterol, that makes them gains water and leaves the steak at one half of its original weight after cooked, everyone knows that and no one does anything about it). So, as for the "cruelty towards animals", if that's the defense of veganism, people won't respect it here. They respect the health-associated reasons, but most of them with biological knowledge will say that mankind is naturally carnivorous, or naturally omnivorous. And vegans say that mankind is naturally vegan: so it's difficult to get to know which is it, really. Only logical choice is to try for yourself and see if it works for you.

[Erin Pavlina]

In my years as Editor of VegFamily magazine I've run into this question/problem a lot.

In one case a couple went vegan but the husband was a construction worker and when his buddies saw him eating tofu salad for lunch they started teasing him and asking if he was going vegan. He was embarrassed. I told him to lose the word "vegan" and just tell them that to improve his health he was going on a no cholesterol diet. He liked that idea. So he kept going to work with his tempeh meatloaf, fruits, and vegetables, and zucchini bread and when his buddies asked him why he was eating that food he replied that he was on a no cholesterol diet on the advice of his family physician.

He wrote back to tell me that not only were his buddies totally accepting of that, they began asking him to bring extras so they could try the food. Most of the men were overweight and understood the value of eating healthier to avoid high cholesterol and heart attacks.

Sometimes a label is just unnecessary. You can eat a vegan diet without ever telling anyone you're "vegan." At least in some cases.

[richie]

hi, i have been a vegetarian since birth and the place and community where i live is mostly vegetarian but now i want to be a vegan ,but i just fail everytime because i cant stop cheese or even milk may be i need to try harder

[moltar]

I strongly beleive that it's all about how YOU perceive it. If you think it's weird, others will think the same way and poke fun of it. If you truly and fully accept this as the BEST diet of ALL times, and act congruently, then there will be no problem.

For those who watched The Secret, remember the gay guy episode.

I truly think this is the best way to eat in our current society with the corporate farming and all that. I don't want to poison myself with "cement dust, antibiotics and hormones", so I choose to avoid theese foods. Sometimes though, a thought will slip through my mind and I become weak, that's when I notice my friends pick it up and poke at me a little (nothing serious), all fun and games.

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

Sometimes a label is just unnecessary. You can eat a vegan diet without ever telling anyone you're "vegan." At least in some cases.

I was having this discussion not too long ago with some other folks. The problem with the "vegan" label is that it's seen as militant, obnoxious and downright uncommonsensical by a lot of folks. Not to mention the connection with PETA and the sorts of feelings people have about them as an organization.

I don't think it's necessary to disclose your personal beliefs or individual health concerns to anybody who asks. I suppose that people who wouldn't ask you about your religion or health conditions don't realize that diet isn't exactly a neutral topic of discussion for some people.

I like the "no cholesterol" thing -- I'm sure that the sorts of people who wouldn't "get" a vegan diet won't know that the difference between a low cholesterol and a no cholesterol diet is that the latter cuts out ALL animal products, not just the frequency of eating them or the cholesterol content of them.

[Erin Pavlina]

Elaine, exactamundo! (hahaha, channeling Fonzie for a sec there)

[Steve Pavlina]

If someone tries to tease me about not eating animal products, I just go with it and have fun teasing them back. If you've never tried teasing carnivores for their bloodthirsty ways, you're missing out -- it's a heck of a lot of fun.

For example:

• Look, there's a dog. He could be your lunch if you hurry! Quick, while the owner isn't looking -- show me your warrior fierceness!
• How's the puss-burger and mucus-shake going down? Yumbo!
• Don't look at me like that! Not food! Sniff, Mongo, sniff!

Some fun terms for carnivores: vampires, pet chasers, cavedwellers, Cro-Magnons, bottom feeders, zit farmers, etc.

Veggies might be outnumbered, but that just means we have more targets.

I think what bothers veggies (and anyone else) about teasing is when they don't have certainty they've made the right decision.

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

I think what bothers veggies (and anyone else) about teasing is when they don't have certainty they've made the right decision.

What bothers me most is disappointing my loved ones. Sharing food is a way to share love and tradition, and it pains me to turn it down. Thankfully, my family and friends are pretty resilient, and don't assume that I hate them just because I won't eat that pork roast!

I'm not much of a teaser (more of a target!) but I'll have to try some of your suggestions, Steve. I particularly like "pet chaser!"

[Romeo Foxtrot]

After hearing the same lame reaction from people for 7 years (where do you get your protein/we have canine teeth meant for meat/oh, i could never be vegetarian, i love meat) I'm at the point where I don't care what people's reactions are just out of sheer boredom. I'm at the point where I don't even like to talk about it because it's sorta a non-issue for me in my mind but a huge issue for other people dealing with me. To me not eating meat is as simple and uninteresting by now as if I didn't eat pizza, and when people get a whole big reaction about it I just want to move on with the topic.

At first I tried to argue with people, convert people, defend myself, etc, but at this point it's just my diet, not necessarily a super part of who I am as a person and I get bored when people treat it that way. So my advice is to just not care what people say at all. Indifference is pretty powerful and a sign of confidence, people will back off from that.

[moltar]

Romeo Foxtrot, yeah, totally with you. I got to this point in a couple of month. I just got tired explaining people. I tell them if they are truly interested, they should go and research it for themselves.

[Erin Pavlina]

Me too. After a while you get tired of hearing the comments and it's just boring. You lose the need to defend yourself and your actions.

I, like Steve, sometimes have fun with people if I'm feeling a little snarky.

So when they ask, "Where do you get your protein?" I reply, "When carnivores exhale I breathe in some of their leftover protein molecules."

And when they say, "Where do you get your B12?" I say, "The stork drops it off by the pallette every other Tuesday."

Sometimes I might even turn it around on them and say, "Where do you get your calcium? Or your iron? Or your vitamins?" That surprises them a little.

[Brendon Colby]

When I went vegan for two months (was a 30-day trial) I got all sorts of crap from people. It looks like I got the same questions/teasing/etc. as others here have gotten. It seemed to make people really uncomfortable for some reason, which I think led to them acting in such a way. I don't know but I don't discuss my personal eating habits with people any more, that's for certain!

By the way, I also found that the word "vegan" seems super charged! I started using the wording from The China Study - a "plant based, whole foods diet." But like I said, I won't even go into it...like politics and religion, no one needs to know that stuff.

[Henry]

Yeah I went veggie for about 8 months. I got crap for it all the time. It eventually got unfunny and my friends stopped making fun of me (as much).

The cool bi-product of going veggie was that it was a good ice breaker when I had dinner with new friends.

[ahimel]

Move to Boulder. Here they call you a baby-killer if you eat a hamburger.

When I was on a trip with my buddy Luqe (a veggie) he got to dispense the meat sauce and the marinara sauce for people's spaghetti. So you'd fill your plate with pasta, and then stand in front of Luqe and he'd say, "Would you like the cannibal or non-cannibal sauce?"

[Erin Pavlina]

Originally Posted by ahimel

"Would you like the cannibal or non-cannibal sauce?"

That's funny!

[Lucas]

My friend always says I eat sticks and dirt, when really I eat much better tasting stuff since I dont have the meat crutch.

[cgs]

Another thing you can do is recommend people read John Robbins' Healthy at 100

Basically, he explains how several societies that eat a plant-based, and a very small to no animal product diet are the longest living people in the world. Not only that, but they are lucid and fully kickin' until their dying breath. That's all the evidence I need.

[cgs]

Oh yeah! Here's a really simple thing to throw at the teasers:

You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with