What if your couple does NOT want to try vegan?

[Natsu]

Hi, everyone.

I've been having this problem since I tried to begin with veganism, just to "give it a try".

In my household, my fiancé and I divided household chores evenly: I cook, he cleans. Problem is, I always work sitting down, in front of a computer, and not making any physical effort except sporting at home. As a result, I don't need much energy and tried to do the 30 days vegan trial. My fiancé has a physical work, and after reading many articles about veganism, has willfully chosen NOT to be a vegan. We have a problem here.

I have to respect his choices: though I've made him a few vegan dishes he has enjoyed even more than me, he wants meat and eggs. As he says, "after eight hours of carrying loads, I don't want to eat a piece of tofu". So I cook omnivorous for him. I've tried the 30 days trial, but it's difficult to do so: if I cook omni, I end up eating meat. Far less than he does, but still. And it's difficult to try new vegan recipes when that means you have to spend double time cooking. So I don't know how could I manage the two ways of eating when I'm the cook at home.

What do you think? Are there any recipes that could help me? Am I the one with the same problem?

[kthdsn]

In our household it's the other way around. My husband enjoys his meat, and we want our children to have a standard diet until they are old enough to decide for themselves. I am currently eating meat free and planning on moving more towards vegan and raw.

My husband does the cooking, and he supports my choices fully. He tends to cook a meat free dinner, although some days he makes two dishes, one for me and one for everyone else. My choices have impacted all our diets by including more vegetables and less junk food, which is good.

You could consider having your partner cook his own meals, or try making a dish that you both like, then adding some meat to his plate and not to yours. I'm sure there are ways you can work it out if this is really something that you want to do.

[ChefSalad]

Ditch the tofu.

Seriously, though. A lot of people who would be perfectly happy eating vegetarian or vegan can't stand tofu and other meat substitutes (including myself). There are plenty of other ways to cook (most of which are cheaper) veg meals, so ditch the tofu.

[julien]

Dear God Natsu, I understand your husband sooo much about the tofu. I'm living in China and my gf is Chinese
More seriously, if you practice very physical activities ( I exercise a lot ), at best you can go vegetarian, but vegan will really kill you !!!

[JoaquinFox]

There are plenty of options out there besides tofu dishes and digesting meat can actually zap a lot of energy from you.

As for the really physical work argument, what does that even mean? Do you and your husband believe that someone can't do hard and strenuous work and still be a vegan? There are vegan body builders, vegan athletes, and men and women you do a lot of physical labor who are vegan. Where do you think the animals you eat get their protein that you are consuming? Cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, horses, etc...they don't eat meat, so where do they get their protein? They get it from plants and so can you and so can your husband.

[tgl]

What if you cooked in advance and combined dishes? I'm thinking if you made a pasta dish for example, you could heat up the meat sauce and add it to his and heat up your veggie sauce and add it to yours. Would something like that work?

[julien]

Originally Posted by JoaquinFox

There are plenty of options out there besides tofu dishes and digesting meat can actually zap a lot of energy from you.

As for the really physical work argument, what does that even mean? Do you and your husband believe that someone can't do hard and strenuous work and still be a vegan? There are vegan body builders, vegan athletes, and men and women you do a lot of physical labor who are vegan. Where do you think the animals you eat get their protein that you are consuming? Cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, horses, etc...they don't eat meat, so where do they get their protein? They get it from plants and so can you and so can your husband.

Yes, but the synthesis of those proteins is much slower than those contained in meat (meaning slower tissue reparation).

[ahimel]

Originally Posted by julien

Yes, but the synthesis of those proteins is much slower than those contained in meat (meaning slower tissue reparation).

What's your source on that?

[Natsu]

Thanks everyone for answering! I took pretty good ideas from here. I think the omni-to-vegan was maybe too sudden. I've tried to make vegetarian dishes instead, and he has received them very well. The pizza with couliflower and carrots got a specially welcome reception He still likes meat, because he likes the taste and feeling of meat in the stomach. But I hope that as long as my vegan cooking skills go better, also his liking for vegan will go higher. He's determined to eat meat, though, so if he still wants meat there is nothing I can do about it. But I can reduce both our intakes.

Thank you to you all for your help! I also find tofu pretty unappealing, except if it's into miso soup.

What if you cooked in advance and combined dishes? I'm thinking if you made a pasta dish for example, you could heat up the meat sauce and add it to his and heat up your veggie sauce and add it to yours. Would something like that work?

That is a very good idea... That would save me time and let me make both vegan and omni dishes. I'll give a try to that one.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I hate to be the guy on the other side of the fence, but how can you justify a vegan diet if you don't get essential vitamins like B12 unless you get a synthetic version of it? If you can deal with taking artificial vitamins, then it's fine, but I find that it would be a good diet to go on, but you'd have to have an array of various supplements to complement your diet... So maybe it's not optimal. I don't know, though. I'll have to research it.

[gberardi]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

I hate to be the guy on the other side of the fence, but how can you justify a vegan diet if you don't get essential vitamins like B12 unless you get a synthetic version of it? If you can deal with taking artificial vitamins, then it's fine, but I find that it would be a good diet to go on, but you'd have to have an array of various supplements to complement your diet... So maybe it's not optimal. I don't know, though. I'll have to research it.

As I understand it, B-12 in a non-vegan diet is just artificially added anyway.