Why are vegans so preachy?

[Anonymous]

I’m vegan but I’m not preachy if I do say so myself. In fact I just bought my kids some Trader Joe’s pulled pork today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some vegans. I don't know any preachy vegans. None of them have ever commented on what I eat; they just inform me of what they eat. I've never asked them about their decision or tried to defend my choice to eat meat.

For the people who say they are preachy, how does this occur? Out of the blue? When you ask them questions? When you try to explain why you are not vegan? When you try to convince them to eat non-vegan food?

I actually don't know many preachy vegans either. Since many Vegans have eating disorders they usually are quiet about it and don't want to bring attention. I do know one vegan who does it because of animal rights and she's more on the preachy side. She posts a lot FB things on eating meat, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know some vegans. I don't know any preachy vegans. None of them have ever commented on what I eat; they just inform me of what they eat. I've never asked them about their decision or tried to defend my choice to eat meat.

For the people who say they are preachy, how does this occur? Out of the blue? When you ask them questions? When you try to explain why you are not vegan? When you try to convince them to eat non-vegan food?

For me, it was much more common in college with newly "converted" vegans. They all were becoming vegan for ethical reasons and were SUPER passionate about it. So, like lots of young people who have found something they feel passionate about, they NEVER STOPPED TALKING ABOUT IT.

Since then, the only times I've encountered preachy vegans in real life, it's when they've been trying to convince me that all of my DHs chronic health condition symptoms would be cured, CURED, by a vegan diet. Yea, Larla, we all saw Forks Over Knives too. Calm down.

[Anonymous]

I'm a vegan. I don't preach and think it's a lifestyle choice like anything. I kind of slowly moved to veganism. I ate meat, but didn't love it so became a vegetarian. I had issues with dairy, so I cut that out. When you do that basically it's just eggs and that was an easy thing to drop because I hate eggs. Bingo blamo, you are now a vegan.

I love, love cooking and love trying different foods and flavors.

And I have to say, nutritional yeast popcorn is the best damn snack in the work. Fight me on that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a vegan. I don't preach and think it's a lifestyle choice like anything. I kind of slowly moved to veganism. I ate meat, but didn't love it so became a vegetarian. I had issues with dairy, so I cut that out. When you do that basically it's just eggs and that was an easy thing to drop because I hate eggs. Bingo blamo, you are now a vegan.

I love, love cooking and love trying different foods and flavors.

And I have to say, nutritional yeast popcorn is the best damn snack in the work. Fight me on that

Non-vegan here and cosign this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a vegan. I don't preach and think it's a lifestyle choice like anything. I kind of slowly moved to veganism. I ate meat, but didn't love it so became a vegetarian. I had issues with dairy, so I cut that out. When you do that basically it's just eggs and that was an easy thing to drop because I hate eggs. Bingo blamo, you are now a vegan.

I love, love cooking and love trying different foods and flavors.

And I have to say, nutritional yeast popcorn is the best damn snack in the work. Fight me on that

I tried nutritional yeast and wound up giving it away. The flakes were the size of fish food. I'd thought they would melt and just leave a taste, but they didn't. I think I put them on pasta? Was I doing it wrong? Did I buy the wrong type? I bought a packet from Trader Joe's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they feel a moral imperative to stop the needless killing of animals.

This makes absolutely no sense. How is it possible to eat an animal without killing it? It's not. Therefore, any animal eaten was NOT "needlessly killed". It was killed so that it could be eaten. That is not "needless".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they feel a moral imperative to stop the needless killing of animals.

This makes absolutely no sense. How is it possible to eat an animal without killing it? It's not. Therefore, any animal eaten was NOT "needlessly killed". It was killed so that it could be eaten. That is not "needless".

Are you serious? It is "needless" to kill something in order to eat it if you don't "need" to eat it.

[Anonymous]

I was vegan for about a year and a half. I went vegan because I adore animals and didn't want them to suffer or die because of me. I felt great for about 6 months, then felt like crap until I started eating meat again. Nowadays I don't really like meat and I always feel guilty eating it, but it makes me feel so much better. The day I quit being vegan I ate a pound of bacon and a dozen eggs, and the mental fog I'd had for months immediately lifted.

I mostly kept the preachiness to a minimum but there was always a desire to "enlighten" people. I think the reason is that to vegans, eating meat is a social injustice as bad as racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. If we saw someone mistreating/abusing/killing people due to their race or sex, we'd preach to them, right? Same sort of thing. Of course to rational people, mistreatment of animals and humans are on two completely different levels, but not to vegans. Especially since factory farms animals DO suffer. A lot. Society wouldn't tolerate dogs and cats being treated the way food animals are.

There's also an insane amount of competition on who can be the most ethical vegan and do the most good for the planet. If you order a supplement online, people criticize you because it has to be put in a box (cutting down trees) and shipped to your house (carbon emissions). I saw people who would only eat food they grew themselves or foraged, and criticized anyone who didn't do the same. Heck, I saw crazies who only ate fruit because the plant "wanted" the fruit to be eaten, vs a vegetable who is "killed" for the food. I really think a lot of that is just competition, not because anyone has actually thought these things through.

[Anonymous]

My husband has been vegan for 17 years. No eating disorder. Just says he feels better when he eats that way. He never preaches about it, and never expects anyone to cater to him.

I eat anything and everything, and so do our kids. He has never once tried to change my eating habits.

[Anonymous]

I posted on here once asking for a vegan meal suggestion for a get together I was having. There would be one vegan guest and the rest would be meat eaters. I got great meal suggestions, but my favorite was the response from the Vegan who suggested that I make vegan meals for everyone and skip the meat. It was suggested to throw some marinated tofu or a mushroom on the bbq as a main meal. This is when I realized vegans can be incredibly selfish. NO NO NO- I am not going to have a dinner party and serve my guests a main dish of tofu... that’s not acceptable. Now I question any vegan input- it’s too self serving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they feel a moral imperative to stop the needless killing of animals.

This makes absolutely no sense. How is it possible to eat an animal without killing it? It's not. Therefore, any animal eaten was NOT "needlessly killed". It was killed so that it could be eaten. That is not "needless".

Are you serious? It is "needless" to kill something in order to eat it if you don't "need" to eat it.

I can't tell if you're joking or not, so I'll assume not.

Yes, I NEED to eat meat, and fish and eggs and milk. Need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a vegan. I don't preach and think it's a lifestyle choice like anything. I kind of slowly moved to veganism. I ate meat, but didn't love it so became a vegetarian. I had issues with dairy, so I cut that out. When you do that basically it's just eggs and that was an easy thing to drop because I hate eggs. Bingo blamo, you are now a vegan.

I love, love cooking and love trying different foods and flavors.

And I have to say, nutritional yeast popcorn is the best damn snack in the work. Fight me on that

I tried nutritional yeast and wound up giving it away. The flakes were the size of fish food. I'd thought they would melt and just leave a taste, but they didn't. I think I put them on pasta? Was I doing it wrong? Did I buy the wrong type? I bought a packet from Trader Joe's.

OMG. I LOVE nutritional yeast!!

[Anonymous]

I think being vegan messes up people's brain chemistry, and so it's not surprising that they don't think straight. Vegan sources of protein don't contain all of the essential amino acids the way that meat and eggs do, so it's harder to be properly nourished.

Vegan diets also tend to be heavy on anti-nutrients (found in grains) that bind to minerals and stop them being absorbed by the body. So they burn through their body stores of various vitamins and minerals without them really being properly replaced from the food they're eating, and eventually hit a wall. That's why most vegans will, at least after a while, eventually acknowledge that their body doesn't seem to do so well on that diet, even if it felt okay in the beginning, no matter how preachy they start out.

I do also think that being vegan is sometimes a way to try to cover up an eating disorder like anorexia.

[Anonymous]

so true. some family members have turned vegan and the stuff they post on FB is insane. and they are all over weight so I am not sure what they are eating that makes them think they are so healthy.