A couple of days ago I posted on my Facebook Timeline, “Vegetarians/vegans can be really snarky. Except for my daughter. She’s cool.” And, believe it or not, that elicited an enormous response!
AL said, “Yes, they can.”
VG said, “Yes, some of them can be pretty much like religious fundamentalists. Eat meat and you are going to HELL!”
TD said, “If one can’t eat meat in heaven, the hell with it.”
BB said, “My two youngest daughters are vegetarians.”
But DV objected with, “That has not been my experience. I know a lot of vegetarians, vegans, and meat eaters! Nice and snarky on both sides! I am vegetarian, almost vegan. The reason? It’s healthier, and also meat has always been a bit repulsive to me. I have never felt superior or inferior to meat eaters. It is a personal choice! I have spoken!” I told her she was an exception.
WR pondered, “Yeeeeah…there are plenty of nice, non-judgmental vegetarians and vegans out there, but I can’t help but feel that ‘slightly chilled’ stare of disdain from those who who loathe ‘the meats’.”
VG weighed in again with, “Yes, I agree that many vegans and vegetarians are perfectly nice and reasonable. I suppose as is the case with many groups of people, it is the most obnoxious and pushy ones that tend to get noticed.”
WR spoke again. “Oddly enough, this post really makes me want bacon…”
Young KG said, “I’m vegetarian and I’m cool!” I told her she is my non-bio daughter.
Classmate SA quipped, “I’m vege and most assuredly snarky. What’s snarky?”
SZ said, “I try hard NOT to be snarky! Not vegan, though. They always seem snarkier!”
My dear friend PK observed, “I have met some along the way who didn’t realize they were substituting vegetarianism for orthodox religion. The ideals attitudes and judgments are that of a very self-righteous person.” Then added, “Those few, I don’t associate with, BTW…”
RB, a fairly new vegan, said, “I know lots of them and haven’t had that experience.” I told her to wait until you try to disagree with them! She laughed. “Ha, ha, ha! I guess I haven’t gone there.”
And CW, formerly a solid vegan, agreed. “I tried a couple of vegan FB pages and, yes, they were totally snarky.”
Then JE, another dear friend, pondered. “We’ve had this discussion before. Speaking as a vegan chef for many years, I can say, yes, vegans can be food bullies and food elitist and the biggest sugar addicts! But, I could be wrong after 25 yrs as an executive vegan chef…”
CB, who once tried to be vegan, observed, “You know, I have noticed that some people try to make their diet YOUR problem. I think for some people this is more of an issue right at the beginning of their new dietary restrictions or choice to decision to eat healthier. I know when I transitioned to vegan I was pissed at my perception of how much pressure it was going to be and not being able to eat without checking every little detail about the food at potlucks, eating out, or at someone’s house. I am grateful not to be on that diet anymore.”
JE, also a prolific writer, continued. “I’ve heard vegans scream, SCREAM at me while asking if any kind of dairy/egg whites were in a processed vegetarian meat. And when I gave them the answer no, they yelled at me for lying, stating they could taste egg whites! And threatening to have the food taken to a lab and tested! And if they found anything offensive in it, they would sue me! Yes, SUE ME. All this while other diners watched in horror.
Thankfully, security escorted them away and invited them to dine elsewhere. I’ve had vegans send me tortured animal videos because I wore leather shoes. I’ve watched vegans shame an 8-yr-old boy for eating a turkey sandwich in front of their vegan children and then make him eat on the ground away from the vegans eating at a picnic table.
Yes, I believe vegans can be excessive…but I could be wrong.”
Finally, my own son chipped in. “Don’t kid yourself. [My sister] is pretty snarky. But always in a hilarious way. Always.
Then my daughter chimed in. “I should blog about vegans being snarky with lacto-ovo vegetarians.”
I concluded, “Well, this was fun reading all of your comments! Some funny, some serious, some disagreeing with me, some totally agreeing with me. And a few of you [I tagged them here] making profoundly thought-provoking statements. Thank you for that. To be fair, there certainly are some meat-eaters who can be pretty snarky, too. It seems to me that the most hostile are the ones on the far ends of the spectrum, such as total vegans on the one hand and total carnivores on the other. The nicest people are the ones in the middle: lacto-ovo vegetarians and Adventist non-vegetarians/pescatarians who eat only clean meat/fish. The worst ones (in my experience) are those who are trying to combine two essentially incompatible lifestyles—like being vegan for the sake of being vegan (absolutely NO eggs and dairy if you want to be translated to heaven without seeing death) but are okay with eating highly refined processed foods, especially sugars and starches, as long as it doesn’t have any animal products. They won’t touch a drop of butter or heavy cream but will use copious amounts of margarine and Cool Whip! I am SO done with them!”
But JE had the last word. “Or the ones who feel they can eat their way to heaven—religious food nuts are the worst!”
