Why do people get mad at vegan/vegetarians on mfp?

Basically guilt and ignorance.

I'm sorry, but that cat in your profile picture looks delicious.

Basically guilt and ignorance.

There is no certainty like the certainty of youth.
If only they could educate the guilty and ignorant of all the previous generations!

b/c it's the forum. It's no different than people making fun of somone for only doing cardio. Everyone has their own opinion and way of doing things and so many people have the Its my way or you suck attitude. doesn't matter the topic.

This is a wonderful post that will hopefully remind us that, regardless of one's eating habits and/or opinions about eating habits in general, we can have different opinions and state them civilly. We need to be respectful of each other, and most of us do, but this serves as a great reminder to keep doing so. I've been a meat eater and vegetarian, and I have teasing on both sides. It doesn't matter which side starts it; you can be the one to end it. Again, wonderful post.

- AJ

I get made fun of a decent amount for being vegetarian. It's not hurtful joking, but more annoying jokes that they think are funny. I don't get offended by it, it just starts to get really old after awhile. My dad likes to take a huge bite of a hamburger and say "Oooooooohhh man, this is so good. Here Greg... have some, oh wait, you can't". Which brings me to my next point: I CAN have meat. I CHOOSE not to. It's annoying to hear "Oh Greg can't eat that" or "Too bad you can't have some of this"

I see why some people who are vegetarian might start to get really bothered by that stuff and get defensive. I just smile and try to joke along with them, or start to ignore them if it gets to be too much. Since my reason of being vegetarian is an environmental/sustainable issue- Yes, I think there should be A LOT less meat consumption. However, I never push it on anybody or make somebody feel bad for eating meat, so why should I be made to feel bad for not eating it?

Another example: I live in Tennessee (not super-vege friendly). My gf and I both ordered a boca burger while we were out at dinner. The waitress says "Oh... are you guys vegetarian". We reply "yup". "Ugh... so you're one of those groups". Other than that she was super friendly, but she didn't smile or laugh to let us know she was kidding.

Basically guilt and ignorance.

Here's a reason.

The same reason why people argue about religion, politics, etc etc.

Many people just don't like that others have opinions and different beliefs.

That pretty much sums it up right there. You don't like animal, don't eat animal. You like animal, eat animal. Live and let live. It's a very simple thing to agree to disagree, it's a shame more humans can't figure out how to do it.

I am basically the anti-vegan. If it didn't die a horrible bloody death, I probably don't think it's really worth eating. My only guilt associated with eating meat is that I generally haven't hunted/fished it myself, and I wish I lived in a society where I could do that more easily.

That being said, I read through some of the thread that I am pretty sure the OP was referring to, and thought that for the most part the responses were childish and some were even downright mean. However, people often respond that way to "studies" on this site. The study in question was done in an animal model, and that will always get people tearing the article apart because "they are not mice." Mice are a quite valid model for many infectious disease studies, but I'm not even sure why people bother to use them for nutritional studies anymore.

I am a mouse. The answer is 42.

Hi Folks,

I'm going to lock this down before it has a chance to go too far south.

The guideline in question reads (relevant portion in bold):

Topics which are started with the intent to belittle others, either directly named or through enough descriptive commentary to be possibly identified, are prohibited. This includes stalking a poster through the forums, posting about past events gone sour, divulging personal information, or spreading gossip or rumors. At our discretion, any post referring to the behavior or posts of other users of the site will be removed.

We prefer that threads discussing past conflicts on the forums be avoided. If a conflict does arrive (say between meat eaters and vegans) the best response is to alert the moderators by reporting the post, and let us come in to moderate.

I'm sure this thread was started with no intent other than to learn more about the phenomenon noted in the OP, but it does cross the guidelines to discuss the behavior of other users in a public thread.

Thanks for your understanding,
Steven
MyFitnessPal Staff