vegans did you know that.......

13

Replies

  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    If he brings it up again, remind him that the veal industry is largely driven by the dairy industry. Cows need to have a baby to make milk, so the farmers breed the cows, kill off any babies not needed for future breeding and sell them for veal, and take the mama cow's milk that was intended for her baby. Also remind him that humans are the only mammal who willingly consumes the milk of another mammal, and who does so past childhood. Milk is intended for babies, not for adults, and it's never intended for other species.
  • starracer23
    starracer23 Posts: 1,011 Member
    In a case like that....you point at him...you laugh...you walk away with your head held high.

    It's ridiculous!
    I have people questioning me about how I choose to live and what I choose to eat....when in the end, it has nothing to do with them or what they think. (I am not vegan, I am pescatarian) and so I hear "what, fish don't have feelings??" - wtfe!

    And please no one be offended :)

    I didn't stop eating meat because I care about animals and that they have to die to be eaten. I quit eating meat because of how they are pumped full of crap that I don't need to consume. It was a choice that I made for myself, I don't need any one else to say a word to me about it....It was my choice and my choice alone. :)

    Who knows, maybe someday I will go totally vegan, but for now....baby steps...baby steps...baby steps! :D
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    Crotch pheasant? That is hysterical. I'm writing that one down to use later!

    I've been thinking over the last couple of days of starting a thread with great comebacks to the omnivores who attack us about our diets, or insert their crazy, unsolicited advice. So this thread is very timely. Here's my favorite comeback:

    Q: Where do you get your protein?

    A: From eating people like you who ask me that question.*

    A little confrontational, but then again, I was minding my own business.

    *(By the way, I stole that remark from VegNews, 10th Anniversary Edition)

    I LOVE THIS!! I HOPE I CAN REMEMBER TO USE IT WHEN THE TIME COMES!!
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    In a case like that....you point at him...you laugh...you walk away with your head held high.

    It's ridiculous!
    I have people questioning me about how I choose to live and what I choose to eat....when in the end, it has nothing to do with them or what they think. (I am not vegan, I am pescatarian) and so I hear "what, fish don't have feelings??" - wtfe!

    And please no one be offended :)

    I didn't stop eating meat because I care about animals and that they have to die to be eaten. I quit eating meat because of how they are pumped full of crap that I don't need to consume. It was a choice that I made for myself, I don't need any one else to say a word to me about it....It was my choice and my choice alone. :)

    Who knows, maybe someday I will go totally vegan, but for now....baby steps...baby steps...baby steps! :D

    I agree with you! It's the stuff they are pumped with that sucks as well. while I won't force hubby or my kids to become veggie or vegan I would like to somewhat lessen the amount of meat and dairy they consume. So I do try to have 2-3 complete veggie days a week, and if my kids choose to switch to other things so be it.

    Like just the other day my daughter asked to start drinking almond milk so I bought her a carton to have with cereal everyday, and last night she wanted a soy yogurt, but she also had tuna for lunch and some pork with dinner.....so I let them decide.

    My boy loves hummus and crackers and nutella sandwiches and could live off them.....both of which are vegetarian but he has no idea what that means.....but last night he ate steak like it was going out of style and a peice of cake.

    It's all good......baby steps.....I agree with you!
  • SiltyPigeon
    SiltyPigeon Posts: 920 Member
    It isn't that I'm intimidated or that I have flimsy reasoning, I'm very firm in my beliefs. What it is is someone who seems to be curious about the lifestyle, taking things into consideration vs. someone who seems close minded and has their own views that aren't open to change. The latter are the people who ask you questions only so they can tell you why you're wrong and that isn't wanting to learn thats just rude. Sorry but I doubt you can really say you know how it feels to be .8% of a population and have people who are totally closed off to your way of life 'challenging' you on things constantly. Its really old.

    I AM curious about the lifestyle. However, I am not one to just jump into something without good reasoning... but given good solid reasoning I will stick to ideals with a vengeance. Part of "taking things into consideration" is learning all angles, questioning reasoning, checking facts, and comparing world views. That's all I was trying to do.

    Please don't whine to me about people "challenging" your life style. When you openly (posting on a public forum makes it "openly") go against the grain of social norms you will get challenged. Either prepare to defend your stance, or stand in silence.
  • it's unfortunate that you had to deal with that situation. Like a lot of other people said I feel like many carnivores feel like we are shunning them for their decision to eat meat and become all defensive and try to talk you out of your decision to eat the way you want. I unfortunately have dealt alot with family members from my husbands side who laugh at my decision and mock me and are just plain RUDE to me! My sister in law even had the nerve to say "so are you going to make maddison be a vegetarian?" all snotty like. Maddison was 6 months old at the time. I told her of course not that's her decision when she gets older. I don't go pushing meat on my little one but I don't ban it from her diet either. I even cook meat all the time for dinner for my husband and child. What I really wanted to say to her was " no twit! And it's not a bad thing to be vegetarian either! Just like being a carnivore is someone elses decision."

    sigh..... That was 8 months ago and am still dealing with dumbass remarks like that. You would think people would just leave you alone and carry on with their lives. On another note, I never used to know anything about animal cruelty or different levels of vegetarianism or any of that 8 months ago. I decided to do it on my own because I feel bad for the animals, and for the reason that I witnessed last xmas a baby deer get it's head bashed in after it got hit by a car by a few people to "just put it out of it's misery". As a 24 year old I cried and never knew I felt that way until then. So I do understand people who don't understand vegetarianism or veganism. Because I was one of those people too. And everyone is way undereducated about the subject of both because of course factories don't go around telling everyone what they have to do to keep their business going.
  • Stumbleine
    Stumbleine Posts: 55 Member
    I could sure go for a burger about now...

    me too.....a veggie one of course! with non dairy cheese, and veganaise with a gluten free bun!

    Maybe with a side of TROLL???????

    Haha! This was great!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    personally, I think Vegans can tend to get a bad rep because of crazy fringe groups, like some of the lunatics in PETA (not all of PETA are crazy, but I think everyone can admit there are crazies there) that try and shove their anti-meat agenda down people's throats. So people tend to see vegan and automatically assume crazy.


    How is spreading awareness (which IS working, by the way) the same thing at all as shoving an agenda down people's throats? If you don't want to know about it don't read any of their leaflets or go on their website... it seems people like you are the ones with an agenda because you've let what you've been taught to do make up too much of who you are.

    I said the crazy people in it, not the organization in general. I actually agree with the things PETA stands for, but when members of PETA picket outside a McDonald's and show young children extremely graphic photos of slaughtered cows to scare them into not eating there, then yes, I do consider that, "pushing an agenda," rather than "spreading awareness."
  • unsuspectingfish
    unsuspectingfish Posts: 1,176 Member
    I just have to say, the best chocolate cake I've ever made (from a recipe in Joy Of Cooking, nevertheless) was vegan. Ditto with my favorite brand of donuts. Dude is missing out. More for me, then.

    I'm not even technically vegetarian, as I still eat fish twice a week, and I still get crap from people for that. The rest of the week, though, the only animal products I eat are honey and yogurt (due to a serious lack of non-dairy yogurt options around here...and just liking honey). People throw out the word "vegan" like an insult when I mention that. I just don't get why people get so offended by what I choose to eat or not eat.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    It isn't that I'm intimidated or that I have flimsy reasoning, I'm very firm in my beliefs. What it is is someone who seems to be curious about the lifestyle, taking things into consideration vs. someone who seems close minded and has their own views that aren't open to change. The latter are the people who ask you questions only so they can tell you why you're wrong and that isn't wanting to learn thats just rude. Sorry but I doubt you can really say you know how it feels to be .8% of a population and have people who are totally closed off to your way of life 'challenging' you on things constantly. Its really old.

    I AM curious about the lifestyle. However, I am not one to just jump into something without good reasoning... but given good solid reasoning I will stick to ideals with a vengeance. Part of "taking things into consideration" is learning all angles, questioning reasoning, checking facts, and comparing world views. That's all I was trying to do.

    Please don't whine to me about people "challenging" your life style. When you openly (posting on a public forum makes it "openly") go against the grain of social norms you will get challenged. Either prepare to defend your stance, or stand in silence.

    I know people will challenge me but really the first time we meet at a friend/family bbq...............please buddy have some class is what I'd like to have said to him. Or maybe next time I see him I'll MOO OR OINK the whole time he's eating to see if he likes it?

    I could take the "SWEET" approach though (literally) and make the most beautiful looking, fantastic vegan dessert over to my aunts house not say anything about where it came from or who made it or whatever and when compliments on how wonderful it is I'll burst his bubble when I tell him.....BUT IT'S VEGAN.

    Maybe I'll tell him he can't have any since he's a meat eater since he made sure to loudly tell me that I couldn't have any of the black forest cake in front of the other 20+ people that were around.

    oooooh the options I have :)
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
    wow, what a dips***. im not a vegan but im not going to give anybody any crap for being vegan.
  • emma1488
    emma1488 Posts: 175
    and just for the record since no one else has posted anything similar--i'm vegan for many reasons including the environment, world hunger, animal liberation, and health.
    I don't believe everyone needs to be vegan but I do strongly believe everyone needs to knock down their meat/dairy intake to about once every 3 weeks or so rather than multiple times in a day. This would so greatly lesson the demand for meat we could easily do away with factory farming. In addition to that, we could save what little is left of the rainforest, stop climate change, fix most of the world's problem with hunger, and drive healthcare costs way down by being healthier and being less fat.
    While I would like to see humane practices for what animals ARE farmed for food and see the end of factory farming, even if every single farm in the world was as humane and healthy as possible I would not take meat or dairy.
    The only thing I would ever eat is eggs because they do not have to be impregnated to make these like cows do and it doesn't harm an animal like meat does. I would NOT purchase the eggs, however because i don't care what kind of "organic" or "free range" label they slap on there, big business always puts profits before people, animals, or anything else. i believe in sustainability and knowing where your food comes from. Once we move into a more permanent home with a decent amount of land, I plan on getting 2 or 3 chickens to live in my yard. since i will not be needing any baby chickies multiplying like crazy i will dispose of some eggs, give some away, and eat some.

    Hear hear!

    I became vegan for not only cruelty to animals, but because of the effect the meat, dairy and seafood industries are having on the environment, and I do not want to be a part of it!!
  • emma1488
    emma1488 Posts: 175
    Crotch pheasant? That is hysterical. I'm writing that one down to use later!

    I've been thinking over the last couple of days of starting a thread with great comebacks to the omnivores who attack us about our diets, or insert their crazy, unsolicited advice. So this thread is very timely. Here's my favorite comeback:

    Q: Where do you get your protein?

    A: From eating people like you who ask me that question.*

    A little confrontational, but then again, I was minding my own business.

    *(By the way, I stole that remark from VegNews, 10th Anniversary Edition)

    When I make something yummy and vegan and maybe post it on fb calling it 'vegan ....' i like to say 'i made it out of vegans' :) it just confuses them a whole bunch
  • nicothepotato
    nicothepotato Posts: 306 Member

    "I would have no problem if I milked the cow. I have a problem with how these cows are kept and impregnated and stuffed full of crap to keep producing. If we went back to the natural order of things, I would be a meat eater."
    I have always wondered that. I know a lot of vegans and vegetarians who are more against the way the animals are treated than the killing of the animals itself. I have been curious if all animals were just wild or free range and taken care of all nice like would most go back to eating meat or even just drinking milk etc?

    That's the first time that I've heard that. That is a much better explanation than "It's not fair". So, do you eat honey? Or free range eggs? Or grass fed beef?
    *I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just like to understand other's choices.
    [/quote]

    I eat honey. Free range eggs are a joke that is used to get people to spend more money and feel less guilty. I don't eat any of it. The system is broken and I don't want to feed my money into it.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    Crotch pheasant? That is hysterical. I'm writing that one down to use later!

    I've been thinking over the last couple of days of starting a thread with great comebacks to the omnivores who attack us about our diets, or insert their crazy, unsolicited advice. So this thread is very timely. Here's my favorite comeback:

    Q: Where do you get your protein?

    A: From eating people like you who ask me that question.*

    A little confrontational, but then again, I was minding my own business.

    *(By the way, I stole that remark from VegNews, 10th Anniversary Edition)

    When I make something yummy and vegan and maybe post it on fb calling it 'vegan ....' i like to say 'i made it out of vegans' :) it just confuses them a whole bunch

    Hilarious!! I'll have to try this!!
  • nicothepotato
    nicothepotato Posts: 306 Member
    My friend just built a chicken coup. I'm so excited, I'll get to eat some eggs again from happy chickens!

    Also, a couple of books for the curious Eating Animals by John Saffron Foer and Omnivores Dilema by Michael Pollan. I haven't read the latter yet but I've seen it reference a lot in other veg reading. It's on the reading list.
  • emma1488
    emma1488 Posts: 175

    "I would have no problem if I milked the cow. I have a problem with how these cows are kept and impregnated and stuffed full of crap to keep producing. If we went back to the natural order of things, I would be a meat eater."
    I have always wondered that. I know a lot of vegans and vegetarians who are more against the way the animals are treated than the killing of the animals itself. I have been curious if all animals were just wild or free range and taken care of all nice like would most go back to eating meat or even just drinking milk etc?

    That's the first time that I've heard that. That is a much better explanation than "It's not fair". So, do you eat honey? Or free range eggs? Or grass fed beef?
    *I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just like to understand other's choices.

    I eat honey. Free range eggs are a joke that is used to get people to spend more money and feel less guilty. I don't eat any of it. The system is broken and I don't want to feed my money into it.
    [/quote]

    If you actually delve into and research what qualifies as 'free range' its a joke. Check this footage out of a 'free range egg farm': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw1FX69rNoY
  • candykay89
    candykay89 Posts: 110 Member
    I know how you feel. I am 98% vegan. Which makes me a vegetarian. I am tired of ppl asking me if i dont eat meat what do i eat. Are you serious? There are many different choices out there. You continue to eat me as i am not trying to convert you and i will continue to eat vegetables. Keep on being a vegan. It is awesome.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    I know how you feel. I am 98% vegan. Which makes me a vegetarian. I am tired of ppl asking me if i dont eat meat what do i eat. Are you serious? There are many different choices out there. You continue to eat me as i am not trying to convert you and i will continue to eat vegetables. Keep on being a vegan. It is awesome.

    I plan on being 99% vegan, I have to allow 1% for human error aka accidental consumption.....or the best possible option such as I go to a restaurant or someones house and there is absolutely no vegan option and I'm hungry and have to eat whether it be eggs, honey, dairy etc.

    But at home.....100%
  • What I would have done in that conversation would have been to say, "Excuse me, sir, I don't really give a *&^% about your thoughts on my lifestyle."

    Interestingly enough, I noticed I keep going over my protein requirement which cracks me up because people always ask me where my protein comes from (more so when I was vegan, not so much now that I eat dairy).
  • Ugh, annoying. Idk, I was vegan for 5 years and I have never heard that cows just continue to make milk so I looked it up and it seems that they do dry up.

    http://www.ehow.com/facts_7501322_long-cows-milk-dry-up.html

    And cows weren't domestic FOREVER?? At some point they had to have sustained themselves without people so how the heck could his arguement hold? Let a herd of cows go into a field for like 5 years and I am sure all the females would not be dropping to the ground because there was not a person there to milk them.

    Now I am annoyed with this man! Not because I am vegan but because his arguement is illogical and moronic.

    Oh, and tomatos are fruit which means that the plant continues to live even when its fruit (aka seed) is picked. And plants don't have nervous systems or brains to process pain.
  • CuteAndCurvy83
    CuteAndCurvy83 Posts: 570 Member
    It's not really about "taking" from another animal or whatever. A lot of people have issues with HOW it's taken. If a farmer has a dairy cow that lives a normal farm cow life, and gets milked daily with the farmers loving hands, it's a whole different ball game when its a bunch of cows stuffed in a pen,pumped with all kinds of chemicals and toxins, so it's milk supply is always there,and hooked up to a machine for 12hrs out of the day that sucks the milk from them. Just as it's much different if the same farmer has chickens in a little hen house, that roam freely through the day,and lay their eggs,and the farmer collects them in the morning, Or they are stuffed into cages where they can't move a feather, pumped with chemicals and toxins so they lay eggs on a continual basis. There is nature, and then there is the factory way of doing things, that promote cruel punishment to what we call "food".
  • runner328
    runner328 Posts: 174
    I was a vegetarian for about 15 years. I have now added fish back into my diet (but I have my own whacky rules about that too). My wife is vegan.

    I find that people think that vegetarians/vegans are judging them for their dietary choices. Not sure why, but they are not comfortable with that.

    Frankly, I don't care what you eat. But I don't need to hear anybody's opinion about my choices. I know what I am doing. :-)

    While I do have some beliefs and moral guidelines that apply to my dietary choices, I do not tell others about them unless they ask. And I freely acknowledge that some of them are sort of arbitrary and can be viewed as whacky. That is fine.

    Humans have the luxury of choosing what we want to eat--at least most in the developed world do. So I am exercising my choice.

    BTW, my family STILL makes veg jokes. Which are still not really that funny.

    Well put! Thank you couldn't have said it better myself :)
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    What I would have done in that conversation would have been to say, "Excuse me, sir, I don't really give a *&^% about your thoughts on my lifestyle."

    Interestingly enough, I noticed I keep going over my protein requirement which cracks me up because people always ask me where my protein comes from (more so when I was vegan, not so much now that I eat dairy).

    I wish I had the guts to say that to someone!! Oh and I get tons of protein in everyday......now and when I ate meat actually about the same amount both ways so it's a non issue really!
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    Ugh, annoying. Idk, I was vegan for 5 years and I have never heard that cows just continue to make milk so I looked it up and it seems that they do dry up.

    http://www.ehow.com/facts_7501322_long-cows-milk-dry-up.html

    And cows weren't domestic FOREVER?? At some point they had to have sustained themselves without people so how the heck could his arguement hold? Let a herd of cows go into a field for like 5 years and I am sure all the females would not be dropping to the ground because there was not a person there to milk them.

    Now I am annoyed with this man! Not because I am vegan but because his arguement is illogical and moronic.

    Oh, and tomatos are fruit which means that the plant continues to live even when its fruit (aka seed) is picked. And plants don't have nervous systems or brains to process pain.

    I didn't know that about tomatoes......learn something new everyday. THANKS FOR SHARING!

    Oh and apparently this man is always annoying, I found out today that there was another person at the party that can't stand him due to the kind of stuff he pulls!
  • sqvash
    sqvash Posts: 17
    I have to say the first 3 years or so of being vegetarian I think I spent the whole time fighting. Now, if people want to ask me intelligent questions I'll talk to them about it. However, if people just want to harass me ("you're hurting that vegetable cause it's as alive as a cow") I let it roll off. If you want to pump your body full of hormones and antibiotics from your meat, be my guest. If you truly don't care how corrupt the industries are and how much damage they're doing to the environment, and it doesn't bother your conscious at all, keep on chowing down. (Although so many people have said to me "I just try not to think about it"...so, you're lying to yourself? Anything you have to hide from YOURSELF sounds like a pretty big problem to me!). If you think I'm going to die from protein deprivation....well then you're just blind.

    Anyway, at this point in my life it amuses me when people want to get belligerent. My mom always told me, it's easier to change a man's religion than his diet. It's SO TRUE, people get so defensive over their meat and eggs, that they want to pick a fight with other people about it. Why is this man so insecure about what he eats that he has to harass you about it? Haha, that's just hilarious to me!

    You'll probably get a laugh out of this...I went to college in Idaho (cattle country). The idea of vegetarianism is just UNHEARD of out there. I had no less than 5 class mates my freshman year tell me that I must have just never had good meat, and they had slaughtered a cow that week and would love to bring me some so I can start enjoying meat properly....well, at least they were sweet about it?
  • DorkothyParker
    DorkothyParker Posts: 618 Member
    I didn't read all the responses, but I will say: I would never judge what a vegan or vegetarian does or doesn't eat. I would expect the same respect from them. If they were to make a snarky comment to me about how it's wrong to drink another mammals milk or criticize my lifestyle in any way, it's on.
    Otherwise, my method of dealing with vegans or vegetarians is never to eat meals with them.
  • unsuspectingfish
    unsuspectingfish Posts: 1,176 Member
    I didn't read all the responses, but I will say: I would never judge what a vegan or vegetarian does or doesn't eat. I would expect the same respect from them. If they were to make a snarky comment to me about how it's wrong to drink another mammals milk or criticize my lifestyle in any way, it's on.
    Otherwise, my method of dealing with vegans or vegetarians is never to eat meals with them.

    THIS.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    Edited by Ms_Natalie MFP Forum Moderator :flowerforyou:

    I used to eat meat.......up till 2 months ago actually, I know it's tasty never once did I say it wasn't, but I feel HEALTHIER now NOT eating it and I just posted here about how outrageous some people can be with bugging me about cruelty to tomatoes and how he told me I couldn't have cake. I didn't care he was eating meat or everyone else was......just wanted him to leave me alone.
  • It sounds like that guy was trying to get your goat rather than have a real conversation with you. When people get like that I just don't even bother continuing the conversation, because they clearly aren't open to anything I might say!

    Cows are just like any other mammal - they produce milk after they have a baby and that milk is meant for that baby to eat until they wean. Once the baby weans, the cow stops producing milk.

    When dairy farmers - large or small, family or factory farm - take the mother cow's milk to sell to humans, the calf does not get the milk. Usually the calf only gets to stay with its mother for a few hours or a few days. It makes me really sad to think about it. I breastfed all three of my babies and to think of having my baby taken away and my milk sold for others to drink - that would be the worst thing you could do to a new mother. And apparently both mama cow and calf bellow for days when they are separated. :(

    I'm not vegan, but I've been vegetarian for a long time (8 years) and I am striving to be dairy-free. Eggs don't bother me as much so I sometimes buy organic, free-range eggs, if I'm really craving them. I don't avoid dairy though if I'm out though, that is just tough socially when we go to some peoples' homes. I'm a work in progress.
This discussion has been closed.