I see so many posts vilifying vegans on this website and it makes me sad. Yes, a lot of vegans are kind of obnoxious about it, but really?
Whenever my family and I go out to eat, we always specify that we are vegetarians. “No chicken, no fish, no stock, nothing.” Nowadays, if I’m on my own or with non-vegetarian friends, I generally skip the speech and scan the menu for meatless options, and ask the waiter if I have a question about ingredients later.
But fifteen years ago? We regularly went into restaurants, sat down, and then realized that there was nothing for us to eat. The vegetable soup was made with chicken stock, the beans were cooked with lard, or there were simply no dishes that could even be made without meat. This happened ALL THE TIME. In all types of restaurants. It’s why we stuck with Olive Garden and Pizza Hut as our eating out options: they were the only ones we knew for sure that had things. We were so hesitant to try new restaurants or new types of food because it was entirely possible that we wouldn’t get food. That’s not counting the times we would be assured something had no meat only to have our bean burritos end up as beef burritos or have our minestrone soup smell like fish. Whenever we drove to visit family in Chicago or Boston (10-14 hour drives depending on traffic), in addition to all of our luggage, we’d also bring at least two meals for each of us because McDonalds was putting beef in their french fries for fuck’s sake.
Nowadays, every restaurant has at least one meatless option. Menus have little green Vs next to things that are vegan or can be made vegan. As disgusting as my college cafeteria was, they had a vegan/vegetarian section. There have been so many times we’ve taken a pit stop in the middle of nowhere and found a 100% VEGAN restaurant just off the exit. Do you know how incredible that is? And this isn’t on the West Coast, I’m talking about Western Virginia, Central Ohio, places like that.
So yes, a lot of vegans spread bogus science about nutrition. Some vegans spread deadly advice about making your pets vegan. And a lot of vegans are obnoxious.
But the fact that they are so vocal and so obnoxious has made life as a vegetarian Hindu in this country much easier. In the same way fad gluten-free diets have made life for people with Celiac’s better. And I am very happy that it’s turned out that way.
