So what's the dumbest question/comment you've gotten as a veg*n?

[Mirabilis]

Other than the ubiquitous, "Do you eat fish?" of course.

I think the one that took the cake for me was, "But if everyone stopped eating animals, we'd be overrun! What would we do with all those cows??" I'd heard about it before, but never actually encountered it. This person was dead serious. I couldn't decide whether to laugh in her face or throw something at her.

[Brittany]

my mom asked "will you eat chicken if it died of natural causes? hehehehehe"
and "will you at least eat fish?" like fish aren't animals?

and I was talking to my grandmother about me eating beans and it had bacon in it and I said "Oh never mind it's got bacon in it, I can't eat it I'm a vegetarian" and her reply was "Oh whatever, it's just a little bit of bacon you can handle it" what does she consider to be vegetarian? sometimes not eating meat or eating only a little? gah!

[Dreamlight]

That reminds me of another one, "Lard is not meat, it shouldn't count" or something to that effect. Bah.

[Brittany Abstract]

Well, the whole "poultry isn't meat" thing is really annoying, but even more so is this: Whenever someone catches me eating animal crackers, someone always has to say "but I thought you were a vegetarian!"

I don't think there's any way they could possibly comprehend how NOT funny that is.

[pradtf]

perhaps you should get some crackers or cookies shaped like homo sapiens and see if they accuse you of being a cannibal. :D

in friendship,
prad

[Sarah]

my best friend- "do you drink coconut milk?.... well it is a milk"

also, i'm going camping with a bunch of friends over break.. so smores were mentioned..
and the same friend quoted above was like "omg, so like what do you do when you are around the fire? since you can't eat marshmallows.. or smores?"

i was thinking i dont know uhm maybe enjoy the fire, company of my friends and some scary stories.. and feel good about myself for not eating something that causes harm to animals.. instead i responded "i haven't eaten them in so long it really doesn't bother me.. like i've been veg and camping for 9 years.. and i somehow manage with out them haha."

[Corndog]

You guys! Some of these are so funny! I get the animal crackers one, too. I think they should make vegetable and fruit crackers. : ) I've gotten the one about cows overwhelming us, too, like they will be downtown on every corner . . . it's like the excuse hunters use.

I've heard:

"There's no meat in this dish - only bacon grease."

"You eat chicken, though, right?" -I try to reply, cheerfully, that if it had a face or a mother, I don't eat it.

"Carrots are alive, too. Don't they have feelings?" -This one makes me nuts. I answer that if I put a bunny and a carrot with a toddler, the toddler would pet the bunny and eat the carrot, not the other way around. It's how we're made. Sometimes I ask to see the horrific films of terrified carrots waiting their turn at the vegetable slaughterhouse.

"We're born meat eaters. It's God's plan." -HUH?

"Can't you just pick the meat out?"

Another thing I've noticed is that some people, upon learning that I'm vegetarian, start talking to me about their own meat eating, how they used to be vegetarian but slipped back to eating meat because of pregnancy, advice of their doctor, becoming anemic, etc. I could tell them that there are vegetarian answers to these problems, but they don't want them.

I am unfailingly polite, because some people just want some education, or maybe some support. But . . . it's nice to have a place to tell these stories to others who really understand!

Karen

[Veggie Girl]

these are a sampling of convos i've had with a very sweet friend of mine, who is trying her hardest to understand what being a veg*n is... i love her to death, but sometimes it's just exhausting to be her friend. she just doesn't get it sometimes... *sigh*


at the grocery store
me: i need the organic frosted mini wheats, the regular one contains gelatin
friend: why don't you eat gelatin?
me: because it's crushed up animal bones
friend: yeah, but it's not like they killed the animal just for the bones, the animal was killed already, right? for the meat part?

at target, looking for shoes
friend: what are you checking for?
me: to see if it's man-made or leather
friend: yeah i hate pleather
me: no, i mean, i'm trying to avoid leather
friend: why?
me: because i don't like wearing dead animals.
friend: but it's not like they killed the animal just for the hide... it was dead anyway....

at a mexican restaurant
me: is the rice made with chicken stock?
waiter: yes.
me: okay well can i get a different side then?

friend: but the chicken already was killed for the meat... it's not like you're supporting chicken slaughter with chicken stock.... right?

[pradtf]

:D
what an interesting sense of logic your friend is possessed by!
:D

in friendship,
prad

[Veggie Girl]

yessss... she's an odd one.

The strange thing is, I totally "get" her reasoning.

I just don't understand why she can't understand mine.

[pradtf]

her reasoning is based on the premise that animals are usable commodities. therefore, since you can kill them, you can take whatever else you want. it's sort of like the fur-wearing mother of one of my former students who said it's ok to wear fur as long as the animals are bred for that purpose (which of course means that slavery was ok because slaves were bred for the purpose of being slaves). a wonderfully tautological argument for the self-serving :D

your friend refuses to understand the concept of vegan because that premise is in direct conflict with the one she is clinging to.

in friendship,
prad

[Veggie Girl]

Well she's actually a "veggie-phile" as in, semi-vegetarian (I don't like redefining vegetarian to include people who eat fish and poultry -so i just call them veggie-philes). I mean, she gave up beef, lamb, and pork etc and that was hard for her. She also stays vegetarian 3 days out of the week. She also doesn't wear fur, doesn't buy products tested on animals.

So I don't think her reasoning totally stems from the the "commodity" argument.

It's a bit more nuanced than that. I once told her about the horrible state of farming in this country and how that was one reason I stopped eating all meat (and why she stopped eating read meat, eventually). However, she still wears leather, doesn't care about beef stock, etc.

In her mind, cattle are raised for meat. The skin and bones are just a by-product. So eating/buying stuff like gelatin and buying/wearing leather are not contributing to factory farming. For her, the cow was going to die b/c of the meat. The leather and gelatin are just side effects. She thinks, she's doing her part by just avoiding the meat b/c if people stop buying meat then gelatin and leather won't exist either -or there will be more alternatives to it.

I know every vegetarian and vegan is going WTF?!?! right now, but that's just her line of thought.

[pradtf]

her reasoning isn't totally incorrect or even uncommon amongst certain vegfolk. if you stop the meat, one would think that leather and gelatin would be stopped too. however, that's not always the case since the leather industry would happily consider meat to be a by-product just so long as their supply was present. in fact, i recall this happens in some parts of india where cows are raised for their leather primarily.

the problem is that if you don't recognize that an animal's body belongs to the animal and not to you, there will always be a justification to do whatever you want to what you consider to be your 'possession'.

once one understands that these creatures are not yours, then certain attitudinal changes are possible towards them.

in friendship,
prad