I have eaten a plant based diet for 9 months now and in that time I have found all of my friends and family to be very accommodating. They have been willing to cook vegetarian food for me and haven't made any (serious) attempts to try to change my mind. However, there are a couple of difficulties that I have come across.
There seems to be is a stigma associated with veganism. It seems as if a big part of the reason why they have been so accommodating is because of my flexible attitude towards my diet and that I am willing to occasionally eat smalls amounts of eggs and dairy. My parents have even made specific comments that they would not be willing to feed me entirely vegan food all of the time.
While this seems to be partly because cooking vegan food for me would be a much bigger effort for them (as I often eat a vegetarian version of what they are eating but veganism might require a completely different meal), it also seems to be simply because they disagree with veganism.
They often remind me of the joke:
How can you tell if someone is vegan? Don't worry, they will tell you.
Many people see veganism as this very extreme and militant lifestyle and they get annoyed when vegans try to 'push' veganism onto them.
Similarly, I have really struggled to have proper discussion with most of my friends and family over my choices to eat a plant based diet. A lot of my family have accepted my diet because they see it as a personal choice and want to respect my decisions but they don't think I have any right to try to influence them. However, eating a plant based diet is not a personal lifestyle choice.
Animal agriculture has become unsustainable and has a huge environmental footprint. Veganism is the 'single biggest way' to reduce our environmental impact on planet. A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said.
Veganism could also prevent world hunger. Enough produce is grown every year to feed the entire world population but a huge percentage is fed to animals who very inefficiently turn into meat. If we at the plants directly, there would be enough to go around.
Eating meat has also been shown to increase the risk of many illnesses such as heart disease and to decrease overall health.
And all of this is before we even discuss whether it is ethical or not to eat the flesh of another animal, especially when it has been shown to be entirely unnecessary. Additionally, animals are kept in extremely inhumane conditions in order to cater for the world's vast demand. Eating animals is not a personal choice when it involves the life of another creature.
A better world is possible, but a plant based diet will be an essential ingredient.
If I was eating a plant based diet simply because I thought it was better for me as an individual then I would not talk about it so much online, but that is not why I am doing it. I eat a plant based diet because once I heard the facts, I was not able to keep eating meat in good faith.
So when vegans try to 'push' their beliefs onto you, it is not because they believe that their opinion is better than yours but because the facts show that a vegan diet is better for so many reasons. They want to help you to open your eyes to the secrets of the animal agriculture industry so that you can make these decisions for yourself instead of listening to what commercials tell you to do.
A vegan diet promotes love for the planet, animals and other humans. And love is always the answer.
To learn more about veganism, please see this list of resources.
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