Harve, I totally understand where you are coming from.  I started exploring vegan cooking for health reasons.  I love to cook and I enjoy eating but needed new ideas that were healthy.  My DD was dared to give up meat for a month by a friend when she was in junior high.  She did and has refused to eat meat since.  The problem is she is not a big veggie eater so her idea of vegetarianism was eating mac and cheese most of the time although both of us are lactose intolerant.  Not a pretty picture.  Family health history says "watch the sat. fats" so there goes the eggs for me.  I am fortunate to have fairly easy but expensive access to 100% grass fed, no antibiotic/hormone beef and organic chickens.  Those suckers cost so much they need to be severly rationed so the bean recipies are a major budget stretcher.  Even whe I do buy meat, it is my husband and son who eat the vast majority of it.  I will probibly never call myself a vegetarian/vegan because I respect those who are those for moral reasons and I am not willing at this time to adopt the standard regarding animal products in processing of other foods even though on the surface I may eat/cook the same things most of the time.

People do this with all sorts of things. For example, I live in ky, and I'm a Christan...so people automatically associate me with the militant southern baptist fire and brimstone "you gotta get right with GAWD, preach it brotha" sort of christian, and I'm probably one of the most liberal people you will ever meet. I think people associate you with what they've been exposed to, and unfortunately what they get exposed to is often the loudest group...and the loudest group is often the fanatics and outliers, not the norm. The norm usually doesn't see a reason to yell and try to "win" people.

Harve, you would probably better identify yourself as a strict vegetarian ( one who doesn't eat any animal products but doesn't follow the vegan lifestyle or ethics) Then you wouldn't be confusing to those who might see you use products containing or being tested on animals, or wearing leather, etc..

I know labels can be a pain, but you don't want to give the wrong impression or cause confusion to others either.  OR, just call yourself a dietary vegan. I think that term is picking up in popularity too.

... just here to say, the "corporate" farms aren't necessarily treating their animals any worse than "local" ones (I have quite a few corporate farms locally, haha). Organizations tend to go after the giant farms to set standards for the other ones, but there have been abuse cases in all sizes of farms, and insufficient and unsanitary conditions found in all of them.

I agree with kuzu though. "strict vegetarian" is also confusing. If it were me I'd probably say "I eat vegan" versus "I'm vegan." I guess it's because I've heard people say that, as a clarification, and I get what they mean. "Vegan for health reasons" is probably easy to say too.

But no matter what label one chooses, there are bound to be people who lump you in with others. Even an animal shelter can get lumped in with PETA sometimes for no real reason. I'd just say "I'm not a part of PETA/an activist; I eat vegan for health reasons" or something.

I agree with hcm above, who cares what people think.  If they are narrow minded enough to lump me in with PETA or whatever stereotypes they have I don't care.

I'm vegan primarily for health reasons.  I've lost weight, have great skin, am on no medications.  A robust 52 year old.

Still in the original post he states  "Yes the way corporate farms treat animals is appalling."  That's motivation for me to stay vegan.  I've gotten that knowledge now after learning about it from other vegans, so it's expanded my lifestyle to include cruelty free products and I can say I'm vegan for ethical reasons now as well.  Some of what the animal rights people say isn't "political rhetoric" at all, but truth.

I like FB's "I eat vegan".  I often use "I eat mostly vegan" a lot  when trying to find things on a menu that I want to eat.  I prefer meatless although I occasionally still eat meat but I avoid dairy unless disparate.  It came in handy yesterday while trying to figure out what to eat from the menu at the asst. living home my MIL lives at.  I did not question the ingredient list for the refried beans (although most here would for good reasons) because my choices were limited to the beans, corn and PBJ for supper.  I did better at lunch with a baked potato, zucchini, yellow squash and dinner roll.

Rehab & assisted living facilities are NOT purveyors of healthy or veg*n food, grr!... sounds like you did ok, despite menu-adversity!  :)

When you concider what Rehab and Asst. living facilities have to deal with when planning what their residents will eat, they do well for what they have to work with, especially in the case I was dealing with.  They need foods that the majority of the residents will not hate.  It would be impossible to come up with good food that meets the taste preferences of such a wide variety of people so they try to hit the middle ground of not offensive.  Then you have the health requirements of significant percentage of diabetics, salt restricted diets, low cholesterol, etc.  What percent need foods that are easy to chew and not hard and crunchy? 

I'm glad your family has had a good experience with it, in my experience that's not the norm... what places decide to serve is based on cost, not preference or texture... Texture is malleable, and patients with trouble chewing or swallowing are typically on mechanical-soft or pureed diet, regardless of *what* the diet consists of; and sugar/ salt/ cholesterol restrictions are followed less in SNFs than anywhere else I've seen-- usually the nursing staff just adjusts their insulin... I'm only speaking from experience in the south, though, so maybe it's different elsewhere -- but as long as we're subsidizing cheap/ unhealthy foods, those will be cheaper; and every cut to Medicare/ Medicaid leaves facilities scrambling to bring in required care for a lower dollar amount: so they contract with the cheapest bidder. Which will usually be the more processed/ less fresh/ higher cholesterol (from subsidized meat & dairy) foods... Veg*n or not, residents should have access to food that won't make them sicker... 90% of the time, diet played a role in whatever debility brought them their-- diabetes, hypertension, alzheimer's, stroke, heart disease, etc-- and caused their debility in the first place; it irritates me when facilities continue the recipe for decline by only offering the same diet that got them there in the first place... But enough of that soapbox-- glad you guys are happy with *that* facility's meals, at least!