i know exactly what you're talking about. when i tell people i'm vegetarian, it's bad enough, but when i say i want to be vegan - omg the way the look at me! (like this:  :o :o :o) the most common response: i can't think of ANY food that is not related in some way to animals! what did these people grow up eating? haven't they even HEARD of vegetables and fruits and beans?
"what do you eat, carrot sticks?"
yes, i was really asked that.

ok, rant over. i feel better now  ;D

This reminds me a little of the doctor visit I had recently with my son who had strep throat. The doctor was very nice, but said some things that bugged me. He was stressing the importance of fluids (good) and asking my son what his favorite drink was. Instead of letting him answer, the doc starts spitting out things like Sprite, 7UP, etc....I said we don't drink soda (the kid is only 5) and he looked at me all weird and said how good it would be for the electrolytes (I bought Emergenc-C and Recharge for this later).

Then he was asking me what we use for pain and I said "Motrin". I don't really use it too much, but sometimes its a necessary evil. I buy the dye-free version, which is probably a little better. I tell him this and he says, "NO, you HAVE to get the cherry one! It tastes so much better!". So now my son is thinking he is missing out on the good tasting medicine.

Here's the killer: as we are leaving he hands him a lollipop without even asking me. He looks at me and says "sugarfree" with a smile like he expected me to jump for joy. I read the label (who here doesn't!) and see that it is sweetened with SPLENDA! We avoid this stuff like the plague!   I had to put it back and I told my son he could have one of our own lollipops when we got home.  

Luckily my son is pretty easy going and didn't get upset at any of this (he trusts my judgement-yeah!), but some people just assume things, don't they!?

Then right after this I find out that this "nutritionist" lady at the healthfood store nearby tells her patients to use SPlenda.  When I try to tell her that it is thought to be dangerous and that maybe she should research it, she keeps saying, "well its not as bad as aspartame!". I bet a lot of her patients here that and say "great! sold!". She said she tells diabetics to use it instead of sugar, but I think that is just trading one set of problems for another (down the road).  

What a day!!!!

On a brighter note, I am finally reading "The China Study" and not feeling so weird. I highly recommend it to anyone who ever doubts that a vegan diet is not the healthiest diet in the world. Once in a while I have my doubts, but then I wake up and thank my lucky stars that I ecuated myself in the area of nutrition once upon a time.  :)

I got really irritated yesterday when my friend invited me around her house for the night, told me excitedly she was having chicken skewers with rice and told me I had to buy my own food.
I went ahead and cooked up a beautiful coconut cream curry and she starts picking at it and trying to steal the leftovers (which I left her omni housemate for dinner).

It's not really that hard to cook for a vegan, even with only basic foods in the cupboard and I even offered to cook, but I find the reaction to the word 'vegan' or 'vegetarian' food is thoughts of rabbit food or mushy bland tofu.. FRUSTRATING!
Don't get me started on her trying to steal my sorbet  :D

Oh yeah and her reaction when I told her I was going vegan:
Her- "Oh but you need the iron from meat 'cos you're almost anemic."
Me- "That's why I've been eating a lot of spinach and mushrooms."
Her- "But you need iron."
Me- "Meat isn't the only thing with iron in it."
Her- "But what about calcium? You need to drink milk."
Arrrrrgh!!! Someone get this girl some facts on nutrition!
Okay rant over, sorry.. But yes Blackdasies, conversion through temptation works  ;)

i told my friend mike (one of my exs that zack probbably thought i was cheating on him with when i wasnt, anyways lol) that i come on here just for the recipes and he told me not to buy into any of the crap on these types of sites. i told him i just wanted to try the recipes but since i got the vegetaian starters from peta and another site (cant remember what it was), im going to go vegan after merrick and i move outta here. i already know merrick will like it b/c he never really has been into meat. when he does eat meat its usually chicken and pork.

I know what you mean about the stubbornness. My parents are light years away from each other in terms of their support of my veganism. Of course neither (and their spouses) are anywhere near going vegan because of me.. My dad and his wife are always up to trying new food and offer to sub anything possible when I am over ("Can we use your soy milk in the instant mashed potatoes, Janelle?") without my asking.. While my mom and her husband are rather hostile and condescending at the dinner table, always stressing how they'd go out and kill their own cow for their love of meat.. Those same words..  :-\

They are just very defensive and mean about it, always have been. Lately my mom has been better but even then its "Sure you can come cook for me.. But the entire time you're in the kitchen I'm going to ridicule you for not eating cheese." My dad called me the other night to say he and his wife watched a special on TV about gross jobs or something, and it was the dairy industry making cheese. "Donna and I both looked at each other about to cry, and said 'We know why Janelle doesn't eat cheese anymore.' For a second there I didnt think I could eat it either. I'm really proud of you for sticking with your veganism." on and on with the praise. I would've felt better if they would've taken it a step farther and tried to give up cheese but, what can you do. Getting my big burley biker of a dad to admit that he'd probably shed a tear if he saw some of what I saw, was kind of hard for me. I know some people just latch onto their ignorance but.. He's honestly *afraid* to see what they do to the animals before he eats them.

Is there anyone on here who went vegan later in life, 40s+??  For ethical reasons first, not health? I would love to talk to you about how you did it and overcame a lifetime of habit..

I'm 50 and I'm trying to go vegan.  I went vegetarian first primarily for health reasons (high blood pressure and obesity).  But the change to veganism is totally due to ethical reasons.  My heart just breaks at something of the things I've read in the vegan book that I posted the link to (download a copy for free) and some of the videos I've seen on the net. 

Btw, the show they watched was probably "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe.  It's one of my DH's favorite shows.  I don't remember the diary episode but the one where he "works" at the pig farm was so Old McDonald,  not the factory operation that most of the pork actually comes from.  I have mixed feelings about the show, sometimes it seems it's the "Let's abuse Mike Rowe" show but I feel bad for all the folks who really do them day in and day out  (if you watch, there are a lot of Hispanic workers doing the really nasty jobs.)  They don't do too many "farming" shows probably because they are too gross.  Most folks wouldn't watch the show anymore.  (Just like I won't watch any of the CSIs anymore.)

Here in the US, in a culture where the federal government subsides the beef, egg, milk and poultry industries and where you hear stuff like "got milk?" and "pork...the other white meat" and Quizno's compares their sandwiches to Subway by saying "more meat" and "I gotta have my meat" and "I love that it has more meat" ...well this idea comes along that you can't live without milk, eggs, meat, etc.  You know, in the 19th century and early 20th century, meat was a luxury and certainly not part of the daily diet.  Salt pork was for flavoring other foods, especially beans, and not eaten in fat slabs as bacon.  I don't know exactly when or why animal foods got to be the very center of the American diet.

You stop and think about it, when we vegans suggest that one can be completely healthy and even happier eating no animal products, we are suddenly challenging the foundation of the American belief system.  We are challenging the food pyramid, the pork, poultry, dairy and beef industries, what we learned about in school about what to eat and worst of all, iwth the advent of South Beach, Atkins and Zone diets, we seem to be telling people to stop eating meat and be fat.  NOTHING will turn someone off like thinking something will add to their waistlines.

In point of fact, I have dropped about 20 to 25 lbs since I went strickly vegan.  It has come off the places I wanted it to and stayed on where I needed it (ladies you KNOW where I mean!).  I feel like I eat all the time and I snack on leftover stir fry and fruit, whole grains, etc.  I eat double what I used to and I don't put on weight.  I have always been a big eater but in my 40s this is not a good thing unless I'm  vegan because I'd be fat or feel like I was starving if I could not eat like this.

Last Friday, a good friend of mine was going to be without her kids and she asked to come eat with us.  I said, sure but it'll be vegan.  I am making manicotti stuffed with tofu and fresh asparagus.  We have some chocolate baked doughnut nuggets for dessert (shameless plug for recipe on this site).  Well, she says, I'll try anything once.  She took a bite and said OMG THIS is tofu????  You are sure, right?  Man this is just lovely!  I had no idea that tofu could taste like this.

She is not converted.  She grew up on a ranch and they raised cattle and hogs.  However, she knows it won't bite, isn't nasty or anything and can be quite good. 

Myself...well I am the woman with 101 yummy ways to incorporate tofu into your diet and even I was impressed with this particular thing.  I used a ziplock sandwich bag with a corner cut out to fill the tubes and it was very very easy to do, for once.  I didn't break the tubes, make a huge mess or anything either, just pffft, turn the tube and pffft in the other end, DONE!  YUMMY done too.

I can relate here.  Especially with JaneyBoo's comments.  After the inital teasing from both parents, my dad seems more accepting.  I had a doctor appt. a while back and my mom made me promise to tell my doc I was vegetarian, I guess hoping the doc would talk me out of it.  All my doc said was as long as I was taking a multi-vitamin with iron, my diet was probably healthier than most people. 

A couple weeks ago, I went to my parents' house at the last minute and my mom was all worked up because she didn't know what to cook for me!  (The vegan diet is soooo limited, you know!  ::)  I went vegetarian back in November and have been slowly transitioning to being vegan.  My parents know about me begin a vegetarian but not about me wanting to go vegan.  The only non-meat recipe my mom seems to have is potato soup, which is full of milk and cheese.  Yuck.  This frustrates me because I do not live with my parents, I only go to their house once, maybe twice a month and my mom in particular sometimes acts sooo put out about my eating habits.  When I made something particularly delicious, I email my mom the recipe but she never makes it.  I guess I'll start bring food with me!!

Then my mom makes comments like "Well, your husband still eats meat"  and makes me feel like a bad wife for not grilling up some steak for my husband!  I still buy meat for him, and he agreed to be the one to handle and cook it.  A nice compromise I think.  She even uses my dog as a guilt trip!  "Poor Maggie, you don't ever get any chicken or steak or eggs at home, so I'll feed them to you here."  SIGH.    :P

Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe 

Oh, I watched a pig farm episode, too!  I can't believe something like that would air....and I'm glad it did, since hopefully it grossed some people out.  The pig farm was outside of Las Vegas, and the man retrieved the scrap food (fried stuff...even donuts!) from the casinos and feed it to the pigs!  The leftovers had to be heated to a very high temperature first to um, "sterilize?" the junk and workers also had to pick out plastic and wrappers.  But of course the farmer said it was impossible to remove all the bits of food wrappers.  So, yeah, feeding boiled donuts and plastic to pigs...bleh...poor piggies.

Hmmm...so from the replies so far, it seems that Dad's are the more supportive ones? Weird.  My Dad is the same way.  Although I haven't told them, yet, that I'm transitioning into a vegan diet...that might be an interesting conversation.  Luckily they'll eat stuff that I cook for them, and I only visit and few times a year.

I think Maya Angelou said it best. There are three things in life noone can change: the length of your legs, the width of your hips, and the nature of your parents.
Uh-huh. Amen to that.

I LOVE that quote!  It is so very, very true.  Thanks for posting!  :)