It depends on the audience...

Interested?  Refer them here for the proper information on how to do this healthfully and happily.

Defensive?  Usually just stick with something like "I am allergic to animal products of every kind" which does happen to be true.  I might say that it is better for the body, the environment and every living thing on the planet, which also true. 

Religious and defensive?  I remind them that in Genesis (Christian belief system) God gave us every herb and every seed-bearing plant to eat and made us STEWARDS over the animals of our beautiful planet.  Stewardship is also what is asked of us as parents in the way we treat our children.  They are OF us, but not OURS.  We are truly OF animals, part of them, animals ourselves.  Umm and Jesus said, do unto others as you have them do unto you...and then yeah, we are all animals.

When I am feeling glib and a little put off?  I might say I just don't eat anything with face.  Or, if I could not kill it myself, I will not eat it and I can't kill much outside of flies.  Maybe...do YOU know where that comes from?  HOW can you eat that egg?

I have been acosted and recently by someone who suggested that ALL animals are good to eat and told me that I should have serve my NEW PUPPY FOR SUPPER (OMG) because they eat dogs in China so they must be good.  I was so sickened I just looked at this idiot (okay, a$$ hole) and said " I will NEVER be the living grave of MURDERED animals"!!! and tried not to vomit.

My son has been asking me what to say.  My oldest, my most devoted former beef eating son, has gone VEGETARIAN!  We have had this conversation about what to say and that for the most part, it is probably best not to broadcast your choices unless or until someone else tries to thrust their choices on you. 

the christianity thing is so odd (touchy subject).  when i first went veggie my dad kept saying stuff like 'well jesus ate fish!!, so you can too"  maybe jesus ate tofishy.  wwjd? eat tofishy!  heh.  i would always feel so odd going to church events and having a huge steak and potato dinner.    eating animals at church after a sermon about loving all gods creatures...  im glad i started hanging out with quakers instead! they love all creatures.

I am repulsed by eating flesh, not eating meat is a compassion-thing for me. I don't really consider myself political, and don't enjoy arguing about the statistics. That's what I usually tell people. But ultimately (I hope) we all make choices about what we believe and how it will effect our lives. Ask them in return, "What do you believe in? How do your beliefs effect your life?"

one of the people that asked me this question seems to be rather philisophical and 'deep'  ha.  i think ill ask him.  im kind of interested in what he beilieves anyways

I just tell people that I am vegan b/c of the horrible and cruel ways that farm animals are treated. It is why I became a veggie at first, and then became vegan. Most around here (in Gawga) don't get it. My friends respect do respect it to a point. As I have said before in previous posts, my best friend told me once that he thinks I must have "incredible willpower" to not eat meat and dairy any longer (he knew me when I did eat that cr*p). I told him that me taking a "bite" out of his arm would be just as  appealing to me as chomping into a steak (or any rotting flesh for that matter). When you just get to the point that biting into flesh, or eating cheese, or eggs, or drinking milk grosses you out, there is no "will power" involved any longer. It just grosses you out. It's told him it's easy, there in no willpower involved at all.

I also remember telling him that he should think about locking his cats up in tiny cages for a few years and he should feed them lots of junk and fill them with growth hormones and antibiotics. When they get really fat and look like they are "ripe" he should drag them out of their cages, slaughter them, and throw them on his grill. What is the difference between his cats, a cow, or a pig, or a chicken? Is there a difference? I personally don't think there is. They all have feelings and all want to live free of pain and suffering. Who was it that decided what animals are OK to eat, and which ones should be pets and are off limits? i hope it wasn't the bible!.....maybe it's just me...I guess I'm still an ANGRY VEGAN!
-dave

haha.  yeah it doesnt take much willpower for me to not eat meat cheese and eggs either.  sometimes i wish things like non vegan cookies had butter dripping off them so i wouldnt want to eat them.  when i see the amounts of cheese and eggs and meat, i dont want to eat it at all, but if its a cookie, or croisant i think... i bet this is vegan, then it makes me sick and i get mad at myself for thinking that and not checking.

maybe you are an angry vegan, but you look so peaceful in your picture!  what kind of music do you play?  my little brothers a professional drummer as well and just became veggie (yay).

I tell people that it's for animal rights and then expand on this by saying "with the many possibilities of food options these days, theres no reason NOT to be a vegan". Indeed, being a vegan has never been easier!  Why not choose these same tasting options (soy sources of cheeses, milks, desserts, and meats) AND reduce cruelty at the same time? It just makes sense.

yeah totally!  i told my friend the other day about something on here about senses and she said 'you probably lost them because you cut out so many categories of food' and we went through the food pyramid (even though it sucks) and she kept trying to find more food groups that i was cutting out, but it was just 2 out of 6.  there are so many other categories of food that people dont think about.  she also put beans and grains in the group of vegetables before we looked at the pyramid.  so she was thinking that all i ate were veggies and fruit.  that could get kind of boring.  i think that spices should be their own food group.  thats the biggest group of foods that i use anyways.  people just dont know how many different types of foods i eat!