Vegans society friendly or society shy?

[RAINRA]

During a discussion with a friend they mentioned that Vegans seem to Isolate themselves from rest of the world. I was like that is a bold statement? The truth is, my friend said, Is that Vegans choose to do vegan activities, vegan events and vegan communities where it is just seems to cater to their own crowd even if others are welcome.

 

We all know why we are vegan why do we congregate so often ? Is it because we like to be different?

 

Being new to veganism I really did not know how to respond. Maybe it is to vent I thought from non veg people, or to hear the latest on the animal rights front, or people are just looking for community that shares the same principles.

 

That is fine my friend said but trying to change the minds of others you must be more integrated in the general population. So that others can see what a great life you lead and what you stand for. Not just doing vegan things, and eating at vegan restaurants. How do expect other restaurants to offer more vegan options if you stick to vegetarian restaurants.

 

How do you see yourself, and other vegans are we more about trying to find more vegans to share a community or are we very much just trying to integrate in society influencing people that way? What is done more? If we had the option to just eat and shop at vegan stores would we just go there or would we try to shop everywhere just to influence society to cater more to us?

[medman]

It's ridiculous to say that we should actively choose to go to other restaurants instead of vegetarian ones. We need to support vegetarian restaurants - if vegetarians don't even eat there, who will? These places need our support, and they offer us a wide variety of food we can actually eat! It's supply and demand. We are influencing society, and these restaurants and grocery stores are proof. The availability of vegan food has increased dramatically in the last few decades.

 

I think a reason there is often a "vegetarian community" or "vegan community" is because people like to be able to relax, hang out, eat at restaurants, etc, without being harassed, challenged, or argued with. It's really nice to be able to go somewhere and not have to worry about what you're going to eat. We can support each other and have interesting discussions - because many of us have similar interests.

 

As for "integrating into the general population" - what the heck? I don't know too many vegans who refuse to talk to/hang out with omnis. Quite honestly, I am confused as to what your friend was even getting at. It doesn't sound unlike telling a black man to hang out with white people instead of other black people, because we need to interact with each other and not segregate ourselves. It's ridiculous. Of course vegans are going to enjoy hanging out with other vegans - not having to defend yourself, knowing you probably have some common values - it's comfortable. But I really have not met anyone who wants to (let alone manages to) avoid interacting with non-vegans.

[RAINRA]

Hey Good point I think the relaxing part is very true. I think that sometimes not having to think about cutting things out or asking not to serve you a particular ingredient does make it a whole lot more stress free. My friend was not trying to offend anyone just was also curious why vegans often stick to vegan things

[DV]

I think that at least 75% of my friends and social activities are not vegan. I live in a city with a huge vegan population but I don't limit myself to that population. I also don't understand integrating in a society which I've lived in my entire life vs. the idea of just hanging with other vegans socially. We could say that Catholics and Jews are the same way, choosing to hang with others of their chosen religion. Or Democrats vs. Republicans. So, I think it's just human nature to hang with those of similar beliefs rather than isolation from the general population.

[Richard]

EDIT: I think it's more accurate to say that non-vegans isolate the vegans. Non-vegans are generally intolerant / hostile towards vegans. Usually, at best they don't understand it, it's rare to find people who accept it. So it makes sense that vegans want to connect with other vegans who share their views.

 

As for supporting non-vegan organisations, I think it makes much more sense to support the vegan ones as medman says. Not only is a good and ethical thing to do, they're also the shops which sell the things we need! The general stores probably won't sell the vegan-specific stuff.

[RAINRA]

I personally don't know any Vegans except here on the board and who voice their opinion but I mean personally. My girlfriend went Vegan with me at the same time, which made it a little easier to just go cold turkey.

We are learning where we can find more access to vegan foods. If there is a vegan product labeled VEGAN I will buy that one over one that does not say vegan on it to put my money towards these products. My friends and family all know now that I am Vegan. I do find social food gatherings harder. Since my family are big on meat products. We went to a restaurant where 99% of the menu was meat. Since everyone in the family went I could not just say no to going. It would have offended them. Fortunately I found one meal that I asked with no cheese that was Vegan which was cooked with vegitable oil. I still will prefer to avoid eating out all together. The main problem is to many cultural and social gatherings involve food.

[Richard]

I personally don't know any Vegans except here on the board and who voice their opinion but I mean personally. My girlfriend went Vegan with me at the same time, which made it a little easier to just go cold turkey.

We are learning where we can find more access to vegan foods. If there is a vegan product labeled VEGAN I will buy that one over one that does not say vegan on it to put my money towards these products. My friends and family all know now that I am Vegan. I do find social food gatherings harder. Since my family are big on meat products. We went to a restaurant where 99% of the menu was meat. Since everyone in the family went I could not just say no to going. It would have offended them. Fortunately I found one meal that I asked with no cheese that was Vegan which was cooked with vegitable oil. I still will prefer to avoid eating out all together. The main problem is to many cultural and social gatherings involve food.

 

If you want to go to these gatherings, you could go and not eat anything, that's what I do when I want to be with a group of people and they insist on going somewhere that I don't really want to go. Eat beforehand or afterwards

[RAINRA]

Yeah I tried doing that except I was staying at a motel with no car in Cape Cod which is a huge fishing area and I relied on others for transportation. Most of the time I could not go anywhere to cook food or get hot food we spent most of the time on the beach eating sandwhiches. I made mine basically with hummus and lettuce and tomatoes. I spent most of the time eating cliff bars and eating supermarket arugula salad with bananas in between and nuts and seeds. I was hoping to have some grains rice or semola pasta but no chance to cook. What about holiday dinners in which you eat may eat out? If you go to a nice restaurant what would you do. Do you just order a salad?

[Richard]

I wouldn't order anything, I'd eat at home I guess. That's a bummer if that option isn't available. If I was going on a trip and I knew I wouldn't be able to get food I wanted, I'd probably try to take a bunch of food with me in preparation, like if I go to stay at a friend's place, I might take an emergency bag with nuts, rice, pasta etc

[sosso]

I saw one of Robert's videos on youtube and he made a good suggestion for eating at restaurants without any real vegan options. He suggested asking what fresh vegetables, grains etc the chefs have on hand and asking if they could prepare something just for you using those ingredients.