No longer weird to be a vegan?

I am amazed at how much the word 'vegan' flummoxes people -much more so than 'vegetarian'. When my husband tells people his wife is vegan, apparently they say 'Oh no!'. People don't get it and they don't understand what we eat. I too wouldn't say I'm vegan in a restaurant or on an aeroplane or similar because I can't cope with the reaction. I just try to ask for something I know they've got that I can eat. Even with friends I don't call myself a vegan because they think it's weird -I say plant-based or veggie.

Velvet, viper, vicarious, vacuous, vixen
 
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spottygiraffe said:
Even with friends I don't call myself a vegan because they think it's weird -I say plant-based or veggie.
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I've gone through various phases of this too. For most of my vegan life I said I eat a 'compassionate diet'... then people would start asking what I meant by that with genuine interest. I'd say, well, I just really love all of life..... then I'd talk about being a mum myself, breastfeeding and then I'd gently compare my experiences as a mother to the experience of other animals etc etc. Then we'd end up having lovely conversations, we're they'd feel the same. Then just recently I noticed everyone around me starting to get really proud of the fact that they'd turned vegan (might just be that I live in a very open-minded town!) - I started to think that the word was developing much more acceptance, perhaps like 'vegetarian' eventually did.

I have some friends in France and I've heard it can be a bit challenging their for vegans. It's interesting to hear that some places are much more or less accepting than others.
 
I'm glad that veganism is no longer considered weird, but there is still the problem of definition. My parents call themselves vegan, yet they eat fish. I tried to explain multiple time that eating fish means they aren't vegan - or even vegetarian for that matter, but they insist that they are.

So, I've given up and let them blissfully live in ignorance.
 
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Trinity said:
have some friends in France and I've heard it can be a bit challenging their for vegans.
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They don't get it at all -gastronomy is such a part of their culture that they can't comprehend why anyone wouldn't want to indulge in whatever tastes good whatever its origin. Gizzard salad anyone? Tripe sausage? And they think I'm weird. Actually, I kind of respect the way they eat the whole of the animal and many people raise their own livestock which is preferable to intensive farming.
beancounter said:
I tried to explain multiple time that eating fish means they aren't vegan - or even vegetarian for that matter, but they insist that they are.
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My parents have friends who eat chicken but call themselves vegetarian!
 
I always feel awful for saying this, but I usually feel really pretentious when I say, "I'm Vegan!", especially when meeting people or going out for food somewhere which doesn't cater very well for vegetarians or vegans.
People just look at me like, "Ohh great, another person who likes animals and bits of leaves too much" or "WHY?!/WHAT'S THAT?!/You still eat chicken, right?". Now, I tend to just ask if an item of food has any dairy in it as I order it, because like many of you have previously said, people still tend to freak out a lot more than if you say you're vegetarian, but I have noticed that it's becoming more accepted which is great.
 
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