Reactions of family members to veganism

[Nic]

So I wont go into too much detail, but I am always amazed at how my family members react to my veganism.

A little background first. Im a 51 year old guy who has been vegetarian for almost half of his life. Im single again and have teenage daughters living at home half the time. The rest of the time they are with their mum (think she is still a veggie) and her new partner (flesh eater and proud of it).

The girls have always been brought up by me that its my choice to be a non meat eater, and until the split they were veggies as well, but they knew that they could experiment with no recrimination from me (apart from my inward AAAARRRRGHHHH IVE FAILED of course).

I became vegan four months ago, (It was a long transition !!) and the girls seem so set against the new foods I cook.

I used to include Quorn, but now use Redwood if I need to have 'lumps'. They even said to me that they dont want to eat any of the vegan items in the fridge, and I also dont like buying and stocking dairy (fridge has never had flesh in it). I dont want a stand off where they refuse to eat, and have a compromise where I may on occasion use vegetarian (again Quorn) ingredients for their meal and cook a separate meal with vegan contents which we all consume at the table....

How does everyone else rub along with their non-vegan immediate family ?

 

[Calliegirl]

My father and brother are omni's and usually have something stupid to say, my brother more so than my father. I've been veg*n for 20+ years and they still comment on it.

One day I had some family members over and made a huge vegan meal, which everyone ate, even my father. Afterwards he went to the local pizza place to get some of what he called 'real' food.

 

[PTree15]

Anyone who comes to my home, including my parents and siblings, knows that they will be getting a vegan meal, period. I will allow my family to bring milk, say, for coffee if they are staying over. That's what my sister and cousin did, plus, they brought cheese . God forbid, they go without cheese for a couple of days . Anyway, there is no cooking of flesh or non-vegan items in my household. I admit, I never had to deal with the "immediate family" thing, as I don't have children, and I didn't go vegetarian until my 30s (post-divorce, though I was on my way before the split; I went vegan almost five years ago). Still, my sister, just recently, told me she wanted "real food" after a hike. I'd offered to make her a black bean burger. She ended up having a ham and cheese sandwich, which to me would be far less filling and satisfying than my yummy black bean burgers with avocado, pickles, onions and other goodies. .

 

[AeryFairy]

My fiance is vegetarian, but not vegan. Everything I cook is vegan, and he would never dream of complaining about a "lack of cheese". He's a recent veggie, and would eat my vegan food even as an omni. (I think my reasonable cooking skills helped with this one!) He uses one pint of milk every week or so for his coffee (as he works from home), a tub of cream cheese a month, and occasionally a packet of biscuits with some milk-derived ingredient in them. I'm okay with these couple of things - they don't stink out my fridge, I never have to cook with them, and I don't have to purchase them.

Anyone visiting my house knows they get vegan food, end of. Even my mother doesn't complain, which is saying something.

 

[shyvas]

My father and brother are omni's and usually have something stupid to say, my brother more so than my father. I've been veg*n for 20+ years and they still comment on it.

One day I had some family members over and made a huge vegan meal, which everyone ate, even my father. Afterwards he went to the local pizza place to get some of what he called 'real' food.

He'll also be able to view his bloot test results with his 'real' cholesterol levels.