The hardest thing about being vegan

Greetings fellow travellers,

So you’ve done it, you’ve come over to the dark side. You’ve said goodbye to animal products, you wear pleather, and now you’re fully signed up to vegan life.

Is there a special handshake or something? An initiation ceremony? A doctrine?

Mmmm, no. You might like to join the Vegan Sociey or an animal advocacy organisation like Viva! That’s about it. You’ve made this huge decision become a conscientious objector to cruelty and now you’re pretty much on your own. Well I’m here. I’m cheering for you!

But I’m also here to hold your hand through those baby steps of being a vegan newbie. And I’ll let you into a secret. It’s the secret of the most difficult thing about being a vegan. It’s got nothing to do with protein or calcium or B12 or anything like that.

Here it is:

The most difficult thing about being vegan is how other people react to it and how you handle those reactions.

Firstly, you can’t do anything about how people react. There is a whole cultural and sociological code of behaviours and you have just snipped a little hole in that and stepped outside. It’s like you’re outside the matrix. You don’t compute. You challenge. You threaten. Without doing anything. Simply by not doing something that everyone else is doing. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

Be prepared to hear the same remarks over and over when your veganism comes up. You will come up against some hostility, some praise, but mostly lot of ignorance. I am not saying that to belittle anyone, it is still a fact that in the UK at least, less than 1% of the population is estimated to be vegan, so can you really blame people for thinking it’s a bit “out there”?

Secondly, you can do a lot for the vegan movement by how you react to questions about your lifestyle. It might be that your friends and family think it is just a phase. If you live with your parents, you could come up against conflicts, especially if they are concerned that you are not eating healthily. You might have friends who make a big deal over eating meat in front of you, saying how delicious it is (ask them to give it a rest and if they continue to act like fools, then do you really want to be friends with them?). You might also have friends who never even thought that veganism was anything to do with them but now they know a vegan are questioning their assumptions.

Continue to educate yourself about vegan issues. Vegan Freaks is a great place to start. Answer questions succinctly and try not to get too mad with your friends when they appear to hear what you are saying – and then order the bacon panini anyway! Incidentally, meal times are not a great time to discuss vegan issues (unless you’re all eating vegan food!), so try and postpone the conversation if it comes up when you’re eating.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, keep planting seeds and nurturing those kernels of wisdom and see what grows.

Try not to lecture or preach to your entourage. If you need a platform to vent your vegan angst, keep a journal or a blog, or chat to a vegan pal about it. No vegan friends? Get on Facebook or Twitter and join some vegan groups. Join Vegan Forum. Get online, find out if there is anything locally. If we can get something going in the back of beyond there is hope for you!

It’s great to have you here.

~ Quirky Vegan

P.S. Maybe we should have some sort of initiation ceremony? I’ll get back to you on that one!