As someone with a dietary preference, you will often find people who are curious, which leads to a wide range of reactions, starting from childlike curiosity to complete negation. Somewhere in between are the people who are willing to listen and learn, but they still have their own way of doing things; you might not see eye to eye when it comes to your individual preferences, and that’s okay.
People often want to know more about veganism, but are skeptical. And they should be. Changing your lifestyle like that is a huge change. It’s emotional, it’s personal and it’s messy. The skeptics in your life will repeat themselves and at times you may think that people will do anything just to annoy you with age-old questions and long-debunked myths. It’s not that. Just like you, they are on a journey somewhere, and these questions matter to them. So, try to give them some answers, even if you feel like an old cassette tape. To make things easier, we’ve provided you with our guidelines on how to answer to skeptics.
“Are you really a vegan if you buy vegan cheese and meat alternatives?”
You’ve heard it all before, at work, from relatives or friends. “Why’d you go for cheese alternatives if you’re a vegan?” “Shouldn’t you be sticking to veggies and stuff?” Well, as you may know, the answers are not always that easy.
First of all, to many people, going vegan is an ethical choice that has nothing to do with the taste of crispy bacon, goat cheese, or honey over frozen yogurt. Veganism is, first and foremost, about negating the use of animal products in your life. Sure, there are many things that go along with it—many vegans also buy fair-trade coffee, live a healthy lifestyle, and yes, many of us like to talk about it.
Savvy companies have come up with clever alternative products that are free of meat, milk, and eggs. These products often resemble tastes and textures of the non-vegan foods many of us grew up with, but also come with the same downsides as their non-vegan counterparts; rich in sodium, sugar, and fats, those vegan nuggets can come close to the real thing in more ways than one. For some people, this makes the transition easier. And that’s okay, because the level of enjoyment is not a factor in ethical decisions. Vegan alternatives can sometimes be a trade-off: Can you accept 60 percent of the original taste for good conscience? Your call.
“We are carnivores, we’re at the top of the food chain. We need protein to survive. It’s only natural.”
This is a point often made by hardcore carnivores and brings a lot of emotional baggage to the table. In many western societies, food has transitioned from a basic necessity for survival to a more sophisticated issue that is influenced by cultural background, individual dietary preferences, and/or restrictions. In other words, food is an emotional topic and since every person on earth has to eat, they might as well have an opinion about it.
The points to be made in that kind of discussion are almost too many to list. Carnivore? The human is an omnivore and can survive many kinds of diets—neither eating meat nor veganism are the only answer. Protein? Tempeh, tofu, and soy protein contain lots of protein. Not natural? Also, while we can consume meat, we’re the only known species that has to cook it first.
“You can’t change the world all by yourself, can you?”
Not only vegans get this question. Anyone who wants to be part of a global change finds themselves confronted with it. The answer is simple: Of course not. This book is not going to solve everything, you are not going to make veganism the norm, and veganism won’t end world hunger. Not immediately.
So why bother doing something, even though your personal impact is just a small one? Throwing in famous quotes to end an argument is easy, but I’ll do it anyway. Ever heard of that super-famous Gandhi quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world?” That’s why.
For most people, making the switch to veganism, working out, or getting creative can often be a gradual change without immediate results. And yet, many people keep at it. Eventually, intrinsic motivation leads to progress.
Baby steps. Make sure to take them.
“I get that you avoid meat, but milk and eggs?”
Milk and eggs don’t kill animals, so they’re good to go, right? Well, not exactly. While it’s true that animals don’t get killed directly to acquire milk and eggs, the industrial production is still often linked to suffering and death. For example, since male chickens can’t lay eggs, they are not seen as efficient or useful and the baby birds are often gassed or shredded. No, it’s probably not different in your country. Another widespread myth is that cows love to be milked. In order to give milk, a dairy cow has to be impregnated all the time, which is exhausting, painful, and leads to an earlier death. Many films such as Cowspiracy and Forks over Knives and literature such as Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer or The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan have covered this, so if you didn’t know about it, you’ve got tons of material to watch, read, and discuss!
“I could never go through with this.”
You don’t have to ask anybody to go vegan for this statement to come up. For many people, this is a conversation ender, so you might just want to leave it at that. However, if you’re getting a vibe that they want you to weigh in, there is of course always one question to ask: “Can you do one vegan meal per week? How about two?”
This is important, because almost nobody goes vegan in an instant. To most people, it’s a process, and intrinsic motivation combined with a basic knowledge about how to cook are the best helpers you can have. While intrinsic motivation gives you the edge to go the extra mile when reading lists of ingredients in the grocery store, knowing how to cook will let you stay away from guilty pleasures.
Nobody has to go vegan cold tofurkey. Take your time to adjust. Create habits that stick.