My girlfriend is a vegetarian, I am most definitely not, and there’s no issue. She doesn’t eat meat, won’t cook meat, won’t pay for meat, but I am free to purchase and enjoy all the meat I want. I genuinely enjoy the meatless meals she prepares, and if I want meat, I’m a grown man and can find it on my own. She is not offended if I do. It’s not a big deal at all. Our refrigerator is not compartmentalized; as long as I’m not storing raw meat directly on the vegetables, it’s not a problem.
I know plenty of vegans dating people who aren’t vegan. As long as this is true:
Then it doesn’t really seem to be a problem. They have to compromise - the meat-eater will end up not eating much meat at home (for practical reasons, mainly) and the vegan will be coupled up with someone who does something they disagree with. Most people seem to be able to manage that.
My boss is a vegan, her husband is not. They’ve been married for 15 years.
Another personal perspective:
I’m vegan and was involved with an omnivore for a short while. It didn’t last long, but not because of our dietary choices (that I know of).
We often shared vegan food. We’d cook some things together and she might have a slab of meat on the side. Or we’d just cook separately and enjoy meals together. Or we’d get different entrees at the same restaurant. Chocolate for dessert… milk for her, dark for me. Etc.
I remember thinking about kissing right after meat – seemed kind of gross – but I don’t recall that actually happening. An hour or two later it was all but forgotten 
We did poke fun at each other, me the whacko animal lover, her the Hitler of food.
But in reality it just wasn’t a big deal. I’m vegan for ethical, environmental, and animal-rights reasons, but I wasn’t self-righteous enough to think of her as a murderer any more than I would, say, oh… automobile drivers. Many people, myself included, contribute directly or indirectly to much fucked-up-ness in the world and there just isn’t enough time to be judgmental about everything. We do what we can. And as far as terrible evils go, I think predation ranks pretty low insofar as it’s natural and common to all omnivorous species. That said, unnecessarily cruel treatment of said prey does bother me and I encouraged her to choose humanely-raised meat whenever possible.
That said, I will admit that finding out someone is vegan is definitely a big turn-on 
Unless they work with PETA. Then it’s just kind of “Oh.” (PETA is mission-aligned, sure, in the same way that hellfire-and-brimstone televangelists are mission-aligned with your average neighborhood Christian… meaning probably a bit too much.)
I will also admit that in a non-relationship context, living with omnivores can be annoying. Stuff on the stove or plate I can deal with, but the smell of meat baking in the oven makes me want to puke. (Thanksgivings can be slightly problematic.) So I don’t know how it would’ve turned out in the long term.
What I read is that animals don’t synthesize B12 either; bacteria do. Animals accumulate it through their diet and pass it on to humans. Vegans can get it through supplements.
But vegans have to “settle for close enough” – or perhaps “do what we’re realistically able to” – for other reasons. Nature itself “enslaves” animals to do its dirty work of pollination and fertilization, etc., not to mention the overall maintenance of viable food webs. And ecosystem balancing is rarely gentle on the participants. Many plants depend on (or at least grow better with) nutrition redistribution from animal poop and corpses. Does that mean lettuce isn’t vegan?
Bring human agriculture into the mix and I’m sure the collateral damage increases, whether through farm machinery deaths, species displacements, or habitat reduction. Your typical massive monocrops of pesticide-laden GMO soy growing on fertilizer-overloaded fields are hardly environmentally ideal. But again, we do what we can and hope for new understandings and techniques as time progresses.
I’m vegetarian and my girlfriend is vegan. Neither of us are veggie/vegan due to “ethical” (aww, look at the cute widdle animal!) reasons. So, it’s not really an issue. Being in Chicago, there are actually a surprising number of vegan friendly places to eat out, as well.
One of my good friends is vegan and her SO is not - no problem at all. He does almost all of the cooking at home and will (obviously) eat vegan there but when they came to my wedding he had a non-vegan selection.
I’m vegetarian and my husband is not - no particular issue. I don’t cook meat at home but if he’s making his lunch he puts meat items in it and I don’t care, or if we eat out and he orders meat I don’t care.
Sometimes he has really meaty breath and I’ll ask him to go brush before we snogg, but sometimes I have really garlicy breath and he’ll ask the same. No harm, no foul.
A lot of it depends on the Non-Vegans attitude toward food. A lot of people are pretty unconcerned about it, and eat what ever is there. But a meat eater who is a serious foodie. Is probably not going to work.
I am a meat eater and food is a large part of my life. It would simply not work out for me to be in a relationship with a vegan or even vegetarian. Sharing a great meal for me is a cornerstone of any relationship, and while there are some great non-meat foods out there, there is simply no way I can be happy limiting my eating out options to only places that have a good veggie option.
I am a meat and potatoes guy, and my girlfriend is a vegan. Apart from forgetting a bit too often that she was a vegan at the beginning of the relationship, it’s been a complete non-issue. We tend to eat “vegan-friendly” stuff at home, that is, basically vegan food that I can simply stir some meat into after it’s cooked to give me the umami I crave (like pasta primavera with some sauteed chicken that only goes on my plate). And sometimes I do without. And on occasion, we go out to a steakhouse as a treat for me. Luckily, we live in Santa Barbara, and there are a number of steakhouses with vegan choices on the menu.
I have known Vegans to get along with Vegetarians* and even Pescatarians.
I know Vegetarians to get along with Omnivores.
But the Vegan vs Omnivore is too much of a dicotomy, from what I have seen.
Note that only about 5% of Vegetarians are fully Vegan. They are a fringe group.
- Defined here (as is common) to include Dairy, Eggs, and Honey, etc.
Ah, good point, I forgot about that - it comes up in the movie.
Meanwhile, I found a link to an interview with Jennifer McCann of Vegan Lunch Box fame in which she mentions her husbands non-vegetarianism, in case anyone needs a cite. She also mentions that her son was vegan for a while, and now is not, but remains mostly vegetarian.
I have lived with a religious vegetarian [buddhist, really nice guy - college student looking for cheap housing so it was in a strange multiple person not in relationship roomie situation]
On the plus side I learned some great japanese buddhist vegetarian and macrobiotic cooking. I learned to enjoy umeboshi plums! And oddly enough he and some of his friends taught me to make real broth from bonito and seaweed, even though he wouldn’t eat it <boggle>
negatives - none really. He didn’t care what anybody else had in the house, or cooked as long as we didn’t try and slip critter bits into his food. Though natto is truely disgusting and not something you want to accidently grab out of the fridge when you are hung over [or so one of the other roomies found out :eek:]
And I have lived with a guy that kept kosher, so I learned to separate carnivore and dairy at all times. He was more difficult for me to live with as a non jew, I wasn’t raised automatically having the reflex to consider meat and dairy ingredients. I got the knack, and really never screwed up but it was harder for me. Also the lack of pig … I had to go out to eat if i wanted pig.
I have a vegan friend at work. We’ve jokingly theorized that we would be perfect for each other. Because when we go out to eat on dates; we’d only have to order one plate.
She could have all the rabbit food and I could have all the dead animal. (And potatoes, she’s NOT getting my potatoes!!)
I was vegan for 10 years and always dated meat eaters. It was never an issue. I could find something to eat at any restaurant we went to and didn’t mind cooking meat, I just didn’t eat it. I was more annoyed at people that tried to make it a big deal than anything. A lot of people would want to highlight the fact that I was vegan and single me out, after I had become quite proficient at blending in and making my chosen diet be practically unnoticable. Those people were jerks.
I went back to eating meat for health reasons and I will admit, life is a hell of a lot easier now. From my own personal experience, however, being a vegan didn’t make my relationships any more difficult than conflicting tastes in movies, music, ect. Differences that are easily surmountable if you care enough about the other person.
I’d love to know your sample size. Are you basing your very broad generalization on the militant vegan chicks you knew in college? Not all vegans are like that, you know.
Even they aren’t usually like that a few years later: they may keep the vegan, but the rancor wears a body out.
One of my best friends is a raw food vegan. I’m currently eating chicken pad thai.
Your experience is not universal.
I live work in the San Jose SF area, where far more than the normal % of the people of Vegans or vegetarians. However, the Op asked and I answered. If you have better figures perhaps you could share them with us.
But I assume you;re not living together and having sex. Seeing someone a couple times a week is a LOT different than living together in a relationship.
That’s funny, because I’m also from the Bay Area and went to college at SF State. I believe our experiences would be quite similar. You’re the one who made an increadibly gross generalization in contrast with almost all the posts in this thread, so I believe it’s up to you to justify that position when asked, if you want to actually stand by it.
I always been interesting to me how many vegetarians and vegans are smokers.