# Mocking Vegetarians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [July 12, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117 "2024-07-12T19:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/41 "2024-07-14T18:56:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I may be a carnivore, but i find it easy to cook delicious meals for vegans. Seconding this. Lots of good food just happens to be vegan - hummus, for example. And I make a really tasty quinoa salad with kidney beans that’s vegan. I’m not even vegetarian, much less vegan, but I do try to eat healthy, so sometimes I prepare a meal and realize later that it’s vegan, even though I wasn’t trying to do that deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/42 "2024-07-14T19:09:24Z")
There are Professional Vegetarians/Vegans, just as there are Professional Southerners, Professional Canadians and Professional Patriotic Americans, who feel a compulsive need to lecture the unwashed hordes on the superiority of their Way. While people in these categories represent a minority within their groups, they tend to be highly visible due to noise and obnoxiousness, and so become targets of disdain and mockery. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/43 "2024-07-14T20:37:55Z")
What? That makes no sense at all. I don’t see where you can _possibly_ construe anything I said as expressing “guilt”. And it’s not projection, it’s life experience; “obnoxious busybodies” _has_ been the standard portrayal of vegetarians for as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/44 "2024-07-14T20:46:15Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > If the person saying it is 50+, I kind of get where they are coming from, because “vegetarian” was a pretty murky term back in the 1970s/80s. I knew people who said they were vegetarian when what they meant was “I don’t eat beef or pork.” Those “vegetarians” ate fish and sometimes chicken. I never heard of chicken in a vegetarian diet, but _fish_ used to be part of a vegetarian diet. But “vegetarian” has split off-Pescatarian, Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian, Vegan. Vegans who dont wear leather or eat honey, etc etc … > [@CairoCarol](#): > > Obviously a vegan won’t eat meat, eggs, or cheese. But some avoid gelatin, honey, and even yeast. or wear leather. And the objection to honey is the single most ridiculous objections I have ever hear- “Bees are slaves”. But I love the comic strip with male & female sharks- Man “Hey I thought you went vegetarian!” Woman “I did, but I didnt go crazy, i still eat dairy products”. Man-“That is a 24 oz t-bone steak”. Woman “Cows are dairy products”. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > The idea that all vegetarians and vegans are outspoken and in your face about it is obviously absurd. Yep. In fact I am often surprised when a friend or acquaintance asks for no meat on the pizza as they are vegetarian. But I am always aware if they are a vegan- they make that loudly obvious. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > I’m not going to debate why meat eating is a moral failing. It’s obvious. You’re causing suffering because you like meat. You are causing suffering when you eat plants- thousands of animals die when the field is plowed, then when herbicides are sprayed- and not just insects- lizards, mice, birds etc. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > The usual response is that you have to grow grain to feed cattle and so more animals die for that steak Most cattle are not fed grain all their lives- they graze- which when not over grazed is quite environmentally fine. Then, in America, they spend 3-4 months of so in a feedlot. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > However, cows take 20 calories of feed to generate 1 calorie worth of beef. Yes, in the last 3 months+ of their lives. The rest of the time they graze. The typical cattle is grazed for about 1 year, 9 months or so, theen fattened for 3-4 months. It weighs about 1200 pounds. 200 pounds or so of that comes from the feedlot, so only 1/6th of a cattle is feedlot weight, 5/6 is graze. And part of the feetlot food is silage- waste stuff from growing corn, maybe half. So, maybe 10% is grain fed? > [@SenorBeef](#): > > If you eat the crop directly instead of the cow That is dent/feed corn- humans do not eat that (directly). The yield for feed corn is 8-10 times greater than sweet corn. Humans can not eat grass. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/45 "2024-07-14T21:02:15Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@CairoCarol](#): > > > > Obviously a vegan won’t eat meat, eggs, or cheese. But some avoid gelatin, honey, and even yeast. > > or wear leather. And the objection to honey is the single most ridiculous objections I have ever hear- “Bees are slaves”. People are supposed to voice specific “objections” whenever they do not eat whatever the fuck they do not want to eat? Maybe @CairoCarol 's friend is a strict Jain. Is that ridiculous? They definitely do not eat honey, nor potatoes for that matter. In any case, people do not owe you any explanation. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/46 "2024-07-14T21:08:54Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > In any case, people do not owe you any explanation. They don’t. Nor do I expect one. But when they express a ridiculous one, I can say it is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/47 "2024-07-14T21:21:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And the objection to honey is the single most ridiculous objections I have ever hear- “Bees are slaves”. Fig newtons?! Our neighbors have a small farm/apple orchard. They raise three to five pigs each year, feeding them the produce that doesn’t get sold at their market, milk that is too old, etc. the pigs lead a very nice life. Until their final day. ETA: I help them load the pigs onto the truck for their “final ride” and get a few butts as a thank you. Mmmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/48 "2024-07-14T21:35:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > What? That makes no sense at all. I don’t see where you can _possibly_ construe anything I said as expressing “guilt”. > > And it’s not projection, it’s life experience; “obnoxious busybodies” _has_ been the standard portrayal of vegetarians for as long as I can remember. “Obnoxious busybodies” are people who make you guilty about what you’re doing. It’s classic projection. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/49 "2024-07-14T22:13:38Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > If there were a meat prohibition handed down today, people would be shooting each other in the streets over T-bones. Well, not human T-bones. That meat is already prohibited. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/50 "2024-07-14T22:13:51Z")
I know or have known lots of vegetarians too, most of whom aren’t obnoxious about it, and it’s not them I’m talking about; I respect everyone’s right to eat or not eat whatever they wish. I’ve also known many of the preachy, screechy, righteous kind that love to get in peoples’ faces about it and pass bogus moral judgments on those who won’t play along, and I’m surprised that so few others on this board seem to have encountered any of those, as they are pretty damned thick on the ground in these parts. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/51 "2024-07-14T22:17:52Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Meat is nutritious and delicious, but the diet you choose is your business. Maybe in the 80s eating a salad was a cause for make mockery. I’ve never had a problem with people eating salads. I don’t do salads because I don’t like lettuce. I do have a problem if they are intentionally choosing to eat salads they dislike - covered with ranch - because of the mistaken belief that the salad is more healthy. Especially if there is complaining. But I wouldn’t mock someone over it unless I’m really close to them, or they’re shaming me for eating ‘unhealthy’, or otherwise being annoying about their personal dietary choices. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/52 "2024-07-14T22:32:51Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > I’ve also known many of the preachy, screechy, righteous kind that love to get in peoples’ faces about it and pass bogus moral judgments on those who won’t play along, and I’m surprised that so few others on this board seem to have encountered any of those, as they are pretty damned thick on the ground in these parts. Where are you encountering them? Are they hanging around the supermarket watching what you put in your basket? Forming a picket line around the deli? Now, if you are attending a myriads-strong animal rights rally you might have to go with the flow and not munch on a double cheeseburger during the march. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/53 "2024-07-14T23:25:59Z")
> There is much to be said for vegetarianism. > I am at a loss to know why vegetarians cannot be content simply to say it, without taking the argument over a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/54 "2024-07-15T01:58:32Z")
You’re making fun of me, but yeah. Fucking vegans–not all of them, of course, but enough of them that it makes the news now and again–do all that kind of shit if they’re not slapped down. They’ve been known to go into grocery stores and stand in front of the meat selection to block potential buyers, to make fake picket lines in front of fast food joints, and try to block meat deliveries being made. They admit to it and even brag about it among themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/55 "2024-07-15T02:02:55Z")
I have worked at grocery store chains for decades, for companies with hundreds, even thousands of stores. And no one has ever done this. Could it have happened somewhere, sometime? Sure. But it must be so vanishingly rare as to not matter to anyone except the paranoid beef-a-holic. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/56 "2024-07-15T02:12:08Z")
Well, uh, no, it happens that I am right in this situation, and they are wrong. I wasn’t talking about those vegetarians who don’t eat meat as a personal choice; I refered to the militantly vocal and vehement ones who want other people to conform to their diet and their opinions. That is the underlying motive that drives their behavior no matter how much they gush about animal cruelty and environmental devastation to the gullible and guilt ridden. Everyone has the right to eat as they would, and would-be dictators of what goes on other folks’ plates are not the sort of humans I want anything to do with. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/57 "2024-07-15T02:22:30Z")
Whenever self regarding moral authoritarians try to enforce their will on those who don’t comply with their demands, it matters. They have no right to impose themselves and their silly opinions into other peoples’ actions. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/58 "2024-07-15T02:26:27Z")
Are you describing something that’s actually happening in some country, somewhere? If so where and when? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/59 "2024-07-15T02:47:33Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > > [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > > > If there were a meat prohibition handed down today, people would be shooting each other in the streets over T-bones. > > Well, not human T-bones. That meat is already prohibited. - > > ~Max Great. _Now_ you tell me. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117/60 "2024-07-15T03:47:27Z")
That’s just plain wrong. People are perfectly capable of being obnoxious about things you don’t feel guilty about, or feel outright morally righteous in doing. Since when did being a control freak make people morally superior? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mocking-vegetarians/1004117.md?page=4)