Tip 38: If You Can’t Say Anything Vegan: “I Ate Vegetables Once and I Basically Went Hungry!”

Posted as part of VeganMoFo (The Vegan Month of Food) 2014

When vegans are involved, things get a little tricky – for all of us. For non-vegans, that often looks like defensiveness or hostility due to the perception that vegans are telling them their food choices are unethical or wrong. For vegans, it often looks like self-righteousness and snobbery. So, I’m using the Vegan Month of Food – a month during which vegan blogs are celebrated and aggregated in one place – to teach non-vegans and vegans how to be nice to each other. If you can’t say anything vegan, don’t say anything at all.

“I ATE VEGETABLES ONCE, AND I BASICALLY WENT HUNGRY.”
Non-vegans, please stop saying this to vegans and vegetarians.

Why?
If you’re hungry, you should eat. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating meat or vegetables, if you’re feeling hungry, it always means the same thing: you should eat. Vegetables are more nutrient dense and less calorie heavy than meat, so you can’t eat the same size portion of artichokes as you would of steak and expect it to fill your lil’ ole’ belly, friend. If you’re hungry, eat more. Did I say that already? Hunger is your body’s way of saying it wants more food. So give it. (By the way, another way your body tells you it wants food is that it forces your hands to steer your car up to an Ethiopian restaurant).

What are some alternatives?

(Put food in mouth. Don’t say words).
“I want seconds! And I don’t feel guilty about it because I’m helping animals and eating healthier! Yay!”
Don’t say anything at all.

Note: I asked you to choose my punishment for missing a day of posting for VeganMoFo, and you responded. But there was a tie, so I decided to do a few of the things: starting with posting a dumb picture of a (smart) vegan on each VeganMoFo post. Here’s today’s!