Every time I go to a social event like a BBQ or a party, I get asked questions why I don't eat meat. I have a been a vegetarian all my life, I am 20. I became a vegan 2 years ago and now recently I am raw.

I don't mind people asking me a few questions but then you get one idiot who doesn't understand and ignorant to that fact you don't eat meat. I always come across them. They starting asking 'where do you get your protein and vitamins from', 'it's natural to eat meat' , 'it's natural to eat cooked food' , ' do you have to take supplements', 'why don't you eat meat?' 'why don't you eat meat?' why don't you eat meat?'.

Then they start to get all aggressive and violent. I am not intimidated or scared of these people and I do try to prove my point but you can just never win a an argument with idiots that are so ignorant and I just end up telling them to @#$%& off and walk away.

I just wanted to know how other people get their point across about why you don't eat meat.
Thanks.

I simply say that I'm vegetarian. Most people in my environment are accustomed to the existence of vegetarians, and it doesn't surprise them. Every BBQ I've been to had vegetarian options, people simply expect that someone might turn out to be vegetarian and so they prepare.

Then its just a matter of saying "I don't feel like having a vegetarian sausage right now", and munch on the salad and it will not surprise anyone. Because people who eat meat generally believe that vegetarian sausages are nasty lol.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

<<Then they start to get all aggressive and violent>>


strike back!

Hey LRV, I feel for you buddy, but those obnoxious people are in the minority these days. I bet you find that the problem becomes worse in the presence of alcohol, and as with any controversial subject, it's best to just walk away when the discussion turns into an argument. I sometimes say things like, 'It's my choice and I've never felt better or healthier than in all my life, and I'd prefer not to take up the whole evening arguing the fact, and change the subject etc'.

Sometimes I draw their attention to other large animals who only eat grass, such as a bull etc. And if it's natural for humans to eat flesh, then why aren't our bodies designed for it? And if it's normal to cook our food, then why are we the only species on the planet who does it?

Actually, cooking and meat eating are connected. With our herbivore teeth/jaw set up, the only way we can successfully eat animal flesh is to break it down by cooking. Otherwise, the only other way would be to cut it up into very small pieces and swallow them whole.

Cheers, jalan

You have to be kidding?
Agressive and violent???
I have never in my life ran across this situation.
Maybe its the meat they are eating thats making them like that.
Jeeze

i drown them with information, and i say it with such authority that they back down and feel silly. or I walk away if they are just too drunk.

Reverse the attack.
Ask them where they get their living enzymes!
Then demonstrate your peace and well being.

I have two questions for you, Lucky: 1) Where do you live (general area) and 2) What is your general personality?

My hunch is that you live in either a small town or the South (where deep-fried and dead flesh go together hand in hand). Chicago is a meat-packing area ("hog butcher to the world" as Carl Sandburg put it) but very aware of vegetarianism, with great restaurants for that sort of thing, including raw. No one would ask such a thing here (well...maybe on the South Side, LOL).

Sometimes people are just making conversation. After all, you're at a BARBECUE! Maybe that is not such a great place to socialize? It's like going to a bar and ordering a 7-Up. It can be done but people may ask you why you're not drinking.

The other question is that I wonder if you are a bit timid. I like to mix it up so if they bring it, I bring it. If someone asked me that question (and they have, of course) I would say: "Oh, as a nation we actually consume TOO much protein" and proceed to lecture about the dangers of acidity and how difficult it is to break down meat. But if you are afraid of not fitting in, then you are vulnerable to people (who most likely secretly envy your choices) trying to dissuade you.

I don't try to prove or explain anything to anyone, if I see they're stuck in their ways, and are just looking to argue. To those who are sincerely curious, I do explain. I live in a very diverse international area though, no one is surprised by vegans or vegetareans here. Certainly never met anyone who'd be agressive or violent about my food choices People normally are more interested in why I don't drink alcohol LOL

The Socratic method works best. Just keep asking why, and pointing out fallacies in their reasoning.

agree with RAllen, if they are questioning, the assumption is that they have the weight of evidence on their side.

No question factory farming is cruel

No question vegan diets in general and raw vegan diets in particular are more ecologically sustainable and have a lighter carbon footprint.

That leaves health. And that's all you will probably ever argue with at least an enlightened omnivore about.

Remind them that we as a group are thinner, have lower cholestrol, less diabetes, less blood pressure just as a start. And if they still want to fight, ask them for a breather and have them watch this. If after watching Greger's one hour and they are still in denial and not laughing, write them off as a lost cause.

Paul

RAllen Wrote:
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> The Socratic method works best. Just keep asking
> why, and pointing out fallacies in their
> reasoning.

It's hard to ask why when you're being asked why. If someone says "Why don't you eat meat?" and I say "Why do you eat meat?" I feel that it almost seems defensive. When I answer their questions confidently, I feel like I'm not trying to be evasive. When you answer a question with another question, it seems (at least to me) to be evasive.

my reply is " that's just how i roll"

cuz its true

LuckyRawVegan,

I like the suggestion of taking a Socratic approach; if asked politely, the rejoinder, "Well, why do you eat meat?" could start a useful exchange of information. Other than that, a [shrug]"Because I don't," followed by a change to a neutral topic, works as a pretty effective response to a query about why you don't eat meat.

I feel fortunate to live in the Upper Midwest, where most people still care more about being hospitable than about dominating their guests, and there are always veg options as a matter of course--sweet corn, tomato and cucumber salad, and vinegar coleslaw, yay!

Please keep in mind that maybe these people that give you aggro over your diet are like that about everything they cannot control, and extracting yourself from their company at the first sign of conflict is the best option of all.

I never understood what business it is of anyones either way. Also to give unwanted advice or criticism, no matter what one eats. Especially if you are eating in a mixed social environment. Digestion is always better when one isn't critical of someone else, or arguing. I see a lot of things that people eat that I could be critical of, but as of lately I don't care.

Well, actually I don't care isn't quite acurate, but its just that I am sure that people know that x,y or z is not good, but they eat it anyway. So why should I remind them of that fact?

I simply give them the Rave Diet DVD, And or Diet for all Reasons by Mike Klepper and say on these DVDs are all the reason why I will never eat animals. I always use the word animals and not meat. Silence always follows.

I call myself a radical vegetarian. When asked why I am,my answer goes something like this..."you probably don't want to know!!"

Then I proceed by telling of a time when I was in a restaurant in Montreal and a friend said to me, "I use to work at the butchery next door."

I asked him if he was a vegetarian and he said, "no, but I should be for what I've seen".

I prodded on. "What have you seen"?

His answer was "we cut cancer out all day long and you know you didn't get it all. We're not doctors"!

Then I tell them of someone who once said to me that his brother was a vegetarian. When I asked him why, he said, "he's a meat inspector".

By this point they tend to be quiet and listening.

I continue on. I tell them of when I use to work on a turkey farm. One day, a turkey farm owner came to visit. We had several sick birds and his comment was that we needed to get them off to the market before they die because, as he said, "you can't sell them once they're dead"!

Then I tell them of the conditions of a barn of turkeys who live in cages all their short lives before they go to be slaughtered for food, how they never see the light of day and how you can hardly breath in the barn for the stench of ammonia from the preponderance of urine. The birds look sick. And then I ask them, "how healthy could these birds possibly be"?

Sometimes, I tell them that I've never seen my stomach as a cemetary!

Then I do a little health teaching with them. I tell them that cholestrol is the primary cause of atherosclerosis, the building up of plaque in the walls of the arteries. I inform them that cholestrol is only found in animal and animal by-products; it is not found in foods eaten by vegans.

I continue by telling that when I was in school, I did a presentation to the class on vegetarianism. I started by holding up a jar of animal fat I had gotten from a friend and asked, "how many of you know what this is?"

Of course, they did. Then I asked, "how many of you pour this down the sink"? And of course, none of them do.

When I asked why not, they quickly explained that it plugs up the pipes. Then I told them that their veins and arteries are a piping system as well and over time, this product contributes to the narrowing of the lumen within our arteries and results in strokes and heart disease.

I continue. I tell them years later, the instructor for the class came to me and said, "I will never forget that you are a vegetarian. She said she was lecturing to a class one day and her vision suddenly went blurry. She thought it would clear up in a moment or two, but it didn't so she went to her doctor who referred her to a specialist who discovered her carotid artery was clogging up with plaque so they reemed it out. A few weeks later, when she returned to the specialist for a follow up, he asked her, "how would you feel about being a vegetarian"?

They've usually had enough at this point. Quite often they're very grossed out and I just had this identical conversation with a woman last week and she told me on Wednesday that she hasn't eaten meat since we talked.

I also sometimes asked them if they have ever watched, Meet Your Meat on You Tube. They never have but it is the capstone to grossing out everyone except the least sensitive.

Sometimes somebody will press on with their argument that they hunt for their meat. My answer is, "hunting never really has impressed me". They get a little defensive and usually ask, "why not"?

"Well", I say, "I've just never thought it really clever to stand 300 feet away from an animal, pull a trigger and drop it dead. Now, if you went up and did hand-to-hand combat and killed it that way, that would impress me but I'm not sure you could even handle a rabbit"!

I know that's a bit insulting but that's the premise they started with as though I'm an idiot for being a vegetarian.

Haha, guess the jokes not on me afterall!! In reality, I get nothing but respect for my convictions about being a vegetarian.

I'm a bit of a workaholic and have had to work long, extended hours at times, like it or not. A couple of ladies I work with were apparently talking about my ability to work without getting tired and the one said to the other, "he wouldn't be able to do that if he wasn't a vegetarian"!! I was surprised to hear she'd said that.

Brilliant...

I do nothing. I don't change people to may way of thinking. I only observe.

I don't really offer much of an explanation. I'm a grown woman, I don't need to justify myself or for anyone to understand me for my way of life to be valid.

True Utopian Life, but while we don't need to justify our choices, there may be a knock-on effect that would see others take up the challenge.

jalan

I'm sure you don't change anyone Panchito. No one changes anyone. It's not possible. People change themselves if they want to.

Is anyone familiar with Howard Lyman, that Montana beef farmer who became a vegetarian? I once heard him speak and he said he was the least likely candidate to become a vegetarian. Sometimes the harder they argue, the more interested they are. You never know, but to say nothing when I know what I do about the problems of a carnivorous diet is too exclusive for me.

I tell people I dont want to talk about my diet with them and if that doesnt work I tell the to mind their own business and if thta doesnt put them off i launch into all the reasons of why their diet and lifestyle is killing them prematurely..

usually they stop at the first block

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Jgunn, I like that! What ever happened to minding your own business?!!

I think we are forgetting that the question which is asked initially is a pretty innocent conversational "why do you not eat meat?" It's a BBQ we are talking about after all, where people mingle and make chit chat, and we often you chat with someone you don't know and that's why it is natural to talk about things immediately apparent, such as what is on the person's plate.

So do you really, when asked such a question, respond "I dont want to talk about my diet with you", or give them give them the Rave Diet DVD?? That's socially weird

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Like me, it sounds like you're comfortable with answering a few questions, but it is the argumentative people that are the problem. When they begin with the barrage of questions/statements that is the time to alter the conversation by saying things like:

It sounds like we have different opinions, but there are lots of other things to talk about. Did you see the game....

Whoa there. If you're going to ask any more questions I'll need to have my lawyer present.

Therer are so many reasons that I can't remember them all, but there are lots of websites with great information about vegetarianism, since you're interested.

It's my personal preference. I don't need to convince you.

Ooooooh, great cole slaw, I'm gonna need a bigger spoon (and walk off).

ETC...


My favorite raw vegan

Trive, have I ever told you how delightful you are?!

Raw4ever Wrote:
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> You never know, but to say nothing when I know
> what I do about the problems of a carnivorous diet
> is too exclusive for me.

I've been there many times but about other types of arguments. It is strong and pulls you to speak up. But it is only the strength of your ego that creates that feeling. In a way, you have to learn how to die but that does not make rational sense and goes against all you know.

Chat
Yes, I give them those DVDS and I don't care what "they consider" to be wierd, They asked and that's my true answer. If that's not what they want then stop asking questions.

When things turn violent then I just walk away. I dont argue about anything and dont need to prove anything.

Anyone resorting to violence no longer accepts the ethics of argumentation, which assume a ground of non-violence conducive to dialog.