Vegetarians are a Vegan's Best Friend
When you go vegan, vegetarians really can be your best friends!
Like many people, I went veggie before taking the plunge to go fully vegan. In fact I never planned to go vegan in the first place, that seemed "too extreme" to me. But once I switched to vegetarian, realised I had a milk allergy and ditched dairy quite early on, I only had eggs and honey left in my diet that weren't vegan.
I did my research and a few months later decided to go full vegan. I think it was the videos of fuzzy chicks going into a grinder that did it for me...
But the point is I didn't go vegan from being a meat eater, I went vegan as a vegetarian.
We should remember that human psychology tells us that if you want to make changes, taking smaller steps over a period of time mean that the changes are more likely to stick.
I get very frustrated when I see loud, angry vegans being mean to vegetarians about the fact they still consume eggs, dairy or wear leather. Firstly, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, and secondly, vegetarians are our allies not our enemies! You are more likely to get good results by befriending them than by being an asshole. Think about all the animals they have already saved by not eating meat. We are on the same side.
I resisted even considering stopping eating meat for decades, partly due to bad experiences with angry vegetarians shouting at me in my younger years. I do not respond to being shouted at. If you shout at me, I will naturally assume that you are aggressive, irrational and your arguments are invalid. And I'm not alone in feeling that way.
When I first went vegetarian, my veggie friends and colleagues were a wealth of knowledge and support to me during the transitional phase. I really would have struggled without them. They gave me tips, told me about brands I hadn't heard of, and cheered me along.
When I made the decision to go vegan, they were equally encouraging and most of them knew at least one vegan, and had good knowledge of vegan resources that could help me. I didn't know any vegans at all, and the best I could do was to find support online on social media.
Facebook has a large number of vegan groups and my experiences in each one of them caused me to leave quite quickly. The in-fighting, holier than thou attitudes and intolerance showed me a very unpleasant side of veganism that I choose not to be a part of.
My veggie friends however, far from being in any way disparaging, were actually impressed by my decision to go fully plant based, and I even inspired a couple of them to follow suit.
They kept on cheering me on, helping out with vegan resources they had heard of on the veggie grapevine and were extremely kind and helpful, going so far as to club together to buy me the Veganomicon for my birthday, a vegan cook book I'd coveted for some time. They defended me if I was attacked or mocked by people who didn't understand my choices, and we stood together in the unity of our mutual cause to save animals lives, to do good for the planet and to do less harm.
So this article is really an appeal to common sense, and a caution not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Vegetarians can be our greatest allies and cheerleaders! They understand our lifestyle, and heck, they're already half way there themselves!
So lets show veggies some love this National Vegetarian Week - after all, vegetarianism is the gateway drug to veganism... 😉
Like many people, I went veggie before taking the plunge to go fully vegan. In fact I never planned to go vegan in the first place, that seemed "too extreme" to me. But once I switched to vegetarian, realised I had a milk allergy and ditched dairy quite early on, I only had eggs and honey left in my diet that weren't vegan.
I did my research and a few months later decided to go full vegan. I think it was the videos of fuzzy chicks going into a grinder that did it for me...
But the point is I didn't go vegan from being a meat eater, I went vegan as a vegetarian.
We should remember that human psychology tells us that if you want to make changes, taking smaller steps over a period of time mean that the changes are more likely to stick.
I get very frustrated when I see loud, angry vegans being mean to vegetarians about the fact they still consume eggs, dairy or wear leather. Firstly, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar, and secondly, vegetarians are our allies not our enemies! You are more likely to get good results by befriending them than by being an asshole. Think about all the animals they have already saved by not eating meat. We are on the same side.
I resisted even considering stopping eating meat for decades, partly due to bad experiences with angry vegetarians shouting at me in my younger years. I do not respond to being shouted at. If you shout at me, I will naturally assume that you are aggressive, irrational and your arguments are invalid. And I'm not alone in feeling that way.
When I first went vegetarian, my veggie friends and colleagues were a wealth of knowledge and support to me during the transitional phase. I really would have struggled without them. They gave me tips, told me about brands I hadn't heard of, and cheered me along.
When I made the decision to go vegan, they were equally encouraging and most of them knew at least one vegan, and had good knowledge of vegan resources that could help me. I didn't know any vegans at all, and the best I could do was to find support online on social media.
Facebook has a large number of vegan groups and my experiences in each one of them caused me to leave quite quickly. The in-fighting, holier than thou attitudes and intolerance showed me a very unpleasant side of veganism that I choose not to be a part of.
My veggie friends however, far from being in any way disparaging, were actually impressed by my decision to go fully plant based, and I even inspired a couple of them to follow suit.
They kept on cheering me on, helping out with vegan resources they had heard of on the veggie grapevine and were extremely kind and helpful, going so far as to club together to buy me the Veganomicon for my birthday, a vegan cook book I'd coveted for some time. They defended me if I was attacked or mocked by people who didn't understand my choices, and we stood together in the unity of our mutual cause to save animals lives, to do good for the planet and to do less harm.
So this article is really an appeal to common sense, and a caution not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Vegetarians can be our greatest allies and cheerleaders! They understand our lifestyle, and heck, they're already half way there themselves!
So lets show veggies some love this National Vegetarian Week - after all, vegetarianism is the gateway drug to veganism... 😉
