When I was vegetarian as a teenager, my mother would do things like secretly cook my fake bacon in bacon fat and then reveal the trick afterwards - “oh that tasted better than usually didn’t it?” The TTI facility I was at for a bit would only provide me with just plates of unseasoned canned vegetables, and then crow about how I didn’t care that much about being veg because I wouldn’t eat just a straight bowl of peas.
I think some of it is a weird discomfort/projection thing, because many meat eaters haven’t really seriously engaged with the ethics of eating meat and the existence of other people who have can be seen as a threat. Again - not all people who eat meat - but I think in a world where we are very abstracted from that process of killing the animal the existence of vegans/vegetarians and their food forces some folks to confront their own cognitive dissonance on the matter.
Sounds like you’ve unfortunately run into a lot of unkind people in general.
I suppose if I really think about it, I have faced some weird toxic masculinity when I’ve order salmon or chicken caesar salad instead of steak but mostly with older people. Similar to getting a drink with an umbrella in it instead of a pint of ale.
I hope to never meat the kind of people that you’re talking about. That’s pretty weird
It’s a strange phenomenon.
When I was vegetarian as a teenager, my mother would do things like secretly cook my fake bacon in bacon fat and then reveal the trick afterwards - “oh that tasted better than usually didn’t it?” The TTI facility I was at for a bit would only provide me with just plates of unseasoned canned vegetables, and then crow about how I didn’t care that much about being veg because I wouldn’t eat just a straight bowl of peas.
I think some of it is a weird discomfort/projection thing, because many meat eaters haven’t really seriously engaged with the ethics of eating meat and the existence of other people who have can be seen as a threat. Again - not all people who eat meat - but I think in a world where we are very abstracted from that process of killing the animal the existence of vegans/vegetarians and their food forces some folks to confront their own cognitive dissonance on the matter.
I’m sorry you had to go through that. Sounds awful
Sounds like you’ve unfortunately run into a lot of unkind people in general.
I suppose if I really think about it, I have faced some weird toxic masculinity when I’ve order salmon or chicken caesar salad instead of steak but mostly with older people. Similar to getting a drink with an umbrella in it instead of a pint of ale.