“How do you know if someone’s a vegan? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.” The old joke about vegans being pedantic, preachy, and over-the-top obnoxious isn’t particularly true, but sometimes you hear stories like this one about a vegan attacking a non-vegan for eating tofu and you have to roll your eyes and think, “Oh, brother.” Scroll down to read their full exchange.
- The non-vegan was simply trying to share the tofurkey love. The attack started when an unnamed poster shared a recipe for a “tofurkey dinner” to a vegan Facebook group. People seemed to love the recipe, and when one vegan reached out to OP to say so, things went downhill pretty quickly.
- You don’t have to be vegan to like tofu. The vegan poster reached out to OP to ask how long they’d been a vegan. OP responded that they weren’t, and the poster then assumed OP must be vegetarian. Nope again. They just really like tofu, man. Is that a crime?
- Apparently it’s “cool” to be a vegan. After OP reveals that they’re not vegan or vegetarian, they just don’t like a lot of meat and really like tofu, the vegan accuses them of “pretending” to be a vegan since it’s very fashionable. They also take the opportunity to inform OP that they’ve been a vegan for three years and it was “the best decision” they’d ever made.
- OP is still pretty gracious at this point. OP responds that it’s awesome the vegan poster is pleased with their diet. They also insist that they’re pretty open about liking and eating meat online, so they’re not actually pretending to be vegan in any way.
- Non-vegans who eat tofu are guilty of “appropriation.” That’s what the vegan then told OP, anyway. “Tofu is strictly for vegans/vegetarians,” they wrote. “You are basically admitting to appropriating us and stealing what we need for your own selfish use.” They then tell OP they’re going to get them removed from the recipe group. Yikes.
- Newsflash, bud: cuisine can’t really be appropriated, at least not like this. That’s like saying that if you’re white and you eat Indian food, you’re appropriating. If you’re black and like Japanese, sorry, appropriation! Vegans didn’t invent tofu and they certainly don’t own it, so to claim that anyone else eating it is “stealing” it truly does beggar belief.
- Vegans, ya gotta cool it. Look, I totally agree we all need to cut WAY down on the amount of animal products we consume and also make wiser choices about the ones we do, opting for animals raised and killed in the most humane ways possible. I also respect those who feel that it’s wrong to eat any animal products at all—more power to you. However, to tell someone who doesn’t follow your way of eating that they’re wrong for that an accuse them of “appropriating” a food that was never yours to begin with? Take a chill pill, guys.
