Defying The Vegan Police

[poliphilo]

I fell off the wagon. I'll clamber back on again but just for an hour or two I was off it.

We were in the shop in Hastings that sells fabrics and handicrafts from India and having a discussion with the owner about veganism. Ailz, Sandra and me, we're all vegans- but not dogmatic ones- and Sandra was saying what a pain the dogmatic ones can be- how they turn into a sort of police- humourless and judgemental and aggressive.

So then we had to go get some lunch- and after a bit of poking around- wound up in the Pump House- a late medieval pub where I know from past experience they do a really good pie with smoked fish and shell fish and a cheese topping. The vegan options were the usual things- you know, chick pea curry etc- and perfectly acceptable but not very exciting, so I turned to Ailz and Sandra and said, "No vegan police in the building, right?" And they said "Absolutely."

"OK," I said, "I'm having the Captain's Pie."

Comments

[lokbiiviing]

GOOD! The wagon is still there, waiting for you, but for today you (all) had more important places to be. :)

[poliphilo]

That's a good way of looking at it.

[cmcmck]

I do object to the vegan police- I feel that ordinary veggies have a slightly saner outlook on life.

[poliphilo]

I'm happy to be a vegan- 99.9% of the time...

[heleninwales]

I was at a Buddhist retreat some years ago where the food was vegan. I was vegetarian at the time, so obviously not worried about eggs or dairy, but one of the resident Buddhist women said that they'd had a member of the vegan police (only she didn't call them that!) at a retreat who read all the small print on a packet of biscuits and was very rude to the poor person who'd brought them because they'd found something non-vegan listed. The resident Buddhist explained that this was not what Buddhism was about.

[poliphilo]

It shouldn't be what veganism is about either. I try to eat vegan (most of the time) but it's not always possible- and I'd rather eat non-vegan than be rude to someone who offered me food.