yea, I am home for spring break and my omni family is really giving me a hard time for being vegan. "Isn't that a bit extreme" "its a bit weird" "so you became a gay tree hugging hippy vegan?" "you don't eat_____?" "I didn't know you were that strict" yea its pretty bad.... any advice?

I can totally sympathise. My Dad's really quite understanding about me being vegan, but my Mother gives me a really hard time about it. I've been vegan since around October, but she still refuses to accept it. She even said that I can't stay at home for the spring break, because its 'inconvenient'. Hmmm...

I just try and ignore their silly remarks and get on with it. Easier said than done, sometimes ;)

I am sorry to hear that you are both going through that...
I think that I would either sit down and calmly let my family know how hurtful their comments are or have a tantrum...depending on how I thought either would be received.

What a waste of time!

Both of you need to make grocery lists for your family and start cooking a bunch of tasty stuff in front of them to show them all the wonderful stuff you can eat.

Also, make it easy for them. Don't complain about what they serve, ask what they are making and if you don't like it, make something of your own. Offer to come grocery shopping. Don't make comments to them about their diets.

In addition to these sound, rational recommendations, might I make one? Tell them to shut their filthy flesh-ridden wordholes :)

:D

I've tried talking rationally to my Mum, but she really won't listen. When I go back there, I always have to cook my own meals anyway. Although, when I went back for the weekend, my Mum seemed quite intruiged by my vegan Shepherd's Pie...

Eh, why not just stay with a local Gujarati family during your vacation? You'll get to sample the best veg food on the planet every day.

I have been considering it, Rushabh ;)

Originally posted by Max Power
In addition to these sound, rational recommendations, might I make one? Tell them to shut their filthy flesh-ridden wordholes :) Yeah, that is what suggest, too, but not until a person is no longer finacially dependent on their parents and staying in their house.

Bah. My parents were both eventually supportive, but I still remember my dad commenting a number of times, with this sort of tap the nose certainty, that "You'll grow out of it. People always go vegetarian at your age- but you won't stay one forever, I'm sure."

My mom also became much more supportive after

a) I cooked for her a number of timse
b) I gave her a bunch of material on vegan nutrition, and could answer just about any of her questions thereupon by heart.
c) I saw a nutritionist who tracked my diet, helped me through the transition (I discovered my own lactose intolerance at age 20), and declared me healthy as an ox.

I think I've been lucky in terms of my family. They're all omni, but when I decided to go veg, my mom never said a word against it and she even went out and bought me some vitamins and every so often makes veggie gravy to go with some soy "meat" she's bought for me. My stepdad said he thought I was over-reacting to an effect in a movie (it was apocalypse now that did it... that scene with the cow at the end? That was a real cow!).. but afterwards, never said a word. My brother poked fun at me a couple times, but only because that's how he is. He'd poke at me for anything.

I've gotten some experience with people who don't understand. I have a friend who dearly wants to be a vegetarian, but his family simply will not let him. Controlling parents.. and he's 19 already! He eats vegetarian whenever he's out of his house though.