So, here in Texas, people who are vegetarians are 'hippie tree huggers', which, I personally see as a compliment. But, my dad finds it embarrassing. I'm almost 23, and have been a vegetarian for 2 years now...slowly working my way to veganism (gave up all my nonanimal friendly cosmetics and cleaning stuff *yay me*). Every time I talk to my dad, he says, "still doing the vegetarian thing?" as though it's a phase I'll soon grow out of. He's constantly telling me I'm wrong, and he's even gone so far as to try to sneak meat into my food when I come to visit. (As though I wouldn't recognize the taste of dead animal). So, what I want to know is, how does your family handle you being a vegetarian?

Mom & Dad don't care any more as I am healthier than anyone in the family. DH is very supportive. Aunts & Uncles think I am strange, but try to "accomidate" me during gatherings. My MIL, SIL, sister and BIL who are obese (beyond fat) are the ones who ride my case, tease and tell me how unhealthy it is for me to eat this way. My MIL thinks it is horrible my kid's are Veg*n.

Yeah, I'm the opposite. My MIL tries very hard to accomodate me at gatherings, and allows me to help with the cooking so as to make sure there are things I can eat. My family refuses to make anything for thanksgiving without meat. Even the green beans are made with pork, the dressing has oyster in it, and the gumbo is always made with crawfish or shrimp, can't make the animal on the side. (Yeah, I'm Cajun). I just stopped going to my family's thanksgivings and spend them with my inlaws.

It was a bit awkward at first but now they are really helpful and when we eat together we eat mostly the same stuff and have a side dish of either meat or veggie burger etc.

My Grandad looks at labels on everything he buys to make sure its okay for me to eat. ahhh bless.

They are really supportive. I'm sorry your family is not supportive.

I've been a vegetarian for 11 yrs and my family could care less. My sister and her bf and I just had leftover veggie pasta w/ italian herb tofu that I brought home with me (I'm visiting for 2 wks) and her bf was like "What is this? Chicken?" and my sister said "No, its tofu, you think megan would just eat chicken all of a sudden?!?" and her bf laughed at the idea. Its just the way things are around here. Megan doesn't eat meat, everyone else does.... but everyone else eats vegetarian meals too, (even if i'm NOT cooking).

Mostly ignores it.
Occasionally, my sister will make a failing attempt to rationally argue me out of it.
As for being a "dirty hippy"? Well, I'm already an anarchist who listens to weird music and does drugs...so whatever.

ebola

I converted my husband, so he's real supportive now. He was kind of a pain in the beginning because it embarrassed him that his wife was different, but he came around quick enough. He isn't Vegan, but he has transitioned from fish eater to Vegetarian, and he's relly mostly Vegan now because his cholesterol is a bit elevated.

The rest of my family thinks I'm whacked, but they are supportive, for the most part. I almost never see them though (I 've in a different state), so that's kind of moot. It's become mostly a non-issue at work, partially because people have just gotten used to it and partially because I am good at unleashing uncomfortable facts when teased or approached in a hostile fashion. I don't really have many friends, but those I do have are fine with it too.

6 words.

They. eat. all. my. damned. food.

Why couldn't they be like most other families and laugh, giggle and point at my stuff? Doesn't matter what they're cooking - If I'm making dinner, they want it. They live for the stuff. If I even think about making black bean tacos, I better make enough for three or risk me not getting any. It's really great that my lifestyle has been accepted, but geez I wish they'd buy thier own food. :lol:


ETA: Oh yeah I know how it is to be a veg*n, in Texas. I live in Fort Worth, and it's cattle town. :|

My family is accomodating to me, for the most part. I generally get the same thing at any family meal, which consists of : Boca burger sans bun (for some reason my parents never have buns :confused: ) , iceberg lettuce salad, and either zuchini, corn, or green beans. Not terrible, but pretty blah compared to what I generally eat at home.
My sis and brother in law are big-time beef eaters, but I have gotten them to eat Boca burgers a few times when I was cooking them. They liked them, and even buy them now and again, but they generally sit in their freezer. They do eat veggies, but generally always have cheese sauce or something on them.

All in all, my family isn't bad. My mom's come a long way in 16 years, that's for sure!

my parents are cool. my in laws are confused. my husband is very supportive.

They don't care for the most part, at least not upfront. I get the feeling that my dad's bummed that I don't eat his cooking anymore, and my step mom always acts like she's jealous (she feels like she couldn't change her diet if she tried, even though she seems to be trying to lose weight). My dad's been cool lately - He skipped buying frozen dinners last shopping trip (his usual fare) and instead is eating my cooking. It's a good deal for him - fresh, healthy food, right to his desk, but I don't care because it's that much less money for the meat and dairy industries.

My friends and my parent's are very cool with it. My folks have always been supportive. They always read the labels of things they buy and everything.

My parents are very good about it, particularly my mother. She makes vegan meals for her and my dad sometimes, even if I'm not there, but neither are the type that "needs" meat at every meal anyway. One of my sisters is still not thinking it's a great idea, but that's not a problem. My other sister doesn't have a problem with it. When I go to family gatherings on my mother's side, I always have to bring my own food, as, like freebird mentioned with cajun food, acadian food is all about the meat. Rapure has pork and pig fat, chicken fricot is, well, chicken, etc etc.

My husband is supportive, my in-laws... well, they're fine with it, I guess you could say they're supportive. It doesn't come up in conversation, it's just accepted.

I went vegetarian when I was engaged to my now-husband ... He's very open-minded so that went really well, and within nine months he had made the switch too. His family is pretty iffy about the whole thing. His mom is all right, and will sometimes call if we are coming over for dinner and ask if the menu is ok for us. His dad sometimes forgets. If he remembers, he doesn't use the word "vegetarian" - he says "Are you still doing the 'no-meat' thing?"

My family is learning, slowly. My mom is still at the point where she thinks that she doesn't know how to cook things that are vegetarian. I just have to laugh, because it's not that hard! I have taken over Morningstar Chikn Patties for everyone when I made lunch a while back, and everyone liked them. My mom even said that she liked them better than the real thing ... I don't know that she thinks to buy them though. She's a little stuck in "tradition", but she's wonderful about checking with me before we go out to eat or things like that.

Even though it's frustrating how much my mom has to learn and the "weirded out" vibe we get from Ryan's parents, I could have it a lot worse.

I went vegetarian in January, with a few backslides in the first couple of months. I told my mom about it in July. I hadn't said anything before because we really hadn't seen each other since then and the two meals we shared in April, she and my dad didn't notice (even though we ate and TGI Fridday's and I oreded the Gardenburger). My mom just said, "Oh," or something to the effect.

My husband's older sister said I was weird (I just think she's wierd altogether, but I didn't say anything), my husband's younger sister thought it was cool. If I had more time with her, I might be able to convert her. My MIL (who must have heard from my husband or his sister(s), as I never "came out of the closet") is cool with it. However, she's pretty acceptive of what her children do, within reason. Since I married the Golden Boy, that makes me the Golden Daughter-in-Law.

My husband (life-long omni) is supportive, though I wish he would take some notes and copy me some. (I think he realizes that all of our kids will be veg*n the first couple of years of their lvies, though.)

Anyway...

Thanksgiving will be interesting. I guess as long I make them separately, I don't have to worry about veggies with meat. However, neither my sister nor my brother know about my vegetarianism, unless my mom said something. They won't make fun of me or make comments (however, my husband's older brother and a couple of his nephews might, but I don't care), but they will think it interesting. I don't care. I'm past the stage where I care about what my older sister (two years difference) will think.

At first my mam said it wouldn't last. I don't really talk to my family about it, i either get my own shopping when i'm with them, or i give them a list of things to get me, so they never have to check labels or anything. I also make my own meals, cos we always eat at different times in our house. So it's not like they have to actually do anything about me being veggie. Both my grandad and dad on separate occasions have told me that they think my being vegetarian for ethical reasons is a good thing :)

I feel your pain Freebird. My family's in Lousiana and when I announced my switch they were all freaked out and pissed because i didn't eat what everyone else ate. And you know how it is when you don't eat a relative's cooking down there. Siigh They still tease me alot, and yet eat all my food. It's confusing My family thought it was just a phase for a while...My dad so far and one of my cousins have accepted it. My mom thinks its crazy, my sisters like to tease me, my cousins and stuff thinks its funny. It get annoying sometimes.

My parents are ok with me being veggie. Whenever I go home, mom makes sure to have soymilk on had for me to put on my cereal. If she cooks, she makes a meat free meal or only puts meat on their stuff. When we go out to eat, they make it a point to pick some place that has good veggie options. They get concerned about me not getting enough protein and iron, but after my last blood test came back normal, their fears were eased.

My family, and my husband's family, are all great about it.
My mom is especially awesome.

My dad was actually sad at first because he used to take great pride in cooking all my favorite meals (gumpo, jambolia...etouffe), when I went to visit. So three years ago, when I went to spend the summer with them after having become vegetarian the year before, he really fretted over what I would eat. But once I got there it was fine. He learned to grill great veggie kabbobs for me. And now they don't even really say too much about it. They just make sure that I have something to eat when we go out together, or that there are things for me to eat if I'm visiting. My Mom always makes sure she's stocked on soymilk, fruits and good cereals when I go, not to mention all the salad stuff I can handle. Then they try and do some vegetarian things for me as well. Just to show they care.

B

>>How does your family handle your veg*nism?>>

they get pwn3d by it.

Luckily my mum is vegetarian too (we went veggie at the same time) and my sis and her husband are pescetarian so it's not too much of a problem. Saying that, my sis can be a bit of a nightmare if I ingredient check - though she thinks of herself as vegetarian (I don't as she goes through phases of eating fish), she isn't bothered about looking out for gelatin/animal rennet etc and doesn't 'get' why I am. She was even worse when I was vegan and was glad I went back to being lacto-ovo as it was 'so inconvenient' (I see her like twice a year!)

My DH's family are very definite meat eaters. His parents are very much the 'it's not a proper meal without meat' types. We currently live in a one-bed rented flat so they don't come and stay with, but I'm dreading when we finally buy a house and they come to stay. They are of the opinion as they feed us veggie food it's only fair that we feed them meat. They don't really get that it's different as it's not like they have an ethical objection to vegetables! DH doesn't have a problem feeding them meat though and would be happy enough to prepare for someone else as long as he didn't have to eat it. It probably wouldn't bother me too much heating something processed for them like a meat-based ready meal or burger (and as they give us the veggie equvalent of that at theirs I don't see they should 'expect' more tham processed food from us either if they're having something different to us!) but I couldn't bringmyself to touch a piece of chicken or steak.

My mother has always been supportive.

My father would give me a hard time, saying that vegetarians should at least eat fish! Now, he appreciates my choice. He said that slowly he wants to cut out all the meat from his diet.

My boyfriend was fine with me as a vegetarian, but hates that I am a vegan. He thinks the "restrictions" are meaningless and ridiculous. He misses our "milk shake sharing" days.

They didn't take my vegetarianism well at all. I don't now HOW I'm going to explain to them that I'm vegan. ^^ Sigh.

Usually, they're ok with it since they've realized that it's not "juat a phase." They even tell other relatives about it proudly. But then other times (when my veg*nism is an inconvenience) they kind of roll their eyes and say ridiculous stuff like "meat is good too, ya know." My take - to each their own. I don't try to stuff my veg*nism down their throat so I'd like them to NOT try to shove meat down mine.