u/Flowering-Cactus1

For those who have experience with being both vegetarian and vegan how much harder is it be vegan? Particularly in social settings like going to a friend’s house or eating out at restaurants.

I’m already vegetarian but I’m wanting to go vegan for ethical reasons. However I’m quite socially anxious and like to avoid friction and awkwardness wherever possible. So I’m wondering if being fully vegan will make social situations a lot harder to navigate or if it’s on a similar plane to vegetarianism. Either way I will try to eat plant-based as much as possible but I’m basically deciding if I want to commit to labelling myself as vegan or if I should just stick with vegetarian.

I’m asking this right now because I’m starting university soon so it would be an ideal time to transition my dietary requirements.

I am 18 and I’ve been vegetarian my entire life. My parents raised me this way because they are vegetarian for health and animal welfare reasons. I am also vegetarian because of this. However, I recently watched Dominion and had sort of a ‘scared straight’ moment where I realized that while being vegetarian is better than nothing, you are still supporting animal cruelty.

For the last month or so I’ve been eating vegan at home and when I go out to restaurants, but I’m struggling when hanging out with friends or going to their houses. I feel very rude rejecting food they offer me and feel like I’m being ‘picky’ even though I know it’s more of a morality based decision vs food tastes. I also feel like I’m being uppity and acting like I’m better than them. I have found now that when I do eat non-vegan food on these occasions it obviously still tastes good but I don’t enjoy it as much as I used to and feel kind of guilty.

I’m starting University in about a month and I’m basically deciding if I want to tell people I’m vegetarian and then just try to stick with vegan options as much as possible, or if I should fully commit to the veganism thing. My issue is that I’m already a fairly socially anxious person so creating extra conflict just stresses me out. For example if I went over to someone’s parents house and they misunderstood veganism and made me a vegetarian lasagna with cheese I definitely would not feel comfortable telling them I can’t eat that.

Being vegetarian already creates some issues, but I’m fairly used to it and it’s manageable. However, cutting out all dairy and eggs feels like a giant step down in terms of social fluidity.

So I’m just wondering how socially ostracizing being vegetarian but mostly avoiding things like dairy and eggs vs. being vegan is.

Thank you for your opinions!

I saw a fic recommended a while ago that had Shane in a group chat with his cousins (and maybe other family members?) but I can’t find it anymore. It was a WIP but I believe it might have been leading up to them reacting to the FanMail leak. I assume it was mainly a texting fic but not really sure.