Do Vegetarians and Vegans Think They Are Better Than Everyone Else?

The dictates of my conscience inform me I should feed people at my functions the healthiest I can.
It is my belief meat is vitally healthy - as such it is a permanent part of my table.
Does a vegan/vegetarian inherently push a "live-and-let-live" agenda?
Do omnivores think they have made better choices than vegetarians?
If I were constantly having to justify my dietary choices, I might get an attitude, too.
I just don't want to have to hear about the decisions they have made in social settings.
Diet is very personal. I don't care what you eat - you shouldn't care what I put in my mouth, either.

 

I find the same with people who listen to NPR.

 

Some do and some don't.

Just like any other group of people on the planet.

 

Wimps kill defenseless plants to eat; real mean kill wild beasts to eat.

 

Have you been to a vegan wedding and tried to find a meal fit for a non-aviary species?
Good luck with that.

 

The bolded point is very important.

I am married to a vegan, who for years was told by everyone that it was impossible to be healthy eating that way. Her father once told her if she continued, she would "turn yellow and die." Those were his exact words -- I heard it myself and we still laugh about that to this day. When she was pregnant, people would badger her about her diet. She'd take crap about it almost every time she would eat around other people. She's been told again and again she'll be anemic or have any number of other issues. We constantly hear wisecracks and insults about our food.

For what it's worth, she's in terrific physical shape -- much better than she was before she gave up meat and dairy -- and the kids are fine. And she doesn't hear as much crap as she used to, partly because she's been eating that way so long and partly because it is becoming more mainstream/accepted. She actually rarely brings it up and is remarkably non-preachy about it. When people ask her, "How can you eat that?", I have never heard her reply, "That's a rotting animal corpse. How can you eat that?" But I can certainly see why people would be over the top or smug or overly vocal about it. They've probably heard it from others more than you've heard it from them.

 

If a vegetarian or vegan makes this same statement, is it considered reasonable?

"The dictates of my conscience inform me I should feed people at my functions the healthiest I can.
It is my belief meat is very unhealthy - as such it is permanently banned from my table."

 

Counter-defense.
I don't discuss my dietary preferences in polite company. It isn't relevant.
I also don't labor under any pretense that eating is an ethically charged human act.

 

People feel very free discussing vegetarians' dietary preferences in "polite" company.

Just sayin'.

 

Did you say that to anyone at the wedding?

If you didn't, I'd be willing to bet someone did. Perhaps even to the host/hostess.

 

Oh, I won't deny that. That ain't right, either.
But at the same time, I don't need a 10-minute explanation on why you only eat vegan doughnuts.

 

Well, you give and you take. That's the way the world works.

And as I said in my first post, some vegetarians will be jerks and/or pontificate and some won't.

Just like any other group of people.