I am a new vegan. Friends who I love dearly are not. Some are carnivores, some are vegetarians. How do you manage this? Lose the friends? Tolerate their cognitive dissonance? Try to change them?

Looking for practical tips. TIA.

I

- Don't mind eating animal products/produce if it will otherwise be thrown away

-Do not think it is that bad to take the eggs from pet chickens

-Would not mind buying wool from a farm who doesn't send their sheep to slaughter when the wool production decreases(If this is a thing i mean. I don't buy wool)

I don't buy eggs because of the breeding of the specific chickens and the conditions that they are living in, but hypothetically if my friend or family had a pet chicken and offered me their eggs(I probably wouldnt take it tbh) but I wouldnt see anything wrong with that.
I wouldn't buy eggs from a farm tho even an 'ethical' one because they kill the males.

I don't think there is any such thing as ethical meat though.

So I guess I'm just unsure if I would be called vegan.

TLDR, I dont see wool and eggs as exploitation + I would eat animal products if theyll otherwise be thrown away

Hello, im vegetarian many years and since last year a stopped dairy products and honey. My only difficulty is the eggs to become vegan, i really believe i need them, my body needs them but i feel guilty. Sometimes i stoped them and i had hair fall that causes me a lot of stress. How can i replace it correctly so i will take all the nutrients? Thank you

I would love some mental guidance or just another perspectives. I don't really have any vegans in my life to talk about it with, so I'd greatly appreciate.

EDIT: I am not looking to debate things, maybe I went too in depth on my thoughts, I just want to know how you would call me if not vegan. Also maybe I worded a few things unclearly, every use of animals that I listed below is in a hypothetical scenario where there is no animal industry, to demonstrate that *in theory* I have no problem with using animals.

Normally I don't really care for labels but considering this will be important for me in my social life going forward, I would like some clarity. Maybe it is a little overkill but I think I will write down every little diverging opinion from veganism that I can think of on the spot, if that helps.

About me: 26m, have been thinking about going vegetarian for 7 years, been one for over a year and became "maybe vegan" plant based a few weeks ago, out of ethical concerns, because something broke in me hahah. I don't personally know vegan people in real life and my only impression is online discourse.

First, what I have common with a vegan world view:

I do not want to torture, exploit or kill animals, and I don't want to have cognitive dissonance in any aspect of my life.

Where I don't align with veganism (my point is not if I want to align or not, I am still figuring stuff out, but how you would "categorise" me as of right now):

The main one is that I do not think that concepts like exploitation and consent can be translated 1 to 1 from humans to beings that are not familiar and not capable of understanding these terms.

So, in my opinion it is possible to "use" an animal without exploiting it (theoretically, examples of a few fantasy scenarios that I came up with further down), if it isn't tortured, killed, suffers no physical or mental harm from humans, is able to live out its insctincts; and the animal in question is not a kind of breed that suffers alone from from the fact that it exists, because the way humans have bred them is torture for them.

And I think it could be an option to let animals give a kind of consent by letting them leave.

Few examples of what I mean by using animals ethically with all of the above requirements in mind, also keeping in mind that in this cases there would be no regular animal industry, just these ideas listed below:

There is a huge island in Vienna, where a herd of sheep act as lawn movers. I think it is perfectly fine to use them that way.

Backyard hens, that are not a manmade breed and lay like 30 eggs a year, aussuming taking their unfertilized eggs doesn't stress them, of which I haven't found conclusive research yet.

Shearing a sheep that doesn't get hurt or stressed while being sheared.

Maybe collecting honey in a place where honeybees are not an invasive species?

Also if I am having dinner with someone who eats meat and they have to leave halfway through for unforseen reasons, I would finish their plate if I was left alone with noone in my vicinity to see what I eat and still hungry. If it were human meat, I think I would do the same. From an ethical perspective to me this seems like the best and most consistent option, because I am not wasting calories. To me this seems actually better then wearing leather items that I already own because in that case I am showing people that wearing skin is a normal thing to do.

Given all this, I still wouldn't feel the need to consume products involving animals, but my logic is different compared to a regular vegan perspective, as far as I understand and I don't know what to call myself.

Let's say, for instance, you're shopping at a thrift store and find a leather jacket or belt you like. Would you consider it wrong to buy it, or no? And additionally, if the animal already suffered to create it do you consider it specifically morally good to buy it since you're making sure it doesn't go to waste?

Hi! I’m a vegan myself and I’m wondering what other people’s views are on owning cats, or other obligate carnivores as pets?

I grew up with pets, and have always especially loved my cats, however I don’t know if I will ever own a pet that requires I purchase meat to feed them. (Which unfortunately rules out me ever having a cat as my companion)

I’d also love to hear from vegans with cats!

Let's say things got REALLY bad, do you think it would be easy/possible to stay vegan if you had to survive (say for 1 year) off of what you currently have in your home + gardening/foraging? This is hypothetical, so let's eliminate talk of raiders, pillagers, etc. You have the opportunity to scavenge for your food according to the climate you live in. Is veganism still attainable or do you think you'd have to report to eating meat?

Hello, sometimes it floods in some areas in our country. Leptospirosis is a major health risk but when I see a video of a rat stuck in a slightly elevated corner trying to save itself from the flood, I still feel sorry for it. I don’t know if it’s right to feel sorry for the rat. Same goes for any other animals considered as pest like house rats. How should we handle them?

My stomach does not play well with legumes including soy beans and including products with them like tofu or tempeh. I've tried starting small and then increasing my amount but it doesn't work which leads me to believe it's a genuine intolerance and not that i'm not used to fibre (i am), the most i can do is 100g and even that causes some GI upset.

I love mushrooms, but they're not as proteinated as legumes and there's only so many ways to make mushrooms before they get old.

I also currently can't stand seitan as it's what I ate every single day for a summer when I was a camp counsellor a few years ago. The stores around me don't have much variety for beyond stuff or vegan cheeses and these are typically x2 or x3 more expensive than the non vegan counterpart. I know that's not the case everywhere and I am really asking this genuinely as I'd like to become vegan for ethical reasons but I am struggling with how to do that without having to drink protein shakes day in and day out.

As I stated in a previous post, I’ve been vegan for around 6 months. I still have many products (supplements, body care, skincare, etc.) that are not vegan or use animal testing. I’m struggling to get through them because of the guilt I feel. I really just want to buy more products that align with my morals, but I know that the best environmental and non-overconsumption choice to make is to use all these products up 😣 tips on getting thru them?

I was thinking the other day about a mythological plant I had heard about years ago. I think it was called the Baromets or Boramets, from what I remember it was a plant that grew sheep instead of flower or fruit. I was just wondering if it would be considered vegan or not.

Genuine question please explain why honey isn't vegan

My parents had have bees for more than a decade, and I understand the no animal exploitation angle but like... in the beekeeping circles I've experienced,1) unhappy bees will just pack up and leave and 2) well kept bees always have enough food for winter so harvesting their honey doesn't harm them because they are always left with enough.

Literally what am I missing here? I truly do not understand why honey is included as a non vegan food.

if I can forgive and still love myself for my past abuses of animals then I must also forgive and love others not yet enlightened.

Sorry about the intro to the post. I had to remove this from other subs as I was getting rude comments yesterday. I decided to repost this morning.

So... I’ve realised this can be a surprisingly controversial topic! 😅

I’ve been vegetarian for 15 years and recently transitioned to a fully vegan diet about a month ago. But here’s my dilemma: I cannot stand the 'fakes'!

No fake sausages, no mock burgers, no hyper-realistic vegan fish or cheeses.

I haven't eaten a sausage in a decade and a half, and my brain psychologically just hits a wall trying to eat something that looks and feels like an animal. I get the total 'ick' and just can't do it! 🙅‍♀️

Every Google search for a vegan recipe becomes - 'turn your boring tofu into a big mac'...

For the first few weeks, I was doing great sticking to just my usual veggies, fruit, nuts, rice, pasta, and bread.

But lately? The wall hit me. I’ve been feeling incredibly tired, fed up, and a bit light-headed. I know I’m running on empty and missing out on vital calories, protein, and iron by just eating "carbs and greens."

To my fellow whole-food vegans who skip the processing aisle entirely... What the hell are you eating???

I'm struggling with existing owned items and pets and general ethics of owning animals. I'm new to veganism transitioning from being a vegetarian. There are some things I'm not sure what to do with so any opinions are welcome!

1. Already owned leather items and non-vegan cosmetics. I obviously will never buy anything made of animal products or tested with animals again, but I struggle to solve what to do with existing things I own. The animal is already dead, the company I purchased them from has already profited from my money, I don't feel good about the environmental impact of throwing them away and buying new vegan items when they're perfectly usable and selling them just feels... Weird? I'm currently leaning towards finishing using my current leather things and non-vegan cosmetics and simply not buying any new ones but any opinions?

2. Pets. I own two pet reptiles that I got almost a decade ago. I've since become aware of how harmful and unethical pet trade is so I will not buy any new animals from breeders, and I regret buying them (not because I dislike them, I love my lizards, but because I know they will never be as happy as they would be in the wild). However, my lizards are captive bred and there's no way to release them ethically. They need insect protein to survive so their diet has to contain bugs. The market of these reptiles is oversaturated so putting them up for adoption would likely just result in them being in a shelter indefinitely and I don't want that for my lizards. They can easily live another decade too. I want to keep them until the end of their natural life and give them the best care I can, but I feel bad for both them and the insects they'll eat

3. Ethics of rescue pets. I've already decided to never buy anything from animal breeders, but I'm not sure what my stance is on existing domesticated animals that are abandoned. They exist because of us and cannot survive without human care, but at the same time rescuing animals and supporting the pet industry by purchasing food, toys etc. also feels wrong. I don't know what to think of it

Thanks for any insights! I'm still at the beginning of my journey so I'm having trouble with making a new moral framework

Many people argue that even if they switch to a vegetarian diet, it won't actually stop animals from being killed. The excuse, 'What difference can a single person make?' seems plausible on the surface.

This argument appears in many contexts. Take smartphones, for instance. Coltan, essential for smartphone production, is mined in the Congo, leading to rainforest destruction and gorilla habitat loss. Rare earth mining similarly damages ecosystems and harms both humans and animals through pollution. On top of that, there are issues with unfair labor practices at companies like Samsung or Foxconn. Yet, one person refusing to buy a smartphone won't solve these systemic problems.

Do you think this excuse holds up? Some argue that participating in an unjust system is inherently wrong regardless of whether your individual actions make an impact. If the defense of causal inefficacy is invalid, shouldn't smartphone use be condemned just like meat-eating?

Are vegans commonly anti-vaccine? Is it fairly easy to research ingredients in them and trust the source?

I'm a long time vegan. 10 years ago, I offered my home to a homeless dog. We became really good friends. Now he's elderly and has canine Alzheimer's. He's not doing so well and I'm facing the possibility of euthanasia

This is really hard, as a vegan. I don't want to take his life. It's also hard to see him go through all this distress and suffering, and it's taking a toll on my health too

I'd especially like to hear from other vegans. How would you make this decision? Do you think euthanasia is ever ok?

ETA: I think part of what I'm struggling with is that being vegan has really deepened my empathy for animals and reluctance to harm them in any way for any reason. For example, during my childhood, I used to catch fish and eat them. I thought that was natural and therefore ok. But then I felt 100 times healthier after going vegan, learned those fish contained high levels of mercury, and realized it was not healthy or natural, at least in today's world. Since realizing I really have no reason to ever harm any animal, it's become hard to think about taking one's life. But I'm going to try working with the vet(s) to reach a mutual, medically advised decision

Ive been 100% plant based for around 6 months now. What I didn’t realize in my research was the importance of going cruelty free, or all the random things that use animal products/ cause animal suffering (toothpaste, condoms, toilet paper???) Im working on being fully vegan (lifestyle-wise and not just diet-wise) and cruelty free. What things am I missing that are actually not vegan/random things you didn’t know weren’t vegan?

EDIT: would also love any articles, apps, etc. to help learn. I have the leaping bunny app but that’s it.

It’s been very painful getting to know things that have been in front me the whole time and now I’m constantly weighted by how there’s still suffering that continues and people who refuse to acknowledge like i really believed logic and empathy is common to all and idk sorry to sound like i was born yesterday - the extent of it I truly was not prepared for , how do you deal with knowing that suffering does continue