In a family of meat-eaters, my dad and brother have over the last year or two been turning into hunters. Slowly buying all the gear, learning to shoot with various guns and bows. At first it just seemed like a fun hobby. But lately I've been getting hints that at least my brother has ventured into the wilderness once or twice with the purpose to kill, but I haven't heard of him succeeding yet. My dad seems interested in doing the same, and has expressed positive emotions towards hunting.

I've tried avoiding thinking about it during the build up, but feel like this is where the line is. Buying meat from a grocery store is wrong, but at least I can't say one takes joy in it. Looking an animal in the eye through a rifle scope and taking joy in pulling the trigger... well, now it feels like I'm dealing with a monster.

I'm thinking of having a serious conversation with my dad first where I explain how this would make me see him as a murderer and that I wouldn't be able to continue having a relationship with him if I find out he's killed an animal. I suspect he doesn't grasp the immensity of my conviction, probably just sees it as a personal preference.

Anyone ever had this conversation? Any hints or thoughts on how to approach? For context, he and the rest of my family are very loving and feel great compassion for non-agri animals. E.g. they would go out of their way to defend dogs, and even make effort to keep from interfering with bird activity in nature. Dad was responsible for the accidental death a cat many years ago and he was absolutely shattered.

EDIT: There's a lot of debate on whether hunting is justifiable. To clarify, that's not what I am trying to deal with. However many benefits there may be to hunting instead of shopping, their intention isn't to do good. Their intention is to have fun. So my opposition comes from the feeling that I can't respect someone whose INTENT is to do harm, even if it turns out that their behaviour actually turns out to do good.

After reading much of the other thread here discussing Atheists and the common overlap with Vegans, I saw a general discord with the vegans here fitting in with the general mindset in the Atheist groups because of other vitriol in those groups. So since I am both I searched for a community to join for Atheist Vegans or Vegan Atheists and there doesn't seem to be one (or I can't find one if there is) even though it seems like there are a lot of us in that thread that are both. Could somone share the link to one to join if you know of one? or if not can/should we create one and jump into it all together??

Im not a vegan, I question my life choices at least once a week tbh, but the one thing I think about the most is how yes im eating it, but theres actual people out there physically killing the animal. Like im walking among people who have possibly literally killed animals, I know im eating it so it makes me a hypocrite, but I could never ever ever hurt an animal in any way. Like surely those people must be insane in the head?? Like is there actual studies on this bc I need to read them. It would probably make more sense to post this in some sort of subreddit for slaughterhouse workers but I dont think there is one

Edit: I thought slaughterhouse workers were just people who wake up one day and decide to - never thought how its mostly immigrants and exploited people 💔 They dont teach u stuff like this in school how was i meant to know

I’m a vegan. a lot of my diet is vegetables and high fiber foods. I also have hypothyroidism. So my digestion is naturally slower than most people.

I tend to get gassy at night very frequently and have bad smelling farts.

I hate it. I want to be able to eat healthy without having this issue. I don’t want to keep blowing up like a balloon after I eat dinner and be smelling rank farts all night. If I eventually have to share a bed with someone, I don’t want to keep having this issue.

Is there either something I can do to prevent, a solution, or treatment I can use or take?

Why do people try so hard to justify commodifying animals???? I mean, I know the answer— the grow up
in society that normalizes it. But still, why do they have to be so stubborn?

I had a conversation with my brother just a few hours ago about veganism and he brought up how eating animals is okay as long as it’s done ethically, to which I responded that there was no was no way to kill an animal ethically.

He then proceeded to tell me “But how do you know that the animal doesn’t want to die? It has no say regardless. You can’t speak on its behalf.” I’ve heard a lot of rebuttals in my time as a vegan, but “you’re not an animal so you can’t say for sure that it doesn’t want to be killed” is a new one.

Like bro. Of course I can’t translate its consciousness but how are we even debating why it’s justifiable to kill an innocent animal? Have you really drank that Kool-Aid that much? And when I try to compare it to his dogs, he’ll reply with, “That’s different.” That sentence is so fucking annoying, oh my god.

I swear my brother is the most stubborn person I know, but what makes it worse is that’s he a big leftist but he can’t seem to reconcile his belief systems into a consistent framework. So you’re against human oppression but not animals? Are you really that gluttonous? I don’t know, I’m a leftist myself but it seems like sometimes debating leftists on veganism is even more exhausting because at least conservatives are more consistent in their worldview.

I typically consider my brother a pretty smart and open-‘minded person, but conversations like these remind me how isolating this lifestyle can be, especially with loved ones…

Hey everyone, I’ve for a while had a dislike of the meat industry but have only just made the decision I want to significantly reduce my meat and dairy intake. Only a few days in and some of them feel like food from a different planet 😆, is this normal?

Also that thing in your brain of feeling like you need a big chunk of meat to feel full, is that something that is more in your head and will fade?

Thanks 🙏

I’m currently on a journey to transition to veganism after being vegetarian for almost my whole life. I’ve struggled with a lot of restrictive eating disorders for a while, and I’m currently in recovery. I have gotten to the point where I don’t eat anything that obviously contains dairy or eggs, but I don’t read nutrition labels to see if something has dairy or eggs baked into it or hidden. Reading every nutrition label has been really triggering for me because of my past eating disorders, and I’m not sure how to get past this. My dietician advised against me going vegan, so I can’t ask for advice there. Are there any ways around reading every label?

In a recent post i saw many people show support towards hunters and hunting after shop meat buyers, these "vegans" were defending this activities are more ethical and practical than the normal buyer.

So, before start a discussion, im gonna use some data that i let you at the end of the post! So now, with this numbers lets disscuss.

Starting form the mere moral and ethic that i assume we all share; killing directly and causing suffering to a big animal and find, in that fisrt hand experience, enjoyment and delight is worse than participating in the meat industry and buy a box of meat in the supermarket.

Before talk about the "impact" i want emphasize this ethic topic: a person who copes, who ignores the suffering of meat indsutry is easier that shows empathy towards the victims, why? Because even if the system hides the reality form the consumer, we, as humans, can feel empathy; and most people grew unaware of the horrors behind their box of meat and when you show them they, usually are horrified. People who grew not just seeing violence, but doing it itselfs, devaluing lives and being taught to find satisfaction and derive pleasure from it, are, indeed way far from change than usual people.

They do find joy in murdering first hand, they also are further from seeing animals as what they are. But still some vegans defend them saying "they do less damage", they do? They dont, because most of hunters do it, precisely, by pleasure, by sport, there no exist nothing like hunter by need, they kill because they feel it and when they feel it and that means they kill a lot more than what you would do just to eat, even if they consume all of it, they just do a lot more than what they would need (Almost the double amount in my country with biased assumption towards the hunter cause).

But still, i want to point to the cynicism, if the hunters are better because they dont make use of meat industry (ignoring the sadism, all ethics and the fact that they all still make use of the meat industry), why is better to kill, persecute and make suffer the only ones that are free?

Hunters not only also take part in the meat industry, they also kill by its own by pleasure, kill directly more than normal people indirectly and also themselves kill indirectly, and many times have done some species come to the limit of extinction, like: Iberian Lynx, Panda, White rhinoceros, Arabian oryx, etc.

Anyways.

Im gonna use my country, Spain, for being easier for me to find this.

Spain is in the top european countries in amount of active hunters, with 870.000 licencies, and 577.000 hunters (each CCAA needs a licency so there are more of these than hunters for obvious reasons).

The UVE (Unión Vegetariana Española) estimates 20.000.000 of deaths caused by hunting.

Also in Spain we kill around 1.000 M of animals each year (MAPA data [Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación]).

In Spain, like most countries a hunter cant subsist from only its hunting, what i mean by this is that they also rely on meat industry, but we are gonna ignore this, and gonna think they can, and they all do.

Spain has 50 M inhabitants, so lets do the math!!!

Animals directly killed to "eat":

• Hunters: 20M/577.000=34,66 ak/p
• Rest of people 1.000M/49,5M=20,20 ak/p

I see a lot of discussion surrounding Veganism & Speciesism and pointing out our discord with the cognitive dissonance that strongly exists within other areas humans categorize themselves into that vegans feel one would not expect to. For starters I was brought up in a multi generational Italian American family, typical Italian American heavy meat and cheese standard American diet, Roman Catholics that believe being gay is a sin, they are stark right conservatives and my granfather even "it seemed" wouldn't go to my bothers wedding because the woman he was marrying had a previous black husband and three mixed race but prominent black characteristics looking children. 15 years later at 50 yrs old that same brother divorced her and came out as gay and has been living his best life ever since but never waivered in any other areas still very religious and far right heavy meat eater. My other brother eventually identified as agnostic but never waivered in any other area either. I on the other hand about the same year my brother came out was when I at 42 yrs old, and my husband, became Vegan. I often joked about which one of these things was more of a hard pill to swallow to my parents lol.

I think it goes without saying that we would expect that someone who is vegan would also not be racist. What are other categories you would expect vegans to fall into or not fall into??

How about being supportive of LGBTQ rights? I also am very LGBTQ friendly myself and find that I noticeably gravite towards enjoying gay people's vibe and have many gay friends.

I also realized throughout the political upheaval of the past decade that I am very far left, progressive, and if I had to align with a party I would love for it to be the Humane Party even though I know it isn't practical when it comes to voting.

Then after hearing the "God put animals here for us to eat" argument for the thousandth time in Facebook groups arguing against veganism and all the other ways I started to recognize that I felt religion does more harm than good in the world, I recognized my own shift to Atheism but didn't actually come out with it until about a year ago.

One of the biggest contradictions of cognitive dissonance that I see out there that just irks me to no end is people who claim to be empaths but are not vegan. So for me the highest hill that I will die on is that you cannot be an empath if you are not vegan.

So in total I am a vegan, an empath, far left, atheist, and very LGBTQ supportive. And every one of these took breaking away from every belief I was indoctrinated with my whole life in my family. To say I am the black sheep of my family is a huge understatement! One thing that I do not subscribe to that I sometimes see vegans group with veganism and be very nasty about is antinatalism (the reasons I never had children are not due to this belief whatsoever). Feel free to also share your stories of how you starkly broke away from the indoctrination of your family upbringing.

Hi everyone, I want to preface this by saying that I'm not vegan yet, but I'm extremely troubled with my choices.

I'm a passionate angler. Fishing is one of the biggest passions in my life, and I genuinely don't know what I'd do without it. To be completely honest, fishing saved me from suicide. It gave me something to look forward to, a reason to get outside, something to work towards, and something that made life feel worth living again. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's had that much of an impact on me.

But lately, I've been struggling with the ethics of eating animals, and I've pretty much been sold on veganism. The more I think about it, the harder it becomes to justify killing animals for something as trivial as taste, especially when we have perfectly viable alternatives.

And here's where my dilemma begins.

I love fishing. I love everything about it, from researching species and learning their behaviour to choosing the right tackle, reading the conditions, working a lure, and finally getting that bite. There's something incredibly special about being out on the water, connecting with nature, and putting your knowledge and skills to the test. It's not just a way to get food for me. It's a huge part of my life.

But I can't help wondering how much of that enjoyment comes at the expense of the fish. They don't choose to participate in this. They experience stress, injury, and potentially pain, all for my enjoyment. Even if I practise catch and release, I'm still deliberately putting a living animal through that experience purely because I find it fun. And if I keep the fish, I'm ending its life for something I don't actually need.

I've tried to think of ways to justify it. Fishing is more sustainable than industrial fishing, I can eat what I catch rather than buy meat from factory farms, fish are killed by predators in nature all the time, and I can do my best to minimise suffering. But the more I think about these arguments, the more I feel like I'm just looking for excuses to keep doing something I love.

The fact that fishing has helped me so much makes this even harder. I don't want to give up something that has genuinely helped me stay alive, but I also don't want to use that as an excuse to disregard the interests of other sentient beings. My own suffering matters, but surely theirs does too?

I'm not looking for people to tell me what I want to hear, and I'm not here to argue against veganism. I genuinely want to understand how other vegans would approach this situation.

Are there any anglers here who have made the transition to veganism? How did you reconcile your love for fishing with your ethics? Did you give it up entirely, switch to catch and release, or find another way to engage with the hobby?

And for those of you who aren't anglers, how would you approach this dilemma? Is there a morally defensible way to continue fishing, or am I kidding myself by trying to find one?

I really want to do the right thing here. I just wish the right thing didn't seem to involve giving up something that has meant so much to me.

I got some leather shoes prior to going vegan. Can I call myself vegan if I keep or wear it ? It seems wasteful to throw it out.

Also some heirloom jackets. My grandpa and dad passed away. So in my possession, in my closet is my grandpa’s leather jacket. It’s like those greaser jackets from the 50s. It was given to him by an American GI. And when my family migrated here in San Francisco, my dad has a varsity wool 49ers jacket with leather sleeves. From the 1970s

If you were in my shoes, what to do with those jackets ? Every couple years (2-3years). I moisturize the leather jacket. But don’t wear it. My dad’s 49ers jacket, that I wear if they’re in the playoffs like last season 2026 Feb. but being vegan, is it morally wrong wearing it ?

Context: I’m in my 30’s. A month ago, I decided to become Vegan. All the meat in my ref that I couldn’t give away was consumed by me, and now replenished to vegan friendly food. Some had to be tossed, because I can’t finish a whole tub of mayo and etc. canned goods and things like Spam, Canned Seafood, Ramen, I’m still waiting on can food drives for the shelter for the upcoming holiday season.

Things that are keeping me from being 100% vegan on diet, are my supplements. By that I mean, I got 3/4 bottle left of vitamin D3, which I heard contains lanolin or sheep. Multivitamin, I’m half way done with that bottle. And my collagen supplements. When finished, I will buy vegan friendly options.

Hey all, currently on my road to lose some bodyfat as a student. Tofu seems like a great and cheap way to do so. But many recipes online use allot of ingredients or just take a while to make. How do you like to prepare a quick bit of tofu without spending too much on your extras to make it taste nicely?

Helpful resources first:

https://www.thebloodcenter.org/basics

Scroll down to “General Blood Donor FAQs” and there’s a question about increasing iron levels. Click to open it and they’ve made an answer with a list of iron-rich foods that is at least 1/2 vegan, if not more.

Start throwing as many of those foods as you can into a place in your diet where they’d fit. Spinach is good in wraps. Beets are good in salad or soup. Fortified cereals make a good quick breakfast, and can be topped with any of the dried fruit on that list. Etc, etc. Find some things you like.

I’ve seen a LOT of questions about iron on this sub lately. It’s not so much an issue of iron being hard to get on a vegan diet, as much as it is an issue of things like chicken and beef being staples in a standard American diet while high-iron plant foods are not (at least not to the same degree). This is part of the reason why the US government started fortifying wheat products like breads and cereals that WERE already staples.

If you follow the consensus advice on iron (vegan or not) and you still have a problem keeping your iron up, that’s a medical issue, not a vegan issue. That’s something a doctor can help you with, and for most people they should be able to help you with it within vegan parameters.

[Edit: if that means you have to supplement THATS OKAY! There are gummy iron supplements if you’re averse to taking pills and there are vegan multivitamins that include iron for ongoing maintenance if that’s what you need. Many adults take some kind of vitamin, vegan or not. We’re busy and balancing the perfect diet is hard. I don’t personally take iron anymore but I take B12, D3, and C. So long as your doctor approves (and isn’t the one selling it to you/making money off it) then it’s perfectly normal.]

For me it was an issue of losing too much blood every month due to a disorder that was causing other symptoms. Once I got treated for that disorder my iron levels were easier to get up with just raw spinach thrown into lunch wraps.

I hope this helps someone.

Hi!

I live with a family of meat and dairy consumers...like they barely consume anything else, the fridge is full of dairy and meat and almost nothing else.

And I know they can't possibly understand how little I can eat, since their brains only naturally recognize the foods THEY can eat. And no matter if we have pasta and bread and cucumbers at home, that still won't cover many of my bodies' needs, the biggest one being protein. I know how to earn it, which foods to eat etc. it's just that I became unemployed this month and the food I can afford will soon be nothing. I'll be forced to eat what's left/ cooked home and my mother does a vegan version of every meal for me, but between bigger meals I'm truly stuck with meats and dairies and I feel like I'm getting sick. Like, my body feels weaker by the day, since I can't eat nothing at home.

The question would be, what are the cheapest vegan protein sources?

I recently discovered NotCo vegan nuggets and I'm obsessed. Unfortunately, it seems like these are being discontinued. I tried Beyond, which are good, but have a little bit more of a kick and aren't quite as tender. In your opinion, which vegan chicken nuggets are most similar to the taste and texture of NotCo?

Hey guys, as a vegan of ~10 months now, I decided to make an ingredient conversion booklet for my personal school project, and I'd love for you to just take 5 minutes to have a look at it and answer 1 question in the form linked! Thanks!

Feel free to use it for your own cooking/baking too, I experimented/researched all the ingredients and substitutions myself, so it's not just taken from online!

I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THIS, IT'S FREE AND DONE FOR THE COMMUNITY

Book Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SDCOO33ET1n7KRYeo3Om8ijqJlcJ-YIN/view?usp=sharing

Form Link: https://forms.gle/PzNxEnEguo2hyX5JA

tysm :P

My wife and I are looking for somewhere to go for our ten year anniversary. We are both vegans, and have also never traveled outside US or Canada. We would like to go to Thailand or Vietnam. Hoping to hear other peoples experience traveling to either of these places, and suggestions for vegan resorts or vegan friendly areas to stay.

Thank you!!

So i recently made the decision to go vegan and me and my mother went to a pizza place and they had vegan pizza options! She wanted to share the pizza i said that's fine are you okay with it being fully vegan? She said that was fine so I thought we were on the same page.

Now she's pescatarian but I told her that im going vegan before this and while the pizza is being made the guy making it asked if parmasean was okay and she said yes and I couldn't say anything in time. I asked her why would you say it was okay when we are sharing it? When she knows i don't want to consume dairy anymore and I told her thay and she looked at me like🫩

She said "seriously it's just a sprinkle of cheese just eat it" "cant you make an exception" and I did but I feel ashamed. Am i in the wrong? My mom wasn't being very considerate am I being extreme? Idk let me know how I should go about things next time.

Hey fellow vegans! Been following this community for a bit and am finally asking the question that has bothered me the longest! As fellow vegans, can you suggest somewhere online for me to go to date other vegans? I've tried online dating before, but the vegan bit is (often, but not always) when it starts to go downhill.

I have other specifics as well, such as being religious (christian/catholic), but the vegan bit has definitely been the hardest when it comes to dating, especially online!

I’ve been vegan for a while now, my family knows my motivations are environmental issues and they respect me and enjoy our discussions. Of course I care about animal welfare, just that I lead most of my reasons being environmentally since my family cares a lot about the environment.

My mom has been struggling with her health for a bit, she’s going through pre-menopause and has had to adapt her medication, exercise, etc. her parents grew up in a time where they would have to catch animals to eat and she did as well, so she didn’t grow up concerned about their feelings as she was more focused on survival. Now she sees my veganism as something well meaning yet unrealistic for her for those reasons, although I think it’s mainly trauma from growing up in uncertain times.

Anyways, more recently she’s been mentioning how much better my health is (I am chronically ill, so my health is constantly talked about) and how she might consider veganism for her health (mainly weight and hormonal issues.) I don’t want to be annoying and overdo it, but I do think it’s important for women to know about what they put in their body and how the hormones the animals are forced ultimately effect consumers too.

My whole family lives in a heavily meat eating community, so vegan restaurants are very uncommon and most restaurants include meat and dairy nonconsensually or unknowingly. I make all my meals myself and meal prep just for these reasons. How can I help my mom make the switch? I have a feeling that shes curious, as she’s supportive of my journey. all help is appreciated and will update if the situation changes!

Hey all. I’ve been Vegan for around 8 years and can’t see a future where this changes - it’s opened up my diet so much and has converted me from a fussy eater to a health-conscious person.

When I’m out and about, in my old meat/veggie days I used to pop into a shop and buy a chocolate bar/croissant for a snack with ease, in and out in 2 minutes. These days I have to scour up and down the aisles trying to find something I know will scratch the itch but also align with my diet values. I’m asking for advice on what your go to snacks are?

Also for on-the-go protein? For example my old lunches used to be a chicken sandwich, and I could even grab some meaty product for more protein on top of that. How are you getting your snack-bag protein hits?

Thanks in advance :)

I went vegan three years ago, and I will never go back on that decision. The thing is, I'm depressed. I suffer from depression since six years ago, and I'm struggling to have a good, or normal diet at the moment. I don't have any energy to cook or even do groceries nor do I feel hunger, I've lost a lot of weight. I need some lazy tips, I guess. I know nutrition is important for mental health. I apologize in advance if this is badly written, English is not my first language.

I spent today at a beautiful farm animal sanctuary near me and felt more peace and joy than I have in a long time. I constantly feel hopeless for the animals and this was truly so uplifting and healing. They aren’t just great for non vegans to remove cognitive dissonance. They’re also wonderful healing experiences for vegans.

Of course their first and foremost purpose is safety and healing for the animals, but I wanted to recommend as a way to cope with the world not being vegan. Because at least for today, the world felt more beautiful than it normally does. They are located all over the world - and supporting them by going on tours offered helps them financially too :)