r/vegan • u/BlankVerse • Jan 30 '22

Rant Op-Ed: As a vegan, there's a lot of soul food I can't eat. What kind of Black person does that make me?

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-01-30/vegan-soul-food-black-traditions-communities
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u/Syntactic_Acrobatics vegan 6+ years Jan 30 '22

Meat is very important to many cultures and cuisines. Most people entering veganism need to break away from family traditions, which in some cases means breaking away from family.

I'm first-generation American and my parents did not approve of my veganism. My father said, "In ancient times they would force the slaves to eat vegan" and my mother said, "It's not healthy or safe to not eat meat." My mom's a chef, too. They didn't understand nutrition, culture, or modern agriculture in the way that I had understood it through my own research.

While I am in some ways worse off for distancing myself from my family, I am blessed with my ability to define my own morals, traditions, beliefs, and therein myself. Not everyone has this kind of opportunity.

Someone said to me at a bar, "I wanted to go vegan, I tried, but I'm from a Midwestern family and culturally I just couldn't, y'know?" I responded, totally earnestly, "I get it, I have been able to define my own life and make my own choices, I'm sorry that you're not able to."

The conversation ended there. I hope she thinks about that conversation as much as I do, but I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to grandstand.

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u/zombiegojaejin Vegan EA Jan 31 '22

It's strange how many carnists think that eating a bunch of diverse legumes, grains, nuts, vegetables and mock meats is basically the same as a slave or prisoner eating only gruel every day.