This question is often asked as vegans and non-vegans are quite commonly at odds with each other.
It is natural that you can be attracted to the opposite sex and then all of a sudden you don’t like their thoughts and habits.
But, in reality, can a vegan be with a non-vegan? Can they fall in love and be together forever?
Well, in my opinion, and based on my experience, it is easy to say, but not as difficult as you might expect. The answer is yes, a vegan can be with a non-vegan and they are able to live happily ever after.
Why a vegan be together with a non-vegan?
It really comes down to love and respect. In fact, the ability to respect and accept one another is a much more important factor than love.
I did not merely explain what I thought, but I sought out actual opinions on Reddit
and the replies were overwhelming.
- One person was comfortable to date a non- vegan until he is not forced to live lifestyle he did not want.
- This person told about his happily married friends who are adjusting for each other and even not forcing their thoughts onto their children.
- This couple find the ways to make their relationship work.
- This one just want non-vegans to respect his/her choices and he/she does not have any problem with them.
Why Would A Vegan Be With A Non-Vegan?
The answer to this question is not straight forward rather complex. This is because every individual has his own thought process and is guided by his own perceptions of any given situation.
It is the inherent trait of humans to fight due to different ideologies. You can see it everywhere and not just between vegans and non-vegans.
Be it political, economic, or historical, there are ample examples for such ideological confrontation.
Some vegans just can not tolerate even the idea of talking to non-vegans. It is like, for them, non-vegans are a curse for the earth.
One of the Reddit users simply rejected to adjust and that too not specifically for non-vegans.
Infect, as per Veggly survey (a vegan and vegetarian dating app), 56% of American vegans wouldn’t date a meat-eater.
To simply put here are the main reasons why vegans and non-vegans may not be together:
- Vegans love animals so they hate to see a non-vegan eat meat.
- Vegans don’t want even insects to be harmed for human’s greed so they hate using honey, silk clothes, dairy etc. which non-vegans normally consumes.
- Also, non-vegans hate vegans for their aggressiveness about their likes and dislikes
- Non-vegans thinks of vegans as preachy and self-righteous.
- Non-vegans tries to explain vegans what is wrong with them. I have felt this one most of the time when I tell people that I am a vegan and they are like what? why? how?.
However, this is true in the sense that not all people are the same and do have the right to think in the manner they want to.
You can not blame anyone for what they think rather what you can do is to try to change their perspective through facts, visuals, reality checks.
Is it okay for a vegan to be with a non-vegan?
It all depends on personal choices. How you feel about being around non-vegans.
In my personal opinion, It is totally ok for a vegan to be with a non-vegan for the rest of his/her life.
You just need to explain to your partner your aspirations and simply ask them to respect your decisions.
Eventually, both of you will figure out a base and this is how the relationship works. Relationships are all about care, love, understanding, and some compromises.
For me, I don’t care about what others would think and the most important thing is that my wife supports me for being vegan.
She is still a non-vegan and I totally respect her decision and don’t ram vegan rhetoric down her throat.
We have created an unspoken base like she won’t bring or eat meat in the house and I don’t complain about dairy products in the refrigerator.
These small things are the ones that make your relationship work.
Vegan with non-vegan: How to make this relationship work?
Every relationship requires effort, so do vegans and non-vegans. We can think of a little bit more effort to keep the wheel going on between vegans and non-vegans.
Here are some tips to make such a relationship work:-
- Try to have decent conversation and be a good listener.
- Discuss about veganism in a constructive manner to clear the doubts and to be sure what each of you think about your relationship in long term.
- Be focused more on the relationship part and try to identify chemistry or any working ground instead of pin pointing food habits,lifestyle etc.
- Don’t try to change each others opinion or be pushy instead respect what they have in their mind. If you don’t agree with them, tell them polietly and don’t have a debate about it.
- Try to understand each other. Go movies, food shopping, eating out at restaurants, cook meals.
Wise words for vegans:
Don’t be pushy and aggressive about your thoughts on veganism. Don’t hate people just because they are non-vegan.
You are not here to convert people but to have a relationship with them. It could only be secured if you try to understand their opinion while preserving yours.
Be compassionate and it is possible that they might get influenced and join you. There are lot of examples over the internet. I went over to quora and this comes up:
Wise words for non-vegans:
Don’t ask stupid questions about veganism. Just google to find the answers.
Respect their choice of being vegan and encourage them for their cause. What they are doing might seem selfish but indirectly it is impacting the planet, the animals, the animals, and you.
Be compassionate and understanding.
I hope you all have a beautiful relationship.
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