Living as a vegan teen is exhausting

Hi, for context: I’m a teen who’s vegan, and I was raised vegan.

I’ve started getting actually angry at my friends and acquaintances recently. People love to ask the vegan kid, “wow how do you even eat?”, “I could never do that because I love X”. I was at scouts yesterday and when I told a kid I’m vegan he audibly sighed. He asked me what I eat when I don’t eat dairy, eggs, meat, honey etc. Do people genuinely not realize that they themselves don’t eat meat or dairy every meal? Any time you’ve eaten pasta with ketchup you’ve eaten a vegan meal.

Usually my friends are supportive, provide vegan snacks, candy and food. But earlier today a friend told me “Hey, you know they cut down forests to grow soybeans, right?” because my pasta sauce had soy meat in it. The majority of those soybeans go to feeding livestock! I told him this and he was genuinely surprised…

It’s honestly so exhausting. I’ve even been asked inappropriate questions questioning what I could do because I’m vegan. It’s just so mind boggling that people don’t even think about what they buy. Big thanks to my parents for educating me at a young age!

Being significantly more mature than your peers can be incredibly solitary. As a teenager, I was just vegetarian, but I also received a lot of offensive remarks, with some even attempting to make me eat animal products for “laughs” at school.

Remain resilient. Perhaps one day these children will gain enlightenment. You’re doing great, and I wish I had gone vegan ten years ago!

The most unsettling aspect of this post is the pasta with ketchup.

I haven’t really had pasta with ketchup before.

Many others will be inspired by you.

I greatly respect my close buddy who has been vegan since she was fifteen years old for her maturity at such a young age. despite the fact that I wasn’t constantly in this mood.

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As the people around you get more knowledgeable, things go better. I completely get what you mean, even if I have never eaten any meat. :confused:

Edit: You completely overlooked the fact that others feel sorry for us and believe we are missing out on a lot. criticizing our parents for denying us a choice, to be exact.

I’m really happy that I was raised as a lacto-vegetarian, even though I now prefer to be vegan.

After I acquired cooking skills, my friends now claim that my food tastes better than meat whenever I serve it to them. That strikes me as a personal victory.

Bravo for being a strong, considerate, and upright vegan child. Growing up in the 1980s, I was primarily vegetarian, and even that wasn’t easy.

People with a very limited perspective on food possibilities are typically the ones who ask questions like “what do you even eat?” in my experience. All you can eat is fast food chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, and thin burgers. According to what I’ve observed, most vegans consume a HUGE variety of foods and are very knowledgeable about other cuisines. Not sure if this is helpful other than to acknowledge that it’s okay to sigh and realize that they are speaking ignorantly.

When you become an adult and turn eighteen, you’ll discover that people will still criticize your decisions! Ignore those who detest you. Sadly, it is the nature of life. They’re only projecting because they believe it would be too hard for them to do.

Hey, man, I was raised a vegetarian, and going to school makes everything so much better.

Although you have a sound head on your shoulders, controlling your emotions will be difficult. Your pals who eat meat are probably using what they’ve heard or learned to challenge you; it’s a learning process. Since they enjoy spending out with you and are your friends, you may assume that with confidence. Someone who says it out of the blue could be a more cynical personality.

I’m sorry to hear that, and be prepared to cope with that for a very long time. Additionally, ketchup on pasta is terrible.