I decided I would be willing to date a non-vegan since despite the conveniences and shared ethics of other vegans, it can be hard to find them in general, and maybe I could influence people positively, though probably without any expectation for them to go vegan (but still hoping society will move toward it one day anyway).
But online questions asking people (non-vegans) if they would date a vegan really shocked and surprised me when most of the answers were no, mostly for reasons of inconvenience and a fear of being pulled into veganism. This leaves me feeling like finding other vegans may be my only option after all. Is this somewhat accurate?
My wife is vegetarian and I am not. It’s not really an issue. Vegan would be quite a bit more difficult to accommodate as I’d have to cut out dairy and honey from meals I cook which both make regular appearances in dishes. Still, as long as you’re not annoying about it and are also understanding about the fact that many potential partners won’t know how to cook for you I don’t see why it would be a deal breaker.
Side note while we’re on the subject, what’s with the restriction on honey? The rest of it I understand the reasoning behind but honey seems like a harmless thing to me.
Well primarily vegans don’t eat honey because it’s a form of exploitation of animals (bees). This can carry ethical as well as environmental issues.
This goes into some of the reasons why vegans typically avoid honey:
https://www.careelite.de/en/why-vegans-dont-eat-honey/
TL;DR:
▪︎ Bees make the honey for themselves ▪︎ Honey production is exhausting ▪︎ We manipulate the animals for the honey ▪︎ Honey bees are exploited in mass breeding ▪︎ Bees are injured and die ▪︎ Honey is not particularly healthy ▪︎ There are plant-based alternatives ▪︎ Wild bees are important for biodiversity ▪︎ Bees are living beings and not commodities ▪︎ Wild bees are essential for the survival of us humans
And here is the Vegan Society’s page on honey:
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/why-go-vegan/honey-industry
Hope that helped :)
And right there is why they’re gonna run into issues dating non-vegans. It’s a lifestyle for them. It’s not just a meal choice. It extends to things like products bought, activities done, etc. and when you “hope” someone will change, that’s a big red flag in a relationship.
Honey is a food lol