Although more and more people are choosing to move towards a vegan lifestyle, there are still many people who aren’t. While everyone should feel comfortable with their lifestyle choice, it sometimes can feel a little isolating if you’re the only vegan in the group. Whether it’s getting eye-rolls from your meat-eating friends, or people forgetting about your dietary preferences, sometimes it can get frustrating. If you have a solo vegan in your family or circle of friends, here are a few tips to make sure that they are feeling included.
Going Out for Dinner
If you’re in charge of organizing a group meal out with friends, you might have a few favorite restaurants that spring to mind. Perhaps it’s an amazing steakhouse or burger joint? While these choices might be ideal for you, they won’t be great for your vegan friend if there are little to no vegan options on the menu. This doesn’t mean that you have to exclusively eat out at vegan restaurants, of course, but make sure you check the menu to see that there is a variety of options on the menu for vegans so that they’re not stuck with the usual vegan burgers, salads, or soups.
Taking Part in Food Tasting Events
Food tasting events can be a lot of fun and a great way to sample delicious treats that you might not have tried before. A lot of people choose to organize these events for special occasions like bachelorette parties, birthday parties, or even corporate events. You can even take part in a virtual chocolate tasting for those who want to sample products from around the world. If you are planning on getting a group together for a food tasting event and there will be vegans in attendance, make sure you let the organizers know this so that they can prepare vegan-friendly food samples on the day.
Remember a Vegan Lifestyle is About More Than Food
Yes, vegans will follow a diet with no animal products, but this extends to other aspects of their lifestyle. If you are planning to purchase your vegan friend a gift, make sure that these are vegan-friendly products. For example, no real leather accessories or clothing. No cosmetics have either been tested on animals or have animal products/by-products included in the ingredients. If you’re not sure about what products are suitable for vegans, check out this list of brands that cater to a vegan lifestyle.
Educate Yourself About the Vegan Lifestyle
Just like you might not enjoy being lectured by vegans about eating meat, they don’t like to be lectured about their choice to live a vegan lifestyle. You should respect each other’s choices, and the best way to do this is by expanding your knowledge of veganism. Take the time to learn about what makes up this kind of lifestyle and why people choose to follow it. You never know; you might find yourself interested to make the switch yourself!
Being a vegan is not that uncommon in the modern age, but there are still a lot of people who don’t follow this lifestyle. If you have a vegan in your circle of friends, make sure that they never feel excluded and that their lifestyle choice is respected with these tips.
