Although I love hiking with Karen, she often lectures me about the superiority of her vegan diet. Sometimes she grosses us out describing disgusting dairy industry practices.

Although we ask her to stop, Karen has a hard time letting it go.

"Uh huh...interesting... I didn't know that," I murmur lightly until she runs down.

A talented cook, Karen always brings treats to share. With an excellent sense of direction, Karen takes me to new, beautiful peaks and ridges. With a poor sense of direction, I stick to the trail. With Karen, I can explore. She always gets us back to the car.

Karen extends a hand and helps me when I panic while walking across a slippery log, high above raging rapids and sharp boulders. A wonderfully kind person, Karen makes sure I am safe. I feel enormously grateful.

Karen's medical doctor husband- who is not a vegan- insisted she get blood tests because she was so tired.

Karen had near-fatal deficiencies in iron, calcium, vitamin E and D, protein, and more. Now she takes supplements. Vegan, of course.

Nobody is perfect. Karen is still my favorite hiking partner.

you should see the reactions I get when anybody finds out I'm a food scientist... the vegan, organics, gluten, carbs, keto, chemicals, pesticides, nutrition, insert diet name diet, natural versus artificial, fair trade advice they all come out like a flood gate... I can't defend myself even if I tried. I'm used to it. (and no I don't work for Monsanto)

People seem to be made genuinely uncomfortable when faced with issues that others may be managing, but they, on the other hand choose not to acknowledge, or do anything about.

Kind of like when someone who was previously heavy, decides to get a handle on their weight and get healthier. Often friends and family will undermine their attempts , or continually present tempting foods ...

Re: vegans I've lost count IRL how many times associations have gone sideways. So that's it for me.
It's one thing to be one and not be militant, but invariably, IME anyway, out it comes, somewhere.
E.g. another lifetime ago a dear girlfriend tagged along on some piddly errands I was running, one of my stops was Tandy Leather (I was fixated on making collars for my dog). "It smells like death in here". Ooook, you knew where I was going , no one twisted your arm to come with? I'm celebrating my dog & happen to love the smell of leather?
I snapped and told her as much. That I'd not forced her to go anywhere with me.

Granted, her life choice was newly minted, but it hit me so wrong we hung out way less afterward and lost touch.

I've got a ton of stories like this. Currently have one IRL vegetarian friend, and yep, if I post something on my FB wall about say, fielding for a recipe for ceviche, out came the snarky "ewwww" remark. sigh

It's such that I don't think I could live with one. As it is I've few dishes under my belt that would suffice, another is my girl is SERIOUSLY allergic to 1/2 the staples in a vegetarian diet (legumes being #1, and nuts) . She can't do it, (ironically she's expressed she wishes she could try it!) I'm cautious about what I bring in the house (wiping off say, cashew butter jars). Really not everyone CAN do that diet!

To the rest i can't say. I recycle, am a feminist. Very much having been isolated a great deal juggling squirrels am not around mixed company a lot. My "uh oh don't go there" topics are dog related, dread being asked dog things at gatherings & have to pep talk myself "I will not indulge, I will not talk about dogs" x 100.

People tend to lash out at people who are different... That's why we have bullying, racism, etc, etc. Stay strong

OK. I'm not usually gay but I just fell in love with you. I get the same crap over carrying my own grocery bags. I'll set them on the check-out line and the clerk will start throwing things into plastic anyway. So here we go again I think. It's not like I haven't gone through this with the same damned clerk before.

It comes from their shame, and they're projecting on you. Don't let the trolls get you down.

Mostly because they feel guilty about their bad habits. And because some people can be very preachy, and judgemental! I am vegan at home, not as much when I am out because it can be hard. I use my own bags when shopping and really don't care what others think. I am a feminist too. What helps is I live in DC and it is not too weird here. People don't like to be judged and automatically think you are judging even when you are not! That's on them, not you.

We can only control what we say and we can choose how to deal with other people reaction. We cannot expect everyone to react the way we like

They are jealous that they do not follow the same rules.