6 Comments

1. 

   Brenda Aspey on January 24, 2018 at 10:30 am

   Thanks guys for another good podcast, some great points raised, can relate to so many things you’ve mentioned here. Regardless of the double standards you continue to encounter, keep spreading the vegan message, you both do an amazing job, thank you ✌️

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     That Vegan Couple on January 29, 2018 at 10:32 am

     Your support is rock solid as always Brenda and we really do appreciate it, thank you so much 🙂 xo

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2. 

   Maria on February 4, 2018 at 10:20 pm

   Yes!! Expresses what you feel and embrace it! Don’t supresss or numb (try not to)!

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     That Vegan Couple on February 11, 2018 at 9:28 am

     Well said Maria!

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3. 

   Rachel on March 20, 2019 at 2:37 pm

   Hello!

   I’d like to hear your opinions on this or what you would have said, if anything, in this scenario…

   I work in a veterinary hospital. This is a conversation between me and a vet who I don’t have the best working relationship with anyway…

   These situations come up rarely, not many people want to discuss it, probably because they do feel guilty whenever veganism is mentioned. Sometimes they’ll ask about my food, or alternatives I use, which I don’t mind, I’ll always discuss things like that.

   She asked me if I wanted a hot chocolate from the vending machine. I said no thanks.

   Generally I leave it at that. I don’t say no thanks I’m vegan or no thanks I don’t drink milk. I tend to just say no, until it comes up in conversation or is relevant. Most people I work with already knew I’m vegan anyway, as did this vet.
   She then says, “what’s in hot chocolate that you can’t have?”
   So I said cows milk..
   She said, “what would you make it with then because a hot chocolate is supposed to have milk in.”
   I said soy, oat, almond, and started listing plant based milks. I kept it light, I even said I prefer oat, seems to work nicely in hot chocolates.
   She then said, mockingly “but the definition of milk is that it comes from mammary gland, almonds don’t have mammary glands.” And laughed about it.

   To be honest I think my face said it all. What annoys me though, is I felt angry and intruded upon. I couldn’t just laugh at how stupid she sounded, I was thinking how dare she. Is this because I felt I couldn’t defend myself/veganism properly? Or because I felt I shouldn’t have to? What’s the best way to deal with this situation so that I feel I’ve raised above it? Joke back? Have a witty comeback? Ignore it? I think I just don’t know how to respond until later when I get all the clever ideas and I’m like ah I should have said that!

   On a related note, the hypocrisy in the veterinary industry upsets and angers me daily. Mainly, the fact that the people in this industry work tirelessly to save people’s pets but see no problem with paying to kill and eat others. The amount of animal eaters in the place I work is staggering and it surprises me every day that these people don’t make the connection. For such an animal loving and caring environment there are barely any vegetarians never mind vegans! Often people joke about someone bringing a pig in for treatment, and discuss how cute that would be and how they would love it etc. It’s infuriating. And I just want to say, but you’d eat it also?? But again, like you’ve said with double standards, I don’t want to be labelled as that person who causes arguments/tension.

   I know the speak up or shut up episode was a while ago but I’ve only just discovered your podcast and I’m finding them all really helpful.

   Thanks for all your work!

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     That Vegan Couple on February 28, 2020 at 5:30 am

     Hi Rachel, thanks for listening and commenting 🙏 Sorry for the late reply! We departed for Israel to speak at the Total Liberation Conference the day you left this comment and haven’t come across it until now! Oh well, better late than never as the saying goes 😉 Rest assured, based on our personal experience of living vegan for 8.5 years, as well as hearing from thousands of vegans across our various social media platforms during this time, the workplace experience you described is extremely common. You’re right, there are many different ways to deal with such interactions. We recommend experimenting with a few to see what you personally prefer and find most effective. Hey, sometimes you might want to switch it up depending on how you’re feeling in the moment and who you’re interacting with. When the “what can’t you have?” question comes up again (and it likely will) you could always say “I can have anything and yet I choose not to have …. because I’m against animal exploitation”.

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