Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or some other type of “plant-based” eater, you have probably experienced the eye rolls, cliche jokes, obnoxious questions, and many other expressions of judgment that friends and family employ to articulate their distaste for your diet. Unfortunately, during the holidays, this teasing gets exponentially worse because of all of the communal meals and the omnipresence of the theme of ~tradition~ which seems to intensify the vitriol towards plant-based eating. Ideally, people would just… get over themselves, but since that won’t happen any time soon, here are a few things you can do to make food-centric holidays like Thanksgiving a little less painful.
- Try to fly under the radar.
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The simplest thing, which isn’t always possible, is to not bring up your dietary restriction in any way. To avoid mentioning your diet to family members, rather than letting them know what you can’t eat so that they might be able to accommodate you in their cooking, just bring your own food (to share) to the meal.
- Bring your own (delicious) food and invite others to try it.
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One of the best ways to counter people’s doubts that you can eat delicious and fulfilling food on your chosen diet is to provide them with empirical evidence. Some good options for carrying out this strategy include making plant-based chilli (you really don’t miss the meat there), or something seitan-based (a yummy & hearty vegan protein source). Also, an important note here is that you should avoid explicitly mentioning that it is plant-based unless you are asked, so that the person trying the dish does not go out of their way to find problems with it due to that preface.
- Since you will probably be asked questions, come prepared with answers.
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You just know that someone is going to ask you why you eat the way that you do, so you may as well have a succinct, canned response. I almost never take my own advice here and just give some kind of dumb and confusing response like “all of the reasons,” but it really is a good idea. Also, for your own sake, thinking through exactly why you’re choosing to allow an ideology of sorts to inform your daily habits is valuable. It’s always good to practice mindfulness.
- Unless you actually want to, do not engage in debate.
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More likely than not, the holidays will spark many debates in your family — don’t let this be one of them. If your family members want to talk about it because they genuinely want to hear about your beliefs, then they can engage with you one-on-one literally any other day of the year. Eat your veggies and mind your business.
At the end of the day, being teased about your food isn’t the end of the world, but it’s certainly nice when it doesn’t happen. I hope that these tips can help someone’s holidays go a little bit smoother!