veganism: I appreciate the broad range of ideas and opinions on YA, but I am still amazed that so many people still don鈥檛 understand vegetarianism and veganism. There are all these categories floating around which only serve to confuse everyone. And many people continue to insist that eating chicken or fish occasionally is still vegetarian or vegan. Why do people find vegetarianism and veganism so confusing??? I find myself getting frustrated and annoyed with these people. Does it also bother other vegans and vegetarians ???|||It bothers me because it means that no matter what I (accurately) call myself, people will offer me fish or shrimp or chicken thinking it's OK. Yeah, it's super simple. If it comes from a dead animal, vegetarians don't eat it. If it comes from an animal, period, vegans don't eat it. Vegetarians can make their own call on dairy and eggs. End of story, people.|||They find it confusing because of people who eat fish and chicken and call themselves vegetarians/vegans. And people wonder why we get irritated when we meet one of them.|||no use getting crappy at them, theyll only learn by experience, like me. i guess by seeing a pig or cow die - they'll b not eating them but can eat others things becuz they just dont associate them with animals - so i think its just up to them to learn one day that they had killed animals even tho they were vegetarian. but no, it doesnt bother me any more - thats life :(|||I am neither, and it even bothers me when people comment on things they haven't educated themselves about. I can empathize with your frustration.I wouldn't dream of commenting unless I knew exactly what I was speaking of....tho, those times can be turned into perfect opportunities to educate these same people.....it starts with one person @ a time....Thanks.|||Oh, it bothers me all the time. Especially when the people who call themselves vegetarians/vegans are in fact NOT. I mean, how the hell do you change your lifestyle not even knowing what it is. The people who aren't either just don't really care enough to learn about it because it doesn't affect them. I get that... but still, have some common knowledge of the people around you.|||Q. R. (the first person who answered) said it perfectly. i used to not eat any meat at all, and i considered myself a vegetarian. now that i eat chicken and fish again, i no longer call myself a vegetarian. when people call me a vegetarian, i actually correct them and tell them that someone who eats any sort of meat at all is NOT a vegetarian. and i hate when people call themselves vegans or vegetarians and are like "well i'm a vegan except for bacon." hahah i want to laugh at them but it's too annoying to be funny!!|||As Linda says, it's a case of educating/correcting them one at a time. Perhaps ones who have been corrected will help to correct others later. It's a slow process, but we'll get there eventually. Just keep plugging away and don't get too upset about it. There are bigger issues in the universe to worry about (I can't think of any right now, but I'm sure there are some!).|||It's not that most people do not understand it because there is really not much to get confused about. It's just that people don't believe in those principles the way you do. So some people say they are vegetarians but eat fish. So fine, that's wrong, but really does it matter? Does it diminish YOU as a vegetarian in any way? Vegetarians being the minority say they don't care about other people's opinions about how they live their life. Fine, so why bother with the way other people live their lives? Or call themeselves? Frankly, this obsession with the insignificant is what I find annoying. The endless bickering over practiclly nothing.|||why in the world would you let something so minor bother you? what a waist of time. the answer is NO, I don't let things bother me that other people don't know. it's life --|||I am pretty bothered that there is such a different opinion on what a vegetarian is and what a vegan is. Many people will say they have friends who are vegans who eat eggs (which is absolutely ludicrous). Many vegetarians say they eat poultry and fish. And then there are those that ask if dairy and eggs are vegetarian. Where did people get so mixed up? The terms vegetarian and vegan are cut and dry. Vegetarians don't eat meat or products that were produced from flesh and vegans don't consume or provide funds to industries that test, sell, or promote animals or animal by-products for food, exploitation, entertainment, sport, testing, or otherwise. I have no idea where everyone went wrong. It's really simple to me. I blame the hormones in meat and milk for confusing everyone.|||Hey, I completely agree. I am a vegetarian and have been for 3 years. I have been a vegan for 6 years. I'm also 14. :D I've asked people a similar question. They say that when they think of vegetarian they think of vegetables. Some peoples idea is that we only eat vegetables. Which is completely inaccurate! I eat loads and loads of Pasta and pizza which is not just vegetables. ^^ They also said that they thought that when people said they were vegetarian it meant that they wanted to loose weight. I started being a vegetarian when I was 5. Everyone thought it was a joke and wouldn't last because it was my own decision but I haven't touched a sliver of meat since then. I had this one really good friend that is still my friend. She had been annoying me and judging me for years about me being vegetarian. She just told me recently that she was bugging me about this because she envied my self-discipline. Maybe these are the reasons to why people find vegetarianism and veganism so confusing. ^^|||i understand it perfectly well...what i dont understand on the other hand is that all veggies and vegans think that any1 who eats meat clearly doesnt know whats goin on and are stupid...i know what happens to the food i eat i know where it comes from...so the question is two way why do alot of veggies not understand us...u may say we are ignorant...and we may say you are ignorant...tell me how many ppl this week have posted question that start like this "hi im 11/12/13/14/15 and i want to be a vegetarian and all there reason is ONE video they saw????|||I'm slightly irritated with individuals who call themselves veg*n while continuing to consume non-veg*n foods, and I think I have a right to be irritated. It's those omnivorous individuals who call themselves vegetarian or vegan ("oh, but I still eat cheese, chicken and fish - I could never give those up") who do a disservice to all vegetarians and vegans. It's because of those people incorrectly using the term vegetarian that the rest of us have to deal with misinformed individuals who insist that vegetarians eat fish/chicken/whatever because their friend "Joe" is vegetarian and he eats those things. Anyways, I do understand where you're coming from. That said, consider the forum you're on: Yahoo! Answers is hardly an appropriate avenue to find/give support of veg*ns and would-be veg*ns. If you want to intelligently discuss veg*nism, talk to veg*ns.|||I am vegan, and Yes, it does bother me to some extent and I can understand how you'd feel frustrated and annoyed with people who don't "get it" or even worse, don't WANT to "get it" even after you've tried to help them repeatedly. Most people have become so distanced from the source of their food that they really do forget that their filet of chicken or fish came from a real, live animal that was killed for its flesh. The socialization to eat meat runs so deep. The very idea of vegetarianism (or worse, veganism) reminds people that eating meat is a conscious choice and that is just so FOREIGN to them. I think a lot of people just can't understand WHY we would choose NOT to eat meat. They build up these emotional walls... and do not want to engage themselves intellectually. They half-listen when our justifications create feelings of anxiety and guilt. Some people seem to like staying caught up in arguing about our strange dietary "rules" in order to avoid (or suppress) an empathetic response. They'd rather carp about "do you get enough protein?" than really engage the issue. Choosing NOT to eat meat was really a paradigm-shifting experience for me. My whole world view changed. So I try to be humble and remember I was "once blind"... we've just got to be patient with these people, I guess. Human animals need empathy, too. (:|||Oh I understand. I find it really irritating sometimes. I have come to realize that many people think that we are extreme activists. You know, like when someone asks "Do you get angry if your cat kills a mouse?" That just doesn't make sense at all. The eating fish and chicken part I don't mind so much because I have traveled a bit and have found out that many cultures don't consider fish and fowl meat. In Costa Rica, they don't consider fish and fowl meat, meat is red and pork....so if you say, no meat, there may be chicken or fish in there. Korea is much the same. Plus, places like Costa Rica and Mexico, they don't have many vegetarians. They don't eat steak much, but they have their traditional foods that consist of meats. And well, western countries have people from many cultures...so I feel that I can understand this questions, that being said, it sure is asked alot...and I rarely answer it anymore :) I just find it annoying when the people who are anti-veggie but don't understand any of the reasons that we are what we are. I guess we put ourselves into a minority, now we deal with the masses of ignorant people (I am not trying to be rude). :)|||Hiya Yeah I agree, I hate explaining over and over why I chose to be veggie. Why can't people just accept it and move on? OK so I'm different. I'm *not* some kinda freak :D|||They find it confusing because vegetarian is a word used for animals (which we are) that do not eat meat. Vegan is a word that is made up by humans that do not eat or use any animal products, including eggs, milk or leather. That's nice, but you should embrace the differences in cultures. If you live in another clime (frozen tundra) its rather hard to grow kiwis and citrus so you eat to stay alive and whatever is available. If you have to eat blubber to keep your children alive, would you do that? We are so spoiled. Yes, I am annoyed.