I would love to meet a vegan that didn't fall into the extremist category! Speaking of foaming at the mouth, that's what my cousin did when someone suggested her lifestyle was extreme. It was over the internet but I swear I could see the foam flinging off her bared teeth. She doesn't speak to me anymore (no, I wasn't the one who said she was extreme) but there was an incident...
She had become vegan while in college and then got a job after graduate school, in Australia (no, her name is not Catherine). She was always a spoiled brat but the veganism just seemed to amplify this or maybe it was the other way around, not sure. Her mom, my auntie, makes a lot money compared to the rest of the family and they live it up so those who blame veganism on the well-to-do western world... Anyway... She came home to visit and her mom threw a welcome home party disguised as her usual 4th of July party. We all did what we always do and brought potluck dishes. But something was just off. My auntie had just renovated their A-frame house, was showing it off and it was impressive if you like that kind of generic contract thing (I'm more of a run-down farm house gal). In a quaint air-conditioned nook off their deck was a whole table of muddy-colored, mushy vegan dishes. We placed our non-vegan dishes among them, including my mom's famous seven layer beans (with bacon) and my jam thumbprint cookies (butter, sugar and more sugar). I thought that was awkward and then, on the other side of the property, under the garage lean-to was the grill. The meat on the grill never made it to this table. If you wanted it, you went out there to get it. Well, the deck had been truncated in the renovation and now seated exactly five people, no more, no less. This included my cousin, her mother, her sister and her husband, and her best vegan friend. I may be exaggerating slightly, it might have been seven because I seem to remember her having a few vegan friends, not just one. We have a BIG family mind you, so this arrangement of us sitting under the garage lean-to with the grill and the hoity-toity hosts on the deck was a little aggravating. We all felt it and then it happened...
My cousin descended from on high to mingle with the commoners. This was a big feat, we understand, because the smell of meat makes her physically ill. But she came to see my grandfather (the last time she saw him before he passed away). After a few words with him, she decided to show her friend how the other half lives, I kid you not. She went to the grill and described how we meat-eaters live, like the girl had been a vegan all her life and had never seen an omnivore before. She made certain she was heard too, not some private information session. Grrrr... I had already grown tired of her preaching on facebook, her passion was borderline offensive and now this! You come home from halfway across the globe, invite us to your home (a 6hr round trip) and insult us???
A few days later I couldn't contain my anger any longer and wrote her, called her on it. Yeah, maybe not the smartest move but on the plus side, since she blocked me from facebook, I get a lot less of those sermons in my news feed (this was before facebook had all the glittery filters).
So yeah, I try to be civil when dealing with vegans because I don't like judging people but my experiences with them leave me very wary. I haven't known many, maybe three or four. But so far, they all fit the mold left by my cousin, including the author of this blog.