Thursday, July 10, 2008

Do People Tease You Too?

I know the answer to this already, but I just have to complain. I'm so sick of people teasing me about what I eat. Or even commenting about it in general. It's so funny because being vegan FAR from defines me (I haven't even followed this lifestyle that long) but people always make jokes at the office about my "science project" lunch, which is funny to me, but then they all make a big deal when we're doing a recipe exchange or something. They are like "is it going to be some of your vegan crap?" and I always say "no, I'll make you something you'll like" and it's vegan and then I tell them and they stop liking it. What the hell? Why are people so scared of this?

I have three office food moments coming up. On Monday we're having a "Make Your Own Sundae" fundraiser. No biggie. When asked if it was a good idea, I said that I'd bring my own ice cream (i'm Angela on the party planning committee) and everyone was like "you're so high maintenance". I'm bringing my own. I didn't say "make sure we buy some vegan stuff", I just said that I would bring my own. Then we have a summer picnic for the office in two weeks. This is supposed to be a "gift" to us for all our hard work. Yeah, I'm going to have to bring my own food for this too. The place they are ordering from has salad but no one cared. It's not that I want special attention, but they know and I'm on the committee and part of the team. Our Christmas party has a limited menu as well, though we could expand it if we choose AT NO CHARGE! But no, that would be ridiculous to offer another option. So I'm going to have to do my standard just eat the french fries off the plate. I don't want special attention, as I'm writing this it seems like I do, but what I really want is for me to be ALLOWED to follow my lifestyle. I can make the calls for all of this, but they are like "oh don't bother them". When I went out with my girlfriends they all insisted that I order separate from them because they are afraid people will spit in all our food when I ask for no butter. What the heck?

Ok, I'm ranting, but I'm pissed. When they asked me what I could eat from the BBQ place I told them that I verified the fries and green beans were vegan. Tell me why we couldn't throw that on our catering order for a whopping $6 when everyone else is getting a $20 meal for free?

5 comments:

happyherbivore.com said...

people that tease you are insecure, point that out and they'll never talk crap again.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I'm with you; I never understand why people are so scared/closed-minded about vegan food. I guess people are afraid of things they don't know. I mean, peanut butter and jelly is vegan, as is spaghetti, yet no one ever makes fun of those... and people eat refried beans no problem, so why do they say "Eww gross" to soy beans? It just doesn't make sense!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Aww, thanks for the sweet comment about the cupcake on my blog :o)

Gena said...

How frustrating, Karla! But we've all been there. Hang in there, even when it's hard -- know that the teasing comes from an insecure and weak-minded place. You are above it and have many friends in the vegan blog community!

mad about udon said...

What's unfair is if you had a serious allergy, people would be bending over backwards to accomodate you. Honestly, as proud as I am to be a vegan, sometimes I just say "I am highly allergic to dairy and eggs." It does the trick..