Last month I went to my cousins wedding. His bride is a very opinionated vegan, often posting inflammatory things on Facebook decrying the abuses of animals slaughtered for consumption. My father, my cousins uncle, is a farmer, one who raises organic poultry for consumption. Obviously, they are on opposing sides when it comes to this particular topic. My cousin and his bride have visited the farm on more than one occasion, so it is no secret what my family is about. I see it as everyone is entitled to their opinion and can choose to consume or not consume as they please. Sadly, the bride does not see things this way and wants to force her opinion and choice upon everyone. Her wedding, which was attended by nearly 100 guests, was vegan. The food was terrible. There were two different types of rice served one with red beans and one with lentils, a simple spring mix salad with mango and green peppers, platanos maduros, yucca, stuffed potatoes, and something called jackfruit that looked an awful lot like pulled pork and tasted as bad as it smelled. I suppose I’m biased, not being vegan, but the food was truly awful. In fact, half of the wedding party snuck out and ordered pizza, including the grooms brother! Not only was the food strictly vegan, it was all representative of her Colombian culture and void of anything hinting at my cousin’s German-American heritage. Since the wedding, there have been some terse comments on Facebook, with some of the grooms family members grumbling about the awful buffet. The bride is immediately defensive and I can’t help but think, if only she could hold her opinion and truth for herself and allow others to do the same. I liken it to my experience as a foster parent. Obviously, I think it is a good idea to adopt from foster care and that more people should consider it. But, there are a whole host of reasons why it isn’t a good idea for everyone. The same could be said of being a vegan. Certainly, she has every right to her feelings and opinions regarding animal consumption. But, just as I cannot force all adoptive parents to choose foster care adoption, she cannot force everyone to adopt veganism as their lifestyle. And, I think it was sad that she chose to use her wedding as a platform to fight her cause.
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I love the comparison you make here, of times and places for making your cause known, and for realizing that your cause is yours and not necessarily for everyone's "consumption." It also assumes that people who don't choose that path haven't looked into it or researched it. That jackfruit sounds nasty. It's too bad it couldn't have had different options to represent both cultures, and that facebook has turned into a minefield of gripes.
ReplyDeleteJackfruit - can't imagine it looking like pulled pork, but I've never liked it!
ReplyDeleteI've always felt that when you're the bride and groom, you're the host to all your guests, and the key is to make them feel welcome. Clearly, she didn't. Ultimately, it's her loss.
And yes, I agree with you. It's all very well to have principles, but not to force them on others.
It is a shame that they couldn't offer the guests more of a choice, some organic meat maybe versus a vegan dish. I've eaten at a few vegan restaurants and the food can be really good if spiced correctly. We sometimes cook a coconut vegan veggie curry which is great.
ReplyDelete