I Liked Regular Cheese Better Than Vegan Cheese and Ended Up on the Vegan Stake
When, like me, you’re a writer and you air your opinions, you know: people may respond. Both positively and negatively. Of course, I like the positive ones best, but the negative ones are welcome too. I can learn from a bit of constructive criticism as well. But last week I wrote a piece about the first vegan cheese market in the Netherlands, which will take place in Utrecht on October 1, and discovered that the vegan community can be rather vocal.
In the screenshot below, two readers tagged me on Instagram. Apparently, my statement that, as a great cheese lover, I draw the line at vegan cheese when it comes to foods I’m willing to give another chance was enough reason to accuse me of obstructing climate action.
‘Typical Karin’
Let me make one thing clear: I absolutely have nothing against vegan food, nor against vegans. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what and how they eat — but apparently, as a meat eater and cheese eater, I’m not allowed to. Because when I publicly proclaim that I prefer ‘real’ cheese to vegan alternatives, I apparently also support cows being raped, calves being torn away from their mothers and then ending up in a slaughterhouse.
And apparently, because I love cheese, I lack empathy, while I do consider my taste buds important (the latter is indeed true). Then another Instagrammer piles on, saying that I apparently think it’s okay ‘to steal milk that doesn’t come from my mother’ (?) and that, because I made a statement online about liking cheese made from animal milk, I don’t consider climate change important, which means I’m not right in the head and perhaps the worst insult of all: I’m a Typical Karin.
Treat people with kindness
The slogan of none other than Harry Styles seems quite applicable here, I think. I suspect that the vegan community doesn’t have the best reputation among many people; people often say that the community is rather accusatory, that their truth is the only truth and that acceptance of non-vegans is nonexistent. Now, I know this absolutely does not apply to the entire community, because I personally know vegans too. Very lovely ones, in fact. They just don’t make it their entire personality and accept that some people are vegetarian, eat only fish or only meat, or simply eat everything. Just as I accept that.
And that’s exactly what’s so unfortunate in this case: I’m always open to a conversation or a discussion in which both sides can learn from each other. But to go so completely overboard about one sentence, about cheese, I really find excessive. How do these keyboard warriors know so well what I’m like? Maybe I support the Party for the Animals, donate money every month to charities that also work for animal rights, and make conscious, sustainable choices every day despite eating meat and cheese? These bizarre assumptions and accusations ensure that we don’t actually talk to each other — even though everyone could learn from that.
On the vegan stake
So here’s a friendly but urgent request: just treat each other with respect. And if you don’t understand certain statements, actions or ideas, simply ask about them instead of making assumptions. Besides, it’s an awful waste of your own energy to get so angry with me, one person, because I might not go to the vegan cheese market in Utrecht (although at the end I did say I’d like to go, and I even asked for tips on good vegan cheese because I haven’t found it myself yet — but perhaps you hadn’t read that far before furiously starting to type?).
Anyway, be a little kind to one another — and who knows, see you at the vegan cheese market. Love, your Typical Karin.
