Thanks for the post, I will look for more information about hese things.

People think vegetarians and vegans are cranky, I think, because too often vegans especially seem to want to take the joy out of food.

I know this isn’t true of everyone and I myself cook vegan/vegetarian a lot. But I notice that most vegan food is simply awful. And few vegans I have met take joy in eating. It’s like penance.

In fact, I cold draw some interesting parallels between people who say they are vegans because they don’t want to be cruel to animals, and those who have dietary restrictions because they are concerned for the state of their souls. There’s even a whiff of a desire for immortality — people claim all kinds of (I think overblown) benefits for vegan diets that amount to saying they want to live forever. Not that health is a bad thing, but it’s almost like “I am a better person as a vegan, and will live forever too.” Even though the food itself is often pretty terrible. That’s the penance element that creeps into any vegan dietary practices for a lot of people.

There’s also bad vegan practice, in which people forget that if you are going to eat no animal products whatsoever you need to replace certain nutrients that are just easier for the human body to metabolize. (We aren’t ruminants, after all) and if you need vitamin supplements, you’re doing it wrong. You should be able to get every nutrient you need from food (outside of certain medical conditions like allergies).

This, by the way, seems to be exclusive to vegans and veggies I meet who were raised in western cultures. Most of my favorite recipes that involve no meat are from India, Africa and Eastern Asia and those folks always seem to be having a lot more fun with it. And there is a movement among some vegans to cook better food. (Hint: never, ever use a meat substitute unless and until you know how to cook a vegetable. Your tastebuds will thank you. And why are you using meat substitute anyway?)

So even if as a vegetarian im cranky, its simple, dont irritate me. there are much greater mental problems for people to deal with, and being grumpy shouldnt even be on the list.