Omni News

I'm real close to my family (mom, dad, siblings), I'm a grown adult and my siblings have family of their own, on my birthday every year we all go to my favorite vegan restaurant , they are all Omni and enjoy some vegan dishes but mainly go to accommodate me on my special day

I most often than not don't attend when they meet up at a Omni restaurant, I feel bad but even if they have crappy vegan options I refuse to give my money to a restaurant that slaughterers animals😭🤦🏽

Not said with an edge, only clarity. We aren't herbivores. An omnivore is a life form that biologically can sustain itself on a diet of plants and animals. We are all omnivores. They are carnists. Omnivore is a statement of biology, vegan and carnist are statements of choice.

A bit of a vent and sweet “revenge” story.

I’ve been on vacation in northern Florida with my family (boyfriend, me, and kid) visiting the BFs friend that lives here. The friend is of course an omnivore.

We spend most of our meals compromising for this friend. He wants to show us the cool restaurants he likes. Alright, awesome. We are accommodating people and want to experience his city with him, but we end up eating vegetarian dishes (of which there is normally one or two options on the menu) and have to remove cheese or mayos/dairy sauces and make it a very lack luster meal by the end of the modifications to get us as close to vegan as possible.

On the last dinner here I request a vegan restaurant. We send him the link. He’s all good to go. We get there and he overhears us saying “everything is vegan” and he goes “what? What about fried shrimp on the menu?”. Completely flabbergasted. He cannot believe he is somewhere he cannot choose meat. He admitted later that he considered walking down the street to eat somewhere else.

He proceeded to give the cashier a hard time and make light of the vegan menu. We sat down and there was another omnivore he found camaraderie with that only made him more brazen. They brought us our utensils and they were made of wood. He loudly exclaimed “hey these are vegan too!” For the whole restaurant to hear. At this point I told him the hurdle he was having such a hard time getting over was just eating some vegetables. He then had to be reminded that he was the minority in the restaurant and most of the people there were vegan or adjacent.

I was floored that he was so rude. Embarasssed for the amazing woman who I could tell was the owner. She said it was entertaining but I know. We know. Our eyes roll and our blood boils inside.

Ok, rant over. Thanks for letting me lament!

Edit: thanks for whoever sent me a redditcares message, but I can assure you I’m really happy even if I’m vegan lol

Seriously though, does that ever get used for good or only to harass people?

Omni says I’m full of crap regarding my own ethical stance that I’ve heard for nearly a decade.

And I totally would have gone. I love dumb stuff like that. They even have vegan meals!!

But then I remembered that they have horses and falcons in their shows...

Why do we need to have animal abuse for entertainment in 2023?

They turned me vegan. It's been five years for me, was almost six for them. They recently developed MCAS, or another similar autoimmune disorder, that makes a lot of staple vegan ingredients hard to consume without medical treatment (they don't have insurance). For a while, it was just dairy, then eggs, then fish, now, they're even eating beef again! Literally the worst for the climate. Beef was the reason they told me to become vegan, and they're eating it again. I can understand having a hard time finding what foods work with illness, but now they just don't care anymore. Up until a few months ago they were still posting insta stories about climate change and animal rights and now they're fucking eating it. They've changed so much and I don't know how their morals could just fly out the window like that. I don't even need my friends to be vegan, but the fact that they can just change their mind so suddenly makes me not even want them in my life.

Their stance was that their family in Mexico would see it that way because they don't have the luxury of refusing food.

I pointed out that for most of the world eating meat is a privilege and bread is for the poor. A pound of rice is cheaper than a pound of chicken in most places.

I think they also are looking at it from a "veganism is for rich white people" angle. Neither of us are white or rich but I get this is a widely held belief. I know tempeh was created in Indonesia thousands of years ago as a protein presumably because meat was very expensive. But I don't know a whole lot more about the role of plant based food in world history to counter this argument. If you guys are knowledgeable about this or other good points to mention please help me out.

Also if anyone knows about traditional central and South American food. I've heard that those dishes were very plant centric before the Spaniards showed up.

Just a rant to say how every since going vegan, I have started to appreciate or become closer to friends who also value animals or just my values. Friends that choose a vegan place when we go to dinner, or look at the menu to see if I have something to eat (although sometimes they see vegetarian items and assume I can eat it). I love it when people embrace my choices and want to walk in my shoes for just a meal. On the flip side, I feel (though it may be self centered) that friends that don’t think about or do the things I just listened, care less and I, as a result, feel less connected to them over time.