Internet commenters were outraged after one father and husband revealed how his wife’s dietary preferences are tearing their family apart.
Internet commenters were outraged after one father and husband revealed how his wife’s dietary preferences are tearing their family apart.In a viral Reddit post published on the popular r/TrueOffMyChest forum, Redditor u/FanUnlikely3822 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said all was well when his wife became a vegetarian but explained how the dynamic changed dramatically when she swore off animal products altogether.
Titled, “My wife has become a militant vegan and I can’t stand it anymore,” the post has received more than 16,500 upvotes and 3,200 comments since August 26.
“My wife became a vegetarian 3 years ago during the lockdowns,” OP began. “I told her that was fine but not to expect me or the kids to follow along.”
After multiple problem-less years spent experimenting with vegetarianism and cooking meat separately, the original poster said his wife recently dove headfirst into veganism, incorrectly assuming that her family would take the plunge too.
“At first it started with her getting a bit preachy about things,” OP wrote. “She went Vegan soon after and it has been a living hell since.
“She told me that animal products would not be allowed in the house at all…[and] I brought up the fact that she agreed that the rest of the family would not have to follow her diet,” OP continued. “She had a tantrum. A full on toddler tantrum.
“She tried to get the kids to watch documentaries with her, and has meltdowns when they don’t want to,” OP added. “Our son makes fun of her behind her back all the time now, and…our daughter refuses to be around her…and tells me when she moves out of the house that she will never talk to her mom unless something changes.”
Last year, lifestyle website The VOU estimated that just 1 percent of the world’s population is vegan.
Despite such a small percentage, however, the last decade has seen a worldwide explosion in veganism and earlier in 2022, Plant Proteins reported that 6 percent of the U.S. population is currently vegan, marking a 500 percent increase from 2014.
But even with an increasing number of vegans, vegan restaurants and plant-based options at traditional eateries, convincing a meat-eating individual to convert remains a tall task.
Lindsay Nixon, author of “Happy Herbivore” and other vegan cookbooks, recommends that those spreading the plant-based gospel make sure to lead by example and educate others in a constructive manner, as any in-your-face strategies are sure to backfire.
“In my experiences, I’ve had [zero] converts when I pushed to tried [to] preach to someone why they should adopt a plan-based (vegan) diet,” Nixon asserts.
Wife screams at husband over non-vegan diet. Members of Reddit’s r/TrueOffMyChest forum were shocked to learn how one woman has repeatedly tried to force her husband and teenaged children into adopting her vegan diet. dragana991/iStock / Getty Images Plus
Throughout the comment section of the viral Reddit post, Redditors echoed this sentiment and called out the original poster’s wife for pushing her dietary preferences onto OP and their teenaged children so aggressively.
“It boggles my mind that someone would act towards her own family like this,” Redditor u/FalseEpiphany wrote in the post’s top comment, which has received more than 10,000 upvotes.
“Has she accomplished anything besides alienating them?” they questioned. “You don’t convert people this way.”
Redditor u/HarlequinMadness, whose comment has received more than 3,500 upvotes, doubled down on that stance.
“People that act like this are so convinced of the ‘righteousness’ of their position that the ONLY reason you wouldn’t think like them is because you’re selfish and evil,” they posited.
“I bet she has been, for lack of a better word, ‘radicalized’ by extremist vegans on social media,” Redditor u/Unneccessary_Timeline speculated.
In a separate comment, which has received more than 2,300 upvotes, Redditor u/peasinacan offered a potential solution to the original poster.
“Seek professional help,” they advised. “For the whole family.”
Newsweek reached out to u/FanUnlikely3822 for comment.
