Dave Smith wrote:

> Extremism seems to be what some people prefer. I would put milk
products
> in the category as honey. You don't have kill a cow to get milk from
it,
> though cows that stop producing usually end up in someone's oven.

I think that's sort of fair--in that if you own your own cow and treat
it well and milk it everyday, no one is really being hurt. It can also
be true on small, well-run farms. Vegans don't drink milk because they
believe that cows suffer on commercial dairy farms. The milking itself
doesn't hurt them, but the way they are raised and treated does. The
dairy industry also feeds the veal industry, as the male cows have to
go somewhere.

> The vegans I have known would never espouse it as a way of life for
> everyone. It's a rebellious sort of life style that differentiates
them
> from the rest of the world.

Yes, there is often an element of that. Also, a very large percentage
of female vegans have eating disorders.

> I don't take it as a personal front. I just refuse to cater to them.
I
> once had a vegan show up at our place for a Christmas gathering. My
> nephew's daughter, unbeknownst to me, was (temporarily) a vegan. I
didn't
> know she was a vegan and I didn't know that she was coming. Her
father had
> put some vegan goodies together for her but forgot them at home. As
we were
> trying to put dinner for 16 on the table my wife was running around
trying
> to find something that would suit her diet. This same girl, just a
year
> and a half later, was sitting across from me at a brunch buffet
chowing
> down on a plate full of ham, eggs, chicken and fish. Just like every
other
> vegetarian I have ever known she went back to the pleasures of eating
> flesh.

I don't think you should have to cater to them. If you have peculiar
eating habits, you should know that once you leave your own home you
have to fend for yourself in the food department.