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Person Shares A Conversation With An Aggressive Vegan Who Accused Them Of Appropriation Just Because They Enjoy Tofu
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Fear me, non-vegans, for I am the mighty tofu gatekeeper, and no meat-lovers shall feast on this delicious food! This is what one internet user nearly sounded like when they started having a cyberbullying sesh at an omnivore, who’d complimented their tofu recipe. Talk about being rude to someone acting nice.
“Tofu is strictly for vegans.” That’s what the self-proclaimed guardian of tofu declared after receiving praise from a beef-eater, who adored the tofu-lovers ‘tofurkey’ (tofu turkey) recipe. What followed was a back-and-forwards exchange that showed just how condescending and arrogant this particular veganism preacher is.
The text messages were uploaded to the ‘Gatekeeping’ subreddit, which has over 654,000 members. According to this online community, gatekeeping is “when someone takes it upon themselves to decide who does or does not have access or rights to a community or identity. /r/gatekeeping is a subreddit for screenshots and stories of gatekeepers in the wild.”
Image credits: Nick and Dana Blizzard
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What started as a friendly chat quickly devolved into accusations
Image credits: Arachnica
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Image credits: Arachnica
Image credits: Arachnica
The vegan was angry that the meat-eater was eating all of their tofu. Good heavens, the horror
Image credits: Arachnica
Medical News Today writes that tofu, which is made from soybean curds, is “naturally gluten-free and low in calories. It contains no cholesterol and is an excellent source of iron and calcium.” So it’s clear why vegan dieters, vegetarians, and omnivores are all angling for a bite.
What’s more, tofu is said to improve kidney function and cardiovascular health and may help fight prostate and breast cancer. This makes it a health-goldmine that ought to be shared with everyone, not jealously guarded by just a few.
I’m personally a big fan of meat — give me a steak any day of the week. But I know I should eat more veggies, greens, and other healthy foods. Whether or not you eat or avoid meat, there are numerous benefits of an all-vegan diet.
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Healthline argues that vegan diets are richer in certain nutrients like fiber, antioxidants and “beneficial plant compounds”, potassium, magnesium, folate, and vitamins A, C and E. Furthermore, going vegan can help you lose weight, lower your blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. But whatever your dietary preferences, the most important thing is acting like an adult, not an angsty teenager with something to prove and a holier-than-thou attitude.
Internet users reacted to the tofu gatekeeper with scorn
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What do you think ?
Tacitus86 5 years ago (edited)
This appropriation b******t needs to stop. I'm going to appropriate the s**t out of anything I like or want. This is my life and I adopt what is best for me, whether it be from my culture or another or whatever.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Now I want to throw an Appropriation Party. Everyone dress, hair, makeup in as many cultures as possible in one outfit, not as a mockery but to look as good as possible, food, alcohol and beverages from just everywhere, music games and entertainment from the entire planet . What holiday can we appropriate for this?
Load More Replies...
Puddin 5 years ago
If your party is about honoring other cultures and trying to look good, it's not appropriation. If it's about throwing it in people's faces that you don't care what their culture is or means, and just to prove that you can do what you please 100% of the time, it's at least insensitive. Appropriation is doing stuff like dressing in a cheongsam with chopsticks in your hair and saying you're a "geisha," which is a perpetuation of inaccurate and harmful stereotypes (cheongsams are Chinese and geisha are Japanese, and there's a lot of baggage here). Or taking a sacred or otherwise important token from one culture and misusing it. Going to Japan and dressing in a kimono for photos is not appropriation, dressing in a friend's kimono is not appropriation. Buying a "sexy Kimono/geisha costume" for Halloween is absolutely appropriation and upholds racist stereotypes. So your party, as you describe it, doesn't sound like appropriation. But it also sounds like you don't care.
Lillukka79 3 years ago (edited)
Pick any of them, christians have all ready appropriated all of theirs from others.
Crochet lady 5 years ago
I couldn't agree more, I come from a family of Irish on one side, black on the other and I'm married to a Jew. I don't know what culture is mine exactly, or my kids for that matter. It doesn't matter. If a black woman or a white woman (or a mixed race woman like me) wears a kimono I think that means they are influenced by and are paying homage to that culture, not stealing it, or warping it, they are celebrating it. People should be able to wear what they want, it's no one else's business. And don't get me started on what they eat...
Jazz Akins 5 years ago
The only people who think appropriating isn’t bad are people who have never had their culture appropriated. Most cultures have had to change their culture because what they do is seen as offensive or misunderstood, so there is really no choice but to appropriate in one way or another.
Beans 5 years ago
I've had my culture appropriated, and I don't think its bad. Culture isn't a pure thing, and it shouldn't remain 'pure' because that concept in and of itself is racist. When white people wear dreadlocks, and people call it 'appropriation' that's both untrue and harmful. Dreadlocks have been around freaking forever, and to pretend they are exclusively for someone of a certain race is racist, period. Indians probably 'invented' dreadlocks, so when Egyptians started using them-- guess what! It was appropriated. The greeks followed suit. Culture is an ever evolving and changing thing, and it is both folly and close minded to want to confine it. To make culture a thing only certain races can enjoy-- it cements the thing as an 'other' that is untouchable. This is bad. The only way to understand other cultures is to adopt them. I'm not talking about using a national dress as a costume, although when people wear lederhosen out of context, its apparently not appropriation?
Shireen 5 years ago
Seriously! I've getting way too out of hamd and it's absolutely rediculous! People should be able to eat, wear and do whatever they want as long as they're not physically hurting anyone else.
Puddin 5 years ago (edited)
Mr Me, buying a cheongsam and saying you're dressed as a "geisha" for Halloween is one example of appropriation. Here's how it could be harmful or at least offensive: cheongsam are Chinese, geisha are Japanese. Back before WWII, geisha were court performers and oiran were courtesans. But the two started getting conflated. People started viewing geisha as prostitutes. Then Westerners came, and started to refer to prostitutes as "geesha girls" and brought those stereotypes home with them. Now women wear Chinese clothing, saying they're prostitutes/geisha for Halloween. So now a dress from a whole different culture is getting conflated with prostitution because it's been appropriated by people who don't know the difference and don't care. Non-Chinese can wear cheongsams, non-Japanese can wear kimonos, but know the difference, and don't perpetuate racist stereotypes.
Daria B 5 years ago
Here in Korea, we traditionally eat both tofu AND meat/seafood pieces within the same stew. ♥
Jacki 5 years ago
Lots of Asian dishes have both tofu and meat in the same dish. Ex. mapo tofu
Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
Oh, there are many stewy and soupy recipes that include both tofu and meat (and/or seafood). Basically anything that ends with "-jjigae", really (or however it is written in roman letters). So, you can try looking for kimchi-jjigae, the best known one, it usually contains pieces of tofu and pieces of pork. Or soondubu-jjigae, that is tofu based, with addition of small seafood, like some types of small shellfish and crab (but this one uses a different kind of tofu). It should also be pretty simple to cook.
Luisa Vasconcelos 5 years ago
If this lady (probably Karen) know about this, Korea will be in serious problems. Everybody please keep silent about this information.
Kai 5 years ago
I always been quite jealous of asian recipes. In my country, most of the recipes are not healthy.
DP von Icecream 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Maybe you simply did not search hard enough. As every country also existed BEFORE junk food. Try YouTube it is literally FULL of good cooking videos.
Trina Louise 5 years ago
A lot of Vegans are not in it for the health benefits, just the social perks of being perceived as "better than you"
iblowsheep 5 years ago
yep and this kind of behavior perpetuates that persona.
Load More Replies...
Claire 5 years ago
Most vegans are not in it for the health benefits - SO TRUE! Most vegans are vegan for the animals and nothing else. The positive impact on our health and on the environment is just a great side effect.
Puddin 5 years ago
If the person in the post were in it for the animals, though, I think they'd be at least a little happy for any time a meat-eater chooses to forgo meat, because that means less meat eaten overall, an animal saved. But they act like it's a cool label. Like anyone who eats meat needs to eat it 100% of the time.
Clinton Yew 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The thing is those "better" vegan don't go around vivifying meat-eaters and will just respect everyone's choice while maintaining theirs rather than go around waving photos of tortured animals, warp themselves in package warp, cry father cry mother like a freaking maniac. Period.
Subhajit M 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Then why don't you become a better vegan and become an example?
JPlayz 5 years ago
A lot of Vegans are also interested in animal welfare too. It's a complex area, because a very large number of extra vegans have appeared who may be less interested in animal welfare and more into joining what they perceive as the trend. I do think meat eaters are the ones who think that vegans think they're better than them. Not vegans who think that. Perhaps they feel slightly guilty that they don't really need meat. They simply enjoy the taste.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Downvotes. Lol. Omnis are such wusses it’s incredible
Isabella kratosisy 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
And it will end like every trend.
Wesley Llan 5 years ago
I'm pretty sure Subjajit that you haven't leaned science in quite some time.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
You kill the planet.
Subhajit M 5 years ago (edited)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The trend will end with the world if we continue with this broken food and healthcare system. Future is vegan or there isn't any. Read the science and not the propaganda.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
No, a lot of omnivores just think that someone appealing to morality is offensive and a display of who is better. Because omnis can’t get over anyone making a moral declaration that they aren’t a part of. And FYI no vegan is in it for heath benefits. Vegan is a moral stance. Not a diet. You’re thinking of plant based diets. Stay mad.
Aria Whitaker 5 years ago
You dont know most "omnis" to know WHAT they "cant get over". Generalizing Vegans based off the obnoxious behavior of the one in the post is just as vile as generalizing "omnis" based on the few you have experienced. Since you are being so "moral" about your eating habits, how about you also adopt the "moral stance" of not judging millions of people you don't know due to the behavior of a few??
Iapetos 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It doesn't occur to you that it's the most ethical and least cruel diet in the world?
Julia Daxenbichler 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
That is absolutely not true.
Subhajit M 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Trina then why don't you become "better than you" version of yourself? Why can't you? Happy spreading the typical anti-vegan propaganda when the world needs to move to a plant based lifestyle to combat the climate crisis? No, vegans don't go vegan for health, they do it for the animals.
Clinton Yew 5 years ago
And here we have one hallucinating vegan proclaim to save the world by going vegan.
Tacitus86 5 years ago (edited)
This appropriation b******t needs to stop. I'm going to appropriate the s**t out of anything I like or want. This is my life and I adopt what is best for me, whether it be from my culture or another or whatever.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Now I want to throw an Appropriation Party. Everyone dress, hair, makeup in as many cultures as possible in one outfit, not as a mockery but to look as good as possible, food, alcohol and beverages from just everywhere, music games and entertainment from the entire planet . What holiday can we appropriate for this?
Load More Replies... Puddin 5 years ago
If your party is about honoring other cultures and trying to look good, it's not appropriation. If it's about throwing it in people's faces that you don't care what their culture is or means, and just to prove that you can do what you please 100% of the time, it's at least insensitive. Appropriation is doing stuff like dressing in a cheongsam with chopsticks in your hair and saying you're a "geisha," which is a perpetuation of inaccurate and harmful stereotypes (cheongsams are Chinese and geisha are Japanese, and there's a lot of baggage here). Or taking a sacred or otherwise important token from one culture and misusing it. Going to Japan and dressing in a kimono for photos is not appropriation, dressing in a friend's kimono is not appropriation. Buying a "sexy Kimono/geisha costume" for Halloween is absolutely appropriation and upholds racist stereotypes. So your party, as you describe it, doesn't sound like appropriation. But it also sounds like you don't care.
Lillukka79 3 years ago (edited)
Pick any of them, christians have all ready appropriated all of theirs from others.
Crochet lady 5 years ago
I couldn't agree more, I come from a family of Irish on one side, black on the other and I'm married to a Jew. I don't know what culture is mine exactly, or my kids for that matter. It doesn't matter. If a black woman or a white woman (or a mixed race woman like me) wears a kimono I think that means they are influenced by and are paying homage to that culture, not stealing it, or warping it, they are celebrating it. People should be able to wear what they want, it's no one else's business. And don't get me started on what they eat...
Jazz Akins 5 years ago
The only people who think appropriating isn’t bad are people who have never had their culture appropriated. Most cultures have had to change their culture because what they do is seen as offensive or misunderstood, so there is really no choice but to appropriate in one way or another.
Beans 5 years ago
I've had my culture appropriated, and I don't think its bad. Culture isn't a pure thing, and it shouldn't remain 'pure' because that concept in and of itself is racist. When white people wear dreadlocks, and people call it 'appropriation' that's both untrue and harmful. Dreadlocks have been around freaking forever, and to pretend they are exclusively for someone of a certain race is racist, period. Indians probably 'invented' dreadlocks, so when Egyptians started using them-- guess what! It was appropriated. The greeks followed suit. Culture is an ever evolving and changing thing, and it is both folly and close minded to want to confine it. To make culture a thing only certain races can enjoy-- it cements the thing as an 'other' that is untouchable. This is bad. The only way to understand other cultures is to adopt them. I'm not talking about using a national dress as a costume, although when people wear lederhosen out of context, its apparently not appropriation?
Shireen 5 years ago
Seriously! I've getting way too out of hamd and it's absolutely rediculous! People should be able to eat, wear and do whatever they want as long as they're not physically hurting anyone else.
Puddin 5 years ago (edited)
Mr Me, buying a cheongsam and saying you're dressed as a "geisha" for Halloween is one example of appropriation. Here's how it could be harmful or at least offensive: cheongsam are Chinese, geisha are Japanese. Back before WWII, geisha were court performers and oiran were courtesans. But the two started getting conflated. People started viewing geisha as prostitutes. Then Westerners came, and started to refer to prostitutes as "geesha girls" and brought those stereotypes home with them. Now women wear Chinese clothing, saying they're prostitutes/geisha for Halloween. So now a dress from a whole different culture is getting conflated with prostitution because it's been appropriated by people who don't know the difference and don't care. Non-Chinese can wear cheongsams, non-Japanese can wear kimonos, but know the difference, and don't perpetuate racist stereotypes.
Daria B 5 years ago
Here in Korea, we traditionally eat both tofu AND meat/seafood pieces within the same stew. ♥
Jacki 5 years ago
Lots of Asian dishes have both tofu and meat in the same dish. Ex. mapo tofu
Daria B 5 years ago (edited)
Oh, there are many stewy and soupy recipes that include both tofu and meat (and/or seafood). Basically anything that ends with "-jjigae", really (or however it is written in roman letters). So, you can try looking for kimchi-jjigae, the best known one, it usually contains pieces of tofu and pieces of pork. Or soondubu-jjigae, that is tofu based, with addition of small seafood, like some types of small shellfish and crab (but this one uses a different kind of tofu). It should also be pretty simple to cook.
Luisa Vasconcelos 5 years ago
If this lady (probably Karen) know about this, Korea will be in serious problems. Everybody please keep silent about this information.
Kai 5 years ago
I always been quite jealous of asian recipes. In my country, most of the recipes are not healthy.
DP von Icecream 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Maybe you simply did not search hard enough. As every country also existed BEFORE junk food. Try YouTube it is literally FULL of good cooking videos.
Trina Louise 5 years ago
A lot of Vegans are not in it for the health benefits, just the social perks of being perceived as "better than you"
iblowsheep 5 years ago
yep and this kind of behavior perpetuates that persona.
Load More Replies... Claire 5 years ago
Most vegans are not in it for the health benefits - SO TRUE! Most vegans are vegan for the animals and nothing else. The positive impact on our health and on the environment is just a great side effect.
Puddin 5 years ago
If the person in the post were in it for the animals, though, I think they'd be at least a little happy for any time a meat-eater chooses to forgo meat, because that means less meat eaten overall, an animal saved. But they act like it's a cool label. Like anyone who eats meat needs to eat it 100% of the time.
Clinton Yew 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The thing is those "better" vegan don't go around vivifying meat-eaters and will just respect everyone's choice while maintaining theirs rather than go around waving photos of tortured animals, warp themselves in package warp, cry father cry mother like a freaking maniac. Period.
Subhajit M 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Then why don't you become a better vegan and become an example?
JPlayz 5 years ago
A lot of Vegans are also interested in animal welfare too. It's a complex area, because a very large number of extra vegans have appeared who may be less interested in animal welfare and more into joining what they perceive as the trend. I do think meat eaters are the ones who think that vegans think they're better than them. Not vegans who think that. Perhaps they feel slightly guilty that they don't really need meat. They simply enjoy the taste.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Downvotes. Lol. Omnis are such wusses it’s incredible
Isabella kratosisy 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
And it will end like every trend.
Wesley Llan 5 years ago
I'm pretty sure Subjajit that you haven't leaned science in quite some time.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
You kill the planet.
Subhajit M 5 years ago (edited)
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The trend will end with the world if we continue with this broken food and healthcare system. Future is vegan or there isn't any. Read the science and not the propaganda.
Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
No, a lot of omnivores just think that someone appealing to morality is offensive and a display of who is better. Because omnis can’t get over anyone making a moral declaration that they aren’t a part of. And FYI no vegan is in it for heath benefits. Vegan is a moral stance. Not a diet. You’re thinking of plant based diets. Stay mad.
Aria Whitaker 5 years ago
You dont know most "omnis" to know WHAT they "cant get over". Generalizing Vegans based off the obnoxious behavior of the one in the post is just as vile as generalizing "omnis" based on the few you have experienced. Since you are being so "moral" about your eating habits, how about you also adopt the "moral stance" of not judging millions of people you don't know due to the behavior of a few??
Iapetos 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It doesn't occur to you that it's the most ethical and least cruel diet in the world?
Julia Daxenbichler 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
That is absolutely not true.
Subhajit M 5 years ago
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Trina then why don't you become "better than you" version of yourself? Why can't you? Happy spreading the typical anti-vegan propaganda when the world needs to move to a plant based lifestyle to combat the climate crisis? No, vegans don't go vegan for health, they do it for the animals.
Clinton Yew 5 years ago
And here we have one hallucinating vegan proclaim to save the world by going vegan.
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