Dating A Vegan

You have discovered that the guy or girl you are interested in is a vegan. Once you recovered from the initial shock of it, because you believed that vegans were long haired freaky people that lived on communes, you realise that apart from salads, tofu, and lentils, you have no idea what it is that vegans actually eat. Having no idea about how to actually date a vegan, you have decided to do a Google search and ended up here.

First of all, don’t even think for a minute that you will be able to ‘educate’ this person on the error of their ways and that they will all of a sudden go back to eating meat. It is not going to happen.

The next thing that you should be aware of is that there are two different types of vegans. Those that can handle you eating non-vegan food infront of them, and those that can’t. If the vegan that you are soon to be dating has suggested that a meal together, then there is a good chance that they aren’t the latter.

So where do you take them?
Unless they have suggested a place, be a little considerate and don’t go to a steak house or seafood restaurant. Impress your date by doing a little bit of homework beforehand and find out which restaurants cater for vegans, you may actually be surprised by the number that do. It also might score you some more points if you are sure that the restaurant serves more than just a salad or risotto.

You’ve settled on a place to eat, now what?

As with everything else in life, there is a little bit of etiquette that should be followed if you want to see this person again and not end up wearing the evening meal.

  • Please refrain from commenting on how pink or how much blood is oozing out of the medium rare steak you have ordered.
  • Please avoid telling your date how good your meal is and that they don’t know what they are missing out on.
  • Please don’t push your plate over to your date suggesting that they try some of your meal, and that you wont tell anyone if they do.
  • Please don’t joke with the wait staff that your date is a fussy eater because they asked for something vegan, then you go ahead and and order a particular cut of meat, cooked a particular way, with a specific sauce, becuase that is being fussy.
  • Even if you are genuinely curious, please avoid asking your date where they get their protein, vitamins, or minerals from. Do your own research and show your date that you are actually intelligent enough to find things out for yourself. It’s not that we are touchy about being asked this question, it is more to do with the fact that being asked the same question over and over again does get a little bit monotonous.
  • As sympathetic as you are trying to be, please don’t tell your date that you admire them for what they are doing, though you would never be able to give up eating meat. Though you have managed to cut it back to only 3 or 4 meals per week, and that you only choose organic and free range meat. Not only is this pointless, it is actually a tad on the insulting side.

Whilst these may seem like a whole heap of over the top rules, they are more about showing respect to your date. Much the same way that you would be annoyed if your date started to try and ‘sell’ you on the benefits of veganism, you shouldn’t really try and convince them how wrong they are.

As long as you aren’t a complete idiot or devoid of personality, the tips here may go some way to help make your first date a success, and to possibly getting a second date…

What are your thoughts?