{"id":229,"date":"2024-12-09T19:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T19:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/aa-foodways-fys\/?p=229"},"modified":"2024-12-10T02:04:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T02:04:45","slug":"are-vegans-really-that-annoying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/aa-foodways-fys\/2024\/12\/09\/are-vegans-really-that-annoying\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Vegans Really That Annoying?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cResearch has shown that only drug addicts inspire the same degree of loathing (as vegans)\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zaria Gorvett<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As a multiethnic man growing up in Los Angeles, I was accustomed to both the street vendors selling tacos out of a tent and the whole foods across the street that sold outrageously expensive ingredients for people with any form of alternate diet. To me, veganism was just another one of those diets that my family and I deemed as \u201cwhite people stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The taco spot in my neighborhood featured in https:\/\/lataco.com\/best-tacos-echo-park<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The whole foods 365 right down the block
https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/losangeles\/news\/2016\/05\/26\/whole-foods-opens-first-365-store-in-silver-lake.html<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Professor Lynn Johnsons class is the first time I introspectively challenged this belief as I learned about the history of African American food and culture. We started off by analyzing the origins of soul food where I learned about how soul dishes were ingeniously crafted from the leftover scraps which enslaved Africans struggled to acquire. 
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I then learned about the power connected to soul food and how it acted as a catalyst for bringing the black community together. During the Great Depression, The famous preacher and entrepreneur Father Major Jealous Divine served soul food at his sermons, drawing crowds for both his speeches and the communal meals. During the Civil Rights Movement, Peaches Soul Restaurant became a safe haven, providing food and shelter to activists. Even today, events like the Muskogee Soul Food Cookout in Oklahoma and the Chitlin\u2019 Strut in South Carolina celebrate this shared heritage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 54th Annual Chitlin Strut in South Carolina (Click to see more)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward, we learned about the dangers of modern day soul food as recipes use tons of fats, oils, and preservatives causing the black community to be disproportionally affected by health defects<\/a>. In Soul Food Junkies <\/em>The documentary highlights that \u201cThe incidence of pancreatic cancer is 50-90% higher in African-Americans than any other race in the U.S.\u201d (Soul Food Junkies<\/em> 0:45:21). To combat these health issues, many African Americans donned a vegan diet which has been scientifically proven to lower the risk of different heart problems. Sadly, these same people who simply seek to improve the health of themselves and their communities are often shunned for a variety of reasons. Firstly, many members of the black community feel a disconnect from their vegan peers since they see a vegan diet as rejecting historically black food and traditions. Secondly, many vegans are perceived as stuck up. As time goes on, the evidence of animal mistreatment and the health benefits associated with veganism get more and more solidified and as a result, we view vegans who make a choice that we are not willing to make as irritating. Essentially, we view vegans as disconnected from our culture (white) and annoying\/in our face (that vegan teacher).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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