A parent has sparked a debate online after feeding meat to her son's friend — even though he's vegan.

The debate began on Reddit after user DazzlingCatation revealed the sticky situation she ran into when their son's friend stayed over for dinner one evening.

The 13-year-old boy was raised vegan, and his parents asked that he only be served vegan food. However, the Redditor had already prepared to serve meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, and the boy was happy to eat it.

Furious debate: A parent has sparked a debate online about proper etiquette when feeding someone's child after the person fed their son's vegan friend meat for dinner (stock photo)

'So my son had a friend over for dinner the other night,' the mother wrote. 'For context, they're both 13, and the friend's parents are vegan.

'I don't know anything about vegan food and don't have many vegetables I normally cook — pretty much all I ever make for vegetable sides is buttered corn, broccoli and cheese, brown sugar carrots, or mixed veggies,' she continued.

She then explained how normally the friend does not stay over for dinner, but that evening was different because the parents were unable to pick him up until later. So they asked if he could stay and be provided vegan-friendly options for dinner.

'We told them we don't really have anything we could make vegan, but we could find some small things to give him until they picked him up and they said to just make whatever we were going to make ourselves and leave out the animal products,' the parent wrote.

For dinner that evening, the family was having meatloaf paired with mashed potatoes and buttered corn.

The son's friend was offered roasted carrots and potato wedges to fit his diet, but he refused the choices.

'He said he'd actually like to eat what we were eating and that it looked good, and that he usually eats meat at school anyways,' the parent explained. 'So, we just made him the same plate as ours.'

But the child's parents were reportedly furious when they discovered their son was fed meat after they distinctly said to only feed him vegan-friendly options.

Supportive: Commenters were divided on the situation. But some thought it was fine to feed the 13-year-old meat because he asked to eat it

Confused: There were a number of people who thought it was reasonable for the family to feed the child meat after he asked

Differing perspective: Other people thought it was wrong for a parent to listen to a child over the instructions they were given from that kid's own parents

Ridiculous: Some commenters shamed the author for their perspective on vegetables and for feeding the child meat when he asked

'They said we're a bad influence and turning him against veganism,' the parent wrote, adding: 'Even though it was HIS choice to eat our dinner rather than me making him some small sides.

'Apparently now he's also no longer allowed to hang out with our son. Our son is heartbroken, me and my husband are pretty upset that they're trying to end our kids friendship over this, and our friends are kind of split.

'Some people say that their son is old enough to make his own decision on if he's vegan or not, some think I should of done as the parents asked and made him something vegan. I also think that at his age, it's his choice to eat animal products or not, and if he asks me for some I'm not going to say no.'

Commenters were mixed on their views about the situation.

Certain people believed the parents were not at fault because clearly the child always chose to eat meat when he was away from his parents.

'I'm going with NTA [not the a**hole]. He clearly isn't vegan if he eats meat at school adn he asked if he could have some of the meatloaf,' one commenter wrote.

Someone else was in agreement with that statement, writing: 'Exactly. He's also not a little kid. 13 is old enough to make decision over what you want to eat, within reason.'

But other people thought the parents should've followed the instructions given.

'Parents decide what their kids eat,' one person wrote. 'While it might (I don't actually know) be sh** parenting to have your kids be vegan, you don't supersede someone else's parenting unless that "kid" is an adult. 13 is not an adult.'