I apologize for this long ranty post full of typos. I’m a little worked up.

I have a recipe lined up to be posted today but I have to get this off my chest. Some of you who know me in real life have heard me say this before… many times before actually… so I also apologize that you’re going to have to sit through this again. I also apologize that this post is more mean-spirited than I try to be because I’m going to be honest this topic really pisses me off.

So this morning I went to check Facebook to read all the nice comments on the photo I posted to celebrate our daughter turning 9 months old because I’m a mom now and do that kind of thing and she was dressed like a bear on a swing while being a little goof-ball and that felt like something I wanted to celebrate too…. and there is was… numerous notifications that my vegan FB friends were pretty upset that a blogger I had never heard of before today had announced she had stopped being vegan because of self-diagnosed “health problems.”

Despite my better judgement I went and read this woman’s story… I feel like it’s important to note that this blog has written in the header “How to attract money and miracles into your life” – No Joke – Across the top of this blog is clearly says this. It‘s not a blog as far as I can tell that has one single things to do with being vegan, health, food, animals or any kid of relevant topic. It’s about making money. Back to our story… The blogger goes on to tell her story. A contrived and not very compelling story about a man collapsing outside her home and how it was the universe telling her that she needed to listen to what her body was trying to tell her about her health. Nope – I’m not kidding. Real.

She mentions that she researched other bloggers and ex-vegans to see if she could relate to their experiences and SURPRISE – she could. I know I’m shocked too. Though I would guess it’s probably all the sharing, liking, comments and drama those other blogger’s posts caused that really spoke to our ex-vegan whose blog as far as I can tell has never really gotten much attention.

She mentions in her post that people like Ghandi have had issues staying vegan and that numerous spiritual leaders have never even tried. Leading one to wonder if her home in San Francisco and her access to fresh produce, well stocked grocery stores, vegan products, vitamin stores and well all the vegan luxuries that come from living in a first world country in a city known for being pretty vegan friendly has anything to do with Ghandi… I mean does it? Really? Because I’d bet Ghandi’s experience being vegan in India in the 1930s is pretty different than a woman in San Francisco today.

I know it seems like I’m making a mountain outta a molehill with this post and the Ghandi thing but I feel like I needed to get that off my chest because two reasons:

1. I’ve noticed that people who want to justify doing something they know they shouldn’t always feel a need to bring up a beloved historical figure out of context – like a Ghandi – to justify what it is they’re doing.

2. I don’t like this woman and you’re about to find out why and honestly the Ghandi thing really offended me. Sorry “Money Making” lady – You’re not Ghandi.

After this she went on to tear into what she called “vegan culture” and acting like she even knew what she was talking about. She was comparing it to a religion but making it sound more like a cult than a title given to a lifestyle that celebrates finding a balance between your love of food and fashion and loving animals.

I know a lot of vegans who are as dedicated if not more to their compassionate lifestyle as someone would be to a religion but honestly when you allude to it being cultish I have a problem. You can be dedicated to living a life where you do as little harm as possible and are a compassionate consumer and still have your own thoughts and beliefs on other socio-political issues like having children, feminism, gay rights, processed foods, education, gentrification of urban areas – whatever! It’s actually pretty impressive to me how many different types of people are drawn to living a cruelty-free lifestyle and I think that’s the key to how successful we’ve become at mainstreaming and how much progress has been made in the world – that so many different types of people have found a way to live a life that’s better for the environment and obviously animals.

But that wasn’t even the part that really pissed me off. She went on to describe this “vegan culture” in a list of topics she thought were hypocritical “inconstancies” such as someone caring about animals but believing in a woman’s right to choose and vegans not eating fish but eating non-organic produce. She basically outlined how she never really understood the golden rule per say of veganism – DO THE BEST YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN.

She outlined basically that she didn’t understand how conscious consumerism worked and that by buying vegan products and vegetables (even if they’re not organically grown) you’re letting stores know you want more animal friendly things to be available at their stores and that can lead to more farms growing vegetables instead of building sheds to hold animals.

The post was just off and wrong. So off and wrong – it was offensive and excuse my language FUCKED UP – I felt I needed to post this because this post was so fucked up it is SO CLEARLY BEGGING for attention and to make us all offended and upset. She wrote this post to upset vegans. She wrote this so we would read it and post it around in a frenzy and leave comments on her blog. She wrote this post for traffic that she thought it would bring and for the book deal – about discouraging the vegan diet I assume – that traffic could come with. She wrote this post for the reason she clearly points out in the header of her pointless blog to “Attract Money and Miracles”.

So I’m not going to link to this crap and I’m begging you all to not let this person lure or trick us into posting and commenting on it if you do happen to see it and giving her the attention she is so clearly asking for. Because unlike the real world – in this situation – you can ignore bad guys and they will go away. That’s one of the beautiful things about the internet.

SO that’s brings us to the point of my rant today. I’m asking you all to do me a favor. It’s easy and honestly literally asks you to do nothing. I’m asking you to please stop posting ex-vegan click bait posts. Let’s just stop paying attention to all these ex-vegans or really anyone who posts a click-baiting post about why they’re not doing a vegan thing like raising kids, writing books, being vegan, dating vegans – whatever it is and celebrate the heroes who are working everyday to make this world a better place for our animal friends. They deserve the attention, likes, comments, traffic and book deals not some bozo (yes I talk like that now that I have a baby) who admits their knowledge of nutrition comes from a few days worth of googling and has self-diagnosed themselves with mysterious food allergies that can only be cured with eggs.

OK- End Rant.

Recipe coming up in about 2 hours.