Militant Vegan Lashes Out At Tofu Eating Teen For Cultural Appropriation of Tofu

by Elana

Imagine being a teenager, innocently enjoying tofu, and thinking, "I should share this tofurky recipe with other people who may enjoy it." It all sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? For one Michigan based teenager, it was anything but simple. Anna Del Ray never pretended to be a vegan, in fact, she was always pretty open about the fact that she ate animal based products like beef. Unbeknownst to some people, apparently, tofu can be enjoyed by a wide variety of people, regardless of it being a very common soy-substitute for meat products. Vegans and Vegetarians love tofu, it's versatile and nutritious! But not all vegans think that tofu is something for everyone and Anna found out the hard way.

Tofurky is the go-to substitute for vegans and vegetarians on days like Thanksgiving or Christmas, so when Anna Del Ray found a great recipe she decided to share it in a group on Facebook. via: Daily Beast

Shortly afterwards, a friend set her a private message, excited to see her friend a tofu-enthusiast. Assuming Anna was a vegan, she began to inquire about her vegan history. But Anna was not a vegan and the conversation quickly turned from pleasant to tumultuous. via: Anna Del Rey

Undisturbed and unshaken by the bizarre response from her Facebook friend, Anna tried to steer the conversation in a positve direction but the militant vegan was not backing down. In fact, they took it a step further and asserted that tofu is a food that belongs exclusively to vegans and vegetarians and that what Anna was doing by eating it was cultural appropriation. via: Anna Del Rey

To be clear, cultural appropriation is, "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture." Whether or not veganism is a culture is not necessarily up for debate, it can certainly be a culture, but the concept that tofu belongs to vegans when compared to, say, how Indigenous people may feel about seeing Susan Smith in a headdress... that's just ludicrous. via: Bustle

Naturally, Anna decided to share the exchange by posting some screenshots on Facebook with the caption: Apparently veganism is a culture and I’m appropriating it by eating tofu. I’m proud of this girl for standing up for what’s really important. This moved me. It changed me. Iconic. via: Anna Del Rey

When the post quickly went viral and was shared on websites like Imgur and Reddit, pretty much everyone with two or more brain cells to put together was baffled by the audacity and ridiculousness of the militant vegan. via: Imgur

Some people were just outraged at the entire concept that anything from food or hair or dancing could be appropriation but this tofu thing really took the cake. via: Imgur

Did you know? If you are a vegetarian or vegan, you should be asking your meat-eating friends if they understand the consequences of eating tofu without understanding the pain, struggles, and suffering that vegans went through in order to have tofu today. via: Imgur

Asking the particularly difficult questions: via: Imgur

Some people were also not surprised that Anna encountered this personality, as they had also experienced some harassment for not being vegan or vegetarian and enjoying meat-free staples. via: Reddit

Whether or not Anna will continue to enjoy tofu, no one can say. But for one Reddit user, a very valid point was made about the militant vegan: via: Reddit