'Enjoy your bacon!' Redditors hail dad who shook off vegan daughter’s demand to ban meat at home
A father who shared how he is at odds with his vegan daughter because he eats bacon at home received support from users on Reddit. u/frustratingbaconeate, the father of a teenage daughter penned a long post where he narrated the details of how he was asked not to consume meat in his own house.
The father supported his daughter in becoming a vegan and even bought her new colored pans in which she could prepare her vegan food. But the scenario changed when she began to criticize her parents' lifestyle in their own home and demanded that all meat products be banned. She was supported by her mother in this vegan cause, much to the chagrin of her bacon-loving father.
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Under the question, WIBTA for refusing to stop cooking bacon in my kitchen due to my teenage daughters’ vegan lifestyle? the father wrote on Reddit: “Dad here, old fart, loves his daughter to pieces but I’m struggling to see eye to eye with my teenager and wife on this one. We’ve always been a meat-eating family, we live in the rural Midwest and bacon for breakfast is pretty much a given. This year my 14 y/o daughters decided to go vegan, and I jumped onto her support team with enthusiasm. We learned how to substitute ingredients, cook new things, try new things, I adjusted our budget to include more expensive vegan substitutes for her, etc. None of this has been a problem for me until recently. She saw me cook bacon in a pan, and then I rinsed it out to load in the dishwasher. She exploded in anger (teen years, I’m not too fussed about the anger explosion, I know she doesn’t mean it) and said that that was HER pan for vegan food. I was completely floored and said, kiddo this here is a family pan, older than you, it’s not YOUR pan. She asked me to purchase her a pan that she can solely use for vegan food. I didn’t want her to feel weird about food, so I said sure, and ordered her a few colored ones that are only for her. The reason they’re colored is so it helps me remember that I’m not to touch them unless I’m cooking vegan. That wasn’t good enough. Now apparently the dishwasher is ‘contaminated’ with animal product, and the fridge has ‘bacon grease fingers’ on it (because I eat bacon and then touch the fridge) and she’s asked me and her mom to completely stop eating meat at home. I don’t mean I literally touch the fridge with greasy bacon hands, because I wash my hands, but it’s clearly enough that it upsets my daughter. frankly I’m on team hell no, her mom is much more amenable and strongly wants me to consider taking our daughter up on the request. My wife’s reasoning is that both our parents live close so we can eat meat products there, and that she doesn’t want our daughter to feel uncomfortable in the kitchen. My daughter says she is fine with cheese and butter in the fridge, but it’s specifically meat products that make her feel sick. Now I’m sorry for her, but I feel like she just needs to adapt and live side by side, because I’m not going to stop eating bacon in my own house.”
Every family has a unique story about a disagreement at the dinner table. However, as the author points out in his tale, individuals must learn to adapt and coexist in close quarters. Many readers believed that it was appropriate to ignore her requests that the kitchen is cleared of all meals that didn't fit her diet, despite the strain it imposed on the family's relationships. The great majority of Redditors said that the daughter should stop imposing her lifestyle on others and that the father had every right to eat whatever he wanted in his own house.
Here are a few responses that supported the father in this incident as one user wrote: “This is it. Don't let her become one of 'those' vegans that give vegans a bad name. Teach her never to impose her diet, religion or politics on others. If she goes to collage with the attitude she can force everyone around her to bend over backwards because she's a vegan it is gonna cause problems. Nip the entitled behavior in the bud. Enjoy your bacon!”
Another user added: “This! What is she going to do at school? There's bacon fingers everywhere lol! She's a dramatic teenage girl (as was I). It is incredibly sweet and considerate how thoughtful you were to get her new pans (especially with the attitude because dude - chill) and supporting her all the way with cooking, etc. Someday, when the hormones have settled down, she'll look back and appreciate it. In the meantime, she needs to reciprocate the consideration and respect you have shown her. Teen years are tough. Stay strong! You're definitely NTA, and there's probably NAH. We do what we can to get through.”