Vegans have developed four ‘special skills’ to navigate society, a new study claims.
Researchers from Concordia University dub these four strategies decoding, decoupling, divesting, and chameleoning.
‘Decoding’ is how vegans learn to explain their choices to others and stick to their diet.
‘Decoupling’ is how they find ways to take part in group activities without doing something that might lead to conflict.
Taking things up a notch, there’s ‘divesting’, which involves avoiding food–based activities with non–vegans altogether.
Meanwhile, some vegans even take part in ‘chameleoning’ by occasionally eating meat to avoid conflict with meat–lovers.
‘[Vegans] feel unwelcome in circles previously familiar, either as a burden on the host, as they have to prep something for them, or as a “killjoy”‘ lead author Dr Aya Abolenien, associate professor at HEC Montréal, told the Daily Mail.
‘Some of the strategies make it easier for them to navigate their relations.’
Vegans have developed four ‘special skills’ to navigate society, a new study claims. Researchers from Concordia University dub these four strategies decoding, decoupling, divesting, and chameleoning
The first of these coping skills is decoding, which is how vegans learn to explain their choices to others and stick to their diet.
That could involve helping a relative understand why they don’t eat honey or figuring out how to read food packages to check for animal products.
In the study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the researchers reported one interviewee who explained that they would always call ahead to restaurants to ask about their menu and explain their dietary requirements.
The second is decoupling, and involves finding ways to still take part in group activities without doing something that might lead to conflict.
Dr Abolenien says that this helps vegans ‘become less of a burden or centre of attention and spend their shared time more smoothly.’
For example, some vegans told the researchers how they would bring their own pre–prepared food to group dinners, or eat at home before arrival.
One interviewee even explained how they would skip the majority of big family meals, like Thanksgiving, and arrive with their own dessert near the end.
The most radical skill employed by some vegans is divesting, which involves avoiding food–based interactions with non–vegans altogether.
Vegans’ four special skills for avoiding conflict are dubbed decoding, decoupling, divesting, and chameleoning (stock image)
While some vegans say they try to reconcile their dietary choices with those of their friends and families, others prefer to cut off those relationships altogether.
In some cases, this is done as a way to avoid the bickering and questioning that comes from non–vegans at events like family dinners.
But other vegans say that their decision to ‘divest’ their relationships is a moral one.
One couple interviewed by the researchers said that they were now considering cutting off some of their friendships with omnivores because they ‘do not trust them anymore’.
Finally, vegans also learn a skill called chameleoning, with which they adopt a more easy–going attitude towards the rules of veganism in certain situations.
For example, one interviewee said that she would eat animal products while visiting her in–laws because she doesn’t want to pressure them about her dietary choices.
Likewise, some vegans say they will occasionally eat animal products when there is no vegan alternative realistically available.
The biggest problem for vegans who adopt this strategy is actually conflict with other vegans, who might label them as a ‘liar’ or a ‘fake vegan’.
In addition to identifying these four special skills, the researchers also found the three main ‘fractures’ that plague relationships with vegans.
The first are ‘co–performance’ fractures, which occur when vegans try to add their new lifestyle practices to shared practices like family meals.
The second are ‘co–learning’ fractures, which appear between vegans as they argue about what counts as vegan food or how much they should be interacting with non–vegans.
Finally, there are also ‘marketplace’ fractures, which refer to the difficulty vegans in some countries have in finding appropriate alternatives.
Co–author Professor Zeynep Arsel, of Concordia University, says: ‘A lot of consumption is moral, even if we don’t think it is.
‘And when there is a moral element, it is bound to cause friction.’
