Going vegan is a life-changing decision. Successfully committing to eating only ethically sourced, non-exploitative products — no dairy, no honey, no eggs, no animal output of any kind — can be daunting, especially in a society where most people are omnivorous.
Foregoing meat and other animal products purely for ethical reasons can cause tension between vegans and their friends, families, partners, businesses and even other vegans. These tensions are the subject of a new paper by Concordia researchers. Published in the Journal of Consumer Research , the study examines the relational fractures vegans sometimes experience and the strategies they use to navigate this challenge.
“We wanted to look at these fractures from the vegan perspective, since most people are omnivorous and familiar with trying to accommodate others’ dietary needs,” says co-author Zeynep Arsel , a professor in the Department of Marketing at the John Molson School of Business . “But what we studied can be applied in other contexts, such as driving electric vehicles.”
The study was led by Arsel’s former PhD student Aya Aboelenien, now an associate professor at HEC Montréal. Between 2017 and 2022, she conducted interviews, attended vegan festivals, protests and sit-ins to gain insight into how vegans managed interpersonal strains. Abolenien also studied online news, videos, blogs and social media posts on sites like Reddit.
She classified relational fractures into three types: co-performance, co-learning, and marketplace.
Co-performance fractures can arise when vegans introduce novel elements to shared practices or activities like family meals. Changes in dietary habits require accommodation from their regular dining companions. This shift can result in tension, misunderstanding or labelling vegans as “difficult.”
Co-learning fractures usually occur within the vegan community itself, when individuals new to veganism turn to other vegans for advice. Conflicts can arise over what constitutes vegan food and how – or even whether – to interact with non-vegans. However, this rigidity can confuse and repel those new to or interested in veganism.
Marketplace fractures are caused by a lack of places where vegans can meet their dietary needs. Even as plant-based foods become more popular, most supermarkets and restaurants cater to omnivorous appetites and finding businesses that cater to vegan diets can be difficult.
“Many of the people I spoke to really wanted to discuss the personal struggles they faced, which in many instances discouraged them from maintaining a vegan lifestyle,” Aboelenien says. “Many of them just retreated from veganism because of the stress in their personal relationships.”
Aboelenien further identified four kinds of social skills vegans adopt to manage conflict. First is decoding , in which vegans try to explain their choices to friends and family members. They also continue learning about veganism from others in their community and developing an understanding of labels, menus and other food requirements in a mostly omnivorous marketplace.
They may also try decoupling : behaving parallel to omnivores while actively avoiding conflict triggers. Examples include preparing and/or bringing one’s own meals to family gatherings so that can share space, if not the food itself.
Other vegans practice divesting , where they avoid problematic food-related relationships whenever possible. This involves an uncompromising approach to the extent that they will not share meals with non-vegans.
Finally, chameleoning involves navigating between one’s beliefs and a “go-along-to-get-along” posture, in which a person who considers themselves vegan will occasionally revert to an omnivorous diet to avoid conflict.
The researchers say the patterns identified in the study are easily transferrable to other contexts.
“If you stand apart from the norm for ethical reasons, like driving an electric car or trying to live a green, sustainable life, others may take it as you trying to impose a moral lens on practices they’ve had for a long time,” Aboelenien says.
“A lot of consumption is moral, even if we don’t think it is,” adds Arsel, Concordia University Research Chair in Consumption, Markets, and Society.
“And when there is a moral element, it is bound to cause friction.”
Read the cited paper: “ Surviving as a Vegan in a World of Omnivores: Relational Fractures in Shared Practices ”
Journal of Consumer Research
Observational study
People
Surviving as a Vegan in a World of Omnivores: Relational Fractures in Shared Practices
2-Sep-2025
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