Vegan Dating

Most Vegans would prefer they date someone else who is Vegan, or at the very least open to becoming Vegan. This makes sense; Unlike how it is in the movies, opposites do not attract, and the way to having a long, healthy, happy relationship hinges on having shared values. Two people who are Vegan for ethical reasons on average have a lot in common, and often a concern for ethics extends to other aspects of worldview, such as politics and altruism.

But alas, given that Vegans have always made up a very small percentage of the population, finding a Vegan partner is fairly difficult, though not impossible. In a way, it's a blessing in disguise, since filtering out Vegans from non-Vegans allows you to see who actually is an ethical person and who is just talking shit (not that non-Vegans can't be decent people or don't genuinely believe what they say, rather it gives you a shorthand to the truly committed).

Finding someone online

While we're not ruling out finding a partner in real life, given you have access to the internet, not using that would be severely limiting yourself. The internet allows you to connect with anyone from around the world, and for Vegans this is probably our best bet, especially if you live in the middle of nowhere.

It's remarkable isn't it, that out of the three billion adult women in the world, your one true soulmate happens conveniently to live in the same block of flats as you, rather than say, in a village in Mozambique?

Don't limit your geographic range. The idea that the people you meet on the internet could be murderous rapists is largely untrue. Most people you'll meet online will be normal, well-adjusted people in real life. A lot of people meet their partners this way, but how they meet them does vary.

Dating Apps

Dating apps are very popular these days, but they suck. A lot of apps like Tinder and OkCupid do allow users to show their diets on their profile, but only allow you to filter by diet if you pay a premium, meaning you'll need to wade through loads of non-Vegans to even find one, unless you're willing to shell out twenty bucks for something that might not be worth it.

Veggly

Probably the most popular dating app for Vegans specifically is Veggly. While a great concept on paper, it falls into the trap many of these specialized dating apps have, mainly, being sparsely populated. Since most people flock to the mainstream dating sites, for something like Veggly, new members rarely ever join, and most of the accounts you see on there are likely abandoned from over five years ago. Forget about it if you don't live in or near a big city.

It might be worth creating an account and seeing if you get any likes, but don't expect the world.

Source: The writer of this article has used Veggly.

So, how can you meet someone online?

Besides dating apps, being involved in Vegan online communities is generally your best bet. You could join a local Vegan Facebook group (though you're likely to only run into older people on there), a forum, or a Discord for a Vegan figure.

Though if you're someone willing to create content, that's even better. By creating content about Veganism and Altruism, if you get even something of a following, that'll increase the chances of someone noticing you and reaching out.

Dating Non-Vegans

Dating a Non-Vegan creates a huge risk of you giving up on Veganism. This is a result of cognitive dissonance.

In most plantonic, friendly relationships, it's easy to be friends with meat-eaters, since just because your friends may have flaws, you understand that this doesn't make them bad people necessarily, not to mention that unless they're your roommates you don't have to live in the same place as them. The same cannot be said for romantic relationships.

When it comes to more romantic relationships, that type of rationality of understanding character flaws dissipates, and you are more susceptible to looking over flaws you would otherwise find a nuisance. The thought process generally goes something along the lines of:

Consuming animal products is deeply immoral. But my partner is a good person, and my partner eats meat. Therefore, eating meat can't be immoral, and there's no point to being Vegan. So why am I bothering with being Vegan?

Is it gaurunteed to happen? Of course not. You could also positively infleunce that person to go vegan, but that's a gamble and much less likely to happen. Given how about half of Vegetarians cave into meat eating in social situations, the odds are not stacked in your favor.

Dating non-Vegans with the intent of making them Vegan

Eh... maybe.

If we're talking about someone who is already Vegetarian, or mostly Vegan, or is not Vegan but very eager to be, that's much easier to reccomend. That's a person who really wants to commit to his or her values, but just needs a bit of help, and being that person's dating partner would be extremely helpful towards that end. That could have positive long-lasting effects, even if the relationship doesn't work out. But if we're talking about someone who isn't vegan-adjacent, and hasn't shown any interest in going Vegan, the person is not likely worth the time.

These days, especially amongst young people, left-leaning people, and/or urbanites, it's extremely unlikely that someone hasn't heard of Veganism, and it's also unlikely that they wouldn't be aware of the arguments and concerns Vegans have. If they aren't already making some attempt to reduce their meat consumption, or agree that Vegans and Vegetarians have the moral high ground, that person, put nicely, has a rather insulated point of view. They probably have very dumb reasons for still thinking it's morally permissible, or are just very uninquisitive.

You might love the person, but unfortunately, love does not conquer all. Veganism in the modern world is something that is maintained out of values, and if we're dealing with someone who doesn't share this value, that is not a recipe for a healthy relationship. If you have to live with someone like that everyday for years, that will brew resentment. Unless of course, you're willing to give up your own ethics, which as mentioned before, is very likely to happen in a relationship with a meat eater.

If you really want to get someone to go Vegan, you're better off just participating in some activism and donating a few bucks to effective animal charities, where there's a much higher effort to reward ratio. You could spend months, even years and tons of energy on one person who may or may not go Vegan, or just donate $50 a month and casually talk to people about it and save hundreds of animals.