Did You Help All the Animals You Ate?

It started with a simple exchange in a quiet corner of the internet—a discussion about the fate of the animals in recent floods.

I was having a casual back-and-forth with another vegan about the sad loss of life of pets and farm animals when some fool barged in, uninvited. You know the type—the digital drive-byer. He dropped this gem:

“I’m not vegan and I helped more animals than you ever will.”

No explanation. No context. Just a smug comment, like we were supposed to be speechless at its brilliance or something.

For a moment, I was speechless only because I was deciding whether it was worth dignifying that level of idiocy with a response. I know I could’ve ignored it. Maybe I should have. On any other day, I might have.

But instead, I typed the only obvious response:

“Did you help all the animals you ate?”

And then… nothing. No reply. No snarky comeback. Just the silence of truth meeting deflection.

It wasn’t about winning—well, okay, maybe just a little. It was about accountability. About not pretending that burgers come from nowhere and chickens volunteer for the fryer.

And yet, this stranger’s silence spoke volumes. Maybe he realized he had nothing—no truth to stand on, no argument worth making. Or maybe he just moved on to the next target. Who knows.

But for me, that moment crystallized something:

People will say anything to keep themselves comfortable. They’ll tell you you’re extreme while they fund slaughterhouses. They’ll mock compassion as if indifference were more evolved.

I’m an introverted vegan. I’m not out there loudly converting or preaching—usually just quietly minding my morals. But if you show up with that level of ignorance, don’t expect a salad from this vegan.

I serve tofu clapbacks—seasoned and piping hot.