‘I tricked my partner into eating a vegan meal – I want him to be healthier’

A man has come under fire after tricking his partner into eating vegan as he wants him to be healthier – but some stated you don’t need to be vegan to be healthy

The new year can mean new habits for many – maybe you want to allocate a certain amount of time to reading per day, or maybe you’re looking to make meditation a part of your daily routine. Perhaps you’re a week and a half into Veganuary – whatever you do is completely your choice. But what would you do if your partner duped you into eating something you didn’t want to?

That’s what one man did when he ‘decided to take matters into his own hands’ and feed his partner a vegan meal without his consent. He explained his reasons for doing so on Reddit’s ‘Am I the a**hole’ forum.

He tried to justify himself by writing: “So, here’s the deal: I (M43) have been vegan for about a year now and my husband (M48) is a meat-and-potatoes kind of person. He loves his steak and bacon and generally isn’t too interested in trying vegan options.

“However, I’ve been trying to get him to at least consider eating more plant-based meals for the sake of his health. I get worried for him sometimes.

“I’ve been trying to cook healthy meals for him, encouraging him to exercise, and getting creative with the dishes I make, but my partner just doesn’t seem interested.

“That’s why, last Saturday night, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I made a delicious vegan lasagna for dinner, not to mention to my partner that it was completely plant-based. To my surprise, my partner loved the lasagna and even asked for seconds.

“It wasn’t until after dinner that I let it slip that the dish was vegan and my partner was less than pleased. I defended my decision by telling them that I’ve been worried for their health and I want them to be better, but my partner said it was very immature of me and I could’ve talked to him directly. Am I the a**hole?”

In the comments, some people were confused by his logic and stated that just because food is vegan, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.

Someone wrote: “My doctor had me change my diet to whole food plant-based for health reasons. She highly discouraged going vegan because there are lots of unhealthy, processed foods that are labeled vegan – those foods are vegan. But just because something is vegan does not necessarily mean it is healthier.

“Cutting out refined flours, refined sugars and processed foods are the real key to eating healthy.”

Another Redditor gave more constructive advice: “My husband lost 30 pounds by cutting out processed foods, fast foods as well as reducing portion sizes. He used to graze all day long. Now he just eats main meals in much smaller portions.”

“While you can have a healthy vegan diet, being vegan does not in itself make you healthy, or make you lose weight”, one waded in, and another agreed: “Yeah, one of my sisters went vegan by eating nothing but fries for a month. Then she quit being vegan because it was “unhealthy”. Like, technically a diet that’s 100% fried potatoes and ketchup is vegan, but obviously that’s not healthy.”

One raged: “I have 3 ‘beige vegan’ mates and they just eat fried/baked processed c***. I home-cook every day but they tell me I’m unhealthy. I genuinely eat more greens and veg than all of them combined.”

Overall, the thread was rated ‘everybody sucks’ because Redditors were annoyed with all parties.

Would you be annoyed if a partner made a meal that didn’t fit your usual diet? Let us know in the comments.