Feels like I haven’t written too much about the ongoing conflict between vegans and carnivores for a while and that things had kinda calmed down in that respect, but thankfully Anna Southwell has kicked it all off again by decided to open a plant-based cafe called Sprout in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset that has led to her being harassed at least 15 times by locals.
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Kinda think it’s surprising that Anna didn’t think this would happen to her as vegans get some of the most unnecessary hate in history, but she obviously isn’t too happy with the situation so has decided to speak out against it with an interview in her local paper. Here’s what she had to say:
A man shouted at me at soon as he entered the cafe. He wanted to know what I was doing with the cafe in Grove Park. He said he’d come to tell me ‘what everyone was thinking’. How it was ‘disgusting’ that we’d opened a vegan business and how we should ‘shut it down’.
He told me it should be reopened as it was before because no one’s going to go there and it wasn’t very good, basically. I asked him who he was and, why he was here, and he said he was here on behalf of the people of Weston to tell me ‘what everyone was saying’.
The staff – who include refugees, autistic adults and people recovering from addiction – don’t deserve it. We’ve worked really hard to set up a vegan business.
Now, when they’re working in what should be a beautiful location in the park surrounded by nature, they’ve got members of the public coming in and shouting at them for no reason. It’s abusive. It’s harassment and it’s having a really negative impact on us. It’s got to stop now.
It seems non-sensical the things they’re having a go at us about it feels like a little bit of a hate campaign. A preconceived bias about what plant-based food might be like.
They’re having a go at us and they haven’t even had a cup of tea in here.
We are not questioning anyone else’s decisions. We’re not telling anyone else to live a particular way. What we’re doing is running our business in the way we want to do because we believe it is the right thing for the future of the planet and people’s health.
Even if they only eat here once, that’s OK but my friend said to me, ‘if they can’t find a bacon sandwich in Weston-super-Mare, they are going wrong somewhere’.
There is no problem getting bacon sandwiches in Weston. There are probably 200 places within a mile radius where you can get a bacon sandwich. But we’re not selling them.
We’re not doing it to offend anyone. We’re doing it because we want to make our part of the world a better place.
I mean I gotta say I agree with her. Nobody deserves to be harassed like that just for opening up a vegan restaurant. It’s not like it’s harming anyone and there are probably loads of people in the area that do want to go in there and check it out, especially if there are 200 greasy spoons around there too.
It’s a bit of variety you know? These narc old times should give them a break and just understand that things might change and develop and not be the same as when they were growing up and that’s no reason to hate on it so much. Such a weird mentality these people have.
For more of the same, check out this 34 year old vegan explaining why he drinks his own pxss. Yummy.
