Vegan Family Asks Neighbours To Close Windows While Cooking Meat, Claims Smell Upsets Them

Vegan Family Called ‘Entitled’ For Asking Neighbours To Close Windows While Cooking Meat

While it’s important to be considerate of the beliefs and dietary restrictions of others, respect is a two-way street.

Last month, a vegan family in Australia came under fire when their letter asking their neighbour to close the windows while cooking meat was posted online. The family claimed that smelling the meat would make them feel “sick and upset”.

Netizens did not take too kindly to the request, accusing the family of being entitled and saying they should be the ones shutting their windows instead.

Vegan family asks neighbours to shut windows while cooking meat

A photo of the note was posted in the Hey Perth Facebook group on 6 May.

It reads,

Hello neighbour, could you please shut your side window when cooking please. My family are vegan (we eat only plant based foods) and the smell of the meat you cook makes us feel sick and upset. We would appreciate your understanding. Thanks.

To emphasise the importance of the plea, the letter apparently came in an envelope marked “Please take seriously”.

The vegan family, who signed off as “Sarah, Wayne & kids”, also labelled it an “important message”.

According to the caption of the Facebook post, the letter was submitted to the page by someone named Kylie from Burns Beach — a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

Netizens call out family for entitled attitude

The replies in the comments section of the post were absolutely brutal.

One user called the vegan family “entitled” and said that they would “fire up the smoker and do a 12-hour brisket”, along with a “sausage sizzle for lunch”.

In other words, a very carnivore-friendly meal.

Another remarked that if the family dislikes the smell that much, they should be the ones closing their windows instead of their neighbours.

“Stop pushing [your] food views on others,” she said.

The intense discussions continued on other news sites that picked up the story, such as PerthNow.

“The arrogance of some vegans is truly stupendous,” a vexed netizen wrote, adding that Sarah should “find a solution that doesn’t intrude on others’ food preferences”.

Even other non-meat eaters had trouble siding with the vegans.

A self-professed vegetarian commented on The Independent‘s coverage of the incident, saying that while they also find the smell of meat unpleasant, they “respect the fact” that eating meat is “a perfectly normal human activity”, so they “just have to cope with that”.

They also pointed out that sending a letter instead of personally speaking to the neighbours was a “cowardly” move.

While there appears to be no further update on what happened between the neighbours, let’s hope that they all managed to come to an amicable solution.

Do you think the vegan family was being reasonable with their request? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Featured image adapted from Andrew Valdivia on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only, and Hey Perth on Facebook.