Vegan family faces backlash over ‘ridiculous’ argument

A man feels conflicted about cooking meat in his garden because of his vegan neighbours.

He shared what happened on Reddit’s “Am I the A******” forum. He cooks meat in his garden and the smell is quite strong, much to his vegan neighbours’ dismay. But when they asked him to stop, he refused.

“I love beef jerky,” he said. “So much so that I bought a dehydrator and have been cooking it every couple of months, on and off, for a few years. Our new neighbours, however, we do not have a great relationship with. They moved in about six months ago. All was going well until the female neighbour knocked on our door and asked if we could stop making jerky outside because she and her husband are vegans, and the smell is making them sick (she wasn’t nice about this, quite rude).

He declined to stop making the jerky, but the neighbours weren’t satisfied with his response.

“I told them I’d rather not have to make it inside because the smell is quite strong (strong as in fills the house, not unpleasant) and that I’d prefer to continue to make it outside,” he wrote. “I explained that it was only once every two or three months, and maybe if I move it farther away from their side, it might make a difference. She wasn’t too happy but left. Last week, I was making jerky again, and sure enough, she knocks on the door again, this time much angrier, and demanded we stop because it was making her and her child sick. I told her that no, I wouldn’t stop, and perhaps they could close up their house or something.”

Reddit posters thought he had the right to make his jerky.

“She can’t demand you don’t cook meat because the smell gets in their house. That’s ridiculous,” one user wrote.

“It’s not your job to control your neighbours or their beliefs,” another said.

“They’re being super entitled to think they can dictate what YOU do in YOUR backyard,” a person commented.