![\"couple-on-the-beach\"](\"http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/couple-on-the-beach.jpg\")
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By Savannah Lawrence, VRG intern<\/p>\n
Relationships are complicated enough without adding a vegan diet into the mix, so what happens when your significant other doesn\u2019t also eat vegan? He or she may believe that romantic candlelit dinners or one day living together and planning meals together are now impossible, but that doesn\u2019t have to be the case.
\n My fianc\u00e9 comes from a meat-loving family, but now that we live together and therefore eat together, we\u2019ve found ways to make it work. Today my fianc\u00e9 eats a meat-free diet 90 percent of the time, and most nights he\u2019s doing the cooking, too! Here are the ways in which I\u2019ve positively introduced him to vegan dishes:
\n\u2022\tAvoiding fake meat products
\nHe draws the line at fake meat because he doesn\u2019t enjoy the texture or taste, especially because he still eats meat. So to add protein into our meals, I rely mainly on beans, whole grains, and vegetables instead.
\n\u2022\tCooking separate dishes when I do want to eat fake meat products
\nI like to add veggie crumbles to my pot pies, chilies, and pasta sauces whereas my fianc\u00e9 likes to add ground beef. To please both our palates, we make two separate dishes with all the same ingredients expect for the meat or fake meat. All it takes is an extra pot or dish. He cooks his own meat before we cook the rest of the meal and uses separate cooking and serving utensils to avoid cross-contamination.
\n\u2022\tEasing him into the colorful world of fruits and vegetables
\nTomatoes and spinach used to be on his black list when it came to fruits and vegetables, but I\u2019ve learned that if I use baby spinach or petite diced tomatoes, he\u2019ll comply. When they\u2019re small, I can sneak them into a dish without him noticing!
\n\u2022\tCookbook shopping and meal planning together
\nWe spent a weekend afternoon at the bookstore, choosing vegan cookbooks together, so we could ensure that we both liked the recipes. Now that we have cookbooks we both like, we sit down together once a week to choose recipes. We both look at the ingredients to ensure that we\u2019ll both enjoy the meals. His favorites are crockpot meals because he can come home from work to dinner already made!<\/p>\n
Dining out doesn\u2019t have to be a problem, either. My fianc\u00e9 lets me have the final say on a restaurant when we dine out because he knows that my diet may limit our choices. He always has me pre-screen the menu and make the final call on whether or not we eat at a particular place.
\n Perhaps your significant other isn\u2019t quite as patient during this process. Then I would recommend pre-screening a menu and making the restaurant recommendation before he or she has the chance to suggest another location. Think about his or her tastes, too. If it\u2019s a vegan restaurant, are there dishes he or she would enjoy?
\n If these tips sound too good to be true because your significant other isn\u2019t so accepting of a vegan diet, begin by establishing some ground rules and communicating openly. Here are some questions to get you started:
\n\u2022\tAre you comfortable having meat and dairy products in the house? If so, do they need a separate place in the refrigerator and\/or separate cooking materials?
\n\u2022\tWill you cook separate meals or the same meals most of the time?
\n\u2022\tWhat won\u2019t your non-vegan significant other eat that you will?
\n\u2022\tWhat restaurants in the area can accommodate both your needs and tastes?
\n\u2022\tIs your non-vegan significant other willing to exercise patience when picking a restaurant in an unfamiliar area (like when you\u2019re traveling together)?<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to date a vegan to continue happily living your vegan lifestyle. You just have to be willing to work with your significant other until you find a routine that works for you both. Remember to be patient and understanding because this may be a new process for him or her!<\/p>\n
Savannah wrote this piece while doing an internship with The Vegetarian Resource Group. She is a student at Stevenson University in Maryland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Savannah Lawrence, VRG intern Relationships are complicated enough without adding a vegan diet into the mix, so what happens when your significant other doesn\u2019t also eat vegan? He or she may believe that romantic candlelit dinners or one day living together and planning meals together are now impossible, but that doesn\u2019t have to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9640,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9623\/revisions\/9640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}