Vegetarianism and Intimate Relationships

Abstract

Given the strength and pervasiveness of the personal changes that accompany the transition to vegetarianism, it is not surprising that becoming a vegetarian has major consequences for people’s intimate relationships. For single vegetarians, dating meat-eaters can pose problems, and sometimes vegetarians find themselves in romantic relationships with people who share neither their diets nor their beliefs. Relations between spouses are invariably affected if one partner becomes vegetarian and the other does not. Tension between partners is the usual outcome and can lead, in extreme situations, to the destruction of the relationship. And raising children as vegetarians is complicated for both parents and children.