when I bring food to work, like cookies or muffins, I don't say anything....yes, most of my co-workers know I'm vegan, but if I don't remind them, they think the food is "normal" and eat it happily....
but when I make food for my friend's parties (like once a month or so) she always makes a point to tell people what food I made and that it's vegan (in a quiet voice), like "beware, who knows what's in that shit", yet she still tells me to make food....whatever...

Hahaha!  Stop making food then... I would.

I always used to tell my dad that things were vegan so he wouldn't eat them.

I caught him eating my cupcakes once, though and I told him they had soymilk and soy yogurt in them. He looked disgusted for a second but kept eating and never questioned my baked goods ever again.

Pretty much the opposite, but my dad would try my things and tell me they tasted bad because the Earth Balance had a bad aftertaste. But he and my mom bought themselves some SMart Balance, and I used that. HE told me that my cookies still tasted funny, and I told him that I used their butter. He shut up after that.

Ha! I brought vegan brownies to a regular potluck and didnt want to label them vegan so i wrote
"cholesterol free" and everyone was making fun of that and saying they wanted ones with extra cholesterol. I stood there sheepishly but they didn't know it was I who made them.
I did the same thing with a spinach art dip-just wrote dairy free instead of vegan. People seemed confused...but I thought perhaps there might be someone there avoiding dairy.
I called a restaurant today asking what meat and dairy free items they had  (instead of using the intimidating vegan term) and was told just the salad. Although they posted on FB that they are now vegan and veg friendly. whatever! we are going elsewhere tonight!

all true amy.

I thought this was well written"Afraid to Change
Are you afraid to change?

We all are.
It’s a side effect of the way our mind makes sense of the world.
Let me explain.

Let’s say that your brain didn’t use your experience to help you understand the world.
Your perception of every object, in every moment, would be brand new, and you would spend all your time and attention trying to make sense of the simplest experiences.

That’s not how your mind works.
Instead, your mind finds patterns in your experience, and tries to fit every new situation into an existing pattern, so you know how to act with minimum conscious thought.
This leaves your conscious mind free to focus on the truly new situations that you experience.

How wonderful it would be if we could calmly, clearly, and consciously analyze our new experiences.
Unfortunately, our mind forces new things into old patterns, even when they don’t fit.
And when we encounter something that doesn’t fit at all into our established patterns, our first instinct is to protect ourselves, while we see if the situation is dangerous.

It’s the same when we think about changing how we live, or who we are.

You really want those changes.
And you find it pretty easy to imagine how wonderful such a life would be.

Still, part of you doesn’t recognize that new “you”. The imagined you doesn’t fit into your existing patterns of safe experience, and is treated with caution, until that new you can be experienced and proven safe.

But will you ever get to experience that new you?
If a new you might be dangerous, the safest alternative is to completely avoid becoming that new you.
And for many of us that danger and fear stops us from making real progress toward our dreams."

"Vegan" is an exclusionary movement. A new set if rules,  definitions and values are established.
That dosent mesh will with personalty types that are not open to the rigors of social change.

i really get annoyed when vegans even say things like 'it didnt taste vegan!' 

it's like - wtf?  stop reinforcing the idea that vegan=bad!

theres a difference between saying 'it was so good, you wouldnt know it was vegan!"  and "it was so good, it didnt taste 'vegan!'"

choose your words wisely vegans cus ppl grab onto that shit!

that's a good point propinecone... i don't think i do that but i will choose my words carefully... i don't get why vegan = tastes bad... i'm constantly showing people vegan food is good so shut the fuck up already and eat some

fb, you hit on something that makes me laugh all the time. People around here don't know what vegan means, and when they eat my cooking they say "what's in this cookie?" and I say "it's more like what's NOT in this cookie." They think "vegan" food is something special and out there, instead of just being normal food minus the eggs/butter/milk. When I explain that to them, they seem to think it's much more "normal." And half the people I make baked goods for don't know how to cook anyway, so they wouldn't even know that my cookies are "missing an egg."

Sorry for all the parenthesis, but most of these statements are so ridiculous they can't stand on their own!

Wow, I don't know why I said parenthesis when I clearly meant quotes. I claim...stupidity. I have no excuses!