Most people believe your diet should be a personal choice, but one woman has been left in a tricky situation after her friend disagreed.
And while she wishes to maintain control over her choice of food, she risks losing her friend forever if she does not make a change.
The difficult problem came to light when the confused mum took to Mumsnet to ask for advice.
She there explained her friend is offended by her vegetarian diet, with her "militant" vegan pal blasting her as a "murderer".
And the tense situation went from bad to worse when her friend gave her an ultimatum, refusing to speak to her unless she cuts eggs from her meals.
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In her post, the woman claimed: "I am a lifelong veggie- my parents were 70’s hippies & so I have never eaten meat and was raised vegetarian & I don’t eat dairy either but I am not a vegan as I eat eggs - I find I need the protein & generally benefit from eating them."
She added: "My friend turned vegan last year and is really militant- sends me horrible videos of baby chicks having their heads cut off etc.
"I asked her to stop as it was upsetting & I didn’t feel I needed to justify my dietary choices to anyone and now she’s stopped speaking to me. Says she finds it difficult to engage with anyone who eats animal products."
The vegetarian concluded by sharing her upset at the way her friend has been treating her.
"I am already trying my best and have had over 40 years of not eating animals - she’s had a year of it. She’s used language like murderer to me," she wrote, as well as adding her friend was "preaching to the converted".
The post was quickly flooded with comments advising the woman how best to respond, with many taking her side.
One person wrote: "Your quite right - you don’t need to justify your dietary choices to anyone."
Another added: "She is not behaving like a friend - just block her and move on."
And a third said: "I'm sure this will turn into a vegan bashing thread, but as someone who knows a few I'm glad this kind of behaviour is uncommon and frowned upon by them, because they know it doesn't help."
The woman agreed, commenting: "Honestly- I don’t want it to be a vegan bashing thread at all as I get it- my mum has been vegan for 20 years - I just choose to eat eggs as I feel healthier on them and find I have more energy.
"My mum just takes a ‘do what you want’ approach & probably would have been fine with us eating meat growing up if we had asked but we never did. It’s just made me feel horrible."
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