Vegan freak is an interesting and helpful, in many ways, read.It’s main concern is ethical veganism.The authors support an abolitionist stance which states that human beings are not entitled to use animals for any reason because they have the basic right not to be harmed or treated as an object. As a logical consequence they claim that the only consistent/non-contradictory stance is becoming a vegan meaning no use of any animal product whatsoever and a vegetarian view misses the point and supports in part animal cruelty.I’m intuitively sympathetic with the idea but my problem is that they don’t present any philosophical argument i can work with; they assume this to be either self-evident or that the reader already knows and agrees with the abolitionist stance.

They move on to discuss some social challenges vegans face that being: arguing with non-vegans, eating out,identifying non-animal products and knowing what to eat. They urge the reader to become a healthy, happy and educated vegan, to gently discuss the issue of animal exploitation with non-vegans when asked and overthrow the stereotypical idea of vegans being stupid miserable, judgemental hippies. Τo symbolically stand for our ideas and do whatever possible to raise awareness in a peaceful and informative way in order to help the indefensible and stop their torture.

It offers some decent and helpful advices for new vegans and a simple guide on how to survive in a world they are perceived to be the freaks and some good sources to educate themselves such as the China study, Becoming vegan, Diet revolution, Introduction to animal rights etc. It was a short, fun and refreshing read though it didn’t offer much new to me.

I have a hard time rating this book. I liked their attitude a lot, but it just didn't seem particularly insightful or unique. It might be most valuable to someone new to veganism as it gives some good advice about not being a judgmental bore - but everything else in the book seems like it could be better found with a quick search on the internet. In fact, they spend a lot of time pointing out great sites to look at, which again - might be good info for a new vegan - but would also be easy to find on one's own.
That said, I'm glad this book is out there, because it is very level-headed and reasonable -and I hope curious folk check it out.

What I enjoyed about the book are it's practical tips on what to eat as a vegan, how to eat in restaurants and how to deal with other people. There are many vegan recepie books where you can branch out if you want to learn more about cooking vegan food, but I think as an starting point it was helpful for me. What I didn't enjoy was their claim that bejng vegan for environmental reasons wasn't moral (and their comparisons between animal cruelty and the Holocaust). I understand that people have different reasons for being vegan, but I felt that this book really pushed an animal rights approach while demonizing other reasons.
Tldr: good practical advice, I didn't care to much for how the moral aspects were worded.

Wonderful book!!! This helps you with all the what you feel and experience with the vegan lifestyle. Gives you information to keep you pressing forward with better health, eliminating the factory farm horrors, and saving the planet.

This is some angry writing! I really enjoyed it at first but then felt it moved into sort of needlessly angry/judgemental territory.

But you know, fair enough. I'm not the declared target for this book (ethical vegans) as my own thinking comes more from an environmental and health perspective. However, 'ethical veganism' wasn't mentioned in any of the summaries I saw before buying the book.

Anyway, some interesting stuff in here and I particularly liked the section with the less angry/provocative suggested responses to questions from friends/family/argumentative people about the ins and outs of vegetarianism and veganism, which should actually be pretty useful.

+ Tons of information, presented in a way that isn't overwhelming

+ Enjoyed the irreverent, smartass tone

- In a section called 'fuck the body politics' (sounds awesome, right?) the authors attack the beauty standard, but get pretty close to thin-bashing. Body acceptance goes for *all* body types, guys! /soapbox

- Pretty bummed that while the book hasn't even been out for a year (second edition: published January 1, 2010) the related podcast and web site mentioned in the book haven't been active since 2009! ARGH! (The forum, however, looks to be up and running.)

We vegans appreciate any advice and encouragement on making our way in this yet non-vegan world. “Vegan Freak” offers plenty of both. It’s full of humor, practical tips, and sound ethical arguments. Bob and Jenna Torres certainly don’t let vegans off the hook easily, but they do illustrate nicely that it is entirely possible to be both vegan and happy. It may be challenging at times, but as they write, “Wouldn’t you rather be the person who… made the right choices even though they were not always the easy ones?”

I read this as someone considering going vegan. I was supposed to be the target audience for this book, and for the latter half, at least, the authors seemed to be thinking about readership like me. The first half of the book, however, was one big circle-jerk for people already vegan. Every page breathed the "those poor vegetarians. They think they're actually doing something! We better show them how damn enlightened we are" attitude. The tone for this book is everything people hate about vegans--self-righteous and narrow, this book succeeds in convincing those already on the path to righteousness, so to speak. The authors fail to consider any alternative paths to veganism; they see only their animal rights veganism as the One True Veganism, and that's simply not convincing for people considering veganism for other reasons. Their "advice" chapters are really not that helpful, or are too broad to be useful. I've gotten better advice from other books and websites (in fact, I'd recommend people skip this book, and read the texts on their biography, instead). After reading, I still have only a basic understanding of how to navigate life as a vegan.

For authors that continually reference their jobs as university professors, they consistently forget the first rule of college writing: consider your audience.

really interesting and fun read for people who are newly vegan or long-time vegan. very tongue-in-cheek about non-vegans, so if you're someone who is (or isn't) thinking about transitioning, i wouldn't use this book as a starter guide. has a lot of good information and advice, especially in chapter 4. overall it's very informative in an informal way, and if you're someone who just enjoys reading about veganism i'd recommend it. i would not recommend it to anyone who is unsure & looking to become vegan. they promote this book to new vegans or people interested in going vegan but i don't think that anyone who hasn't been vegan for a while would appreciate this book and the anti-omnivorous humor in it.

Not my jam. Made me curious about what impact it had that this book was written in 2005 -- 14 years ago. Plant-based/vegan diets are becoming increasingly accepted and accommodated in restaurants/grocery stores, and I wonder what the authors think now and how/if things have changed since this book was written.

This book is what made me decide to go vegan. It's a great read!

I fucking loved this book. period.