Vegan Woman Brings Late Mother’s Leather Purse To Vegan Party, Guests Brand Her Hypocrite

A longtime vegan Redditor brought her late mom’s cherished leather purse to a chill recipe swap. Next thing, chickpea smiles turned to gasps and glares like she’d smuggled in a steak. The bag’s the only keepsake she couldn’t ditch; everything else is cruelty-free. Room of kale warriors declared open season on her grief.

Reddit’s raging like burnt tofu, torching the judgment harder than seitan. Most shield the sentimental relic, others preach purity over pain. Heirloom just got grilled, sparking fiery battles over leather, loss, and vegan vigilantes.

Vegan keeps late mom’s leather purse, dinner guests see that and lose it.

Getting to know fellow vegans should feel like finding your tribe, not stepping into a surprise episode of Vegan Court TV. Yet that’s exactly what happened when one woman decided a grieving daughter’s handbag was the hill to die on.

Let’s be real: the purse police went from zero to judgmental in record time. The Redditor never bought new leather, never preached while secretly eating cheese, she simply carried a family treasure. Attacking her ignores the core of ethical veganism: reducing harm going forward, not performing purity for strangers.

As PETA themselves have stated in the past, using existing animal products you already own (or inherited) does not create new demand, while trashing them would just be wasteful.

On the flip side, we get why some people bristled. Newer vegans especially can feel raw anger after learning about factory farming. That fury sometimes gets aimed at the nearest target wearing last decade’s shoes. But turning a casual cook-up into a shaming session? That’s less “saving animals” and more “needing a hobby.”

This whole fiasco actually highlights a bigger conversation in the vegan community: gatekeeping. A 2022 study published in Appetite journal found that perceived moral reproach from within the vegan community is one of the top reasons people abandon the lifestyle entirely.

When we start treating veganism like an exclusive club with secret handshakes and handbag inspections, we push away the very people doing their genuine best.

Relationship therapist Esther Perel once said, “Not every infidelity is a symptom of a problem in a relationship.” She probably wasn’t picturing a purse showdown over plant-based principles, but the wisdom translates beautifully here. Just as a slip-up in fidelity doesn’t always spell doom for a partnership, holding onto a sentimental leather heirloom doesn’t undermine someone’s daily commitment to compassion.

It’s a reminder that life’s messier edges – grief, exceptions, human quirks – don’t erase the good we strive for elsewhere. Cherishing a link to a lost parent while still choosing compassion every single day at the grocery store? That’s not hypocrisy, that’s being beautifully, messily human.

So maybe the real solution is simple: let people live, keep doing better tomorrow than yesterday, and save the lectures for actual animal agriculture CEOs.

Here’s the comments of Reddit users:

Some assert NTA and say using an already-made leather item harms no additional animals.

Some vegans themselves confirm this is the normal, non-dogmatic stance in the community.

Some call the critics “gatekeeping” or say they’re giving veganism a bad name.

Some point out the bag has sentimental value and throwing it away would be wasteful.

Some speculate jealousy (especially if it’s a high-end bag) may be part of the hostility.

At the end of the day, one vintage purse reminded us that grief doesn’t read rulebooks and love doesn’t always fit neatly into ethical checkboxes. Do you think honoring a late parent with their favorite bag makes someone a “bad vegan,” or are the purse police wildly missing the point?

Would you carry the heirloom or quietly retire it to keep the peace? Drop your verdict below, we’re dying to know!