There have been studies done that show that plants can have some sort of "pain reaction" when leaves are clipped, etc. A carrot is a living being that, when harvested, essentially dies a long slow death in the refrigerator, until finally being finished off. So to me I wonder, if vegans consider all life too "sacred" to kill, then do they consider that they are killing vegetables too? Another thing that many do not realize is that crops such as quinoa, for instance, are being grown and marketed so heavily to people who follow fad diets, that it sometimes requires deforestation in South America, as well as displacement of native peoples, and unfair low working wages for those peoples who cannot afford to buy and eat their own native diet of quinoa anymore... It is all quite fascinating. I agree that the reaction is understandable, but it is important to stay objective in our viewpoints... Have you heard of or read the book " The Vegetarian Myth"? It is great, albeit not so great a title...