Is OTHER wrong in the post ? POST : AITA for refusing to eat with my friend because he’s vegan? 

Let me explain.

I met my friend Alex in my second year of university when we were both cast in a play together. We hit it off with similar interests and decided to live together last year. 

A bit of background: Alex is a vegan - and I mean that as literally as I can. He is a philosophy student and LOVES debating. I think he also has a bit of a superiority complex. Alex talks constantly about the immorality of eating meat. He brings it up daily. He has posters of animated cows looking sadly at steaks hung in his bedroom. He has said, and I am directly quoting, that “Eating meat is the same thing as defending slavery because you don’t think the lives of black people have meaning.” He has said “Eating meat is the equivalent of joining and supporting ISIS.” 

He is not joking. 

He calls anyone who eats meat “carnist pigs”. He says this to their face while they eat. He believes it is his life’s mission to educate people out of eating meat and awaken them to veganism. If we are in line together in a restaurant and someone else is ordering, he’ll judge and mock them (out loud) for ordering anything meat or dairy related. He’ll constantly say “Hey, check this out!” and show you whatever vegan food he is eating, going into detail about the ingredients and where they come from. By constantly, I mean nearly every time he eats a meal, he does this. He’ll come into your room to show you his plate. 

Now, I don’t disagree with him morally. We’ve had dozens of debates on the subject philosophically and I concede on many of his points. There’s no doubt that eating meat is a morally fraut issue. Where I take issue is that he deliberately tries to make people feel guilty for their dietary choices. I have started eating out, or at other people’s houses. I’ve been packing my lunches in secret because I just don’t want to deal with him. 

If anyone tells Alex to piss off, he responds with “Cool, have fun murdering!” or “Enjoy your death sandwich!” 

So flash forward to today. We’re in line at a burrito restaurant. I’m ordering my usual thing, and he makes a comment about how I could fill my tortilla with veggies rather than support systemic murder. Similar to the crap he always says. 

I look him dead in the eye and tell him, “Man, if you don’t stop doing this shit when we eat, I’m not going to eat with you anymore. The way you behave is inappropriate and hostile and frankly, I’m not interested in being friends with someone who makes it their mission to humiliate people like this.” 

He laughed and told me to chill. I said I was dead serious. He hasn’t spoken to me since. Not sure the best thing to do here since our lease doesn’t expire until May. I’d love to be able to eat a pepperoni pizza in my home without being called a terrorist.

So, AITA? How should I go about navigating this? 