I disagree with some of the ingredients you use.

That’s ok! The ability to choose the ingredients you want to use is a big part of why DIYing is so awesome. You are free to learn what works for you and to use those things (and I work really hard to fill Humblebee & Me with free, self-serve information about the ingredients I use, including extensive information about substitutions—please refer to the encyclopedia, which is positively packed with useful info!). Which ingredients people choose to use is a very personal thing, much like dietary choices. Some people choose to eat meat, others choose to avoid all animal products, and of course, there are thousands of other dietary variations! You do you.

What’s not ok, though, is insulting me, accusing me of poisoning the ones I love, etc. I’ve been a vegetarian for over a decade, but I have never sought out a meat-eating food blogger to criticize their personal choice to eat meat with phrases like “meat is murder” and links to studies that bacon is a proven carcinogen. That would be utterly exhausting. Why would I choose to spend my time and emotional energy proselytizing to random people on the internet who are probably well aware that 1) meat is dead animals and 2) bacon is not health food? I’d ask that you grant me the same courtesy.

I thoroughly research my ingredients and I’m comfortable with my choices. I do not owe anyone on the internet justification as to why I am using an ingredient beyond that it has been approved for use by regulatory bodies staffed by chemists and experts who know far more than I ever will. You don’t have to agree, but I’m not interested in engaging with people who seem interested in having an argument about this topic.

Here’s a section of a post I shared in 2017 called Let’s talk about “natural” that is particularly relevant:

A lot of people coming to me with a laundry list of perfectly safe ingredients they are hell-bent on avoiding because they “don’t trust them” or they “don’t like the sounds of” them, or for any other reason, be it the EWG database or a scary-sounding blog post that frames limited data in a terrifying way. Honestly, I don’t know how to tactfully address that. If you can’t provide me with vetted, scientific proof beyond your gut feeling that something is legitimately harmful in the ways and concentrations it is approved for use (to users, animals, the environment—something!)…. I’m not interested in engaging with a personal opinion. You are obviously free to make any decisions you want about what ingredients you want to use, but please don’t expect me to agree.

This is a lot like my flat out hatred of olives. I think they are gross, and I don’t want anything to do with anything that has olives in it. Seriously. If a casserole has a smattering of olives on top, those nasty little things have infested the entire casserole and it is ruined for me. That doesn’t mean that olives are poisonous, and I’m certainly not going to go seeking out a blog focused on cooking with olives and ask them to do extra work to develop new, olive-free recipes to accommodate my (entirely personal) hatred of olives.

I’d recommend reading these posts as well:

Posted in: Safety