Started in 2013, Bite Size Vegan
is a one-woman show of a Web Video Series posted by Iowa vegan activist Emily Moran Barwick on her website bitesizevegan.org with the goal of educating the public on all aspects of veganism in short but sweet "bite sized nuggets" of videos. The heavily tattooed hostess was frequently joined by her bulldog Ooby until the latter's death in 2015. The series includes interviews with nutritionists and other activists, documentaries filmed at slaughterhouses and animal sanctuaries, videos targeted at kids, informal Q&As, episodes focused on specific nutrients, and her most popular "Is/Are X Vegan?" videos. The series went on to inspire many other vegan activist Youtubers such as Mic The Vegan and Earthling Ed.
Overwhelmed by the ever-increasing demands of the social media content algorithm and the monumental task of improving her website, Barwick ceased posting to Youtube in 2018, solely interacting with her fans on Patreon, before slowly returning to creating new free Youtube content at the end of 2021 (and assuring her Youtube-only fans that she was not dead).
Are tropes vegan? Let's find out:
- Anti-Role Model: The Vegan Police and Vegan Club Bouncer are portrayed as examples of how not to be vegan.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "The Most Disturbing Coloring Book Ever" sarcastically promotes a real coloring book designed to teach kids 12 and under about pork production, which includes quizzes and games covering mutilating piglets, culling gilts, and boar semen management. The Stinger points out how not only are the questions wildly inappropriate for kids under 12, but "some of them are really hard."
- Bait-and-Switch: The intro to "Why Vegans Flip Out."Woman: Hey, you're vegan, right?Vegan: Yeah.Woman: Well, so, lion eats meat, right? So...Vegan: ARE YOU F*ING KIDDING ME?! I CAN'T BLEEP TIRED OF PEOPLE JUSTIFYING THEMSELVES WITH THIS BULL*IT ABOUT LIONS! (Cluster Bleep Bombs for 30 seconds)Woman: ...was a question I saw on Facebook, so I was wondering how to respond.Vegan: Oh... sure, I can help you answer that...
- Berserk Button: "Why Vegans Flip Out" starts with a vegan flipping out after being told once again how "lions eat meat."
- Big Eater: One video consists of the star narrating over an earlier-filmed video of herself eating 5 pounds of lettuce.
- Blunt "No": The intro to "Was Hitler A Vegetarian?"
- Deadpan Snarker: The default tone in her solo videos.
- Double-Meaning Title: Bite Size Vegan refers to the series, but the hostess says in one episode that it also refers to her (because she's a short, petite vegan, she's a bite size vegan).
- Drunk on Milk: "Is Cheese Addictive?" starts and ends with an addict going through withdrawal from cheese desperately trying to get a hit."Come on, man! I need my cheese!"
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Pointed out in "Is Smoking Vegan?""I've come a long way..."
- Hurricane of Puns: "Do Fish Feel Pain?" and "The Great Egg Conspiracy" set out to make as many "fishy" and "ex-" puns as possible.
- Ironic Name: "Vegans in the Renaissance" notes the irony that Sir Francis Bacon was one of the promoters of a vegetarian diet for health and ethics.
- Lazy Bum: Ooby is always either eating, snoring, or sitting still.
- Motor Mouth: The star speaks at a rapid fire pace in the earliest episodes.
- Never Heard That One Before: "Why Vegans Flip Out" references all the lines vegans have heard a million times, from "lions eat meat" to "bacon."
- Obligatory Joke: The star invites Youtubers who respond to vegan videos with "bacon" to seize the moment when the "History of Veganism" gets to Sir Francis Bacon.
- Perfection Is Impossible: The star repeatedly emphasizes that new vegans should focus on not eating meat, dairy, eggs, and honey and not feel pressured to make sure there are no animal products in their sugar, alcoholic drinks, medication, etc. before calling themselves vegan.
- Phrase Catcher: Multiple videos mention the most frequent question she has to repeatedly endure: "Where do you get your protein?"
- Sarcasm Mode: "The Great Egg Conspiracy," "Moms Defend Rape, Kidnapping & Murder," and "The Most Disturbing Coloring Book Ever" are entirely sarcastic from beginning to end.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: "Is Smoking Vegan?" confirms smoking is bad for animals and the environment as much as it is for humans.
- The Stinger: Almost all episodes have one.
- That Came Out Wrong: When "Are Tattoos Vegan?" gets to the issue of the petroleum jelly used to lube up the skin when getting a tattoo, the star explains, "Personally, my artist just dry runs on me, and it works just fine," with a note on the screen about how "that sounded strangely wrong."
- Traumatic Haircut: The first video is Barwick filming herself being branded like a livestock animal, including shaving her head (which is why her hair is so short in the earliest episodes).
- "Now go live vegan, don't let TV Tropes ruin your life, and I'll see you soon."
