My sister has been LYING to my nieces and nephew

[u/ham_solo]

For context - I've been veg for a few years. My sister's family are big meat eaters, though she used to be a vegetarian. She tolerates it, but my husband and my mom, all veg, usually try to make something for ourselves since we usually can't have a big family dinner without meat. I try hard not to be the Debbie Downer about my reasons, but mostly they are environmental as well as concern with animal welfare. I don't bring it up, but my eldest niece (18) is really interested/concerned about climate change and so it becomes a topic of conversation at times. Again, I try to keep it light and switch subjects, but I wasn't ready for this.

Last night my niece was talking about how she doesn't like to eat red meat, and she says 'yeah, it's just chicken, fish, and pork for me'. Well without thinking about it, I just say 'oh, pork is red meat too'. My niece asks 'what?' and my sis immediately pipes up 'it's not red meat! it's white meat!'. I see a look on her face that says she's trying to tell me something. My niece looks at her mom and says 'what????' I immediately can see what is going on - she's been lied to. She's pretty horrified and I called my sister out on it- my niece is a full adult and I think she has the right to know the truth about things. All the kids are old enough to handle a complex subject matter like climate change. There is no reason to lie to them about it. My sister admits she's 'omitted' certain information, but I think it's really about her not wanting to have to limit what she serves the family.

Obviously, I'm not there to debate or persuade them but damn at least give my niece the chance to make her own informed decisions!

[u/bethaneee]

Your niece is 18. The whole internet is at her disposable. If anyone is lying (and pork is white/red meat is a subject people debate) your niece presumably has the resources to research and make her own choices, If she cares to do so