If two vegans are having an argument, is it still considered beef?
Why this joke works
A Food Rule Meets an Unrelated Meaning
“Beef” can mean meat from cattle, but it can also mean a complaint or dispute. The question pretends that avoiding beef as food should prevent someone from using the other meaning too. No dietary rule actually works that way, and that is the deliberate mistake. The humor comes from treating vocabulary as though it were an ingredient list. It makes no claim that vegans argue more than anyone else or that their choices are unreasonable.
A closer look
The Question Is the Whole Joke
This line does not need a separate answer. Its mock uncertainty is the payoff: the listener recognizes that words can have unrelated uses. Read it as a curious language puzzle, not a challenge directed at a person’s lunch. Adding a joke about someone’s diet would turn the attention away from the neat ambiguity.
Fact behind the joke
Veganism Extends Beyond a Menu
The Vegan Society’s definition includes avoiding animal exploitation as far as possible and practicable, alongside a diet excluding animal foods. Its history dates the organization’s beginning to 1944. The term therefore describes a wider philosophy and practice, while the joke uses only one simple food exclusion to build its wordplay.