If you want to trick more people into coming to your lecture about veganism, be sure to say it’s about vegetarianism. It’s less threatening.

Here is Ms. Rice speaking at The NYC Veggie Pride Parade, to a somewhat larger audience than she would get at her “Vegetarianism: Everything you ever wanted to know…” talk.

Her lecture was primarily about how she was so much healthier than everyone else in the world.

And lonelier too. She discussed a book called Living Among Meat Eaters, Carol Adams’ take on the plight of vegan purists in an impure world. Ms. Rice apparently thought one of the things we wanted to know about vegetarianism is that it makes you a social outcast. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this,” she said before letting us in on one of vegetarianism’s dark secrets - the creator of Vegetarian Times eventually took up meat again, just so he could have friends.

“I picked the wrong profession,” Rice admitted later in the lecture. “Being a vegan advocate is a lonely life.” Then she took a moment for a sad shrug and a nod. Well, at least she had us.

When the lecture started, there were six listeners. But about 15 minutes into Rice’s bragging session about the near-invincibility of vegans, a man and his pregnant wife left, supposedly because she was having pregnancy-related acid reflux (obviously she wasn’t vegan, or digestion problems would be unknown to her).

That left me, a vegan woman next to me, this skeletal man, and the meat-eating rabble rouser next to him. That meat eater left in a huff about halfway through the lecture, though, another painful reminder to Rice that her lifestyle is an annoyance and an affront to even those with the patience to hear her out.

This man went vegetarian in the 1970s after watching a program on PBS called “Slaughterhouse.” He asked Rice to explain why meat eaters were so deluded about the human need for protein. “Vegans are just as strong as meat eaters,” he boasted, “if not stronger!” As you can see, he supported his point by pumping iron right then and there in the New York Public Library basement. “Air weights,” he called them. He did five reps. Not too shabby.

Rice concluded by proudly announcing that her 20-year anniversary of veganism was just weeks away. I can imagine her celebrating by going to Vegetarian Paradise 2, alone, choking down some soy protein and brown rice, taking a pedicab home, and petting her emaciated vegan pug while watching Year of the Dog for the fourth time.

But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. For God’s sake, Ms. Rice, it’s your anniversary - treat yourself to a steak!