Humans of UVM: Bearded Veggie Man
This is a HUMANS OF UVM featuring Bearded Man a.k.a Matt Hamor
He was focused on scraping the remaining chunks of Honeydew out of the rind with a spoon when I arrived, eating it like a bowl of cereal. He looked up at me smiling and said, “I literally only eat plants.”
In fact, Matt even has an Instagram page dedicated to his beard and his vegan lifestyle, posting daily pictures of his food and his beard! Check him out @ultimate_veggie_beard!
To add to Matt’s Mountain Man appearance, he often spends his weekends in the woods surveying and chopping down trees with the UVM Forestry Club.
I had some questions for Matt about what it’s like to have more hair on the bottom of his head than the top.
Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What would you say is the most outstanding quality about yourself?
A: “I think I have an inviting face with my beard. It always stimulates conversation regardless of if I want to have a conversation. The most random people will talk to me. But the best is when I see another bearded person. We don’t usually need to share words, we’ll just give each other a nod to acknowledge our mutual beardedness and then continue on our way.
Q: If you were to wake up one morning and your beard had mysteriously disappeared, what would you do?
A: If it was a school day I would skip class out of fear that no one would recognize me. Also because of that, I’d probably start talking with a new confidence because no one knew who I was…it’d be a new start.
Q: Do you ever plan on shaving your beard?
A: Sadly yes, it almost brings a tear to my eye, but I’m kinda tired of being “that bearded guy” and at some point, I’d like to maybe try being “that guy with emotions and a personality.”
Q: How much work is having a beard?
A: It should be more than it is, I don’t put in as much work as most bearded men do…
Q: When did you notice your first tiny little facial hair?
A: You want the truth? You’ll be freaked out by the truth. I shaved for the first time in 5th grade…By 7th grade I had a full on chin strap.
Q: What is the weirdest question you’ve been asked about your beard?
A: I get asked a lot if I could fit things in there. The answer is yes, I can fit quite a bit of stuff in there, once I decorated it with flowers… I plan to make a pretty elaborate bouquet come spring! 
Q: Do you think your beard inspires people?
A: I think, in the way of my veganism, people get to know me and are baffled and intrigued by my lifestyle and that I would follow a plant based diet.
Q: What’s the most annoying part of having a beard.
A: I have to shower in the morning.
(He emphasized the “have” part quite a bit.)
Q: What would you describe it looking like in the morning?
A: It makes me look like a grimy pirate.
Q: What does your grandma think?
A: When it comes to veganism she thinks I don’t know what food is. As for my beard, she’s sad because she misses my face and can’t kiss my cheeks anymore.
Q: What would be your advice to someone that wants to grow a beard or become vegan
A: If you want to grow a beard…just grow a beard. But shave the neck beard… Beards look better on faces. As for veganism just do your research and you won’t even question yourself, but for all the Ben and Jerry’s lovers, just try to stop eating meat, that’s a great start!
(Matt also encourages people on his Instagram page to just talk to him about becoming vegan or eating plants.)
Q: What is a staple meal you eat?
A: My most important meal of the day is a kale smoothie in the morning and then I generally have a mixture of veggies based under a sweet potato at night.
Q: Would you donate your beard hair to locks of beard love?
A: Heck yeah! If that’s a thing. It’d give me an excuse to shave it that I wouldn’t regret, but I’d probably keep the mustache.
Q: If you were stranded on an island with 3 things what would they be?
A:
- My axe.
- My two little plastic pet animals, gerry the bear and barry the giraffe (that counts as one item).
- A singular grape vine that I plan to make my own wine vineyard out of (gotta be red though).
Q: What’s something you’re really bad at?
A: I’m really bad at talking to girls.
Q: What is your favorite vessel for holding liquids? 
A: I love handleless mugs…is that still a mug?
(No.)
Q: What’s the last picture on your phone?
A: A successful picture of me making cauliflower sent to my mom.
Q: What’s your favorite month of the year and why?
A: June. You know, it’s the summer and there’s no sign of it changing. Plus I love having no shirt on!
Q: How has having a beard helped you as a human?
A: People seem to look up to me…I think I stand out more in a group and it seems like people listen to my opinions more. I try to use this as a way to encourage positivity.
Matt’s energy was infectious and inspiring! I encourage anyone interested in becoming vegetarian or vegan to follow Matt’s fun Instagram page @ultimate_veggie_beard and talk to him about fruits and veggies or maybe even your favorite tree!
