I've been vegetarian since I was twelve. A proper vegetarian that doesn't eat anything that has previously had a heartbeat or eyes or anything like that. (mainly I'm getting at - I don't eat *fish* OR meat).
I'm thirty-six now so that's 2/3 of my life as a veggie. I think. Anyway, twenty-four years.
This is probably the single most questioned and attacked decision I've ever made. The amount of people who act crazy when you say you are a veggie is bizarre. I'm not an evangelical vegetarian. I don't spout off about my reasons or question meat eaters or whatever. I have four kids, I don't have time.
Honestly, the number of times I have actually said "I'm vegetarian" and someone has heard "you filthy bastard meat eater, I hope you burn in hell" is astonishing!
Occasionally somebody is genuinely interested and asks questions and then I'm more than happy to talk about why I'm vegetarian. But, it's my own decision. I can't understand why people eat meat, but I can't understand lots of things and it doesn't bother me greatly. In fact, I read a fantastic ethical/philosophical discussion about this in
The Philosophy Files which is an intro to philosophical ideas for teenagers. As an aside, it's really easy to read and simple to understand and entertaining on lots of things. I liked it a lot.
The first 'file' is 'Should I eat meat' and the author basically puts forward then discusses all the arguments for and against eating meat. It's really really interesting and is discussed way better than I could discuss it. His conclusion after exploring all the arguments and looking at how general opinion is going is that probably in the next fifty years humans will stop wholesale consumption of meat and it will become a social taboo, with people being unable to comprehend why it was done.
But anyway, I don't live in a vegetarian household (my partner and three out of four kids eat meat) and I'm not a vegetarian crazy. Some people have the time and energy to check everywhere they eat. I don't. I know that sometimes my fried egg might have been cooked on a grill that had a sausage on it earlier. It might not, but it might. Some of the dives I eat in it's a certainty. The main thing, for me, is that I do my best. If it's not good enough for others I'm not bothered. It's good enough for me.
So, in answer to the most common questions:
Do you miss bacon? No.
Do you miss steak? No
Do you miss sausages? No
(etc)
Do you think you are better than me? Probably yes. But not because I'm a veggie and you're not. Mainly because you seem like a bit of an asshole right now.
You look too fat to be a vegetarian, do you sneakily eat meat? No. I'm just one of those lucky vegetarians who can also be a little wobbly.
Why are you vegetarian? Because there is no need to eat meat and be healthy and happy, I don't want to be directly responsible for any animal dying a traumatic death.
Animals aren't traumatised during slaughter so that's a stupid argument. Are you stupid? No. I've just done a tiny little bit of research.
Why don't you eat this bit of bacon? Nobody would know. Fuck off.
