Unlike most people, I wasn’t raised eating meat or drinking
cow’s milk. I was born into a vegetarian family. The choice not to eat meat
wasn’t mine to make; my parents did that for me.
You’d think that growing up in an Italian family, where
Sunday meat sauce and sausages are the norm, this wouldn’t be the case. But we’d
show up to family gatherings with vegetarian pasta fagioli or lentil soup. And I
remember my mom running up to the school during field day to bring me tofu
dogs. It required a bit of preparation, but my parents were committed to
raising my sister and me veg.
I’ve always been an animal lover, and I truly believe it was
my vegetarian upbringing that taught me to care for all beings. We had a dog,
but I loved to read books about exotic animals, and my favorite channel was
Animal Planet. At eight years old I told my mom I wanted to go to Australia to
study marine biology at the University of Queensland. While I did not end up
going there, I did manage to use the degree I earned to help animals.
Sadly, we eventually moved away from being
vegetarian. I don’t really know what caused my family to start eating animals
again, but it was during this time that I started making my own decisions. I
don’t need to go into what I ate because, let’s be honest, I was an American
teenager. My diet primarily consisted of fast food, pizza, and anything
inexpensive that I could get my hands on.
This all changed in college. A combination of events led me
back to my vegetarian roots.
One afternoon I put on a documentary that exposed how the
meat industry treats animals. After seeing the painful
mutilations, extreme confinement, and brutal slaughter, I knew I couldn’t
support the industry. Now that I knew the truth, there was no going back.
In addition to learning about factory farming from the
documentary, I landed my first internship at an animal welfare organization.
While there, I worked on the organization’s farmed animal campaign and learned
even more about the horrors of factory farming.
The final thing that pushed me to stop eating meat was rescuing
my first cat, Scout. Caring for him and seeing firsthand just how sensitive and
intelligent he is made me acutely
aware of the feelings of all animals. How could I possibly cuddle with him
and eat another animal?
While my family is no longer vegetarian, I myself made the
choice to leave all animal products off my plate. I am forever grateful that my
parents raised me vegetarian, but the decision to go veg for good was one I had
to make on my own.
Thankfully, I now have friends and even some relatives who
have decided to embrace a vegan lifestyle. You see, one great thing about going
vegan is that it’s never too late to make the switch.
Ready to go veg? Click here
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