It started just like any ordinary day, but it was a day that
changed my life forever. I was getting ready for work while watching The View. Alicia Silverstone was the
guest and she mentioned that she was vegan. Honestly, at first it didn’t
register. But then one of the hosts asked her why. She said she had dogs at
home and loved them dearly. She said she’d made the connection: How could I love
these animals but eat others? What’s really the difference between a dog and a
pig or a dog and a cow?
That stayed with me. I’d always considered myself an animal
lover and I adored my two cats. So later I grabbed my laptop and Googled Alicia
Silverstone and veganism. From there I went down a rabbit hole and was led to
all sorts of websites and videos showing how animals are raised for food. It
was the first time I saw the horrors of factory farming.
After an hour or two of looking at some of the worst animal
cruelty I could possibly imagine, I knew what I had to do: go vegan. I knew I
didn’t want to support a broken
system that treated animals as nothing more than commodities. And I instinctively
knew that the horrific abuses I’d witnessed, many of which were considered standard industry practices,
were plain wrong.
I went vegan that
day.
In all honesty, it was pretty easy. Over the next few weeks,
I taught myself how to do it. I got a few vegan
cookbooks, discovered some great websites,
and subscribed to a couple of podcasts. I also learned how to veganize dishes I
often ate, like tuna
salad sandwiches and chicken stir-fry. I also found some really great
restaurants that were either all-vegan or offered amazing vegan options. I
felt lighter—not because I was losing weight, but because I knew that every
time I sat down to eat I was intentionally choosing food that didn’t come from
suffering animals. It felt good. It felt like coming home.
My one regret is that I didn’t come to veganism sooner. I
was 30 years old when I went vegan, well into my adulthood. And I’m still
surprised it took that long for someone to challenge me on what I was eating. I
had known, of course, that meat, dairy, and eggs came from animals. But I never
thought about how they were produced or what animals went through before they
got to my plate. Why? A part of it is definitely on me. But a big part is also
on the meat, dairy, and egg industries that deceptively
market their products.
If I could turn back time and go vegan earlier, I
undoubtedly would. But I don’t beat myself up about it. To paraphrase Maya
Angelou: When you know better, you do better. So now that you know, what will
you do?