10 years ago today, I became a vegetarian.

[flvegan]

I can remember in the months leading up to this day 10 years ago learning more and more about how animals in the food industry were treated. I had already stopped eating any meat other than chicken. My reason was because of how they treated the cattle (I never really ate pork to begin with). A vegetarian I worked with applauded my not eating red meat and upon hearing my reasoning, simply said "well, let me know when you want to hear about how they treat chickens"...and that caused me to think, and research. So, I chose the birthday of Mohandas Gandhi, October 2nd, to remove meat from my diet henceforth.

I wish I had done it sooner, I can say that. And while I'm always impressed by anyone that consciously reduces meat consumption or becomes a vegetarian or vegan, I'm AMAZED by some folks (like here on DU) that have been a veggie for 15, 20, 30 years or more. I mean, it seems so easy today. I couldn't imagine trying this in the 70's.

So, Happy Birthday Mohandas Gandhi and happy veggiversary to me!

Anyone else want to share their veggie story?

[Ignis]

1. Congrats!

Anniversaries are a great time for math. Count up all the times you used to eat meat with every meal, consider the huge waste that is involved in factory farming, multiply by the time you've been vegetarian, and ...

You've saved the lives of roughly 900 animals since you've been vegetarian.

http://wonder.sitehacks.com/animalssaved.php?m=10&d=2&y=1998

:woohoo:

When the little daily hassles of being veggie wear you down, it's nice to look back and see the impact you've had.

---

Personally, I'm coming near my 20-year veggie anniversary (since 1990). I think I'll celebrate with dinner at Millenium. :) Who's in?

[LeftyMom]

2. Was there a wife involved in that decision?

:rofl:

I sense a running joke getting started.

[CrispyQ]

3. Congrats!

When I first became vegetarian there was tofu & tempeh - which I had no idea how to cook. Soy milk had just come out & it was putrid! There were no garden burgers, no chic patties, no Gimme Lean. There wasn't even an internet - at least not in the form it is today, with forums galore & info on everything! When I got my first online account, I found a veggie forum & they were discussing Morningstar's garden burgers & how good they were. Then I found VebWeb with all their recipes & being veg just got easier & easier. Oh & when I first tasted SILK, which I did with great trepidation, I couldn't believe it was soy milk. It was nothing like the soy milk from 10 years earlier!

My dental hygienist shared this tidbit with me: Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!

So you see, before you know it, you will be celebrating 20 years, & then 30 & then 50! ;)

[livetohike]

4. Congratulations!

:toast: and thank you for all of your contributions to the Veggie forum :-).

I don't know the exact date of when I became a vegetarian, but it was sometime during my Freshman year in college (1970) and I was turned on to vegetarianism from a friend and my Uncle. I was learning yoga from a friend and he was a vegetarian. We would cook some interesting Indian meals at his apartment. My Uncle was a Seventh Day Adventist and did not eat meat due to his religious beliefs. He gave me my first vegetarian cookbook, which I still have - "The Art of Vegetarian Cooking" by Betty Wason.

It was hard to be a vegetarian in the 70's especially in western PA. You couldn't find any organic products in the grocery stores then. Yogurt was a relatively new product. I made my own and grew sprouts too. Tofu was an exotic item back then. It was years before I ever tasted it. There's such a variety of veggie products now and that's a good thing. I wish more restaurants would offer vegetarian meals though. I'm surprised that this hasn't changed in all the years that I've been a vegetarian.

[CrispyQ]

8. Regarding restaurants.

I have a friend that likes to lunch at La Peep. With all the burgers & sandwiches they offer, there is not one veggie or garden burger! As for the breakfast menu, nothing there either. Eggs, eggs & more eggs. Not one tofu scramble. I end up getting potatoes every time & cringe when I realize they were probably cooked right next to my friend's bacon. :banghead:

This is why I hate to go out to eat.

:hi:

[Chan790]

9. Advice...

call when you know they're not busy...Tuesday 3PM is the slowest time in a restaurant, we schedule our deliveries then for that reason...ask to speak to the head chef and inquire about "off the menu" veg(etari)an options. I've met few chefs who look at it as anything other than a fun creative exercise and a break from routine as long as it's not being sprung on them during the hell of dinner rush. (This is true of almost any food-related issue, not just vegetarianism.)

I've gotten some amazing meals that nobody else knows are available. The few places where I've been told to "piss off" clearly don't value me as a customer or my business and I see no reason to give them my money.

[livetohike]

12. Great idea!

:hi:

[MuseRider]

5. Congratulations!

Wow, while you are impressed by 15, 20, 30 years or more I am very impressed by your 10. I love your story, Gandhi would too. His grandson (or great grandson, I can't remember) lives close to me. A very nice man, I have worked with both he and his wife, but light years from the kind of life MK Gandhi lived. **just and aside ;)**

I will celebrate my 3 month anniversary soon! Wheeeee! I don't remember the exact date, I think it was a week maybe after July 4th and I believe I only ate chicken once after the 4th so I am going to call the 4th my start day. At least it is a day I can remember :).

[superconnected]

20. Good for you! Very good move!

[La Coliniere]

6. Congratulations!

My trajectory into a vegetarian diet was similar to yours, and its also been 10 years for me. Its still not the easiest thing to do, especially if you are surrounded by carnivore friends and relatives who just don't get it. Bravo!

[flvegan]

7. Congrats on your decade, friend!

And nothing easy has ever been worth it, eh?

[Annces]

10. It is a good thing

And I think numbers are crucial for more people going that way. People are very social minded, to do what everyone else does. I have 2 nieces who are vegetarians of their own accord. Their parents are not. Vegetarians are the forward thinkers.

[XemaSab]

11. I'm coming up on about 10 years myself

I'm not a purist, but I've been pretty good. Funnily enough, I see eating beef as being more ethical than eating chicken.

I've just seen too many necropsies to eat teh critters. :P

[roody]

13. I read Diet for a Small Planet in the mid-1970's, and quit

meat on the spot. I ate the recipes in the book. I bought the ingredients at the food buying club, which quickly became the coop. I have eaten meat maybe once or twice a year since then.

[SallyMander]

14. 14 years on Thanksgiving Day!

Which means this year marks half my life that I've been a vegetarian. I was 14 years old, had been thinking about it for a while -- at the time it was because i planned to go to vet school, loved animals and thought it was hypocritical to save some while eating others! The last straw was an ad i saw on Thanksgiving -- it went straight from a shot of cute fuzzy little baby turkeys, cut right into a shot of a big dead turkey on a dinner table. I said, that's it! I'm not eating meat anymore! And my parents were sure it was a phase. ;) They were incredibly supportive though, and usually made me something extra at dinner -- like "buffalo tofu" when they were having chicken wings! :rofl:

Now i'm in a PhD program in Ecology, and i find the environmental reasons more compelling -- of course i still think factory farming is just horrific, but i'm also really impressed by the ecological footprint arguments. I can't really imagine a circumstance where i would go back to eating meat... it doesn't even seem appetizing anymore. And i have a veggie husband, who cooks for me nonetheless! :D

:hi:

[flvegan]

15. Great story, and congrats on 14 years!

[Ignis]

16. That's tremendous. Grats on your 14th.

Having encouraging parents can certainly do a lot for a young vegetarian.

:hi:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. Congratulations on your 10 and thanks for all your posts here!

:hi:

I think I was born a vegetarian, really. Getting me to eat meat -- just about any kind -- was a real chore for my Mom. I hated most pork except bacon, despised fish and seafood, would eat a tiny bit of chicken/turkey meat (it had to be completely dried out :D), and what beef I ate was the nose/lips/butt variety -- burgers, hot dogs, balogna -- any real cut of meat made me gag. Anytime I was forced to eat real meat when we went out to eat, I always had a small steak, extra well-done, covered in A-1 sauce.

Oddly enough, the first time I really made a connection between what I was eatign and animals was when I was a freshman in high school. (I grew up in an urban environment where this thing called "meat" came in little packages at the supermarket -- it was easy to be disconnected.) I was eating a baloney sandiwich when a friends blurted out I was eating a dead carcass. It stopped me dead and really made me think for the first time about what I was eating.

I became even more picky about the meat I ate after that, and found myself getting more easily grossed out by it and eating less of it.

Around then I had my first experience with vegetarian food from a chain called The Good Earth. It was some of the nastiest food I have ever had -- very 70s veggie. There was just no way I was gonna eat like that. :( So I kept on with the few kinds of meat I was still eating.

When I was 28 I started dating a vegetarian. He was my first real exposure to ethical vegitarianism -- he ate no meat, wouldn't wear leather, that sort of thing. From being around him I finally saw not eating meat as a viable lifestyle choice.

A year later, we had broken up, but I had made the leap and was no longer eating any meat whatsoever. I have never regretted my decision, and am happier and more convinced each year that I make the right choice.

Next year it will be 20 years for me.

What makes my choice even more interesting is the fact that I hate cooked vegetables more than I hated meat! The only veggies I will eat cooked are corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. I swear I am the world's worst vegetarian! :D :D :D :D


Thanks for sharing your stories, everyone! It is always nice to be among kindred spirits. :grouphug:

[WhollyHeretic]

18. It's been almost exactly ten for me. Though I was off and on for 4 years before that.

My wife hit the one year mark today.

[superconnected]

19. I don't remember, it was the early 90's. It wasn't even a decision. The subj

came up and I said I'm not eating any more meat, and never did. It wasn't difficult. I never missed the meat.

The difficult time was in the late 90's when I had some clam chowder where the cook put sausage in and my stomach was doing cartwheels from that tiny amount. I got very sick and was also angry because I had asked ahead if there was meat in it. Then to top it off the cook was rude to me. He said "Oh, you're on that kick". I never went to that place again and it closed down a few years later.

The other difficult time was when I went into a grocery store's meat dept - around the mid 90's, and I hadn't been in a meat dept in so long that I'd lost my insensitivity to what meat looked like. It looks like human flesh. I couldn't tell the difference. It was like being in a horror movie. I've called it the Jeffery Dahmer aisle since and then avoided it for years. Anyway, I was shocked to find I couldn't handle it because nobody ever said that was a side effect of not being around meat and then suddenly seeing it. Since then the few times friends wanted to put their carcasses in my fridge I've said "no". I'm not having nightmares. I also have an issue with boca burgers. I can't eat them if I can't tell they have oats in them. They look to much like meat to eat. I can't handle the idea of eating flesh or even something that looks like it. Wonderful side effect huh.

Congratulations on your fete!

[Celeborn Skywalker]

21. Congrats!

I'm still trying to reduce consumption. I have eliminated all pork and most beef from my diet. The problem is I always succumb to the temptation of real cheeseburgers. I can't seem to shake the cravings for real beef burgers.

[flvegan]

22. Awesome!

Reducing consumption is a great goal, and it sounds like you've made some big changes eliminating meat from your diet.

I can understand the temptation of real cheeseburgers. There is no denying what tastes good to you. I'm almost addicted to Amy's brand of Quarter Pounder burgers. Very meatlike, but veggie.

[Jamastiene]

23. Happy Veggiversary!

I read your kind comments to my aunt last night. She appreciated it very much and wanted me to send you a :hug: I'm sending your one too :hug:

You inspire me. I am looking for the cheapest possible way to cut down on meat consumption at the very minimum 2 days a week now. My aunt is leaning toward the "every other day" idea I came up with last night to wean.

For the last 3 weeks, I have managed to do it quietly on my own, but you can only go so far on Ramen noodles. I may need to search this Group and maybe the cooking group for some good vegan recipes that'll give a little more energy than the noodles. We'll still have to eat the noodles some days out of necessity (very low budget we have to work with of $1250 a month for EVERYTHING).

I wish there was a truly cheap way to do it without Ramen noodles/Cup of Soup type things. I, personally, could do salads as long as dressing is still ok and I can add enough of the types of veggies I love, like carrots, cukes, peppers (I'm currently practically addicted to bell peppers) and my all time favorite, tomatoes.

Anything based on tomatoes is great for me, but not for my aunt. She can't handle tomatoes too much. So, I'm still looking. Like I said, it's a slow process with me and may take a while, but at the very least I'm cutting down on meat...inspired by you. :hug:

[flvegan]

24. I've not read words kinder to me on DU, thanks.

Quick suggestion, start a thread here asking about budget veg*ism. Lots of good folks here know how to eat well and will know low cost meals and alternatives to non-veg meals to help you eat less meat. They may not see this response of yours, and I'd hate for you to miss out on some great advice.

Congrats on your decision to eat less meat. It's a huge step that will help with your health (if done responsibly) and the world.

I'm happy that your aunt was pleased with what I said. I hope she continues to be outraged at the evil man does.

:hug:

[LeftyMom]

25. If you can cook a little, real (non-processed) vegan meals are cheap.

Lentils, rice, beans of different sorts, some pasta, whatever produce is in season, homemade soup...

I was *flat broke* when I went vegan, because I was staying home with LK and had almost no money left over after rent and utilities. I probably ate better than I do now, though there was more prep time involved.

[Lorien]

26. An idea/ suggestion

one way to jump start your transition would be to do the Master Cleanse for ten days or more: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Cleanser-stanley-burroughs/dp/0963926209/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232407565&sr=8-1 (be sure to read the reviews). I've done it once and I'll tell you, it really heightens your sense of taste and smell like nothing else! You also really crave veggies and fruit after doing it, and meat and cheese seem like vile concepts. I still haven't figured out how I can go fully vegetarian; I'm severely hypoglycemic so I can't do beans or whey, I'm allergic to soy and tomatoes (yeah, that definitely sucks!) And my doctor wants me on a high protein diet. About the best I've been able to do is cut out all mammals and eat wild caught fish and organic free range chicken only a couple of times a week,plus a fair number of eggs (I try not to do much dairy-it is bad for you)! I'm hoping that this next cleanse will help rid me of an allergy or two. It's happened for some people, so maybe it can happen for me too!

[soleiri]

27. I became vegetarian about 20 years ago.

I was 18 and living at home. I decided to make a “healthy” salad for dinner. I was making a chef’s salad, and I was happy and proud of myself for “eating healthy”. I was actually chopping up the ham when I heard someone at my door. It was a neighbor with my kitty, Rugrat. He had just been hit by a car. He died before we got to the vet. I could never eat meat after that. I could no longer see the difference between cats and dog and the cows, pigs, etc. people put on their plates.

[flvegan]

28. Wow. I'm sorry that event was the basis

of your going veg. 20 years, that's a long time. Congrats.

[soleiri]

29. tragic, I know.

Eventually, I would have become a vegetarian, even if I hadn’t lost him. It just might have taken me longer.

truth is, it’s the first time I connected what was on my plate to the animals that I loved. Once you make that connection, you really can’t go back. What’s strange is that I didn’t know anything about vegetarianism or even know any vegetarians before I became one.
Now, my brother, mother, and two kids are all veggie.

Now I think of Rugrat as the kitteh who helped me change my life for the better.