Vegetarians: When did you decide to stop eating meat ?

Question

When I was sixteen or seventeen, well it was that golden year..

Then one day I was alone thinking and eating a hamburger..

and it hits me.. I got a mouth full of dead meat, fúcking flesh I tell you.. and the idea came to mind, how about stop eating meat from here on.

But it wasnt as easy as that, I wasnt ready to give it up lol.

The next month or so I avoided all meat in food because I just didn't feel like eating it. But eventually I realised to myself that the human is an animal and also a predator so I am going to accept and live with that fact.

There I made the decision to still eat meat and I still do.

But I will never forget that feeling of disgust I had many years

ago. Dont get me wrong I love to eat meat, but whenever I taste

it I still have to bury this feeling, like it never happened.

I take it you were not born to dislike meat so what happened, and at what age was the decision made ?

Answer 1

my mum knew when she was 3 becuase my nan put some mean i he mouth and she been sick for days and the doctors said that she can't have meat she a vegetrein

Answer 2

idk

Answer 3

I quit eating meat when I was 13, after viewing a show about factory farming on PBS.  I became vegan when I was a sophomore in college, after taking a "Philosophy of Morality" course.

Answer 4

When I was 3, my mom told me meat was made of dead animals. She told me that if I wanted to eat it still, I could and she'd still cook it for me and everything. But I've never eaten it since and I'm 15 now.

Answer 5

kind of like your story. i was eating chicken and i was like "wow, this used to be alive..and now im eating it" and then i watched a peta video on youtube about slaughter houses and it made me cry.

Answer 6

I decided to stop eating meat about a year ago.

I saw a video about how chickens are treated extremely cruelly in the food industry (yeah i know it sounds pathetic) to be completely honest i don't remember much about it except that it made me feel awful and i thought that if chickens can be treated like that in the food industry other animals must be treated in the same way.   It also didn't help that i watched it right before eating dinner which was chicken kebab and i just couldn't eat it. The thought of eating it made me feel sick.

Since then i haven't eaten meat, my friend gave me a roast lamb flavour crisp (which was suitable for vegetarians) and the flavour made me throw up.

Lots of people i know don't really understand and they argue that humans are predators and meant to eat meat like you said.

  Some people think my reason is stupid as one person not eating meat isn't going to stop cruelty to animals in the food industry but if i did eat it i think i would just feel really guilty.

I made my decision when i was 14 and i'm not sure if i could ever go back to eating meat.

sorry this was a very long rambling answer :)

Answer 7

I went from omni to vegan about 18 months ago (I was 23).  I have always considered myself a compassionate person but really I hadn't much thought about where my meals were coming from.  

I was watching TV and I saw the show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel.  They had to do some things at the pig farm.  When I saw the host had to cut off the baby pig's tail and clip it's ears without any pain relief, I was shocked and the sound the animal made was enough to make me go off meat altogether.  Then, I was curious if cruelty was standard in the meat business.  I think I looked up the term "meat processing" and came up with all sorts of material.  

After seeing footage of slaughterhouses, dairies, and egg-laying houses, I swore off animal products completely.

Contrary to how many view vegans or animal rights promoters, I am not an animal lover,  I just think they should be able to live without pain, suffering, boredom, neglect, abuse, isolation, disease, steroids, etc.  It's all about fairness and what is going on with animals raised for exploitation is anything but fair.  It's cruel, and unfortunately, usual punishment.

Answer 8

It was a little over a year ago. I was working my volunteer shift at the animal shelter and it just kind of hit me yea i don't eat dogs and cats... But i love all animals and their so cute and nothing deserves to be treated badly.

Answer 9

honestly like at 8 years old i didnt wanna eat meat any more. Around that time was when I realized that hamburger was a cow, that bologna was a pig. I was put back on meat because I got sick and decided to go back to what I wanted to do a year ago. I was really an on/off vegeterian in my kid years but now i know I will never eat meat again.

Answer 10

i was 8 years old, and surprisingly it was chicken and mc donalds that put me off.

My mum used to cook chicken breast for sunday dinner and i just couldnt hack it anymore it made me feel sick thinking of feathers in my mouth and little yellow chicks.

Then i once pulled the batter off a chicken nugget in mcd's and it just looked awfull, so i told my mum i did not want to eat meat anymore, she thought it was just a phase cause i was so young but  . . .8 years on and no meat has passed though my lips   . .hahahaaaa