When was the first time you knew you were a true vegetarian?

Question

My son, who is twelve has always been interested in animal welfare and volunteers at an animal farm for abused and neglected animals. One day he was served the grossest burger at Ruby Tuesday's and nearly puked at the table. He hasn't eaten meat in 2 1/2 years and he vows he never will.

Was/were your decision(s) as explicit as it was for my son?

Answer 1

i was best friends with a goat one summer at a stay on a family farm and woke one day to find the goat hanging skinned upside down in the courtyard. that goes used to kiss me and was so sweet and cute. i could cry now thinking about it. i am 28 and that was when i was 11 or 12. it is easy to be vegetarian in today's world. animals feel just like we do!

Answer 2

I was never a very big meat eater, no matter what. My whole childhood I'd sit at the table and refuse to eat it, I'd sit there for hours on end. I always thought of a dead cow as I ate, or a dead animal and it made me feel horrible. My mom one night made chicken for me, it wasn't cooked properly and she force fed it to me. I vowed that night to NEVER eat meat again. It was disgusting and I hated it. I decided it wasn't for me, I thought/think it's unethical. My decision was simple really, I didn't enjoy the taste in the first place and didn't like the idea of eating what was a living animal.

Answer 3

one night i was eating a peice of chicken in my room.

like a drumstick and i bit into gross black chewy meat.

i put the drumstick down and was just thinking wow.. thats an animal.

and ever since them im vegetarian.

that was when i was 13 im 17 now

Answer 4

when someone alerted to me that all they ever seen me was eat fruits and veggies.

i was 21 at the time...  they were right..  that's all i ever ate.

now i'm well...   much older...

it wasn't a revelation and yet i was surprised.....  so how is i'm sick and dead now?   (what the meat eaters keep telling me what's going to happen if i go vegetarian.)

ok.. i've been vegetarian all my life...  alright... i'm waiting for it?

Answer 5

I just walked up to my parents and said, "I'm vegetarian now!"

Haven't gone back since.

Answer 6

My decision wasn't so explicit.  I have always loved animals.  I came to my decision slowly when I was about 12-13.  When I got pregnant with my son, I started eating meat again to ensure I ate enough protien for the baby.  (I was 16 and not working so I was not buying my own groceries, so I could not ensure I was receiving adequate protein for even myself.)  I went back to being a vegetarian for a couple months after he was born, but burgers on the grill were my downfall.  Soon afterwards I decieded it was just the "circle of life" and most animals lead a full life before being slaughtered.

...yeah, sorry.  

Last week I happened apon a question here on Y!Answers (honestly, I don't even remember what the question was).  It referenced several websites with pics and videos on how animals, especially pigs and chickens, were treated.  I couldn't watch the videos, the pics were bad enough!!   :_(

I guess I never really thought about the chickens being forced to live in little boxes with no sunlight and no room to move so I can get a dozen eggs.

I live in a farm dense area.  But they are all relatively small.  The cows are let out to graze and brought back in for milking.  The chickens run free.  The pigs don't exactly have acres to run free in, but they're not packed in crates!  So the way these animals are treated on these "super" farms is just beyond what I can even imagine!  It was easy for me to live in my own little "the world is fair" bubble.

I have since bought bocca burgers (soy), egg substitute (the kind NOT made from egg whites), and am looking for an alternative to chicken.

I applaud you and your son for making the decision to go meat free!!

Answer 7

Since I first tasted meat, it was disgusting to me...I preferred my mom's vegetable stew with no meat....I also feel healthier and more energetic...

Answer 8

Meat kind of always freaked me out while eating it since I was a kid. I started really becoming grossed out by chicken and pretty much any meat that had a bone attached to it. ESPECIALLY chicken legs. Blech. They were the worst.

Anyway, I first stopped eating anything that had bones in it. Eventually I was down to just eating burgers. Then one day I saw a video online called "Meet your meat" and that did it. I d**n near barfed up the chop meat I had been eating twenty minutes earlier. I love animals too much to contribute to that kind of torture. I kept thinking to myself while watching the video, what if that was my cat or dog? Or what if that was ME? How would I feel about being locked in a cage and basically tortured until it was time to be slaughtered. It reminded me of horrible stories of kidnap victims. About how they're held, and beaten and....well, you get the point I'm sure.

So, yeah. That's it. I feel so much better since, and healthier. I don't think I'll ever be able to stomach it again, and I have no plans to.

Answer 9

Well first of all, mad props to your son for making such a healthy decision at a young age!

The reason I stopped eating meat was because of a video on peta2.com about how the animals are treated and whatnot, it shows how pigs are killed by slitting their throat so the blood will run out of them and one of them fell into his own pool of blood and slowly died in it. I thought THIS IS SICK. and I haven't eaten meat since :]

that was 9 months ago..

Answer 10

I was eating a chicken strip and my brain said "hey, weird, that's a muscle. like you have. it used to be a chicken. you know, a bird. you are eating a dead animal." Then I gagged, spit it out, and haven't eaten meat since. It's been three years.