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Why I'm vegetarian

By Grace Coronado

Back in 1988 when I declared to my family that I could no longer eat meat, wear leather, or use products containing animal ingredients, I was passionate about my reasons but had a lot to learn about my new lifestyle. I must admit that I was quite unprepared for the challenges I'd face--especially since we were living in Texas at the time.

My reasons for becoming a vegetarian were simple: I became educated! I learned the truth about the atrocities inflicted on innocent, sentient beings on factory farms, in slaughterhouses, on fur farms, in labs, and so on. After that, my conscience simply wouldn't allow me to continue participating, even passively, in that cruelty.

Prior to this time I was your average American, eating meat every day--without ever considering how it ended up neatly packaged in the supermarket, wearing leather shoes and belts and purses, using shampoo and other products--never glancing at their ingredients, etc. I had always called myself an animal lover. And, indeed, I was. Or at least I THOUGHT I was. After all, I had always rescued/adopted pets, I gave those pets a loving, safe home for life, and I treated my pets like they were children.

Then one day it hit me: I was a hypocrite. And I could no longer deny it. All my life I had CLAIMED to love animals, yet I saw nothing wrong with consuming some of them in various ways. The more I thought about how hypocritical I'd been, the more it bothered me. Like most people who claim to love animals, my love extended only to the "pet" variety and other "cute" animals (horses, lions, etc.). But cows? Pigs? CHICKENS? Please!

Well, as it turns out, cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, lambs, and all other "meat" animals have exactly the same capabilities as dogs and cats to experience pain, fear, love, loyalty, and grief. Some animals mate for life. Others mourn the dead. Some animals raise the offspring of a fallen member of their group. How can anyone deny that these non-human animals deserve a cruelty-free life? I no longer could.

As I write this I've been a happy "ethical vegetarian" for 21 years. I've NEVER, not even once, wavered or thought about eating dead animals again. But in the beginning I definitely faced some challenges!

I'm a California native. You know, the land of fruits and nuts. :) Living in the south was a difficult, unpleasant experience even BEFORE I turned veggie, but afterwards? Oh dear. Our first outings to restaurants were eye-opening...in a very bad way. We'd order something like green beans or cheese enchiladas, thinking they would be "safe" (containing no animal ingredients) to eat. Then the food would arrive and we'd be shocked to see chunks of ham in the green beans or meat sauce on the enchiladas. When we'd ask for vegetarian food we were often looked at as if we were visiting from another planet. We had to EXPLAIN to restaurants--many times--such things as: "vegetable soup" made with beef or chicken broth was NOT vegetarian; green beans with the pork removed did NOT qualify as safe to eat; fish is not a vegetable. It was trying, to say the least.

I'm back home in California now, thank goodness. Of course I'm an old hand NOW at living a vegetarian lifestyle, but it's still nice being surrounded by many other vegetarians, lots of vegetarian entrees at every restaurant, veggie fast food places, etc.

My only regret? That I ever ate animals in the first place. I can rationalize that to a degree because as a child I had no choice. Even if I had known about the torture "meat" animals are subjected to, there's nothing I could have done about it. (Believe me, I would not have been allowed to go veggie back then.) And as an adult, well, I was conditioned to thinking it was NORMAL to eat animals. I can't turn the clock back. There's no way I can make up for those years as a meat eater. I'm just glad I came to my senses...

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This is a great example of a story so many vegetarians have taken, from initial awakening to a niveau of contentment. Five stars from me! There is one thing I don't understand, though - if vegetarians hate eating meat so much, why do they eat stuff that looks and tastes just like meat (i.e. veggie meat)? As a mafist, I just don't get that.

Thank you, Nick.

About the 'fake meat' thing: For me, personally, having eaten meat for so many years before seeing the light, I like fake meat products because they're familiar--but without the guilt. For example, we use Morningstar Farms 'crumbles' all the time for dishes like spaghetti and tacos, the latter being made with standard taco mix from the supermarket just as if it were being added to ground meat. And those dishes fool meat eaters. :)

For me it's ALL about not participating in cruelty to animals--and those fake meat products don't involve cruelty to animals. I can like the TASTE of fake bacon while simultaneously being appalled and horrified at how REAL bacon ends up in the supermarket.

I enjoyed your story and am a vegetarian myself of long standing. I still eat dairy products despite attempting not to do so several times and I also feed meat to stray dogs and cats, so I'm aware of the contraditions in my vegetarian lifestyle.
I live in the middle of cow fields and it makes me very sad to see calves taken from their mothers at a very young age so that they are obliged to suckle from fake teets in order that milk production is not interrupted for too long.
I actually think that dairy cows have a pretty hard time of it given that their life expectancy is shortened from 35 to 7 years by the excessive demands of milk production. Not to mention the fact that it must be very sad for both mother cow and calf to be separated so soon.
In my opinion, the idea of kindness to all of life is an idea that could do with a bit more implementation by the human family.
So your story and ideas are a very welcome read to me thankyou for sharing them.

puffinpie Aug 3, 2009 12:56

I too am vegetarian. I found Nick's "mafist" website to be of interest... as it describes my boyfriend's diet. I don't miss meat at all and don't like vegetarian food products that look like meat. I also avoid soy because it is genetically modified. I tried to move on to a vegan diet but couldn't adjust; I no longer eat most dairy foods including cheese (except Parmesan) and ice cream... and don't miss them. I still use butter and though I've checked out some vegan alternatives, I decided not to use them because of the soy.

Like you, my reason for becoming vegetarian was mainly because I didn't want to be a consumer for the meat industry. My mother sent me to the store when I was a teenager, to buy chicken for dinner. Looking at the meat counter, I saw so much blood... it made an impact on me. I lost my desire to eat animals.

Linda Jo Martin Aug 4, 2009 15:52

Great article. Being a senior person, I found out it has been beneficial for me to eat only vegetables. I now have much fewer digestive problems.

health Aug 6, 2009 09:48

Thank you for sharing this story, Grace.
It's been a while since you've written any intels. I think that hearing more about your vegetarian lifestyle would be of interest to our readers.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes.
Frederick

Thanks for the nice words.

I'd like to write more--I just don't know when I will!

I've tried being vegetarian twice. Both times I ended up feeling tired and weak after about six months. Humans are designed to be omniverous, however I do think we should all try to eat as little meat as possible for personal health as well as the health of the animals and the planet.

Jake, if you felt tired and weak when you tried going vegetarian, you know what that means? You were doing it wrong.

A well planned vegan or vegetarian diet provides all the nutrients humans need.

Kindly don't blame vegetarianism for the fact that you didn't feel up to par, since the REAL reason was your own lack of doing it right.

I don't know what you were eating, but please take a look at this Squidoo lens on meat alternatives for some ideas on what you COULD have been eating.

My mother--who is over 80--has been vegetarian for 4-1/2 years now and has never felt better. So, yeah, going veg does not and should not equal feeling weak and tired.

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