What made you become vegan?

[Matthew]

The BBC recently broadcast Veganville, a documentary about four vegans who traveled to Merthyr in Wales in attempt to convert the local farming population to veganism. They used a range of tactics ranging from screening slaughterhouse footage to giving away vegan food. It is available on iplayer if you are based in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07wn1l2/veganville-series-1-episode-1.

The programme got me thinking about my own experiences. I made a conscious decision to become vegetarian in the 90s. It was relatively easy to do because you basically only have to cut two things out of your diet (meat & fish). Things like gelatin and rennet I discovered later on and was able to cut those things from my diet. My transition to veganism has been much slower, partly because I didn’t start from an ethical perspective (that came later on) but mainly because dairy is a far more pervasive food group than meat. I am now at the point where all my own cooking is vegan, although there are still aspects of it I am not happy about.

Anyway, since this is a new site I thought it would interesting to have a topic where people can relate their experiences on why they became vegan, and how they undertook the transition.

[Nathan]

I saw Veganville. Myself, I stopped eating meat at an early age. I went on an anti-vivisection march in Liverpool at age of 14 (in 1983). Following this I met Vegans/activists and saw some Vegan society literature. Went vegan at 17 ‘for the animals’ though took years to get used to it, eventually I was eating much more healthily. It was at times a lonely business but from about 2007 I have been more involved in vegan activism and social activities.

[nuke]

I didn’t feel well and took various tests to find out about my health status. I also took food intolerance tests and found out that my body didn’t accept meat. So I had to give it up.

[Chris]

Hi, Nuke! I can say that my story is very similar to yours. Well, it all started when I became sleepy and constantly tired. And I decided to find out the reason for my such condition. So I did an experiment. When I didn’t eat meat, I woke up without any problems and felt good. Because I ate healthier foods and drank fruit and vegetable smoothies. Now I know that my body was resting and recovering in those days. And on meat days, my condition was terrible. Moreover, when I was in London, I was tested for food intolerance and different allergens ( you can find more info here https://www.intolerancelab.co.uk ). This is how I found out that I have high cholesterol (above the norm) and am allergic to antibiotics that are usually added to meat. This increased my desire to exclude meat from my diet.. Thus I became a vegetarian.