“I am vegan now”: Stories from our readers, part 2

Lisa, 48

I was a vegetarian twice. The first time was very long ago, when I was preparing to apply for biofaculty and worked in vivaria. I also had experiments on animals there. I saw their torments and cynical attitude towards them by scientists, mostly women. Not a drop of pity or even sympathy! I easily switched to vegetarian food, and returned to meat only because of the pressure of my family, parents and husband. At that time I was young and weak in spirit and could not resist those I loved.

Second time finally I switched to vegetarianism a long time ago. Approximately 29 years ago.

Everything happened instantly! I stood in a big queue for chicken hearts, bought them, and suddenly, looking at a fist with bloody hearts, I thought: “How many birds had to be killed and how many hearts had to be ripped to make me eat once?! And it became so… I will not find words. I am a human being, a Human being! And that’s it.

By the way. My doctor said many times that due to the fact that I am a vegetarian, I will not have breast milk. Well, she was wrong. I have been breast-feeding my son for over a year! And I have enough milk!

Sara, 50

My name is Sarah and I am a vegan.

I have a strange story. I always thought that I can’t live without meat. When I was 47 I ran away from my husband. We went with a friend to the north to travel, went on an excursion to a private cow farm. And then my friend (meat-eater still, despite the spiritual practices) said: “imagine, they are bornin this stall, to stand in it all your life and then immediately die…” and I looked into the cow’s eyes, and stayed there forever… and I made a promise that I would never eat them again.

Then it took me a couple of months to give up fish. And then milk and eggs. The whole process took about a year. I have been on a full vegan diet for about 3 years. I went through some kind of identification of myself and other living creatures.

 Kevin, 25

It happened that when I was fifteen years old I had to go to work at a chicken slaughterhouse. I had enough for exactly one day. Laughing butcher, all in blood, trucks coming in full, and leaving empty, this terrible conveyor has made an impact on me … but with time it was forgotten and I kept eating meat. Still, it affected me, I think.

In the army, I met one girl who was a vegetarian then. At first (it’s a shame to remember) I was one of those who constantly argued with her and got angry and everything, but then we became friends. I thought again about what she told me and decided that there was something in her ideas. I disliked the idea to doom a living creature to death just to fill my belly. This is how I became a vegetarian.

I was a vegetarian for about five years, knowing that this is only a temporary solution. A few months ago I finally switched to veganism.

I have never watched video or anything like that. It was also a reason to switch to veganism, because now I can quickly flip through such materials with a clear conscience.

John, 63

In 1994, I bought and read the book “All about Vegetarianism”. This is a very detailed book. It deals with vegetarianism in various aspects. History. The ethical side. Healthy. Relationship with religions. Recipes. Types of vegetarianism. And many other things.

I became a lacto vegetarian. 2 years ago I realized that this is not enough and became a vegan.

Kirill, 45

I noticed that after the meat dishes I feel digestive problems, I gave up meat, the problems are gone, the sexual component has been normalized, it is better than in youth.

I’ve been a vegetarian about 10 months. It is clear that the refusal of meat was only the first step, but in my opinion, no less important than the others.