I bet you can guess where this going.

We were raised in a household and boarding school where eating meat was taught. From a young age, I loved animals and almost always had a pet. It was not uncommon for me to come home with a stray.

Years later, when pregnant with my daughter , I worked with a vegetarian and thought that was such a good idea. My husband at the time stated, “in this house, we eat meat”. We, interestingly enough, were Christians at the time (he still is).

A few years ago I met my current partner. He was Vegetarian at the time. I immediately decided that I was going to be a Vegetarian, too. I’ve thought about the fact that families and schools don’t offer any options other than eating meat. We were taught the food pyramid as the correct way of eating.

It was only later, much later, that I even considered it a choice to eat differently. Around two years ago now, we made the change to Vegan. I have never been sorry. Don’t misunderstand me, when I ate meat, I loved it. I had my favourites. I just never considered that I was consuming a life. Meat is so accessible and who thinks of the packaged content in the supermarkets, so nicely and conveniently packed as that of a soul ?

Going back to the heading of this topic, “I love animals”, that is something I debate with myself often, how can we love them and eat them ?

Sadly, many religions teach the eating of meat and religion is powerful in shaping the way that some people think.

Being Vegan is a way of life for me and I sleep easy knowing that I am not causing suffering to the sentient beings that are in our care, that we have been give dominion over with the responsibility to protect.

Children are taught, before they can think or decide for themselves that eating meat is okay, don’t we have a responsibility to teach them that there is another way ?