Home » Food & Drink » Vegetarian Cuisine » Why Vegetarian?

Why Vegetarian?

© Allison Tyler

An individual’s personal choice can create controversy. Religious persecution through the ages proves this fact. Some people want everyone else to think, act and believe as they do. It’s no surprise that what we choose to believe in, to wear, to listen to, to read or to eat can affect how others view us. Our personal choices can often make others curious, resentful or downright angry.

I wondered why people choose to be vegetarian or vegan. That was the question I asked strangers on the street, Internet message boards and my friends and colleagues.

For most, a combination of factors leads to the choice to be vegetarian or vegan. The most common responses included:

1. The love of animals and not wanting to kill them to sustain our life
2. Environmental concerns
3. Disagreement with factory farming and killing
4. Religious beliefs
5. Concerns about antibiotics and steroid use in animal farming
6. Health concerns

Knowledge is power and books have had a big impact on former meat-eaters. Diet for a New America was mentioned over 20 times as a factor in one’s decision to become vegetarian.

Willow, a vegetarian, wrote, “I read Diet for a New America, by John Robbins. I can’t remember precisely, but at some point in my reading that book it became unthinkable for me to eat meat. I also read Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation , Carol Adams’ The Sexual Politics of Meat and C. David Coats’ Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm (editor’s note – this book is currently out of print). I don’t know that reading those books alone would have made me become vegetarian. I recommended the first book to an acquaintance who read it and continued on her carnivorous way. I think it was the shock of reading a book which tied together my love for animals and my lukewarm liking of meat.”

Karen, a vegan, wrote, “When I first started cutting meat from my diet it was for health reasons….For a while I only ate fish. Then my eyes were opened to the moral aspect of it. I have grown up with pets and am an animal lover. Animals are sentient beings. I decided to cut out all meat including fish and shellfish. When I read Diet for a New American and found out about the violence and cruelty of not only the meat industry, but the egg and dairy industry I was horrified. That is when I decided to try being vegan. I later read a book called Vegan, The New Ethics of Eating, which talked a lot about Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and how the cattle industry feeds rendered cattle to cattle. What a disgusting and appalling concept!”

The copyright of the article Why Vegetarian? in Vegetarian Cuisine is owned by . Permission to republish Why Vegetarian? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.