Your personal vegan story

[AbFab]

Ah, that helps explain 'Moi aussi'! Peut-être.

Peanut-flavoured crisps? How bizarre!

I used to like Bountys, but I just don't like my sweets to be flavoured like fruit - I like fruit, and I like sweet things, but not together. Chocolate for me needs to be chocolatey, caramelly, nougat-ey, or toffee - those kind of things, just never with fruit. Although I did like coconutty Bountys. Was never too keen on nuts in my chocolate either, although I like nuts on their own.

I fear we are turning this thread into a chocolate one. Sorry everyone.

[rainbow]

Yeah, sorry. :o

Best make this the last one. They are peanut-butter flavoured - little maize corn snacks containing 30% ground peanuts that just melt in your mouth. They are so very delicious.
'Moi aussi' is a long story that is best not told here as we have hijacked this thread quite enough already! :o

But if you ever do find vegan mars bars - tell me where, I want some! ;)

[AbFab]

http://jm.g.free.fr/smileys/cute_smileys/offtopic2.gif Sorry, one last post off-topic (Mmm, Topics, I hear you say!!!).

YUCK - I do not like peanut butter. Thanks again for all your efforts though, Rainbow!

If you want to find a thread to post the moi aussi story on, I'll keep an eye out.

In the meantime, back to personal vegan stories, and if anyone finds vegan Mars bars, please let us know! If there isn't a chocolate thread in the food forum, there should be!

[Liftednevermore]

I became vegan two weeks before Christmas. About three days beforehand, I'd made a lavish, caribbean style Christmas Cake that was busy marinating in rum. (It contained about 12 eggs.) On Christmas day, I watched everyone enjoying my lovely cake, while I had plain rice with fried mushrooms. That's what I call "discipline". :D

[Mozbee]

The closest thing to a mars bar we've got is the bars made by Vegan - Nougat & ... , they also created the coconut bars.

[rainbow]

I don't think they taste much like Mars Bars - but, they do taste absolutely delicious, so who cares? Not me! :D

[Mozbee]

I became vegan two weeks before Christmas. About three days beforehand, I'd made a lavish, caribbean style Christmas Cake that was busy marinating in rum. (It contained about 12 eggs.) On Christmas day, I watched everyone enjoying my lovely cake, while I had plain rice with fried mushrooms. That's what I call "discipline". :D
Bravo Lifted! :cool:

[grasshopper]

for me, it all started 4 years ago when my family was travelling up to north carolina driving on a highway late at night when we spotted a chicken truck. it was the most depressing thing my sister and i had ever seen in our lives, it felt like witnessing a concentration camp, they were packed in tiny cages all stacked up with the wind blowing all of their feathers off and it was sickening. being the idiot that i was, i continued to eat chicken, but i did feel extremely guilty whenever i did. then one day i was at the grocery store with my sis and she told me the shocking truth about how animals are raised because someone had sent her an email and then she watched the meet your meat peta video. i was horrified and after this i had no desire at all to eat it and it made me feel soo much better to not support it. so she became a vegetarian too and so did one of my bros and then my friend. still being the idiot that i was, i continued to drink milk thinking that dairy cows dont suffer and that probably not all of them sell the male calves to veal. and i ate free range eggs because i thought that they didnt suffer much either. then about 3 months ago, i heard this kid in my class say that he was vegan (i later found out that he wasnt because he drank a milk shake but who knows it might have been a transitional binge thing) and i was impressed because id never actually met a vegan and i was like if he can do it i can too. so i did about 4 weeks ago and i love it. thanks for reading my very long incredibly boring story.

[snivelingchild]

I'll go ahead and fill in my bit because I don't know if I have before.

I was raised vegetarian, by a mother who had good intentions, but never talked to me about why she did. I just thought we were deprived of meat and were different. She wasn't too commited to it, because when I turned ten, she started eating meat again. Later I asked my dad for a Big Mac. I got one, and ate meat for the next eight years.

Flash forward to living in a tiny apartment, up late at night and nothing to do (which is why I'm writing this right now). I was so bored, I went online to every site I knew. Every now and then I would check out PETA's website because I cared about animals, but only in the normal "they shouldn't be treated too horribly" way. My boyfriend was on the other side of the room playing games. I had nothing else to look through, so I clicked a vegetarian link. Page after page, I read more and more about how animals are treated. More and more I thought about the ethics of animal exploitation. Every time I found a new tidbit I read it out to my boyfriend and we were both equally horrified. After 45 minutes of solid astonished reading, I turned to him and said "uh....Colin? I really think I want to go vegan." He said "Yeah". Over the next few days, Colin finished off most of the cheese in the fridge (it was hard for him to give up because he was an addict) but alot of it got thrown away with alot of other things. I couldn't even touch anything, though. We set a date to not possess any more animal products (the next Monday) and we haven't looked back.

Yay for boredom!

[tipsy]

hi hi,

i thought i would add my piece... its really not that awe inspiring as some of your stories are.

i was raised organic vegetarian by my mother, who taught me that animals are all the same.... you, me, your cat, or that cow over there. (moo).

i am vegan now. (mooooo). :D

[Mozbee]

Well said to your mummy, did she go vegan too?

[Lagamorph]

I was raised in a village of around 200 people (if that) in the ruralest areas in Eastern Europe. My family had a few pigs, chickens and ducks. I remember being 4 or 5, and watching a pig being slaughtered. I can still remember the shriek and the smell. It terrified me. Being 5 and not having much control over what I ate, hindered my progress.
Around 13 or so, (a few years after immigrating to Canada) I started eating less and less meat. (The meat that I did eat was overly processed). Slowly, I eliminated pork, beef, chicken, eggs, and fish. I was actually told of vegetarianism, for I thought I was an anomoly. You can imagine how my family took it. Not being aware that there were other like me, I ate whatever I could, mostly dairy. This lasted until about 2 years ago, when I was highly advised to get a flu shot. Having a "DUH" moment, it did not click in my fragile little mind that the vaccine was incubated in eggs. (Shudder) I became really ill. I have never been as sick as I was for the 4 months that my doctors, nutritionists and other crazed medical personelle ran numerous tests on me. Long story short, I became lactose intollerant due to the flu shot. I was sooo devastated. I lived on cheese for the past 10 years. Despite my attachs, I still ate cheese from time to time (organic, veggie of course, 90% of the time). Then, slowly, as my vegetarianisn, I craved it less and less. So, I am a Vegan, but by default.

[Troutina]

I read some leaflets at a friends house when I was 14 and didn't go about becoming vegetarian very well- I simply refused to eat the meat my Mum had made for dinner. Pretty unfair and selfish of me, especially if I had just spoken to her she would have been fine with it, which is what I did. I guess springing this on someone whos been surrounded by meat all their lives, you do think theres nothing else. A couple years later my sister went vegi too.

Last year I started thinking less about myself and more about where my food comes from- not just animal, but in terms of organic and health benefits. I think I'd sort of buried my head in the sand when it came to the cruelty of dairy etc, but doing more research made me realise that if you care enough to be vegi, you have to care enough to be vegan.

I spent a while looking at nutrition and substitutes, and talking to vegan friends, and even went through a phase of deciding I couldn't do it.
But eventually I just went for it- that was... almost 4 months ago and I love being vegan!!
Makes me really proud of myself in a strange way...!

[Orange-powered]

I went vegan 2 years ago now....it was weird....sort of gradual but sudden at the same time. Gradual because having been raised in a meat-eating family, I had lowered my intake of meat, being really disgusted by it, but still having the odd bit of chicken. I just couldn't help thinking about what I was eating....the flesh of something that was once alive. Then at 16 I too started having eating problems.....I had an obsession with my weight (something which still creeps up on me sometimes) and went through a two year period of starving, binging and vomiting. It was really unhealthy.....I am sure I did terrible damage to my body.

Anyway then I decided I wanted to be healthier and also I wanted to be able to say to myself that nothing I ate caused an animal pain or agonising death. I probably sound like I'm raving....but it's how I feel. So then I thought meat but also eggs and dairy products, except milk, should go. To be honest everytime I had milk I was disgusted.....but I wasn't aware enough at that point about calcium enriched alternatives......then eventually I cut it all out...and I feel much better. Not deprived at all. And everyone says I am a brilliant cook!
Now I live with 3 pescatarians (one who eats chicken and fish) and a meat eater. They are all great friends, but I can't wait for the day when I can look into my own fridge and not see a single animal product there.....instead of a partially eaten chicken carcass grossing me out....

sorry this was reaaaaaaally long I got a bit too into it.....must do some uni work now!

[pedro]

Well it's easy and I can narrate it with a few words: first it was by my health, now is by the health of the chickens (as Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote).

I do not have to say nothing else. It's thus simply.

[Pilaf]

I should also add that the booklet that came with Moby's "Play" album went a long way in raising my awareness.

[qwaychou]

Right before Thanksgiving this year, very suddenly, meat just didn't appeal to me, i just couldn't eat it.
I have alwasy loved animals, and hate the thought of mindless suffering and I trully despise consumerism. My mom wouldn't accept my vegetarian efforts when I was a child and teen, kept putting meat in front of me, taking me to nutritionaists. She really hated it when I would pick up the parts of dead chicken on my plate and"animate" them, demonstrating how the joints moved, and explaining about the living creature that was now dead.
Milk has always tasted like blood to me, and I cannot tolerate it.
Then this year, meat left my palate. Eggs left shortly thereafter. Cheese after that.
I guess deep down, i was always a vegan, i just needed time to figure it out.
I can't afford the fancy meat-imitaions or vegan cheeses, so i do without. i live a Asian diet. Rice, beans, veggies, and fruit.
I am also a pagan, and my love and respect for nature and the earth helped my decision considerably. I believe ALL life is sacred, and connected. I am working hard to clear my conscience of my past mistakes. None of these are easy, I feel guilt and shame and I feel Karma is being merciful, at the moment. I hope that I can change all that and make a difference.
Thanks for listening.

[Thur]

I am a spiritual person and I believe animals have souls. I didnt always apply my beliefs to my way of life though. Although I was never a red-meat eater I did on occassion eat white meat. That makes me a hypocrit, this i know now. When I had my daughter it was more important than it ever had been for me to establish rules and guidelines for the way I would live the rest of my life. Making the healthy choice to become Vegan and raise my child Vegan was the best choice I have ever made. My husband is still in the transition stage of becoming a vegitarian. I read to him everynight about the myths of protein and the selfish infliction of pain on animals by meat-eaters. He was actually the one who introduced me to a lot of the natural remedies I now use. There are still a few adjustments I have to make to my home and life. Its hard to find stores that support Vegans. Shoes and clothing for myself and my child are the hardest to come by. Of course I am new to the Greenwood area so that doesnt help. For me my transition was easy but as most of us know there are always going to be hurdles to jump in our lives until everyone becomes aware of the truth in the lifestyle we have chosen.

[greeniebean]

I was 12 years old and was swimming with a friend. She accidently kicked me in the mouth and I started bleeding. When I tasted the blood in my mouth, I had a sort of epiphany about meat and what it was. I haven't had meat since then.

Surprisingly, I managed to spend the following 14 years without learning about the horrors of the dairy industry. I was the only vegetarian I knew, and I never really did any research on the meat or dairy industry. Then about a year ago I got the "Why Vegan" pamphlet. That helped, and actually an article in my ex-boyfriend's daughter's PETA kids magazine featured a quote from a vegan guy from a popular band (I forget the band). He said something like, "If you know what's going on in the dairy industry, you have no excuse to keep eating dairy." That did it. The ex and I went vegan around that time.

[treehugga]

I grew up an only child isolated on a farm and I only really had the animals to play with. The animals were my friends, my brothers and sisters. One day several of the older calves, my 2 favorites were killed in front of me (shot) with the belief it would toughen me up. I was 5 years old. I was hysterical with grief and inconsolable for what felt like an eternity. Similar events occured intermitantly, but my parents became more careful due to my distress. I couldn't eat meat when I connected where it came from.

Later on I lived with a 'monster' for 9 years who thought it was funny to threaten me with a gun, amongst other horrors. He would buy dogs as pets and when he grew tired of them would call me outside and shoot them in front of me.

I can't bear to think of anything so innocent as an beautiful creature being torchured for greed.

I used to think I was a freak for feeling like this. Now I know it's not me who's the freak and I'm proud of my lifestyle.

[SweetLady66]

I became vegetarian last year sometime in April. My younger sister stopped eating meat months before me and wouldn't shut up about how they hurt animals and eating meat is wrong. Well I guess she got to me, so I started reading things on the Peta site about how they kill the animals, and was totally turned off from eating meat so I just stopped eating meat one day. It wasn't hard for me to just stop eating meat cold turkey---haha, I was never to big into meat to start with.
Months and months later I decided to try to be vegan. I tried two differcent times and both times failed after about 4 days. I started reading more things on the peta site about what vegans can eat and why to be vegan, and I tried again early Dec and success!( I just needed to be more educated on what I could eat) Being vegan was a lot easier then I thought. I did it for the animals, my health and the enivorment.

[Seaside]

I grew up an only child isolated on a farm and I only really had the animals to play with. The animals were my friends, my brothers and sisters. One day several of the older calves, my 2 favorites were killed in front of me (shot) with the belief it would toughen me up. I was 5 years old. I was hysterical with grief and inconsolable for what felt like an eternity. Similar events occured intermitantly, but my parents became more careful due to my distress. I couldn't eat meat when I connected where it came from.

Later on I lived with a 'monster' for 9 years who thought it was funny to threaten me with a gun, amongst other horrors. He would buy dogs as pets and when he grew tired of them would call me outside and shoot them in front of me.

I can't bear to think of anything so innocent as an beautiful creature being torchured for greed.

I used to think I was a freak for feeling like this. Now I know it's not me who's the freak and I'm proud of my lifestyle.
I am speechless, treehugga. :( :( :(

[treehugga]

I am speechless, treehugga. :( :( :(

I'm ok now. I turned it all around, became a social worker and vegan and now I try to help others living with distress. Sometimes we live hard lessons in order to find our way :)

[Seaside]

Yes, and when we survive, we do come out the stronger. I admire your strength and attitude! :)

[Skajen]

i became veggie at 15 years of age after watching babe, it was the icing on the cake because i longed to be veggie for years but didn't have the social backing

i became vegan 5 months ago, after 6 years of being vegetarian. i heard about veganism increasingly through animal rights leaflets, veggie mags etc and realised i am a hypocrite? how can i say i love animals and eat eggs, milk etc

i've never looked back, and despite nastiness from friends, family and random ppl who meet me, i'm sticking to it :p