Can My Daughter Actually Convince Me to Become a Vegetarian?
My daughter’s love of sheep means I’ve sworn off gyro sandwiches forever
My 8-year-old daughter is a vegetarian. She came to this decision all on her own. The rest of the family is what I would consider flexitarians. We don’t eat a lot of meat, but we do eat it. At a very young age, my daughter wanted to know if the chicken we were eating at dinner was the same as the chickens on a farm. I couldn’t lie. I told her the truth. She was shocked and disgusted. Chicken has never passed her lips again. Nor any other meat.
A love for sheep
She loves all animals, but sheep hold a special place in her heart. We go out of our way to find farms and zoos where we can visit the sheep. Spring is her favorite time of year when the lambs are born. We’ve even found a nearby farm that has a lamb and wool festival every April. My daughter’s joy is boundless when she sees the newborn lambs with their mothers.
She was horrified the first time she learned lamb and sheep can be used for meat. She read about it in a book about raising sheep that she had checked out from her school library. Since then she’s noticed other instances, mainly in books, since we don’t eat it at home, where sheep are used for food. It breaks her heart every time. The thought of any harm befalling a sheep hurts her deeply. She’s an intense girl with intense feelings. And when her heart breaks, my heart breaks along with it.
I also loved animals starting at an early age. But I wasn’t as analytical as her. I never thought it through that the meat on our dinner table came from the animals I loved. And once I was older and knew the truth, eating meat was just what you did in my midwestern upbringing. I didn’t know any vegetarians in my hometown in Kansas in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I’m sure they were there, but they were in the minority.
Once I was older, I learned the awful truth of the meat industry. I read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. And while I was saddened at the abuse that befell the people in that book, my heart ached for those poor cows. I considered stopping eating meat altogether, but instead, I cut back on my meat consumption and tried to make kinder choices. Now I buy grass-fed beef, free-range chickens, and cage-free eggs.
When I moved to Chicago, I discovered a wonderful world of ethnic cuisine that I had never dreamt of. Most of it meat-based, it is Chicago after all. My particular favorite discovery was the Greek gyro sandwich. I had my first gyro at a small Greek restaurant in downtown Chicago on my lunch break. I didn’t even know what I was eating, but I was entranced. Much later than I’d like to admit I learned gyro sandwiches in Chicago are traditionally made with lamb’s meat. Once I learned the truth, I felt remorse, I love baby animals! But not bad enough to stop eating it all together.
When I look at the world through my daughter’s eyes, everything looks different
Then my daughter was born, and as she began to grow into her own little person, as her love for animals grew, (especially sheep) I felt horrendous I had ever consumed lamb. By now, I’m completely converted. I will never have a gyro made of lamb again. I have found a vegan recipe for gyros filled with smoky mushrooms. It’s delicious and completely guilt-free.
Will she convince her family to turn vegetarian?
My daughter constantly lobbies in favor of us becoming vegetarian. But we still eat meat and that has been weighing on me recently. Why have concern only for lambs? The other animals are just as deserving of our compassion.
My daughter’s convictions are so strong and true. Why can’t I be as strong as she is?
I am beginning to feel a change coming upon me.
My little daughter is already beginning to make her impact on the world, one person (and lamb) at a time.
