What Made You Go Vegan? Vegans Explain Going Cruelty-Free
Most of us human beings are either meat-eaters or vegetarians. There are also other kinds of specific food choices like pescatarian food, lactose-intolerant food, celiac diet, keto diet, etc. Most of these food preferences involve either meat or dairy products or both. In India, there are also people who call themselves “eggetarians” — those who consume vegetarian food and eggs but not meat. That’s often made fun of, but never mind!
Most vegans in the vegan community anywhere in the world would have also consumed non-vegan products as part of their food before going vegan. What made them go vegan then? We asked each of these people two questions: 1) When did you go vegan? 2) What made you go vegan?
R says that it was in the year 2015 that he went vegan, that he chose to be a “vegetarian” for a long time before that because he was appalled by what we do to animals. Later, he realized that milk is not free of exploitation either, so he gradually turned vegan.
N says that she, like R, was already vegetarian and had stopped eating meat as a child after realizing where it came from, but she never thought about the cruelty in dairy or other industries where animals are abused. A few posts by vegans on Facebook made her realize the truth, so decided to shift to a vegan lifestyle in the year 2014.
G says that he went vegan in the year 2012 when he saw a PeTA poster which said, “Why love one (a cute dog’s picture here) but eat the other (a cute pig’s picture)?”. He then stopped consuming meat and watched a few documentaries later, documentaries on the exploitation of non-human animals, which he later discussed with his friends. It seems that a friend argued saying that avoid animal products is impossible because even his shoes and wallet were made of leather. Not stopping here, the friend went on to remark that men must eat meat and when they don’t, they’d become “feminine”. This is when it dawned on him, how multiple forms of oppression and illogical beliefs are connected, so G began reading about the philosophy of veganism, and then became a staunch vegan.
What made A go vegan? He watched the documentary “Earthlings”, and it was around this time that he realized that causing suffering to non-human sentient animals is morally wrong, so he went vegan in the year 2011.
What made L go vegan? Raised in a family where non-vegetarianism and vegetarianism were equally accepted, she stuck to vegetarian food most of her life. When she began coming across vegan arguments, it was then that she also saw the rise in anti-caste activism on social media and Islamophobia growing on social media in parallel as well. For a brief period, she became convinced that what people eat is their personal choice, and anyone who wants to control others’ personal/lifestyle/food choices was just being fascist, so she wanted to reject veganism. It’s when she started reading about veganism and participated in several discussions and debates with vegans that she realized that veganism won against all other arguments, so she went vegan in 2018.
AN says, “I went vegan in April of 2015. I came across The Best Speech you’ll Ever Hear Gary Yourofsky on YouTube, and the 1hr long video made a lot of sense to me, and made me question actions of mine that i had never thought needed questioning. Consuming products taken from animals is inherently cruel and unjust, and this cruelty cannot be avoided unless we choose to go vegan, which is what I decided to do after watching the video, and haven’t regretted making the decision since.”
Fun Fact 1: The last time we checked, R, N, G, A, L, and AN were all still alive! No, they were not hospitalized or paralyzed or anything? How come? If being vegan were impossible, these folks must be Gods! 😏
Fun Fact 2: All of us, yes, you and me were born vegan. Believe it or not, we humans can be vegan; we can live without meat, eggs, and cow’s milk. In fact, we are the *only species* in the entire planet to consume another animal’s milk (milk made for her babies, like a human mother’s breast milk is meant only for her children) throughout our lives, long after we stop consuming our mother’s milk in childhood.
Here are some movies or documentaries that can offer helpful insights regarding common food choices that literally kill innocent, loving animals, negatively affect humanity, and contribute to the destruction of the planet as well:
Actress Natalie Portman says, “I think it (Jonathan Safran Foer’s critically acclaimed book Eating Animals) just really made me aware of how the factory farming world doesn’t let us see what’s going on. It’s so hidden, and you’re not even allowed to talk about it. They sue people for even talking about the industry, and it’s because there’s a lot to hide. When you see what’s in the film, what’s been lost with the traditional farming …. American farmers have been really sacrificed at the expense of this kind of corporate model. Putting millions of animals into small spaces with terrible conditions and having them be sick. And then the human effect of, like, the pollution that it creates and the health problems it creates. It’s really hard not to want to change.”
Renowned director James Cameron says, “It’s not a requirement to eat animals, we just choose to do it, so it becomes a moral choice and one that is having a huge impact on the planet, using up resources and destroying the biosphere.”
So what are you waiting for? Make the right decision today. It’s one thing to be unaware of evil, but knowing how cruel certain practices are and still choosing to support such a lifestyle? That is just mean, don’t you think? Go vegan today.
Follow this page, and we will keep you posted on tips and suggestions to stay healthy as a vegan (it’s not hard at all; in fact, plant-based diet is extremely nourishing)!
