Vegetarianism and me!

"Nothing will benefit health and increase the chances of survival of life on Earth as the evolution of a vegetarian diet" - Albert Einstein

I met my partner 4years ago & at the time of meeting him he was a Vegan and I was a meat eater! I was ignorant and naive and couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to tuck into a bacon sandwich after a night out or sink his teeth into a lamb roast on a Sunday! Never the less I respected his views and didn't find it effected our relationship. He later went on to turn Vegetarian instead and after a while would talk to me about why he was a vegetarian and what it ment to him. I understood and even began to agree with his reasons and when we started living together I found it really easy to start substituting my usual meat free meals for vegetarian ones every now and again.

When we found out we were pregnant with our son Freddie I found it quite easy to agree that we would raise him a vegetarian. However when he was born and started weaning I found myself getting frustrated with the limited amount of knowledge I had regarding vegetarian recipes and meal ideas. It was challenging to prepare a variety of meals that weren't similar as my cooking skills had always been based around meat. So I sat down with Dean and we spoke about it and he started really helping me to understand the basics of vegetarian cooking and we trawled books, the Internet and the good old brains of some vegetarian relatives (mainly Freddie's vegan Grandad) and suddenly cooking wasn't such a daunting experience. Instead I began to enjoy exploring all of the different recipes we would find.

At this point I was still a meat eater, however I was eating less and less meat products now that Freddie was around, mainly due to the fact it was easier to cook one main family meal rather than co, myself a separate one. The when Freddie was around 18months old I watched a video which I kept seeing repeatedly popping up on twitter by PETA and narrated by Sir Paul McCartney called 'If slaughter houses has glass walls' and I was sickened by it. Now don't get me wrong i know where meat comes from I'm not that naive but watching the practices and cruelty the animals faced literally turnt my stomach and quickly changed my views on meat. That night I vowed to become a vegetarian.

Since then I haven't looked back and I've now been a vegetarian for about 8months now. Not only did the video have a huge impact on the way I viewed meat the and meat industry but becoming a vegetarian made sense to my family and my healthy lifestyle. It also sets a good example for Freddie that both mummy & daddy are eating the same way he does and I couldn't be happier with the choice I've made. I'd be lying If I said I didn't miss the occasional meat product that my body has grown accustomed to over the 24years I've been here and i of course get the sarcastic and sceptical comments from friends and family thinking its just a phase im going threw but I haven't touch meat since and I can safely say I never will.