this is a bit lengthy, but I wanted to express that my reasons for going vegetarian/vegan evolved as I became more aware of certain things...
stopped eating beef: December 2003
because: purely selfish reasons. The big news item was 'mad cow in US' (a cow in Washington state has tested positive for Mad Cow Disease). I read that mad cow effect on humans is similar to Alzheimers & I thought to myself "that would suck"... it was so close to the end of December that I decided to make 'stop eating beef' my New Year's resolution. I stopped eating pork then as well (never really liked it).
stopped eating chicken: July 2004
because: I don't like special sauce. Pilgrim's Pride workers had been caught on video doing horrible things to chickens (like stomping them, slamming them against the wall to kill them & then sending them on down the line). One report I read said that one of the workers had "anally invaded" one of the chickens.... and I thought to myself: seeing as how the worker's job was to kill the chickens and send them down the line, what exactly did the worker do with that chicken he 'anally invaded'? My guess is he sent it on down the line, and somebody ate that chicken. I decided I didn't want any special sauce and stopped eating all poultry.
stopped eating seafood: For a while, the only meat I had was fish (b/c I figured 'hey, the fish are swimming out in the ocean, they've got a fighting chance'). Then I read/saw videos about all the "bycatch" in the seafood industry. Bycatch is all the other creatures that get caught up in the nets. Example: if boat is fishing for salmon, hundreds of other species of fish/dolphins/turtles get caught up in the net along with the salmon). These bycatch creatures either drown, are crushed, or suffocate in the air before they are tossed dead back into the sea. Even the 'DOLPHIN SAFE' tuna doesn't stop this; all it means is that dolphins will be helped out of the net while all the other bycatch is left to die.
went vegan: gradually, starting in 2005. completely vegan since 2006. I went vegan by giving up one dish at a time, and adding a vegan recipe to replace it, until my entire menu became vegan.
Stopped eggs / products made with eggs because: I saw a clip in a movie where all these just-hatched chicks were being moved along a conveyer belt (thousands of them) and they were picked up & sorted by workers who determined their sex & threw them down the next line (one for males, one for females). In an assembly line fashion, workers pressed the beaks of the female chicks to hot soldering irons (to de-beak, so the chickens would not peck each other to death when they are crammed into cages to be egg-laying hens). The males went down the other line & were tossed alive into a dumpster where they were left to die. They were crushed or starved to death.
read:
The "free range" myth
read:
What's Wrong With Dairy & Eggs?
Stopped eating cheese / milk products:
• Cheese was
the absolute hardest thing for me to give up. But then I read/watched videos about the life of a dairy cow & could not in good conscience continue to play a part in that cycle of misery. The dairy cows are chained to a stall and, essentially, raped by a farmer with a cold metal turkey baster. When the cow has her baby, it is taken away from her just hours or days after its birth. I learned that cows can live to be about 15 years old, but that most cows are slaughtered at age 3. Not to mention the hormones & antibiotics.
• I had never liked drinking milk, so converting to soy/rice/almond milk was really easy. I learned very quick how to make my desserts & chocolaty things vegan. Didn't miss a beat
What's wrong with wool, leather, & down?
For those not worried about animal rights / factory farming, there's the issue of your own personal health: (cholesterol, animal fat,
osteoporosis caused by intake of too much protein)
and there's the
environmental reasons, like pollution / grain consumption by livestock that could better feed humans / inefficient use of farmland.
Here's an overview geared toward parents of newly vegetarian/vegan kids:
http://afa-online.org/docs/tipsforparents.pdf
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. I think it has been much easier on me to be raised as a vegetarian. I have never really had to deal with the temptation of meat. My mom was actually raised as a vegetarian starting when she was 3 years old. So meat has never been anything that I feel I have missed out on. My brother went through a 'rebellion' stage and began eating meat but still can't stomach anything that actually looks like meat. It has to be very processed. We grew up lacto-ovo vegetarians so we ate eggs and dairy. I would say it is much easier being a vegetarian nowadays than it used to. There are a lot of veggie options in restaurants now which didn't use to be the case. Being veggie is not as 'weird' as it once was so it makes it easier. I don't think you should have a problem with raising your child that way. I am sure they will turn out great!
this is a bit lengthy...
