Introductions - Why Vegetarian?

[Chris Tinney]

How fun! Welcome.

Just thought I'd say hi and introduce myself.
Im the founder of VegHaven :)
This is me :)~

I'm traveling for the next year on The Peace Tour..

I'm Vegan for for both health and ethical reasons.
My intention in starting VegHaven was to create a Social Network that makes a difference!

Thanks for coming and please jump in and tell us about yourself :)

What made you become Vegetarian?

How did you find your way here?

We can't wait to learn more about you!

Namaste,
Chris

[dorkyvegan]

My name is Christine and I've been a vegetarian since I was 12 (I'm 23 now). Growing up, animals were my main companions (I couldn't talk until I was 8 years old, and animals understand the unspoken words) and I never really liked most meat to begin with. Finally, one day I decided that I was old enough to make the decision on my own, and declared myself a vegetarian. It was really different than everyone else I knew from school, because where I grew up was complete farm country (summer when I was 14, I stood there and watched as my neighbor killed a pig for another neighbor's pig roast... that was when it solidified that if I couldn't kill an animal, I definitely couldn't eat one) but to my delight, my brother also became a vegetarian when he was 12 (three years younger than me) so I wasn't completely alone. I became vegan a year ago when I realized the cruelties that animals endure even on dairy and egg factory farms (like I said, I grew up in farm country so our eggs and milk had been coming from our neighbors/friends whom I knew treated their animals humanely... not so when I moved away). It was, I feel, one of the best decisions of my life.

I grew up in Massachusetts, went to Long Island, NY for school for two years, then transferred to western MA, and now I'm living in Chicago. I just moved here two months ago but I'm now settled in and have participated in two fur protests in the last two days, and made friends with lots of people from the ADL in Chicago. ;) Activism is in my blood, and I've been doing protests/rallies/marches/conferences for various things (animal, GLBT, women's rights) since I was a freshman in high school.

Someone posted about this site on the Weight Watchers vegetarian message board. I've been a WW member since September of 2004 and have been a lifetime member (meaning I reached my goal weight and maintained it for 6 weeks) since November of last year. My health is extremely important to me, because if I'm not healthy enough to be fighting for the animals, I feel like I've let them down. Especially when it's something I could have prevented.

[Jill Forrest]

I was vegetarian and turned vegan after listening to a podcast from Collen at Compassionate Cooks. That was around 4 motnsh ago and I never felt better. I have an 8 mth old and a 2 year old and we are all now vegans. I have a new blog www.newveganmom.com and my son and I make a weekly vlog called 'Yoga baby' (www.yogababy.tv or go to itunes to subscribe free of charge). We live in Northern Norway but my husband Matthew and I are English. Have been here around 4 years and are considered strange in our views. Vegetarians, let alone, vegans, are viewed negatively and we hope to raise awareness.

[Jack Truman]

Good hearing from you!

Thanks for the invite on myspace!

Just to let all of you know...I'm a lifetime vegan, and independent filmmaker here deep in the heart of cattle country. There's not many of us animal rights activists around here!

I'm working on a documentary right now on animal rights.

I grew up vegan. And have known no other life. Don't want to.

How about all of you?

Keep in touch!

Jack

[Nicole]

Hi everyone, I'm Nicole!! I became a vegetarian for spiritual reasons... at first. After becoming a vegetarian and learning more about AR or lack thereof I've become even more commited for ethical/moral reasons. I'm slowly but surely transitioning to vegan!! Glad to meet you all!! Peace & Love!! Muah!!

[vegan gaz]

hi,
great to be here,
i got a bit muddy at the big green gathering 2006 (uk)
came home (and to reality), watched 'meat your meet'
and a couple of other Peta videos a few times and stopped
eating burgers and dairy products overnight.
3 months later i watched a couple of dr. david woolf's
video's and here i am, a delighted 80% raw vegan'
yay to everyone!

[Anita Karenina]

Hi,
I went to the gathering this year. Were you there?
I am very very very proud of you.....
Love

[vegan gaz]

much love to you,
no i didn't sadly (that is some place)
and definitely top of my places/festivals to go
i sharnt ask you what it was like cause i know it would have been brilliant :)
delighted to meet you.
gaz

[Ammy]

Hey, I'm Ammy :) I found my way here through a bebo animal-cruelty-awareness band.
I've been vegetarian nearly two years; the reason for becoming vegetarian is simple.. I saw video's and clips on the internet of animals being slaughtered & tortured, I stopped eating meat products and since then i've found more and more reasons why to be vegetarian :)

Thanks for making this site =D
It's great to have a community like this!

[Jade]

Noob here, only six months Vegan. And I have my rabbits to credit for my starting me down this compassionate path. Since these sweet beautiful little beings are veggies themselves, I found it very interesting that whenever I cooked meat, they got *really* upset. One in particular..would run, hide and thump! I thought it was becos she was a show rabbit that was being sold for stew (eeewww) and was rescued. Anyway, being a huge rabbit advocate fighting against cosumption of rabbit meat, after I got on myspace and met some awesome vegans, it hit me...how can I tell people not to eat rabbit when I was eating other animals. It was like a light went on inside my head and I was able to walk away w/no regrets! Ive never felt better and it's soo cool that my husband is going veggie too!. ;))

[Anneka]

Hi!
I'm Anneka. I live in the England. I turned vegetarian when I was 13 (so I've been one for nearly 7 years) after I watched a late night programme on (I think) channel 4. I can't remember what the programme was but I went to go brush my teeth during the adverts just to see what was on next. When I came back there was a programme called 'Our Earth' or 'Our Life' or something like that. Anyway, it was a series and the programme that night was all about what happens to animals during mass slaughter processes. It really got me thinking so over the next couple of days I did a bit of research. And then decided to go vegetarian. My parents weren't too chuffed but they've had to live with it and are used to it now. I have a wonderful boyfriend who supports me but is not vegetarian. He does buy only local farm shop produce which I guess is better than heading down to Tesco or Asda and buying it. The area I live in isn't too great on supplying veggie food in restaurants so I don't often eat out.
I found my way here through Chris on myspace.

[Shauna]

Hello Chris and everyone! My name is Shauna from the wonderful state of Texas!
I have been vegetarian for a while now and leaning more and more towards veganism! I am a big cow hugger and finally realized (back in my meat eating days) that I was eating those cute animals. For the longest time, it just didn't register in my mind that I was eating animals. I hope that doesn't sound stupid, but seriously it didn't register. Then one day I was playing on the computer with my daughter and a big "HELLO" came over me!
Now I am considering the next obvious step, veganism, which is going to be a little harder. But I keep thinking about how hard it is for the millions of factory farmed animals in this world! I have it soo easy compared to them!
Well I am going to continue to look around!
Have a Merry Christmas everyone and I love this site!

[Cassandra]

I became a vegetarian because I love animals and didn't like the way they were being treated by the meat industry. I still eat eggs and drink milk. I have pet chickens that live with my mother (she's in the country - I'm in the city) and I use the eggs that come from them. If I have to buy eggs from the store, I buy the vegetarian friendly cage free ones. As a teenager, when I read about how the poor animals are treated and killed, I could eat no more meat. I do get asked about fish, though. Some people think all vegetarians also eat fish, too. I first became a pesco (fish eating) semi-vegetarian and then lost the taste for it, becoming a vegetarian who does eat eggs and drinks milk. I don't miss fish and meat anymore. I found this website through a link on one of the vegetarian yahoo groups I belong to. I agree that there is not many vegetarian friendly places to eat in the south. I'm from North Central Florida.