How Did I Become Vegan? One Man's Story

Everyone has their own story of how they became vegan, but there is a common theme

This week, we have the story of Vegan Profile user, Henry and how he became vegan.

How Did I Become Vegan?

Hmm, really need to carefully think back now, it was around 2007-2008. I lived with my ex, but before this, I think what's most important: already in childhood, I felt disgust for foods like (80s) blood patties, liver stew, stuff like this. Also, eggs, as I asked my parents what we are eating. But what definitely became an intruding issue of discomfort and growing suspicion was the egg content itself. There were sometimes visible things I found obnoxious, like the umbilical cord and black spots. The knowledge about the egg being a living embryo, consisting of everything the bird is, eyes, brains, feathers, intestines, stool, inner organs, feet, everything, soon added to the discomfort. I started to feel the same way towards beef, chicken, minced meat - as also here, if you studied the thing more in detail, you could notice quite disgusting details...

When we really think about what animal products are, it becomes harder to consume them,

Before I Went Vegan

Anyway, before veganism, I was very aware of environmental issues and animal welfare. I chose organic products, also milk, and everything I could find, because I had the belief that animals in organic farms were treated better.

The truth is, they go through the same sadistic bestiality that the non-organic do. Skin burning, ear mark piercing, testicles ripped apart without any pain reliever (revealed in a book by our good vegan friend who had worked on local farms). There are violent transports, forced slavery, imprisonment, babies taken away from mothers, etc. My friends confirmed this: there's really no difference. The difference only comes if you don't support dairy at all. You go vegan. But the decision to begin a vegan lifestyle came from my ex.

She was inspired by a good friend, who was vegan. My ex seriously judged my meat, ham and dairy ingredients when making food. She also mentioned that the smell was intolerable. The decision was quite frankly all about switching over to her diet or losing her. Although this does sound harsher than it really was.

The eye opener and final trigger that made me choose veganism was when, in the bathroom, we discussed toothpaste, and she kindly mentioned that mine was tested on animals in testing laboratories.

I had heard small fragments of truth about this, but didn't really care as I thought ALL products had the same origin. But, in that moment, when she said this, I understood that my toothpaste was the result of nazistic, cruel animal testing. But, most importantly, there existed vegan alternatives. This broke me. I really broke apart, both in sadness and anger, as I've always loved animals and nature.

It was a heart-trembling moment, because it dug into your soul.

Later, when we talked about who vegans were and the usual generalising of them being really odd-looking hippies, I heard this:

vegans care about all living beings, being full of love, not wanting to cause them any suffering.

I cried real tears. My conception of vegan and vegans was completely wrong; I thought it was some sort of a subculture underground hippie movement.

Switching to vegan was, at that time, not easy due to the fact that not many vegan products existed yet. But although I suffered a bit because of the lack of many ingredients I had loved, I never gave up; the ethical side of it was more important.

I never looked back; I never really missed anything. Maybe cheese, eggs, a ham sandwich, etc., in the beginning. But slowly, as my cooking knowledge and product availability increased throughout the years in rapid advance, and my health increased, I was and always will be forever thankful to my ex for this particular wake-up call.

There are many who separate in hostility, but we never separated as enemies.

And all the details about the cruelty in the different animal industries (car, horse, tourist, zoo, etc) started to emerge in explosive proportions. The truth became a part of everyday life because, before that, nobody really knew anything. Everybody was a brainless, robot-like consumer who did not know anything about what was going on behind the consumer's back.

You can join Henry on Vegan Profile and become a member of a growing vegan social media movement.

#GoVegan #WhyIWentVegan #MyVeganStory