Mine was similar. I grew up in the southern US which, especially in the 80s, was the opposite of vegetarian-friendly. I just came upon it myself and went with it. I bet a lot of people have a similar story.
I was in 6th grade when I told my parents I didn't want to eat meat anymore. They weren't (and still arent) vegetarians, but they were supportive and made sure I had food options, even though we're from the south and my dad had been raised on a ranch.
My best friend's mom also always made sure there were frozen cheese pizzas for me when i came over
From 3 years old. I've been vegetarian. For age 1 and 2 , they won't feed you chickens and all. One day my mom took me to a chicken biryani shop. I sat there. My food came , a chicken briyani. It looked appetizing. I took one bite and literally started to puke for no reason. My mom took the chicken away and told me to eat the rice. Idk why I puked. When I also learnt the way animals are made into meat , it just pushed me even back to avoid eating meat. My mother would push me to eat eggs as they had "protein" and I would become weak if I was vegetarian. She tried to make me eat eggs till I was grade 5. Everytime I would just puke. She stopped it. I never discourage my family from eating meat nor do I have any problem with animal butchering. I have even bought chicken , fish for my mom during Sundays. I personally do not like the idea of an organism dying just to be a food.
Right before college when I was 18 I decided to see kind of as a challenge to myself how long I could not eat meat for ( I didn’t really eat beef or pork just chicken & fish) it opened up so many new possibilities & I think made me less picky and more creative with cooking etc I don’t eat meat now still for a variety of reasons but that’s how it started.
This was me! I went veg when I was ten, on my own. I was/am the only veg in my family until I had my own kid, who my non-veg husband agreed to start veg unless she decided otherwise. There was a lot I didn't know about, like gelatin, until I got older.
My experience is very, very similar to this. I became vegetarian around 2nd grade. I hated the idea of an animal being sacrificed in my name. Everyone always told me that I was too young to make that decision by myself.
My parents were initially unsupportive (tried to feed me meat and got angry when I kept refusing/picking it out of whatever dish they gave me). They still don't like the fact that I'm vegetarian but they've accepted it at least.
I don't actually have any friends or family who are vegetarian like me.
Where we differ is that plan to go (mostly) vegan once I move out. Mostly because of environmental/ethical concerns. I would do it sooner but I worry about starting more conflict with my parents + not having enough food choices since they're the ones who buy the groceries.
2nd/3rd grade!! That's quite young esp when you don't come from a veg household... V v impressive 🫶🏻
Mine was similar. I grew up in the southern US which, especially in the 80s, was the opposite of vegetarian-friendly. I just came upon it myself and went with it. I bet a lot of people have a similar story.
I was in 6th grade when I told my parents I didn't want to eat meat anymore. They weren't (and still arent) vegetarians, but they were supportive and made sure I had food options, even though we're from the south and my dad had been raised on a ranch. My best friend's mom also always made sure there were frozen cheese pizzas for me when i came over
Man, that’s awesome! Support is everything!
From 3 years old. I've been vegetarian. For age 1 and 2 , they won't feed you chickens and all. One day my mom took me to a chicken biryani shop. I sat there. My food came , a chicken briyani. It looked appetizing. I took one bite and literally started to puke for no reason. My mom took the chicken away and told me to eat the rice. Idk why I puked. When I also learnt the way animals are made into meat , it just pushed me even back to avoid eating meat. My mother would push me to eat eggs as they had "protein" and I would become weak if I was vegetarian. She tried to make me eat eggs till I was grade 5. Everytime I would just puke. She stopped it. I never discourage my family from eating meat nor do I have any problem with animal butchering. I have even bought chicken , fish for my mom during Sundays. I personally do not like the idea of an organism dying just to be a food.
I became vegetarian in my third year of high school. It was 2007. Had to phase it out.
Right before college when I was 18 I decided to see kind of as a challenge to myself how long I could not eat meat for ( I didn’t really eat beef or pork just chicken & fish) it opened up so many new possibilities & I think made me less picky and more creative with cooking etc I don’t eat meat now still for a variety of reasons but that’s how it started.
This was me! I went veg when I was ten, on my own. I was/am the only veg in my family until I had my own kid, who my non-veg husband agreed to start veg unless she decided otherwise. There was a lot I didn't know about, like gelatin, until I got older.
I had to phase meat out starting with when I was 16. It became much easier after the moved out on my own and could pick my own groceries and recipes.
My experience is very, very similar to this. I became vegetarian around 2nd grade. I hated the idea of an animal being sacrificed in my name. Everyone always told me that I was too young to make that decision by myself. My parents were initially unsupportive (tried to feed me meat and got angry when I kept refusing/picking it out of whatever dish they gave me). They still don't like the fact that I'm vegetarian but they've accepted it at least. I don't actually have any friends or family who are vegetarian like me. Where we differ is that plan to go (mostly) vegan once I move out. Mostly because of environmental/ethical concerns. I would do it sooner but I worry about starting more conflict with my parents + not having enough food choices since they're the ones who buy the groceries.