u/SpecificLandscape483

I became vegan 30 years ago when I was 18. Even back then I felt it was one of the best decisions I could make. At that time vegans were extremely rare and even vegetarians seemed unusual to most people. To me, people who refused to eat animals always appeared more thoughtful, more civilized, and somehow more evolved beyond the ordinary “animal” habits that society accepted without question.

One day I met a vegetarian girl who was three years younger than me. I asked her how she had become vegetarian, expecting a long story or some dramatic reason. Instead, she answered very simply. She said that one day she decided to stop eating meat and never went back. She told me she never even missed the taste of it because what it represented ethically and philosophically mattered far more to her than a few minutes of pleasure from food.

I told her that I was also planning to give up animal products someday. She looked at me with slight irony and asked, “Why not today?”

That question stayed with me.

That same day I stopped eating meat forever. Since then, not once have I truly wanted to eat it again, not even out of curiosity or temptation. People often ask me if I miss the taste of certain dishes or traditional foods. The honest answer is no.

When someone becomes vegetarian or vegan for ethical and philosophical reasons, missing meat no longer makes sense in the same way. It would feel like missing a more primitive version of yourself. Human beings are constantly evolving, not only technologically but culturally and morally as well. To me, refusing to treat animals as food became part of that evolution.

Over the years veganism stopped feeling like a diet and became simply a reflection of my values. I never experienced it as sacrifice. If anything, it felt like gaining clarity about the kind of person I wanted to be and the kind of world I wanted to support.