I grew up in El Paso. A city that is nine hours away from the University of Texas at Austin.
I wrote this account of being a vegetarian while I was living there: I’ve been a vegetarian for almost nine years. People who find out I don’t eat meat find it strange.
They ask me a lot of questions.
“If you love animals so much, why do you eat THEIR food? Where do you get your protein from? If you eat meat, will you get deathly ill? So do you only eat salad?”
And my personal favorite, “How can you live without eating bacon?”
It’s like all of a sudden everyone’s an expert on healthy eating and dietary restriction. They don’t realize that people can live without eating strips of flesh.
Most vegetarians don’t judge meat eaters. So maybe, the carnivores should stop judging others for eating soy products.
When I was in high school, we talked about meat and vegetarians. After discussing the topic, we watch a short video about proteins in both meat and soy burgers. Some of the girls in the class made comments about how offensive the video was, only because it was from a vegetarian standpoint.
I’m proud of being a vegetarian, but I don’t broadcast it. I became one in the third grade after visiting a farm. We were told that after cows are done producing milk, they’re killed or consumption. That really stuck with me.
I don’t even try to talk others into becoming vegetarians. In fact, I’m pretty quiet about it. But I will say that if you’re curious about the vegetarian lifestyle, try it.
Fast forward five months and here I am. Attending one of the top universities, in one of the most vegetarian friendly cities.
Little did I know, all of this anger and the thought of being different would change when I got to Austin. The amount of options I have is ridiculous. If it’s eating campus dining at J2 or even Torchy’s Tacos, there’s always something for me. I’ve met plenty of people who eat the same way as me. I still get some of the same questions, but they are not nearly as rude as before. They’re more basic: so what do you eat? And, do you eat marshmallows?
In short, if you’re unsure about anything, you’ll figure it out. I know I did.