By Julie Cameron

When I told my mother I was going to be a vegetarian she didn’t try to discourage me, she simply said, “Fine, but I’m not making two dinners”. She thought it was a phase, something that I would grow out of. After all, who can live their entire life without eating a hamburger, or the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving? Turns out, lots of people can.

Much to my mother’s dismay, I turned out to be one of thousands of vegetarians in Canada who were under voting age. Some people thought I did it to be cool, some people (like my mother) thought I did it for shock value. But I was always asked the one-word question: WHY?

Lots of reasons. I was never a big steak fan, loved animals, and when I was little I had a friend who lived on a dairy farm. If you have ever named a cow, you will understand how difficult it is to sit down to a hamburger. But there was, of course, one fateful encounter that pushed me to my dinner of destiny.

My mother had a friend named Jen. Jen had long brown hair down to her calves. I’m not exaggerating, it was down to her calves. She insisted we go to a natural food store in our town so she could get organic vegetables and soymilk. I had never even known what soy was, or that there was a difference between vegetables from the grocery store and vegetables from a natural food store. And I was amazed. Not only did she have hair down to her calves, but she also knew about foods I had never even heard of. My decision was made.

I feel very fortunate to be a vegetarian in an age where there are so many meat alternatives. My friends and family appreciate that I don’t try to force my food choices on them.

If you are thinking about becoming a vegetarian, it’s important to do a little research first and make sure you maintain a healthy diet. I have met so many junk-food vegetarians (a self-proclaimed vegetarian who doesn’t eat meat, but doesn’t eat anything healthy or remotely close to a vegetable), that I’m not surprised most people think eating vegetarian isn’t healthy.