Up until my early teens, I refused to eat anything that vaguely resembled a vegetable. I have a distinct memory of being with my docile grandma at the age of about six, and being told I could have a chocolate mousse with whipped cream (her speciality) if I ate one – yes, just one – pea. I reluctantly scooped a pea onto my fork, then into my mouth, where I subsequently stored it in my cheek like a squirrel for what I can only assume must have been a good 15 minutes. I just couldn’t swallow it, and after what I thought was a well-justified tantrum, I spit it out. My grandma gave me the mousse anyway.
Fast forward 15 years, and I’ve gone from being a meat and dairy fiend to teetering between vegetarian and veganism. Part of this transition was natural – as I grew up, I gradually learned that vegetables weren’t out to get me, and I started becoming more aware of the environmental and animal welfare benefits of reducing my meat intake, until I stopped eating it altogether.
In 2020, after happily being vegetarian for two years – and by this point only slightly irked at the predictably quizzical expressions every time I confirmed that I did not, in fact, miss bacon – I decided to watch Cowspiracy. The documentary, released in 2014, follows filmmaker Kip Andersen as he investigates the impact of meat and dairy production on the environment.
Admittedly over-dramatised, slightly scare-mongering and sometimes even factually inaccurate, there’s a lot to credit in this documentary. The deeper Andersen digs, the shadier it gets, and it soon becomes clear that global organisations hide important information to protect the US animal agriculture industry, which accounts for an estimated 6-18% of the country’s economy. It’s for this reason that, according to the documentary, the FBI sees climate activists as the number one domestic terrorism threat. Similarly, in the 20 years before the making of Cowspiracy, over 1100 environmental activists were killed in Brazil, the home of the Amazon rainforest.
As veganism becomes much more widespread, and virtually all supermarkets and cafes are offering plant-based alternatives, so too does criticism for the lifestyle choice. However, Andersen explains that, by going vegan, per day you can save over 4500 litres of water, 20kg of grain, 30 squared feet of forest, 4kg of CO2 and one animal’s life. He also notes that, worldwide, 50% of grain – like soy – is fed to livestock, meaning that as well as the huge areas of rainforest that are cut down to make space for cattle, much of it is also destroyed to feed them.
I might be wholly vegan again in the future - or I might not - but one thing I know for certain is that I'll never eat meat again.
As soon as I finished the documentary, I ran downstairs and declared my newly adopted veganism to my family, ambitiously urging them to follow my lead – I was met with disinterest. Now, two years on, I’ve gone through periods of strict veganism, a year-long stint of vegetarianism whilst on my year abroad (it’s hard enough not eating meat in southern Europe), and now my diet consists of an amalgamation of oat milk and cheddar cheese, dairy-free butter and dairy-filled Dairy Milk. I might be wholly vegan again in the future – or I might not – but one thing I know for certain is that I’ll never eat meat again.
