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I’ve Never Eaten Animals
I grew up in rural England with the message that animals are our friends — who would want to eat their friends?
Near my childhood home were fields upon fields of pigs and cows. In spring there were lambs, albeit briefly. Some people commented on how nice it was to see these animals when driving by, but our family thought we’d rather not see them at all. We’d have rather seen non-domesticated wild breeds roaming free, their destinies not pre-determined from birth. The message I received from an early age: “animals are our friends”. I was never forbidden from eating them, but who would want to eat their friends?
Growing up vegetarian in a rural region of England in the 90s, I could never have imagined how much the world would change in my lifetime. With the recent veganism boom, it’s become easier than ever to ditch animals products; there are more and more vegan options and socially people are increasingly open to the idea. I remember when things were harder.
I was always close to animals, particularly our cats who felt more like sisters. I also prised mice and voles from their mouths and rescued little birds who fell from their nests. I once returned a beached fish to the sea and worried about it for weeks.
To those unfamiliar with Britain’s geography, I was born in the West Country, a region that comprises Somerset, Devon, Dorset, and Cornwall. I spent some time in all those counties, though I was born in Somerset and spent my adolescence in Devon. This region is sparsely populated, the landscape characterised by its dramatic coastlines and rolling green hills, reminiscent of — and frequently described by its inhabitants — as the Shire. The West Country was idyllic. Writers such as Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Warner Townsend, Daphne du Maurier, and John Fowles all spent at least part of their lives in this part of the world. I grew up walking along the cliffs, making dens in the woods and swimming in the sea. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the land in the region is used for agriculture, and weekend markets and county “livestock” shows are still a big deal. I never understood how…
