RADICALIZERS
Lisa Simpson Made Me Vegetarian
I don’t remember much about the moment I turned vegetarian, except Lisa Simpson
I’ve been a vegetarian for two-thirds of my life. It has been so long that I don’t really remember what meat tastes like; I am still convinced Quorn chicken nuggets taste like the real thing. I was 8 years old when I stopped eating meat.
Being one of those “gifted” children at school (which can also be translated to “unpopular”), I found solace in the company of two fictional characters: Matilda, from Roald Dahl’s book by the same name, and Lisa Simpson, middle daughter of The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening. Matilda’s dietary requirements are never overtly stated (to my memory),but Lisa’s vegetarian ethics are famous.
I loved Lisa.
Like many children my age in the UK, I watched The Simpsons religiously after school. It was a 6pm staple. I was around the same age as Lisa when I watched her most ardently, and I was alienated from my classmates due to enjoying reading and being decent at math and spelling (probably quite annoying and pretentious about it too, in…
