Compassion and a sense of justice have been at the core of my personal values for as long as I can remember. As a child, I had a deep empathy for others and the world around me. Like many children, I was always fascinated by and felt drawn to animals. I was fortunate that there was always at least one pet in the house when I was growing up, which let me see that animals are their own individual beings, with their own personalities. Pinky, the cat, was my first non-human friend. He would sleep on my bed, and I always worried about him during thunderstorms when he would hide in fear; I hated seeing him distressed. Pinky was the first man to break my heart. I must have been eight or nine years old when my dad and I took him to the vet, and we got the terrible news that he had terminal cancer. We both cried all the way home — I’ve never forgotten him.

Growing up, it was so normal to eat animal products. I did not know anyone who didn’t eat meat and other animal products; it was just never questioned. It was only when I went to college in the early 90’s that I met people who were vegetarian. Back then, resources and the range of food products were not what they are now, but I tried my best. Unfortunately, after leaving university, I gradually began eating meat again. Looking back, I know that I had not really made the connection.

In 2014, I began a master’s degree in public health, with a focus on chronic disease. It got me interested in nutrition and how it impacts health. This led me to discover the benefits of a plant-based diet and, inevitably, veganism. Up until this point, I had felt a lot of guilt around eating meat, and I used to think that buying things labelled ‘free rage’ or ‘pasture raised’ was the right thing to do. I believed the marketing and was completely ignorant of the horrors of the animal agriculture industry.

By 2018, I’d begun reducing my meat consumption and took my first steps to becoming vegan. I researched a lot around nutrition and a healthy vegan diet. It was also during this time that I discovered my love for food and cooking, which for me has been integral to trying new things and recreating my favourite dishes without animal products.

Along with changing my diet, I began researching the truth of animal agriculture. This is when the switch completely flicked for me. I made it through only 20 minutes of the film Dominion and knew that I would never eat meat again. I could not be complicit to the practices that cause so much suffering. I am a pacifist and the violence that I witnessed did not reconcile with my own core values; it was time to live a life true to myself.

In 2019, I moved to Ireland. Growing up in the UK in a large town, I had spent very little time in the countryside. It was here in Ireland that my veganism has been truly cemented. Every day, I see the trucks carrying animals to the slaughterhouses, and the scale of the industry is thrust in front of me. The green fields that I once viewed as beautiful now make me sad. I see the large sheds and shudder, knowing the suffering that goes on inside of them. I often feel completely helpless at the plight of our animal friends, and I am disgusted by what we do to them. I wish everyone could see things the way vegans do. As has been said many times before, the only thing I regret is not becoming vegan sooner.