What age did you go vegetarian?

[SummerRain]

I don't think we've had this thread.

Lots of people I know have gone vegetarian at university because it's the first time they're free to experiment with their diet without parental permission being needed... I was lucky enough to have supportive parents when I went vegetarian at 11. My parents went vegetarians as adults (in their 40s) so it can happen, but I wonder if it's unusual...

Do you think most people go vegetarian at a certain age range?

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was 17 years old when I went vegetarian, so 21 years ago.

 

[hungryraccoon]

21. I was working in catering at the time, cooking meat & such & I think it made me realise just what my food actually was, if that makes any sense. Before that id just eaten things without thinking about it very much (mainly other people cooked for me, I'd never cooked meat before.) After a while, cooking meat became really repulsive to me so I stopped eating it. Then I left that job soon after.

 

[Snowcone]

22, if my math is correct.

 

[Mischief]

In my thirties, more than a quarter century ago.

 

[Amy SF]

I was 38 years old. I'd been thinking about it for several years, but finally made the plunge in my late thirties. I do think most people who go veg do it in their teens and twenties, when they achieve a certain amount of independence from their parents.

 

[Second Summer]

I was 19, almost 20, and had just moved away to go to uni. I would probably have done it sooner if my parents were more progressive in that area.

 

[beancounter]

At 21, a quarter century ago.

 

[Freesia]

33.

 

[KLS52]

52

 

[Trinity]

Good idea for a thread.
I was 14. Had loved animals my whole life and suddenly joined the dots up. I just went home and said Mam - I am vegetarian now. Thankfully she was really supportive.
I wanted to go vegan soon after (but that felt a bit scary)... I went vegan when I was 20.

 

[Danielle]

I was 18. Quit dairy and eggs at 20-21, with the exception a small relapse Had a very tiny bite of cheese, and that was it.

 

[Clueless Git]

Something quite unworthy I remember doing makes me sure I wasn't a vegetarian at 28.

I know I was vegetarian before my first was conceived though. I was 30 by then.

Must have been when was I was 29.

 

[thefadedone]

I was around 13 at the time. I was in 7th or 8th grade. I did a report on slaughter houses and the research scarred me for life. Twenty three years later and I have not slipped up once.

 

[Poppy]

The first time I went what I honestly thought was vegetarian, was in high school - 1977-ish? I was actually a pescatarian, but I thought I was a vegetarian, because, heck, fish weren't really animals. When I started college, I went back to eating meat. Then I went what I thought was vegetarian (again, pescatarian, because who could possibly live without shrimp?) I was in my mid-30s. I dropped the pesca when I turned 40 (2000) and went vegan in 2005.

 

[PTree15]

I was 38 years old. I'd been thinking about it for several years, but finally made the plunge in my late thirties.

I was in the same boat as you, Amy. I flirted with it throughout my thirties, but then I got serious about it in my mid- to late 30s.

 

[Danielle]

The first time I went what I honestly thought was vegetarian, was in high school - 1977-ish? I was actually a pescatarian, but I thought I was a vegetarian, because, heck, fish weren't really animals. When I started college, I went back to eating meat. Then I went what I thought was vegetarian (again, pescatarian, because who could possibly live without shrimp?) I was in my mid-30s. I dropped the pesca when I turned 40 (2000) and went vegan in 2005.

good thing sophies kitchen exists now

 

[Poppy]

good thing sophies kitchen exists now

The "shrimp" is awful!!!

 

[Danielle]

The "shrimp" is awful!!!

 

[rainforests1]

I was maybe 21 or 22. My experiences in veterinary science played a role.