vegetarianism is a thing 16 yr olds catch

One of my vegan friends mother said to me once that vegetarianism is a thing 16 yr olds catch... which i thought was dumb until i realised i know a handful of vegheads my own age and younger, but none older.
What does everyone else think?
Obviously you can be vegetarian at any age, but do you think vegetarianism seems to be increasing in youths and young adults?
What sort of things does that say about us as a group? I often get told i'm just 'being trendy' (even though i've been veg for a couple of years now... damn long trend!)

 

Perhaps because at that age you're old enough to understand and question thing, but not too old to be stuck in your ways.

I tried going veggie at nine, then actually made the permanent switch at seventeen.
As for being trendy, it's funny. The week I went veg the Atkins diet was number one bestselling book. So if anythhing vegetarianism was actually unfashionable.

TTFN
Sage

 

aaw and eating cows was fashionable?

 

i agree with sage, at this age we're young enough to not be stuck in our old ways. being a veggi was pretty hard for me when i was 13, i think it must have been 100x harder for my uncle who did it in his late 30's because he'd been eating meat for that much longer. i guess a lot of the time too with adults, they're in the mind set that "i work all day, i come home, all i wanna do is settle down with some dinner." they don't really wanna upset their schedule to look for other non-meat food.

 

Not as such, although steak has been a status symbol of sorts throughout history (presumably before it was buy one get one free in Tesco)

Then there is the stupid Atkins diet, and how we should all eat loads of meat even though it will eventually kill us (karma?).

People say vegetarianism is a trend, but I've never figured out when it was supposed to be fashionable.

TTFN
Sage

 

I became a vegetarian when I was 13. Everyone said it was a phase. 4 years later, everyone is still saying it's a phase. It's not. It's a major part of my life. I've always been an animal rights person, and I knew I was going to stop eating meat at some point since I was 5, it was only a matter of when Mom and Dad would be willing to help me. I've never heard about too many 12 year long phases.

My point is that people will say a lot of stupid things, that doesn't make them true.

 

BTW- I know no vegetarians my age. I know many who are adults. It's not an age thing at all. You're never to old or young to extend your morality.

 

everyone says its a phase for me too!!! they wont take me seriously

 

I am the only veg I know and have ever known! My lil' sis is 16 and she isnt a veg and doesnt know anyone or has never known anyone who is. So I dont think it is very much a trend. I never hear people talking about it or anything....but if it was ever a trend that would be pretty nice. I would love to see more people going veg whatever their reasons are...personal or to be trendy. Its all good.

 

Ah, I don't get the phase thing too much...I get the wave it in front of her face at dinner while she casually eats around it...but that's what I get I suppose...its only been a month...and it has nothing to do with trend...hell no...it was just a build up until I finally decided that I needed to stop eating meat...its bad karma, its bad for the animals...the end. I don't try to force it on anyone...so trendy or not...why should anyone care what you do with your body...esp. if it is eating vegitables and grains ( I didn't know vegitables were a crime...)

 

I think my elders just thought i was trying to be "trendy" when i was a vegetarian teenager, and maybe that did have a tiny bit to do with it. But now I assume everyone knows where i'm coming from because it is such a huge part of my life. Although my best friend did ask me recently "so are you actually going to stay vegan?" as though it were just a phase im going through .

Most of the veg*ns i know are my age (and mostly arts students, funnily enough ). Although i do know a few over the age of 40 (ageing hippies i spose ). Actually, i don't know anyone under the age of 20 who is veg*n..... very strange....

 

It's kinda true... I became a vegetarian when I was 15... and a lot of teens I think do it as part of the whole teenage-rebel-wanna-be-different phase... but for me it's been 11 years, and I've been doing pretty well.

 

I went vegetarian in my 40s, and if I "caught" it from anyone, it was from other people close to my own age.


"Caught" it? Sheesh! Vegetarianism is not a disease.

 

Very true

My parents used to consider my vegetarianism a phase, but after a year they have accepted it is a lifestyle choice/change. Which is reassuring.

Now I'm seriously considering going vegan, that's not going to happen till I move out though. My mother freaked out and is convinced I'll die of malnutrition. There is no point telling her otherwise.

TTFN
Sage

 

lol. That sounds familiar.


Mom: Nicole, there are a lot of carbs involved with going veggie
Me: Mom, if you haven't noticed, its not all carbs that are bad, its white sugar and white flour...both of which are not even in a lot of what I eat...so stop being brainwashed
Mom: But what about protien
Me: That is what soy, tofu, peanut butter, beans, ect are for
Mom: Won't you miss the stuff I make...
Me: I'll live. We can make new stuff...what does it matter to you anyway? I'm not making you do it...
Mom: ::sigh:: Fine, leave me alone...

And she's barely bothered me since...just my aunt...but I'm used to tuning her out...

 

my parents were a bit like that at first too. i remember this one time about a year in my mom asked me "so, are you ever gonna eat meat again?" it was as if she was planning a big "welcome back to our side!!!" meal!

and svggrdnbeauty i love the picture in your sig!

 

thanks.

 

ahh exactly the same for me!!

its been...i dunno, a month and a half. i dont know exactly how long. i never ate much meat and when i did it was tiny amounts. it always weirded me out and stuff. knowing it was once alive and that. i would walk past rows and rows of turkeys and chickens wrapped in cellophane in Tesco and i would just be so freaked out.

like you, it just built up until i finally just thought "right, no more!" i wouldnt say its trendy round here either. there are a few, but its not a big movement or anything.

is vegetarianism a thing 16 year olds catch? well, it was building up for a while, but it got me at 16. so maybe, yes. in my case

 

Ahhchoo! Sorry...I think I gave you my vegitarianism...

 

agh...damn airborn germs......achoooo!!!