A Child’s Perspective On Being Vegan!

A Child’s Perspective On Being Vegan!

Hey, my name is Victoria. I am an 11-year-old vegan kid. Most people think it is very hard to go vegan so I’ve written a little bit about my life, and what’s hard or easy about being vegan…

Why I am vegan?

I am vegan for the animals. Roughly 60 billion land animals and over a trillion marine animals are used and killed per year just to satisfy human taste preferences. I am also vegan for my health. My vegan diet gives me all the nutrition I need and I have never had more energy in my life. I am a swimmer and ever since going vegan my swimming has got much better, I am stronger and fitter, my speed has improved and I have good endurance. Did you know that lately more and more athletes have decided to go vegan because it gives them more energy and power?

What do you like most about being vegan?

What I like most about being vegan is the mock meat, lollies, chocolates and cheeses all made cruelty-free – they even taste the same as the non-vegan things. Another thing I love about being vegan is not harming animals, and knowing that I will always be vegan. I love having so much energy and being so healthy. I also love that I get to eat so many different types of tasty foods.

What is hard about being vegan?

I don’t really miss anything being a vegan. I can eat everything anyone else does – just a vegan version. I find that even parents at birthday parties go out of their way to buy and make vegan food that tastes amazing. This is great because other kids often don’t realise it’s vegan food, so they eat it and love it.

When I am at the supermarket in the sweets aisle, I sometimes wonder what all the lollies and chocolates taste like, but once I start thinking about what the animals have to go through just so people can have a quick taste sensation, there is no way I could eat lollies and chocolate made from animal products.

Is it hard at school being vegan?

Yes, it is hard at school being vegan, especially when the class goes off in groups for cooking, as they are usually cooking with dairy products, meat and eggs. I know too much about what happens to the animals where these products come from so I don’t go off to cook with the groups. One year the cooking teacher had our class make vegan muffins and everyone loved them.

One of my teachers also made sure that she had some vegan sweets on hand so that if I were to receive a class treat there would be something I could eat.

I also went on camp this year and the camp facility managed to feed me three vegan meals per day plus vegan snacks! The world is changing fast and there are so many vegan options available everywhere, and more on the supermarket shelves every week (it’s actually exciting going shopping to check out any new foods and read some labels).

What do friends think of me being vegan?

My friends understand my choice to be vegan. Some of my friends have told me that they want to go vegan after listening to me explain why I’m vegan. I believe that if you love animals then there is no way you can eat them. I have told lots of my buddies that whatever food you like, you can make or buy a vegan version that tastes the same or even better most of the time.

 

VEGAN FUN FACTS

• Did you know that you save more than 100 animals a year being vegan.
• Grain that is used to feed livestock for meat production could feed 1.3 billion people.
• Most cases of food poisoning (up to 80%), are due to eating infected meat.
• By not eating meat, you’re also helping to ease the problem of pollution. Almost 20% of pollution that is man-made originates from the meat industry. This has placed factory farming ahead of transport in how much it contributes to the planet’s greenhouse effect!

 

FINAL EDITOR’S NOTE

Using the online vegan and vegetarian calculators I’ve worked out some staggering stats.

In Victoria’s life so far she has…

• Saved the lives of 2,565 animals!
• Saved 11,773 KGs of CO² being omitted into our atmosphere!
• Saved 11,309,154 litres of water!

And these figures will continue to increase every day of her life.