I was heavily involved in animal welfare for my first three years of animal activism starting in 1978, and rapidly got involved in anti-vivisection. But I still ate meat. Here I was, doing what I could to save animals and then eating them. Someone at that time said to me, “What? You save dogs and cats, but you eat cows and pigs”? That question changed my life. It made all the sense in the world. It wasn’t even a year before I decided to go vegan. That made even more sense.
Being from an Italian family I must admit cheese took about a week to give up. And I don’t miss it either. Never liked eggs, milk or meat anyway. As a very poor kid growing up in Brooklyn and New Jersey I never ate meat until I was about 11 years old. We couldn’t afford it.
Back then, my mother (I didn’t have a father) would make some kind of cheap cut of meat once every two or three weeks, and I hated it. I would fill my mouth with this fleshy matter and then go and spit it out in the toilet. My mother quickly caught on to what I was doing and yelled at me. When I told her it felt like I was eating flesh she backed off from preparing meat again—at least while I was around. Truth is, she didn’t like meat either.
No one in my family ever liked fish, even though we were surrounded by three fish markets: The Sodano’s; Piccolo’s chicken market (where at the age of ten I committed my first animal liberation—it was a chicken); and Johnny the butcher’s shop with the goat’s head hanging in the window. Thank goodness for the six bread and pastry bakeries around us. At least those smells were pleasant, and no one died in the process.
So I sporadically ate these dead bodies, but I would think the average carnivore would have eaten more meat in five months then I have consumed in my entire lifetime. And let me say, I feel great! And I’m not a weak, puny person that just eats celery and carrot sticks. The only thing I did miss over the years were my sweets but now with the natural alternatives I miss nothing.
When I was in jail four different times for helping animals, I went on a hunger strike not only because I wouldn’t eat the crap they gave you in jail, but also to bring awareness to the plight of animals and to take my body to another level. I’m not a religious person, to say the least, but for the first time I did feel something spiritual.
Being a vegan is similar. It’s an amazing way of life. It’s healthier for the body, the planet and your soul, however you define that. Not to mention the animals. “Try it, you’ll like it!” It’s a way of life that most very spiritual and intellectual leaders have lived.
Be well and go vegan—with an open mind.
Chris DeRose, Los Angeles, CA President of Last Chance for Animals.
my favorite vegan things:
Vegan Glory Glory Noodles and Larb Salad. (LA Restaurant)
M Cafe (LA Restaurant)
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