• Eating less meat is a trend that has been gaining traction in recent years, and more and more people are defining themselves as flexitarians.
  • On the other hand, only a small part of the French population is vegetarian or even vegan.
  • Among this portion, some have become so after adopting an animal, triggering in these people an awareness around animal suffering. Our readers sharing this journey tell "20 Minutes" about their experience.

A good burger, grilled meats on the barbeuc' or spaghetti bolo ... For a long time, nothing made them happier. But that was before. Before love touches them in the heart. A love that makes them melt every time they meet the eyes of this little creature with hair or feathers, cat, dog or chicken, who has changed their view of the animal condition and the way they compose their plate.

How can you continue to eat meat and fish when you live with an animal that you love like your child? This is the question asked by women and men who have never before thought of switching to a pesco-vegetarian, vegetarian or vegan diet. Yet, they did, and tell their journey to 20 Minutes.

"Animals have emotions"

In Adeline's family as in many others, a balanced meal was meat, with a side dish. "A plate had to consist of a portion of animal protein. I even carried my vegetarian friends because I was convinced that we could not do without them. I grew up with cats, and even though my parents always ate meat, they raised me with respect for animals: they never took me to the zoo or ride a pony, judging it to be part of a form of animal exploitation. I was aware but I didn't feel concerned."

This lasted until the eve of the second lockdown, when Adeline adopted Ravy, a kitten with long red and white hair. "Living with him, I realized that he had emotions, his own personality. I began to question my relationship with meat, to think about those countries where the relationship to animals is not the same, where some consider a cow sacred and others where you can eat dog or cat. From there, I wondered who can decide which animal you can eat? If it is unthinkable for me to eat my cat, why would it be more acceptable to eat pork or beef? »

"Do not condone factory farming practices"

A reflection shared by Véronique *, 56 years old: "Four years ago, shortly after adopting an adorable senior dog, I realized that I could no longer continue to eat animals, nor to endorse the practices of factory farming and slaughterhouses. I realized that they have individualities and that this is not limited to pets alone." Similarly, it was after adopting "Red Cherry, a little Cavalier King-Charles" that Aurélien*, 48, questioned his taste for meat. "Four months into my life, I told myself that I could not pamper my pet and devour others. It was inconsistent, unfair and abominable. This change was obvious, to the point of regretting not having thought of it sooner."

Anna*, 32, got the same path after adopting hens, including "some cull hens [used in an industrial breeding of laying hens and replaced by a new batch] that have suffered horrors and yet are so affectionate. In addition, I live a few steps from a goat farm, where they are born in a shed, spend all their miserable lives crammed together, producing milk for cheeses, never seeing the sky or setting foot on the earth, before being killed to be transformed into sausage. Enough to convince me to become a vegetarian." Widely shared motivations: according to an Ifop survey for France Agrimer published in May 2021, "vegetarians, vegans and pesco-vegetarians do it above all out of concern for the cause and animal welfare: 68% mention the conditions of breeding and slaughter, and 63% say they have done so because they think it is cruel to raise animals to kill them".



"I started by reducing meat"

If for Véronique, "becoming a vegetarian was very simple, in one weekend", for others, it requires time to adapt. Like Melanie *, 30 years old, who has always had cats. "I started by reducing my meat consumption, then when I took my apartment and adopted my cat five years ago, I stopped eating it at home, before stopping completely in 2020. Today, I am a pesco-vegetarian. I don't cook any more than before, there are more and more plant-based options in the supermarket, much cheaper than meat."

Like her, Adeline went in stages: "I thought it would be hard, but I got to a stage where meat disgusts me, I eliminated it several months ago." This "disgust for meat is evoked by 43% of vegetarians, vegans and pesco-vegetarians", observes the Ifop survey. Adeline continues her food transition and "tries to stop fish completely, but it's harder". A new diet that pushed this 37-year-old woman to review her diet on a daily basis. "I used to order, I used to go to the caterer, but going vegetarian forces me to cook like never before, so to eat healthier. It's a little more complicated to find restaurants with cool veggie alternatives, and not just a plate of vegetables or fries. Ditto in the canteen where I have lunch, notes the school teacher: without meat, the plate is often rice or carrot peas. There is work to be done."

"I stopped eating corpses, but also honey"

Aurélien, for his part, "first opted for vegetarianism. My transition from vegetarian to vegan was gradual, in a year and a half, and it was very easy: there is no animal derivative that I had trouble stopping consuming, and after I stopped eating corpses, dairy, eggs and honey never found their place in my home again. Why honey? "A bit like chickens: we lock up the bees, we use them so that they produce more and when they die of exhaustion, we replace them. How could I continue to eat it? »

Passionate about cooking, Aurélien apprehended his vegan transition "as a challenge, to adapt traditional recipes in vegetable version, like my tiramisu, which my entourage loves! So much so that several relatives have become vegan. In general, everyone reacted very well." An understanding that Mélanie also observed: "it just requires reviewing the menu at family gatherings".

Like Aurélien, Adeline would like to become vegan, "in a year or two, the time to master all the alternatives". Thanks to the advice of friends, the young woman discovers a new way of cooking, "no longer buys milk, yogurt and cheeses of animal origin and masters the recipe for pasta with vegan carbo. The next step is to do without it outside, but also to cook without eggs, and not eat honey anymore." An evolution born from the meeting with his cat, "to the point that if he disappeared, it would pose an ethical problem for me to adopt another one in my small apartment. From now on, it would be in contradiction with my convictions."

* First name has been changed

  • Society
  • Animals
  • Feeding
  • Vegetarian
  • Vegan
  • Cruelty to animals
  • Vegetarianism