Nonvegeterian to Vegeterian

I was brought up in a family where we love to eat non-veg food. If guests were invited and not provided with some kind of non-vegeterian food, it was referred as ill treatment. I loved to eat meat. Whatever meat - from chicken, fish, to beef (I used to play and feel very hungry and we used to go to a Muslim restaurant in Coimbatore and check out chili beef instead of chicken because it was cheaper and no difference in taste. Though I am a Hindu I had beef because of the above reason) and any kind of meat available. When I came to US for higher studies, I had only non-veg food. Me and friends used to eat lots of chicken (Spicy chicken by Andhra roommates), beef (Punjabi room mates, Philli Cheese Steak & McD Big Mac), Pork (Chinese friends & Pepporoni Pizza). We used to go to a Chinese restaurant so often and order the same food routinely. The owner used to prepare the ribs as soon as we entered the restaurant. In childhood days, my aunt prepared the best fried fish in the world and we never stopped eating those fish. I even boycotted eating lunch without any meat and argued with my wife that some kind of meat should be there for lunch.

Once my close friend’s father (visited for my friend’s graduation from India) told me to give up non-veg food. After his words I still had meat and totally forgot his advice. In 1997, my beloved aunt passed away. At that time my friend’s father’s advice came to mind and once and for all, I gave up eating non-veg food. I gave up egg also (I used to eat all forms of egg – Scramble, Omelet, Half boiled and raw egg along with Poriyal and Karandy). I feel so good after that. Even amidst the criticism of avid non-veg loving family, I eat only vegetarian food and no craving for non veg food!!!!

Reason for writing this:

Today my friend sent me a link:

Poor Chickens & Poor Animals


Poor Fishes
And now I feel good that I am a vegetarian.

He also emailed me the following:

A review of available research indicates that the more processed meat people eat, the more likely people are to develop stomach cancer.

Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, salami, ham, and smoked or cured meat. The review looked at 40 years' worth of studies on the relationship between these meats and stomach cancer. Some of the studies examined hundreds and thousands
of people.