Want To Turn Vegetarian? People Who Gave Up Meat Reveal How They Did It

Kaveri loved meat but was never a heavy meat eater. She always gave in to steaks and red meat while eating out. For some weird reason, she never felt ‘full enough’ until she sank her teeth into a juicy meat portion. She’s been a vegetarian since last year.

So what prompted her to give up meat? She was living in London until 2016 and preferred to eat meat since it was cheaper there. She excluded meat from her diet because over a period of time, she didn’t feel like her body needed it anymore.

Go-to restaurants/dishes: Soam, Swati Snacks and Spice Klub. Also, every dish at Prakash Restaurant in Dadar.

Amrita has been a vegetarian since June, last year and she loved her non-veg grub a lot as she has grown up in a Punjabi family. She started making her own brand of bacon jam and couldn’t get enough of it herself. She has a bacon tattoo dedicated to her love for the jam. For her, it wasn’t a film or documentary that triggered it. It wasn’t a sudden move. She started drifting after reading articles/stories on the industrialisation of meat. The idea of antibiotics and steroid-laden meat put her off.

She took an amazing food trip to Nagaland in February last year and witnessed explicit meats. People there eat frogs and worms but respect their meat, which commercial meat places fail at. Her journey towards a healthier living started with an Ayurveda course she signed up for in September.

Go-to restaurants/dishes: Barley-Jowar salad and veg mutton kofta at Bombay Canteen, Z for Zucchini at Leaping Windows.

Darshanaa’s been into fitness for a long time now. For her, it has been a hard battle from a junk-eating fat kid to becoming a salad eater and vegetarianism has made her become more stern towards her diet. Last year, she went travelling around Europe for two months and at that time, didn’t care what meat she was eating.

After coming back from Europe, she realised she’s eaten her fair share of meat in life and should give it up. To make herself stronger, she saw a lot of animal slaughter and cruelty videos. She even made some of her carnivore friends to join her and 2-3 of her friends agreed. Bonus: Her mom’s a vegetarian so she was more than happy to see her embrace a new lifestyle.

Tessa used to be a major carnivore, a true blue Mallu Catholic. From fried frog legs to duck roast, she used to relish non-vegetarian food for almost 25 years.

After moving to Mumbai, she’s been spiritual and turned vegetarian in 2014, followed by veganism in 2015. Owing it to her will of steel, people in her life and her drive to achieve inner peace, she turned vegan and hasn’t looked back.

She thinks anybody who’s gotten a little taste of austerity would treasure it over anything else. She goes on to day, ”It makes me feel good when I eat just enough and not as much as I want, I cherish the discipline of eating a small bowl of sprout and a glass of almond milk for dinner. I feel a certain sense of achievement and calmness when I choose Sattvik food. Every time I indulge, the feeling isn’t that great. Although I have no strict rules such as I wouldn’t eat from places where they cook non-vegetarian food, I prefer to cook my meals, without much spice. I feel good about my body, myself, feel more purified’.”

Go-to restaurants/dishes: The Kitchen Garden in Bandra is a good place and so is The Rolling Pin in Lower Parel.