We stopped eating meat many years ago. During the course of a Sunday lunch, we happened to look out of the kitchen window at our young lambs gambolling happily in the fields. Glancing down at our plates we suddenly realised that we were eating the leg of an animal that had until recently been gambolling in a field itself. We looked at each other and said, “Wait a minute, we love these sheep, they’re such gentle creatures, so why are we eating them?” It was the last time we ever did.

I love to heave friends and family around for a weekend barbecue. For me, a barbecue makes a welcome break from the usual routines of cooking. Whenever we have friends over for the first time, I know in advance that there will be one or two puzzled looks and glanced before the afternoons over.
Eventually, someone always says:
“Linda, this is great food, but I didn’t think that you ate meat. Have you changed – or are or just barbecuing it for us?”
At this point I smile and say:
“Actually there was no meat at all in it!”

For the entire afternoon, they’ve been thinking they were eating sausages, burgers and kebabs made from meat, marinated in a really tasty barbecue sauce. In fact, they have been eating the most exciting, and perhaps more revolutionary development in food this century.

Some people believe that they are vegetarian if they just cut out red meat, but a vegetarian eats no meat, and no fish either. If you go veggie, it means no animal dies for your plate. I’ve met a lot of people who say, “I’m almost veggie, but I still eat fish.” To me, that’s like being “almost pregnant” – you either are or you aren’t.

Recent statistics have revealed that a life-long non-meat eater saves about 760 chickens, 5 cows, 20 pigs, 29 sheep, 46 turkeys, 7 rabbits, and over ½ a ton of fish. Just imagine standing in a farm and looking at all these lives that you, as a meat-eater, will indirectly have ended in your own lifetime! I can’t think of a more literal and convincing argument, and nothing outweighs the rewards of living a guilt-free and compassionate life.