Here’s a little background on me: I am currently not vegan nor vegetarian – I have never even tried to be any of the two. I come from a family of big meat eaters, my dad used to own a butchers when I was a toddler and I can hardly recall any dinner without a piece of meat… besides those nights where all we cook up is eggs on toast.
Recently I have grown interest in becoming a vegan due to the health benefits it has, and as a personal protest towards slaughterhouses. I watched a clip on YouTube called: “If Slaughterhouses Had Glass Walls, Everyone Would Be Vegetarian” spoken by Sir Paul McCartney. When watching it I cried at the way these animals were bred, treated and slaughtered. I’m not saying that I was oblivious to the fact that a steak is a piece of a cow that died so I could eat it – i’m talking about the inhumane ways these poor animals died were murdered.
I also just bought the book “Skinny Bitch Box Set” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin which is a straight-forward, no nonsense book about adopting a vegan diet in order to become as skinny as those bitches, lol. In the box set there was also the cook book “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch” which had some really delicious looking foods and great alternatives to meat. Reading through the book it spurred me on to try to adopt this lifestyle.
I’m just worried as to fully commit to becoming vegan as meat is such a big part of my family’s meals. My family is very understanding and loving – but we have had conversations in the past about veganism and vegetarianism, where we all agreed it was “weird”… on that note, why does veganism in particular have such negative connotations when it’s clearly healthier, more environmentally-and-animal friendly? Is it because it is not the social norm, because few understand what it really is, because people just want to ignore what is happening within the meat industry, or is it because other vegans have tried to influence people into making choices they clearly aren’t ready for? I don’t know, but this negative label that has overshadowed the good in veganism needs to be lifted… Okay back to my original question: Has anyone ever had this problem or had to deal with breaking news to your family? Comment below if you have any suggestion!
bodylicious 
I practiced strict veganism for about a year, but have since allowed small amounts of cheese, and occasional fish into my diet, which technically make me not even vegetarian. But day in and day out most of my meals have no animal products.
Veganism is surprisingly easy if you cook (which I do). It’s harder to do consistently if you eat out a lot. There have also been an explosion of great cookbooks out there (my favorites are Veganomicon, and the Tofu Cookbook).
As for family, I never pressured my wife to become vegan (although since I do most of the cooking she ate a lot of vegan meals), and my extended family thinks I’m an old crackpot anyhow, so they viewed the veganism as just another example of that :-)
Thanks for the comment and for subscribing Larryfeltonj! I love cooking, so I agree that it will help me transition to being vegan because I would be able to control what I put into my meals. Yeah, I get it not everyone will agree to my choices, but they will grow to become more accepting.