Last week I went on an outing with a local social club, which ended up in a restaurant. As always I picked a vegetarian option from the menu, which didn’t go unnoticed with the other guests. „Why don’t you eat meat?“ asked the man on my left, as he shifted a fork of hamburger into his mouth.

I stopped eating meat ten years ago. The main trigger was that I had started to read more about animal welfare in the press, and that I found the articles about the mistreatment of animals both absurd and shocking.

At the same time however, I was also more actively looking at my health. As you get older, obesity becomes a risk and exercise a must, and good quality nutrition becomes pivotal to maintain health. Meat obviously doesn’t belong in that category. I changed my eating habits.

Once I started on this road, I stumbled across a number of studies that highlighted the dramatic impact of the meat and diary industry on the climate. This industry produces tremendous levels of climate gasses, most noticeably methane; a gas that is up to 30-times more dangerous to the climate than carbon-dioxide.

So there you have my three reasons for eating less meat: animal welfare, better health, climate change.

I cut down my meat consumption, to a level where I rarely eat some fish and cheese. There are days where I live 100% vegan – but I am definitely not vegan, and not even 100% vegetarian.

There is a fourth reason too: variety! I have discovered that good vegan cooks use more imagination to get good taste on my plate. I love meals with 5 to 10 dishes instead of the regular meat/carbohydrates/salad combination. See Animaguseats or Vegan chatter.

Do I miss meat? Well, no. It seems that overtime taste changes with your diet. I don’t think meat tastes horrible, but its taste doesn’t convey any positive emotion either.

More people have joined this trend, which now has a direct impact on the food industry, and I suspect more and more will follow.