Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
The hardest part of growing up vegan wasn’t being deprived of burgers and ice cream. The hardest part was struggling to understand how so many otherwise good and caring people around me could ignore a giant injustice right in front them, and continue supporting and regularly consuming products that involve such violence.
Please visit Sarina's website: BornVegan.org
Portrait of a Vegan Family. Sarina Farb was born and raised vegan. She
thanks her family for that decision.
I was raised vegan from birth and I’ve never eaten meat dairy or eggs in
my life. My parents made the decision in the early 1990s to feed me and my
sister exclusively plant-based foods and to teach us the truth about where
meat and dairy come from. Back then, veganism wasn’t nearly as prevalent or
acceptable as it has become today. My parents were accused of brainwashing
and forcing their values on us, and friends and family expressed concern
that we would be malnourished without animal products.
The Growth of Veganism and Plant-Based Diets
Since the 1990s, plant-based diets and veganism have exploded in popularity.
Forbes magazine reported that the number of people following a vegan diet
increased by 600% from 2014 to 2017, and the number of vegan products, such
as plant-based milks and cheeses, have skyrocketed in recent years. When I
was growing up, I only knew of a few other people who had been vegan since
birth, and none of them lived in the same city or state as me. Today, the
city I live in has an entire Facebook group dedicated to vegan parenting
just in my city alone!
How It Began
Sarina Farb today. She has never regretted her parents’ decision to raise
her vegan.
In the early 1990s, my mother worked as a sales representative and
technical specialist for a global pharmaceutical company. Her job took into
chicken hatcheries, swine facilities, and animal testing labs. What she saw
first-hand on the job made her go vegan and want to raise her future
children vegan as well. One particular incident that profoundly impacted my
mother was watching day-old baby chicks in a hatchery get run-over and
smashed to the floor in their own blood and guts. She watched in horror as
the employees of the hatchery stood around talking and joking, and couldn’t
even be bothered enough to put the half-dead chickens out of their misery.
After seeing that, my mother vowed that when she had children she would
teach us never to turn a blind eye to violence and injustice no matter how
normalized or socially accepted it was.
My Vegan Childhood
I was born in 1994. As I grew up, my parents did a lot more than just
feed me a plant-based diet. Rather, they explained – in simple,
age-appropriate language – what veganism was, why we were vegan, and why we
didn’t eat animals. I remember them saying things like, “A cow’s milk is for
baby cows” and, “Animals are friends not food, and we don’t eat out
friends.” As I got older, the explanations grew more sophisticated. They
began teaching me more details about all the different ways that animals are
exploited for human use. Then, they taught me how to read labels and
research things for myself
Dealing with Bullying
Sarina speaking out at school. Her veganism presented challenges. She
met them with grace and courage.
When I was about seven years old, armed with plenty of knowledge and
facts about animal exploitation, I began speaking about veganism and animal
rights to others. Peers would regularly ask me why I wasn’t eating certain
foods, or just talk about how weird my vegan food was. “Why can’t you eat
this candy?” they would ask, and I would respond with, “I can, but I choose
not to because it has gelatin in it.” I would proceed to describe in detail
exactly what gelatin was and how it is made. In sixth grade, I regularly
brought vegan flyers to school (including ones with graphic images of how
animals are raised and killed for food) and shared them with my classmates
during lunch. Some students were moved and went vegetarian as a result of my
information. Others got mad at me, or just made fun of me. The worst part
was that I had a teacher who tried to ban me from speaking about the topic
of veganism or even answering my peers questions altogether. Luckily with
support from my parents, I successfully pushed back.
The Importance of Community
One of the biggest things that helped me laugh off the teasing and
negative comments about my food and lifestyle was knowing and having the
support of other vegans and vegan children. My school wasn’t my primary
social network. When I was born, everyone, including my parents’ doctors,
friends, and family members, expressed doubt and concern over the decision
to raise me vegan. However, my parents did their research and sought out
books and support from people like Dr. Michael Klapper and Victoria Moran,
both early pioneers of raising vegan children. Then, they began traveling
and attending events such as Vegan Summerfest, to learn more about living a
healthy vegan lifestyle and to meet other like-minded individuals. My
parents brought me along to these conferences where I had the opportunity to
meet other vegan families and vegan children my age. Although these kids
didn’t live in the same geographic area as me, I stayed in touch throughout
the years with many of the friends I made at these events. Having the
support of other vegan kids, even from a distance, was absolutely wonderful
and kept me from feeling all alone as a vegan child in the very non-vegan
midwest.
The Hardest Part of Growing Up Vegan
Today, when people find out I was raised vegan, they often assume I must
have felt excluded and deprived because I couldn’t eat meat and dairy. But
this is the furthest thing from the truth. Being raised vegan is one of the
biggest blessings I could ever have asked for in life. Not only has it given
me peace of mind, knowing that I’ve never intentionally participated in
harming animals, but it also taught me to stand for justice, even when it’s
unpopular, and to think critically about everything. The hardest part of
growing up vegan wasn’t being deprived of burgers and ice cream. The hardest
part was struggling to understand how so many otherwise good and caring
people around me could ignore a giant injustice right in front them, and
continue supporting and regularly consuming products that involve such
violence. The values my parents taught me as a small child about standing up
for justice, even when it’s unpopular, drive my life and actions to this
day.
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