lucila soto

Vegetarianism, year one.

It’s not about what you think, nor about what you say. What defines you are your actions. Consciousness and belief can only be expressed by fact and act. In the end, your daily comings and goings are what determine who you are.
One year ago I decided to become a vegetarian; the reasons behind it are ethical and against cruelty. But I truly believe it also was a coherent and logical step that can be traced back 9 years ago, to that cheerful February when Tallulah came into my life.

After her -because of her- I started noticing for real the strays roaming the streets. She then began rescuing dogs, leaving me no choice but to take action. Vida de Perros (an online blog centred on creating conscience on dog care, rescue efforts and adoption practice) was then born, and I became involved with associations, rescue refugees and independent rescuers; even becoming hands on along the way.

Awareness became a daily practice and after a while it permeated mostly every aspect of my actions. Then, last year the next logical step came. A personal, individual, self-conscious and über-thought decision: I became a vegetarian for good.

Was it difficult? By no means! It has been enlightening, a never-ending source of new knowledge, ultra satisfactory and tons of fun. For this, of course you have to be an open thinker, have a real thirst for experimenting and an innate interest in learning. Research is the main key behind every successful story about change and when a change of lifestyle is the subject matter, believe me, the more research you do, the better.

Today I eat food with names such as tempeh, seitan, kale, agar agar, tamari, baba ghanoush, romanesco and the sort. The newly added flavours are Indian, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese; from Thailand and Peru. My palate exploding with the magnificent tones and hues of spices and melting down with delicate aromas and tastes like sweet almond, coconut, cardamom and Turkish delight.

Today I feel nourished for the first time. Each meal nutrients making goodness for my body, mind and soul. My taste buds are awaken, they appreciate better each and every morsel. My body does too: my skin and hair feel better than ever. Today I find more than appropriate the French term for food: “nourriture” which means to nourish: indeed it does, mind, body and soul. Each bite only goodness; no suffering, no harm done.

A new code of beliefs and practices modified my former self into a holistic one; being a vegetarian is not only about not eating meat. The real change comes when seeing your surroundings not as “I” but as “We”, not anthropocentric but ecocentric. And furthermore, understanding whole processes, their interactions and consequences. In one word: consciousness, or its synonym in this context, awareness.

And there lies the quid of it: nothing can make you more good than acting coherently. The feeling of having achieved change for the better, for good, is the very best feeling around. Cheers then for the very first year of being vegetarian, cheers to change and improvement, cheers to a new milestone!

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Be part of the solution, never part of the problem.
If you’re what you eat, then become goodness.

• All Images from amazing Pierre Huyghe’s art: Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt), 2012; Zoodram 5 (after ‘Sleeping Muse’ by Constantin Brancusi), 2011; Human, 2012.