I remember reading in 'Laurel's Kitchen' that she became vegetarian after looking at a calf on its way to market.
It was my first vegetarian cookbook; still used for 4 decades although I gave up being vegetarian a few years ago.
I used to live on a main road near a freezing works (slaughter house) and it upset me a lot, genuinely. I hated seeing the animals go past, crammed into trucks and bleating with fear. Hated it.
But I was brought up to eat meat and whilst I eat very little now, that's not because of any outside influences.
I have a friend who says: 'There are vegetarians who follow that path for the health of the animal and vegetarians who follow for their own health.' I'm the latter.
Maybe I'm particularly hard-hearted but looking into the eyes of a wee piglet doesn't stop me liking bacon.
It's not a case of "loving or not loving animals" - if it was, then we'd have a league table.
Dear little fluffy lambs - love them, too cute to eat.
Bullocks - not so cute, a bit stroppy, might have a steak.
Haddock - who can love a haddock? Pass the lemon wedges.
People simply don't think like that.
In my experience, people care much more about the conditions animals are kept in and reared.
And why should the death of the animal be the focus or point of vegetarianism?
We all die eventually and death is no big deal.
Yes, I know very well that death in a slaughterhouse is horrific and frightening to the animal - so is death on the hills if a sheep is cast and can't get up. So is being pulled down by lions.
Animals, like people, rarely die peacefully. But horrific human death has never stopped wars or cruelty either.
Cause and effect doesn't work here.
How an animals is treated when it's alive is, to me at least, the biggest issue.