teen spirit - personal narratives

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 2000 by Melissa Chesena

I come from a long line of heavy meat eaters. My father grew up in Southern Italy, where they eat meat with practically every meal, and for the first 14 years of my life, I took after him. I thought my family ate pretty healthfully. But on January 1, 1998, as a New Year's resolution I became a vegetarian. I'd been thinking about it for a while and discussing it with some of my ballet friends who were vegetarians. I wanted to do something different for my health and contribute to the environment. Vegetarianism seemed to fulfill both of those desires.

Almost immediately I felt wonderful, as if I had begun a new life and was starting from scratch. My whole perspective on food and the environment changed. I began to try different foods that I would never have dreamed of eating, like tofu and soy milk, and I started caring about animals more and more by appreciating them alive instead of on my dinner plate. I felt more energized and I even lost a few pounds (which never hurts a ballerina).

When I first eliminated meat from my diet, I was afraid I'd revert to my old eating habits. But I was surprised by how easy it was and at my own motivation. Luckily for me, my parents were supportive, especially my mom. Before she met my father, she had been a vegetarian for 10 years. My father wasn't too thrilled with my decision, but he didn't try to talk me out of it. Once he even attempted to make me a tofu stir-fry. (The cat got more of it than I did, but that's another story.)

Unfortunately, not everyone has been so supportive. My grandparents, who grew up in Italy, tried to change my mind at first. But I stood my ground, and eventually they've come to accept the idea. My grandma has actually modified her old-world Italian recipes, which all contained meat, and made veg versions of them, like homemade ravioli with cheese and tofu. Then there were all these random people who worried that I wasn't getting the proper nutrition like my Home Ec teacher, who made me defend vegetarianism in front of the entire class. That taught me to always be prepared with a little "speech" about the benefits of being veg, including how much healthier it is and, of course, where I get my protein from.

Overall, I have found it amazing how the world has evolved for vegetarians. When my mom stopped eating meat in college, there weren't real options for vegetarians. She had to put together meals from boring side dishes like steamed beans, bland pasta and boiled potatoes. For the past three summers, I've gone away to dance programs at different colleges and there have always been special meals for vegetarians. There was never a day when I couldn't find a well-balanced meal for myself. What surprised me even more was when my family and I traveled to a small upstate New York town for a soccer tournament. One night we ate at a steak house. I figured I'd wind up with a salad and a potato. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the menu and saw that they served veggie burgers!

But enjoying great meatless meals isn't the full extent of my commitment to vegetarianism. I take part in many veg programs on the Internet, in which I exchange recipes and ideas. I am finding more and more teenage vegetarians emerging in our generation, because of their concern for health and the environment. Grownups may tend to think of teenagers as indifferent to issues, or slackers, but what they don't realize about us is that when we put our minds to something, there's no stopping us. I have personally found teenagers to be among the most involved and most passionate activists of any age group. That's because we're still young enough to believe we can change the world,

MELISSA CHISENA is 16 years old and lives in Pine Bush, N.Y. She is a dancer, a teacher of ballet and a full-force vegetarian.