No one ever preached at me about giving up meat. From the time he was quite young - the date escapes me - one of my four brothers, Colin, shared with me information about factory farming, about the horrible way the majority of animals in this country live and die before they hit the dinner table. He has since become a vegan and eats nothing that comes from any animal. Later, my two daughters, Brenna and Kiley, made what they believed was the moral choice to become vegetarians. As it was a choice they made based on youthful, yet sincere, moral reasoning, I have supported it and learned to shop and cook accordingly. (I don't even mix a veggie dinner dish with the same spoon with which I mixed a meat). Yet, for me, it was a process that took years, a conversion that grew out of learning and growing increasingly concerned about the resources used by a largely carnivorous culture that helped me make my choice to become a vegetarian. (More about this later) It was not any easy choice - face it, meat tastes yummy. And I still cook (OK, not every day) and shop for a husband and son who love meat, and for that matter my puppy and cats eat meat too and I know none of the above are about to trade cordon blue for couscous. But what I want to point out is that Vegging Out will never preach - as an anonymous poster worried about - we simply want to educate, to share, to poke fun at ourselves - a lot of our co-workers already do this for us ... and provide a forum for an issue that tends to divide people and not always in a humorous way. So as we tell you what we think, let us know what you think - challenge us - question us - and keep in mind that we don't judge and we hope you won't either.