VEGGIE TO VEGAN: Danielle says she's not judgmental towards those who eat meat but says she's sick of people taking her vegetarianism personally and trying to convince her to eat meat.

I'm a vegetarian for ethical reasons, although I plan on becoming a vegan in the near future.

I became a vegetarian at 15, initially because I wanted to be unique: none of my friends were vegetarian, and I had heard that you lost weight once you went veggie. Well, I lost some weight, but once I discovered pasta I put it right back on!

As I got older, I became more interested in the ethical side of vegetarianism.

I don't believe it is ethical to kill something for food when you can live without it. This is why I don't eat free-range meat, as I still think the killing of the animal is wrong.

For me, it doesn't matter how good the animal's life was: at the end of the day, it still ends up being killed, and for me that's not right. I am also concerned about the environment, particularly the damage that dairy farming has on water systems and rainforests.

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I eat eggs from my parents' four free-range chickens, so I do not give money to the egg/poultry industry at all.

The way I look at it is that an egg is an unfertilised thing that would otherwise go to waste, so I have no problems with eating them so long as they are from my parents and not the poultry industry.

I do drink milk, which I am not overly comfortable with, and I love ice cream and cheese. I'm not perfect, and I know that my money goes to an industry that also kills animals.

I do plan on becoming vegan soon. It's just a case of learning about how to make nutritious vegan meals and working up the mental strength to say goodbye to Tip Top ice cream.

I'm perfectly healthy on a vegetarian diet. My iron levels have always been fine. I have mild arthritis and actually noticed an improvement in this once I stopped eating meat. It might have been a placebo effect, as I had read about the benefits of a vegetarian diet for arthritis before I made the change, but I'll take a placebo effect if it means less pain.

My partner is a meat eater, so we usually just cook the meat separately. That's even if he has meat: he's from Nepal, so he is used to lentil and chickpea-heavy meals without it. I am trying to get him to eat more free-range meat, as I do believe that this is a more ethical choice than factory meat.

I don't think the whole world is going to go veggie, so I think that supporting free-range/organic meat will convince the meat industry to change their ways.

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I am not judgmental towards people who eat meat. Some can't afford it. I eat very cheaply, but many people have children to feed, who need a more specialised diet, or have health issues. Some don't have the time; others don't have the resources.

Some cultures place high value on meat or hunting, and in a world where these cultures are under threat, I don't think it is ethical to force vegetarianism down their throats. Insisting that everyone should be vegetarian seems to be a very closed-minded approach, one that, to me, reeks of classism.

What I can't stand is people who take my vegetarianism personally and try to convince me to eat meat, or make jokes about how 'carrots are alive too'.

That joke was funny the first time I heard it; it's not funny now that I've heard it 500 times. It's just boring.

I don't try to convince others to go vegetarian, but for some reason meat eaters like to taunt vegetarians in ways that make me think they are just projecting their guilt onto others. I don't talk about being veggie: just when a plate of sausage rolls are put down in front of me at a party, I usually have to explain why I won't eat them.

The joke about how you can always tell if there's a vegan in the house because they will tell you over and over again is ridiculous. In a culture where the preparation and consumption of food is socially important, and meat is such an integral part of people's diets, it's extremely likely that your guest is going to be forced to tell you that they are veggie or vegan.

I love being vegetarian. I eat a varied and interesting diet, and most cafes and restaurants cater for me. It's not a huge deal, it's just part of who I am! There are much more interesting things about me than what I eat!