The beginning and the end of vegetarianism?

For the first time in nearly twenty years, I recently knowingly ate some meat. Before I explain what lead up to this, let me explain how I decided to become a vegetarian:

When I was a teenager I ate typical teenager foodstuff: sausages, burgers, breaded turkey, etc. I remember that I never really enjoyed more 'adult' food such as joints/cuts of lamb, pork or beef. Other meat produce I can remember enjoying were sliced ham, bacon (does any meat-eater not like bacon?), fish cakes, fish fingers and pork pies (but I never did like the jelly therein). I don't believe I've ever eaten game, prawns, most fish (I had cod and whatever chip shops sold as fish back then), steak or any esoteric/unusual meat.

My meat intake, though probably fairly typical for an omnivore teenager, was somewhat limited in its palette. I can remember the last meat I ate was some breaded turkey around a friend's house. I ate it all, but I didn't enjoy it. My relationship with meat had ended: when I went home I announced that I wasn't going to eat any more meat.

Looking back, the reason for not eating meat was mostly because I didn't enjoy the taste of it. Only years later when I was more educated about how certain meats are processed and animals treated, did my conscious decision evolve to focus more on this side of things. I cannot remember if back in the early days I was as stringent as I later became apropos checking if my proposed meal had any connection with meat at all.

More in my next entry.