About Me: hey! I'm Kathi, I come from Vienna, Austria and I've just graduated from high school. I'm going to study Politics at Sheffield, UK (starting in sept). I actually come from the countryside where we have a little farm with lots of animals! ^^ my sweet little Dalmatian Colin is my absolute favourite though!! XD I attach great importance to buying only organic products! moreover, I prefer whole grain bread to ordinary white bread and I try to buy only fair trade!! As my father is a baker (we have our own tiny bakery in our village) I have the great privilege of being able to eat the best whole grain bread!! ^^ I like cycling and walking and I try to avoid driving the car as best as I can which is pretty hard on the countryside - but in Vienna the public transport system is great! ;) Feel free to add me - I'm always glad to meet new people (and especially veggies!! ^^ ) Have a nice day!!

How I became a veggie: basically by thinking and wondering about the meat and dairy industry, animal rights, health, the environment, the impact that eating meat and dairy has on the world's population and my personal feelings and intentions. I could never eat any meat/dairy again. I grew up in an "omni-environment and -society". Though my parents are very liberal and open-minded they left all decisions to my sister and me ourselves - eg. whether or not we want to eat meat, dairy, sugar; smoke, drink, etc. In the community where I grew up there are very very few vegetarians and basically no vegans at all. Meat and dairy are daily consumed in large quantities. All my friends are omnis. Some of my relatives are still not taking my vegan diet seriously (nor my sister's vegetarian diet)! I stopped eating meat in Jan 2004 and after about 2 years I began thinking about becoming a vegan. So I stopped eating dairy and I've never regretted it! ^-^ It's just so great that I have even learned to ignore people rolling their eyes and making fun of my lifestyle...