Ira Glass is Host of the weekly NPR show "This American Life". He became a vegetarian because of a poultry activist. The story is detailed here:

Ira Glass on David Letterman

As for me personally, I was converted to vegetarianism by the William Shatner narrated The Vegetarian World. Note: in a few points, this video shows some animals being killed. But that is not its central purpose. This is Part 1. I don't see a part 2 available on YouTube.

This is a subtitled version of the entire The Vegetarian World

So, how did you happen to become a vegetarian?

I became vegetarian after I took a medetation retreat (http://www.dhamma.org...) where we were served a vegetarian food for 10 days.

I became a vegetarian after visiting GoVeg.com and learning about the intelligence of pigs and chickens.

I went vegan a year later after listening to podcasts at CompassionateCooks.com.

I became a vegetarian after visiting GoVeg.com and learning about the intelligence of pigs and chickens.

I went vegan a year later after listening to podcasts at CompassionateCooks.com.

In 1969 I was waiting to get my hair cut. I saw an ad with a picture of a little Victorian girl (all frills and curls) holding the leash attached to a steer. The caption read: A carnivorous animal and her prey. Pat Gwozdz

I BECAME A VEGETARIAN AFTER WATCH SOME PETA VIDEOS

I grew up a vegetarian in India. But after coming to this country I continued with it because it forced me to learn how to cook. It has been the best motivator for me as I have now branched out into all kinds of vegetarian based culinary traditions. I think one of the best portals to learn about other cultures is through food traditions.

Moreover I feel that being a vegetarian forces me to think about food every time I eat something. Where it comes from, how it was made, etc. I think if more people thought about where their food comes from, some of the more reprehensible practices in the food industry would vanish sooner.

I was 18 years old, and my best friend badgered me for two weeks, to go vegetarian with him. He was a relatively paranoid person at that point in his life, and was freaked out about all the harmful health effects of meat that he'd just learned of.

We'd had many wonderful, fun adventures together. In addition, we were hunters - he largely lived on his kills, I mostly hunted varmints - and avid fishermen. At that point, I had a stone lined bonfire pit behind the house, and we used to eat meat 3 times/day, usually grilling at least one of the meals out back over the pit.

We lived in a rural community in northern Wisconsin. Vegetarians were a rare and exotic breed in our parts. Our neck of the woods wasn't home range for them, though one or two could occasionally be seen migrating through - scouts in hostile territory, wolves all around.

The nearest vegetarian resident in the state was probably 30 miles away, though I had no way to know that at the time. I only knew we would be the first locals to do this.

After two weeks, with my resistance to his idea wearing thin, he uttered the magic words that finally broke me down: "Come on Phil, it'll be an adventure!"

My buddy was inviting me on another adventure. I'd never had a bad adventure with him - life threatening certainly, and more than once - but we were still alive, and always at least relatively healthy afterward. Life was always so much more rich after our exploits.

How could I refuse?

The next couple of months weren't pretty. Lots of trail mix and granola, as I recall. We quit cold-turkey, and figured things out as we went along. After several weeks, a wandering vegan told us about a food co-op in Green Bay, about an hour away, and we made trips to it once or twice a month for staples. That's where we first saw tofu.

Adventure was the draw, health self-interest was the initial focus. In addition, I'd lived and worked on farms as a teenager, and living a life that reduced demand for animal slaughter was very gratifying. However, I would never have stayed with it, if not for the book, Diet For A Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lape. That book was my sustaining inspiration for many years.

I've stayed vegetarian, with occasional periods of veganism, for 30 years now. My motivation is still to live lightly on the earth, and to be an example of good health and basically positive energy, using my lifestyle choices to change the balance of suffering in the natural world.

I guess the short answer is, "I did it for adventure".

I decided that because I saw so much cruelty in killing animals, I could not any longer support this style of eating. Also for health reasons. I would like to live a long healthy life in order to enjoy my children and grandchildren.

i was at a conference completely unrelated to food and the last workshop i went to described the connection between feminism and oppression/cruelty of animals. I am feminist and it hit me that there is a strong connection between ending oppression of women, minorities, marginalized populations and ending oppression of all species. I decided I wanted to be more consistent in my beliefs. I began my foray into vegetarianism at that instant. That was in 2005. Now i'm almost vegan (for health and ethical reasons). great question!

Greetings Everyone:

For me, the "last catalyst" was reading, in mid 2007, a book from the Union of Concerned Scientists: "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices". Among other things, they pointed out the significantly higher costs for eating meat, than veggies. (The costs are all across the whole "raw inputs ==> onto the dining plate" chain.)

With my long-time interest in energy conservation, global warming, and a distaste for sending my dollars overseas to buy oil, well, vegetarian/vegan was worth considering. Additionally, I'm Buddhist, and the first precept of not killing, and the first Great Vow, to save all sentient beings... well, I can't keep either vow if I eat animals. Lastly, but not part of the decision I had already made, were some of the films from PETA. I gave up eggs, dairy and honey after realizing the process of taking these is essentially the same as that for food animals.

I went slow, about a 3-5 month transition, since I knew if I did it right, no worries, if I got it wrong, I could hurt myself.

I feel lucky and grateful for all the web resources, people, restaurants and stores that have the stuff I still eat. I still check out the meat and dairy "fakes" and analogs. Some are really good, some acceptable, and some that I wouldn't feed to a carnivore... at least not a carnivore that I want to seduce to the "Green Side".

There are foods I still miss, but if I spend a moment to remind myself why I'm vegan, that pretty well ends my attack of "meat lust".

Lastly, since dining out gets expensive, and microzapping a boxed or bagged frozen lump gets boring, so I am learning to cook, as I put it, "in self-defense."

My only regret is wishing I'd gone vegan much, much, earlier.

Alan