Reddit mentions of The Reducetarian Solution: How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in Your Diet Can Transform Your Health and the Planet

Hey there. Texan here that grew up doing FFA, so I understand the dominating culture that labels you as a pussy because of your compassion towards raising animals. As a woman, I was never called that, but was oftentimes on the receiving end of remarks to the effect of "Well, women are weaker, and that's why she's comforting that pig", or "Of course she doesn't want that steer to go to auction, she's a woman... they just don't understand." Thank you for your compassion and your conscience, and realizing how desensitized you were becoming in the face of a culture that normalizes violence and suffering of animals for our own personal pleasure.

Being in cattle country, you may be able to respond using Judeo-Christian rebuttals; however, I'm assuming you live in the Bible Belt as well, please correct me if I'm wrong. You could make the claim that God has given humans dominion over animals only to be respectful stewards of the world God has provided. I'm more culturally Christian nowadays, but with more conservative friends, that phrasing helped them understand why I choose to treat animals with respect and compassion. It won't win over hearts and minds, but may be a good talking point.

The book The Reducetarian Solution: How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in Your Diet Can Transform Your Health and the Planet may be a good read for you. It's divided into three main sections (mind, body, and planet), and features roughly a hundred essays from different people about the intersectionality of animal consumption. It's helped me explain to people in terms they understand about how my decision not to eat meat is multi-faceted. It's a quick read, and one you can pick up, and put down intermittingly. I also love Barbara J. King's Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of the Animals We Eat. She's a renowned researcher, and analyzes animal sentience and cognition. It was a fascinating read.

In addition, if you're looking for recipes, I LOVE The Chubby Vegetarian, especially their cookbook The Southern Vegetarian. In the South, meat dominates social interactions, and when I first went vegetarian, I wasn't sure what to bring to BBQs & get-togethers, and realized very quickly that many of my friends would not accommodate me, and some would actually purposefully put meat into vegetables. My immediate family has also gone vegetarian and vegan due to health issues, so I had support there. However, that blog helped me identify the flavors I loved in BBQ, and in Southern cooking, and how I could still participate in the heritage of Southern cooking by being a vegetarian (spoiler: it wasn't actually about the meat). It also won some meat-eaters over when I brought mushroom "pulled pork" sliders, cole slaw, and BBQed eggplant. They loved it, and realized a lot of the flavor in meat is really about seasoning, and cooking method. Food for thought!

Good luck, friend. Welcome to a new way of eating that aims to reduce the violence and suffering you have witnessed, and strives to make our world just a smidge bit better. Let us know how we can help you on this journey.