Junior Bhushan Sreekrishnavilas has been a vegetarian for almost four years. He made this decision due to ethical and environmental concerns.

“Meat is bad for the environment, through farming and stuff. Also having seen a lot of videos about farms for chicken, fish and cows, [I] can just see the inhumanity,” he said.

Sreekrishnavilas’s family has been supportive of his vegetarian lifestyle. They make him meals that fit his dietary restrictions. 

“A lot of the stuff that my family makes is vegetarian and not meat-based. They’ve been very good about always making me something,” Sreekrishnavilas said. 

Although Sreekrishnavilas has kept his diet meat-free, outside factors have caused him to accidentally eat meat. At parties, for example, the menu may not always meet his dietary needs. In July 2021, Sreekrishnavilas unknowingly consumed a pepperoni pizza roll. 

“The last time I ate meat was in July of 2021. It was on accident. That was when I was at a party, and I ate a [pepperoni] pizza roll, but I didn’t realize what was in it,” Sreekrishnavilas said.

Although he spit it out right away, he remembers how that pizza roll made him feel uncomfortable and uncertain.

“I just felt kind of weird because it was the first time in a long time I had eaten meat. I was unsure how to feel about it,” Sreekrishnavilas said.

Sreekrishnavilas realized although he had eaten meat, that hadn’t stopped him from being a vegetarian. Even more, the experience reinforced why he made the decision to become a vegetarian. 

“I think it was one of those situations where the world didn’t explode when that happened,” he said. “Eventually, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve done this for so long, and I think I want to keep on doing it.’ It just kind of reaffirmed why I was vegetarian,” Sreekrishnavilas said.