Many Koreans ask me why I am a vegetarian, and why I increasingly follow a more strict diet. They find it puzzling because Americans are assumed to be great meat lovers, and it is also assumed by many that meat eating is essential to good health and to being a cultivated and civilized person. I have to admit that at this point that I find the eating of meat to be distinctly uncivilized, although I tolerate the habit of my close family and friends. My sister Milena is the only one in my family who pursues this ideal.

Koreans assume first and foremost that I am a vegetarian because I am concerned about my health. The assumption is that I either think I will be healthier if I do not meat.

This assumption is not incorrect. I do feel that I am healthier for not eating meat, although perhaps not for the reasons that people assume. It is not so much that I believe eating meat in moderation is still bad for your health, but rather that I believe, based on credible reports, that the meat we eat is full of antibiotics,steroids, hormones and  other chemicals (which are increasingly poorly regulated) that are clearly bad for our health.

But that is not the main reason. Read more of this post