Interviewed by Lisbeth
Spring 2021

Angie Benavides Hernandez has been a vegan since 2019 and till this day still is a vegan. She’s a vegan because she believes it is not right to eat or do anything harmful to animals. Even with the disapproval of her hispanic household, she is still a vegan even if it's been a hard roller coaster for her. Not only does she not eat animal products but she protests for animals rights and does many things to benefit animals. 

 

 

In your own words how would you define veganism?

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Veganism to me is a lifestyle; it's not inflicting pain upon animals, or using them as products or using what they create for us to consume. So not to use what they make or do. 

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Why did you become a vegan?

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I became a vegan because I did not know the truth behind the farming industry and when I saw the real footage I questioned everything that I did so that's where I decided to do something with my actions for a better change. 

 

What are some changes you would want to see in the world to help out animals?

 

I just want more people to find this information and with the information that they find out to make some sort of change because the way that we are living is affecting the lives of these animals. So I just want more and more people to find this information and to do something with the information, something positive like cutting it down or stop being all at once. 

 

What would you say to someone who wants to become a vegan?

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Focus on yourself, but [also] focus on the victims in this situation because when you're focusing on yourself, you tend to make it harder than what it is but when you put yourself in the victim's point of view it becomes easier. 

 

How did your journey start to become a vegan?

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It all happened all at once, so it was very fast and I didn't know what to do and when I decided to do this I didn't have enough information so i just kind of stopped and I was lost. I didn't know what to eat or what to d,  but it wasn't easy it was a bit hard because of me lacking information. 

 

 What would you say to people who don't believe in being vegetarian or being vegan?

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Well, so if I would have a conversation with somebody and they strongly believed that  veganism or vegetarianism wasn't an answer I would kind of ask why because there's so many reasons why people oppose to the ideas its either traditional or because its a habit, convenience, or all that so based on what they say that's where I kind of go off of, so if its because of convenience there's ways around it and there are people that are more challenging. Then umm people that actually get to see footage and they  instantly have a change in heart but when someone needs more information that's when you kind of have to take out statistics and grapes and stuff like that. So it basically depends on their approach or what they see veganism as. 

 

How did becoming a vegan help you?

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It helped me see the truth behind this industry umm because they don't show you this when you're buying from McDonald's or you're buying a sub from Subway. They don't show you that , they don't show you the truth so me seeing this really helped me and myself and being able to use what I can to help the other living beings that can not help themselves. 

 

What has been the hardest part of being a vegan?

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The hardest part is just being accepted in my family because they have different beliefs than I do so trying to be on the same page has been the hardest part. 

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What did your family say about you being vegan? 

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Umm, they were opposed to the idea, because they were brought upon eating meat as a tradition rather than just a habit so for me traditioning to that was hard for them to be on the same page as me they were quite mad when i wanted to do this. 

 

What would you say to your old self before being vegan? 

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I just wish I wanted to learn about this information because I just wish I could tell myself to investigate these options and actually question my food and what I was actually consuming. So I just wish I could tell myself to question what I was consuming. 

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This oral history has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Shared with the narrator's consent.