I was brought up vegetarian (well pescetarian to be precise) by my parents. So I've never eaten meat (other than pepperoni pizza once when wasted, I promptly vomited everywhere, I blame the pizza rather than the booze!).
I don't eat meat because it just doesn't look appealing to me. I find the notion of eating flesh a little disasteful. It's expensive. It's so much unhealther to be a meat eater than a vegetarian, you are at increased risk of heart disease and various cancers. I don't know how to cook it and I damn good at cooking veggie food! Also eating meat is much less energy efficient and has a higher carbon footprint than most vegetarian food substances, cows for example are a large source of methane pollution (and yes I am well aware of the fact that so are rice paddy-fields)
I think back when my Mum stopped eating meat in the early 70's there was much more of an argument for not eating meat. However with the advent of schemes such as RSPCA freedom food and increased availability of free-range chickens and farm shops where local meat is sold so you can go down the road and see what kind of a life that animal had, I think all that makes it much easier to eat ethical meat nowadays. I don't think there's anything morally wrong with eating animals, but that those animals should be well-treated.
Interestingly out of me and my two siblings who were all brought up the same, I am the only one who has continued to eat the way I was raised, my little brother is an enthusiastic meat eater whilst my little sister has gone in completely the opposite direction and now is totally vegan.
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