Don't worry, I'm not going to turn my hand to screenplays and write the Welsh version of 'Snakes On A Plane!', it's just a nifty little way of introducing something that still influences my daily life i.e. my decision to turn vegetarian at age 8.
I can pinpoint the day that I turned vegetarian to an exact date, as it happened on my 8th birthday. We were on our way to Tenerife on holiday and I was clutching my favourite stuffed animal toy, a lamb my elder sister had so sensitively named Minty. My legs swinging off the chair in excitement, I could see green fields out of the plane window and I enquired about the little white dots I could see. Of course they were sheep, and I sat back in my chair quite secure that there were happy little sheep everywhere. Being a chatty (and rather peckish) child I asked the air hostess what we would be eating:
" 'Scuse me lady, what will we be having for dinner today?"
"Lamb" said the hostess in a rather casual manner. A wave of despair engulfed me as my fingers grabbed Minty tighter, I gasped at the thought of eating him and buried my head into my mother's shoulders. It was unthinkable, cruel and just about the worst thing I had ever heard. From that day onwards, despite pleas and attempts at negotiation from my mother, I didn't so much as lick a beef flavoured crisp.
I was vegetarian for twelve years. It was difficult having to explain it but as ever I held my beliefs and was ready for the usual questions people had in school or by baffled relatives.
When I was 20 I was at a friend's BBQ birthday party and was rather suddenly tempted by a piece of white pudding that she had had flown over from Ireland for the occasion. Since then I've been a meat eater, but the time I spent as a vegetarian has ensured that I'm stringent about animal welfare when I'm buying meat.
And guess what my favourite meat is? Well let's just say I'm glad Minty is no longer around...
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