By: Danielle McCauley

Portland Montessori Preschool teacher, Louise Shallcross, not only eats organically and cage free, but also has an entirely vegetarian diet. The Wales native moved here when she was 30 and currently resides in Portland with her daughter and husband. While her husband is not vegetarian, she and her daughter, Esther, eat an entirely meat free diet, though Louise has not always been a vegetarian.

Growing up in a rural, farming town in Wales, Louise always was aware of where her food came from. She never had to go to the store and wonder where the prepackaged meat in front of her was coming from, as the animals were present in her daily life. Seeing first hand what happened to these animals that surrounded her in her daily life gave her the push she needed to become a vegetarian. When Louise was about 19 and still living in Wales, she was walking through her local market place, where animals were auctioned off to farmers, and had an experience that would change her lifestyle and diet forever. Live turkeys in cages had been brought into the market for people to take home. The buyer could decide to either take the turkey home alive, or have someone chop the birds head off for them right there in the market place. “It was kind of at that point, blood dripping down the sidewalk that I thought ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” recalled Louise.  For Louise becoming a vegetarian was never about the diet lifestyle, but instead about the animal husbandry.

When Louise’s daughter, Esther, was born she decided to raise her as a vegetarian as well. Esther is now 20 years old and has never tasted meat in her life. Because she has never had meat, she feels as though she does not miss it. She also feels extremely lucky to have grown up in Portland, as there were always many different options for her vegetarian diet. “Living in Portland, there are so many restaurants that do substitutes. I mean like vegetables, but I’m definitely really into cheese and bread.”

Louise continues to work as a preschool teacher, as she finds more ways to expand on her natural lifestyle. She is currently training to become a doula, which is someone who helps people give birth at home. Louise is interested in expanding her knowledge in this as it is seen as the more natural way of giving birth, rather than going to the hospital. Being a doula, much like being a vegetarian, brings in the idea of keeping things natural and purer. She continues to keep expanding on her natural lifestyle in both what she eats, and how she lives her everyday life.