Mine was almost 11 years ago when I was 11.  I never liked red meat and usually only ate chicken and turkey, but I decided I couldn't do that anymore because I felt such a connection with animals.
Growing up, I always had a dog or a cat or something, but my first dog that was around probably before I was born was sooo loving and I remember being in 1st grade (or something like that) and coming home to an empty house after school.  I was sooo scared, thinking there was a monster in my basement.  I ended up sitting outside terrified of looking at my front door to see the monster coming outside! (haha)
My dog came and sat right next to me and just gave off this energy that she was going to make everything okay.
I'll never forget that. 
My parents came home like 10 minutes later. I don't even remember how I came to being by myself, school must have let out early of something.
I have been vegetarian since.
3 years ago I went vegan (had one slip-up but caught myself rather quickly)  It happened so naturally.  One day I ate too much cheese and became disgusted by it and somehow I just stopped dairy and eggs like that.
I also watched earthlings, and can't bring myself to be a part of any of the industries.

So basically, I love animals.

Well I have typed up my story twice and was disconnected from the internet twice! So here we go again.

After reading "May All Be Fed" by John Robbins I told my husband "I am not eating meat anymore."  That was January of 1994.  I have never looked back.  During this period I have been on again off again vegan. Like Cali I have had major stomach issues forever. It took me a while to figure out that when I don't consume dairy or eggs my digestive system is much calmer.  I am vegan now and have no intention of going back. 

It is now my mission to convert as many people as possible...mwuah!!!!

Woke up one morning and decided eating animal products was an inefficient use of limited food resources.  Half way through the first day decided I couldn't do this alone so I bet my sister $5 I could be vegan longer than she could.  2+ years later we are both still vegan!  We ended the bet and are both vegan on our own free will and accord now.

Best decision I've ever made!!

Haha, that's awesome!
My sister and I went vegetarian together, but she stopped probably 5 months later?
It was sweet though because she told me how she felt bad and didn't want to disappoint me (she's my younger sister) but I told her it didn't matter, I wouldn't look down on her.
we were freaking 10 years old... haha.

Grew up in a meat-eating family. Turned veg when I was 13 after a few-month period of only ordering veg in restaurants. Why? I'm not sure, but some combination of:

1. Two of my best friends at that time had also talked about it, so we all went in on it together.

2. It grossed me out one time to see little things of blood on a chicken thigh--made me realize that this was indeed an animal I was eating.

3. I had a dog, and at one point I couldn't figure out why one was okay to eat and one was okay to take care of.

4. I started to come into my own on religion during this time:
a. I grew up Catholic, so we never ate meat on Friday. (Never ate fish b/c noone in my family liked it). So to me, that meant there was some spiritual benefit to being vegetarian
b. Along with the growing up Catholic bit, I was always struck by the idea of "right to life." I didn't understand how war, the death penalty, and abortion could be against the right to life (according ot the church) but killing animals was not.
c. As I learned more about other religions, it struck me that so many had some kind of dietary restriction to them. This enhanced in my mind the idea of a "spiritual benefit."

5. I wanted to be healthy (this is a lowest reason b/c I was a very unhealthy vegetarian for a long time).

(Funny how many of these seem to relate to religion, considering I'm certainly not a religious person now and even calling me "spiritual" is a bit of a stretch at times.)

I'm not vegan, but I've been eating a lot less eggs/dairy. For me, this change is driven mostly by health and economic concerns.

I saw in a grade-school science textbook a simple diagram of ratios.
One fish: Two loaves of bread.
One chicken: Three loaves of bread.
One pig: five loaves of bread.
One cow: nine loaves of bread
Below, it explained the environmental footprints of agriculture. What goes into feeding a person once on fish could feed them twice on plant matter. Basically, it showed that eating the soybeans before they were fed to the cow eliminated much waste of food, water, and land. It didn't advocate elimination of animal products from the diet, but did say that eating lower on the food chain = lower drain on resources and more food to go around. So of course, I went off to research, and found that eggs and milk are also highly inefficient sources of food, and wound up reading pamphlets about how fish really do suffer and feel pain - fish was the hardest thing for me, since I had an abiding love of smoked salmon, sashimi, a perfectly cooked salmon steak with lemon and pepper... even though I've always loved fish as animals and not just as food. I'd justified it to myself by thinking of the relatively few herbivorous species of ocean life, but in the end I just grew up and realised I was not a merman and therefore did not need to follow merman rules.

That, and I tried soymilk and immediately decided I never wanted to see dairy ever again. And once I gave up dairy, I felt obliged to be a vegan. :P

It's been a combination of things. I quit smoking almost five years ago. Every since then I have been working on eating healthy. I have tried several different routes. The thing is I never felt good. Last year my fiancée bought the book Skinny Bitches, which caused me to buy Skinny Bastard. I could not put the book down. Now, understand I don't use the book as the gospel but it did make me think.
I have since changed, I have not eaten any animal product since the book. I am avoiding any product that uses animals in research and I am becoming more outspoken about it.
I feel better health wise, I eat so much better. I had the best physical this year ever, my cholesterol dropped alot!
Animals have rights also...they can't speak for themselves, but I can!

I am a pretty recent convert to the Vegan scene. I never liked red meat growing up and stopped eating pork after I saw "Babe" in the 6th grade. I ate chicken but always thought it was dry and bland. Guess I was never a true meat fan.

But the real reason I became vegan is kind of a painful one. I was a hard-core bulimic for a long time. After a while I got tired of treating my body like garbage, like my worst enemy, and decided to start treating it right. Around the same time I read a some very eye-opening articles regarding the horrific treatment of animals in commercial farms. It all clicked after that. As someone who volunteers with animals and thinks all animals are beautiful, it made sense to stop using them selfishly as a food source.

So, I've been vegan for over a month, I've been cooking like a fool, and have finally kissed bulimia good-bye. Good riddance.

Why did I become vegan?....Well, growing up I never really cared for meat, I hated pork, and would only eat chicken or beef, when I was a teen, I pretty much ate only veggies and dairy, I ate this way for quite a few years, when I got married my husband was, and still is a big meat eater...I really hated cooking meat, after cooking it from its raw state, I just couldn't eat it...made me sick...about 5 years ago I sent for the veg starter kit from PETA, when I saw the dvd, I just about died :'(...that was it... no more animals for me...before this happened thou, I was eating a chicken sandwich at McDonalds, and when I bit into it, I found a blood clot..(GROSS) :o....that was the last time I ate chicken....its been hard for me, because I still have to cook meat for my hubby, but I will say, he is adapting to our meatless meals, my boys are grown and on their own, and they think I'm a nut for being vegan...they tell me I'm going thru a midlife crisis ;D....I just love eating clean...knowing I'm not hurting any living creature, my goal is to convert my Hubby....that would be awesome...I guess I can keep dreaming :-\ Maybe someday ;)b

I have seen so many pictures of downed cows, mutilated chickens, abused and suffering pigs, etc. that it got to the point where every stinkin' time I ate an animal product those images flashed in my head and I became nauseous. I feel,that for me personally, it was the gentle voice of God reminding me that I have a choice in how I live my life, and was this hamburger/chicken leg/chunk of cheese really the choice that  I wanted? Was it really the choice that reflects who I am and who I wish to be? The answer was "no", and I put down the animal products for good. The eating part has turned out to be easy, but the hard part is what to do with all of my leather shoes. We are a family of five subsisting on one income, so we have to really pinch pennies. I can't afford to buy new shoes, so I wear the only vegan pair that I have over and over again. I am not at the point yet where I can get rid of all my leather shoes, so I put them in a box in the basement.