Vegetarianism and Veganism

I am from a small town in Montana, and a family that is very big into hunting and, inversely, meat eating. I was always raised that vegetarian was just an indian word for poor hunter. How could one possibly refuse to eat meat? I did not understand this idea. While doing paper 3, I cam across an article looking at the pros and cons of not only being a vegetarian, but being a vegan. While I myself cannot see myself doing this, I feel that I am much more open minded when it comes to people choosing what they want to eat. In my family you only ever heard the cons, lack of proteins being the biggest one, but also the amount of Iron, amino acids, and phosphorus lost from not eating meat. After doing reading this article I feel like I have a better understanding of why someone may choose to be a vegetarian. It is more apparent to me that everyone as their own opinions on what should be eaten, and what should be avoided.