What sets Generation Z apart from other generations? What drives today’s youth, and what keeps them awake at night? No one can tell us better than Gen Z themselves. That's why we are portraying 24 students from Radboud University. In this episode: student Political Science Yara Plutschouw (18) fights against animal suffering.

‘About five years ago in Groningen, I cycled past a group of people protesting against animal suffering. That impressed me so much that I decided to become a vegan. I’d never thought about it consciously, but animal suffering and the scale on which it happens was a major reason for me to start eating vegan.

At home, we always ate vegetarian, so vegan was not such a big step for me. It might have been for my parents, though: as ovo-lacto vegetarians, we didn’t eat fish or meat, but we did eat eggs and dairy products.

When I first switched to eating vegan, I had a phase when I tried to convince everyone to do the same. The result was that people quickly got defensive. Later on, I found out that it’s better to show people how easy it is to eat vegan. For example, by cooking delicious vegan food. Think of Indian curries, Lebanese falafel, or Korean bibimbap (a rice dish with vegetables, Eds.), all of which are easy to make without meat.

I don’t know any other students who are vegan, although there are many vegetarians. That is pretty much taken for granted these days, so it’s not really a thing. Abroad, it’s often harder to eat vegetarian or vegan, but I’ve learned to accept that. I try to eat vegan as much as possible, but if I can’t for some reason, it’s not a disaster.’