How did the legs of an octopus land up on Luiz’s plate?
Unlike other kids his age, this toddler has no problem with his veggies. In this video, a number of questions about where his octopus comes from leads the three-year-old to a very pro-vegetarian epiphany about eating meat and taking care of animals.
Luiz’s video was originally posted in Portuguese and reached 1-million views within two weeks, but not everyone could understand it. So Flavia Cavalcanti, a certified Portuguese translator living in New York, emailed his mom and asked if she could add English subtitles to the video. Flavia, who is also a vegan activist, felt so moved by little Luiz that she knew other people would like to see it too.
In the video Luiz sits down to a meal of rice, potatoes and octopus gnocchi. It’s the sea creature that throws him and he wonders where the rest of the octopus is when only its legs are on his plate.
“Is his head still in the sea?” asks Luiz. His mom answers him by saying that the rest of the octopus is at the fish market. She explains how all animals we eat, including chickens and cows, are chopped up.
“No, those are animals,” exclaims the little activist in disbelief.
Luiz quickly realises that animals are killed before we eat them. “Why do they die?… I don’t like that they die. I like that they stay standing up. These animals, you gotta take care of them and not kill them!” he explains.
Moved by his consideration, his mom says that he need only eat the rice and potatoes and that he doesn’t have to eat the octopus gnocchi.
More people than just Luiz's mom have shed a tear in appreciaton of the young boy's compassion.
Freefromharm.org, a resource website for vegans, recently shared Luiz’s video and said; “It just goes to show, compassion towards all animals doesn’t have to be taught. It is only untaught.”
(This video has been removed by the maker)