My father would ask me: "Any dietary requirements I should know about today?" I became a vegetarian many times, which also means I became an omnivore many times, finding ways to marginalise the moral or aesthetic discomfort. Aged nine was probably the first time I became vegetarian, influenced by Melissa, our babysitter, who, offered chicken, said: "No, I don't want to hurt anything."

My grandmother survived the second world war by walking barefoot in the forests, scavenging other people's inedibles. So she believed a fat grandchild was a healthy grandchild. I spent hours with her clipping out coupons for food.

We thought grandmother's chicken and carrot soup the best food ever made. Since I became a consistent vegetarian, and raise my children vegetarian, the smell of chicken still takes me back to her kitchen, in a very pleasant way. But vegetarianism hasn't felt like any kind of deprivation to me, honestly.

Every time I do a reading of Eating Animals, people ask: "What was the most shocking thing you saw while researching the book?" People expect it to be something I saw in a slaughterhouse, but the methods used for that are the only things that have got better with industrial farming. It's the life itself which is most cruel. The monotonous almost banal horror of so many animals living in cages.

My dog isn't vegetarian. I tried, but it just didn't sit well with her stomach. I don't feel guilty about it – dogs aren't people. But I buy dog food for her that is advertised as non-factory farmed. Curiously it's no more expensive.

I've read too many articles about the risk of terrorism in New York, so sometimes I'll buy a lot of non-perishable food. But I can't resist using it to make meals, so we'd be caught short in a state of emergency, eating popcorn probably.

The most expensive meal and also one of the worst meals I've ever eaten was when my wife and I, in Germany, decided to go to a Michelin 3-star restaurant. There was nothing vegetarian on the menu so we paid €150 to eat a baked potato.

My father made food most often in our house and his cooking was more existential than gastronomic – he thought of it as a way to have fun, and that there were more important things than the taste or calories. Still today I don't think of the greatest food I've had but of the situations, the people, the stories and memories.

Aesthetically, mayonnaise is a deplorable food to me. And it's partly a Jewish thing – mayonnaise is a bit feh. I hate it – and hard-boiled eggs.

My grandmother knew that one teabag can make many cups of tea and I continue that tradition. My wife and I will make six cups from one bag, but if we have guests we'll give them one bag each – even if I secretly regret it.

Eating Animals is published in paperback by Penguin on 27 January