It is not common in my country, or at least I haven't met anyone from my country who is vegetarian except one.  The people of my country are Muslim (followers of Islam 이슬람교 religion), and our religion only forbids eating certain animals like pigs (because their nature is unclean), dogs, cats and such.  Most farm animals which are normally eaten are ok, like sheep, cows, goats...etc.  All sea animals are ok to eat. But even though we are allowed to eat them, we are commanded to treat them well when they are alive.  We are not allowed to treat them badly; and even when we kill them for food, it must be with a very sharp knife and cut deep into the neck area quickly so it will end fast and with least pain, and most of the blood drained so the meat will be healthier for humans.  Animals in general are to be treated well in Islam. There are sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) where he mentioned about reward for treating animals well, and punishment for torturing animals, for example:

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "A woman was punished (by God) because of a cat which she had tied up, and thus allowed it neither to eat or drink, nor set it free so that it might eat the vermin of the earth."

He also said:

"While a man was walking on a road. he became very thirsty. Then he came across a well, got down into it, drank (of its water) and then came out. Meanwhile he saw a dog panting and licking mud because of excessive thirst. The man said to himself "This dog is suffering from the same state of thirst as I did." So he went down the well (again) and filled his shoe (with water) and held it in his mouth and watered the dog. Allah thanked him for that deed and forgave him." The people asked, "O God's Messenger (ﷺ)! Is there a reward for us in serving the animals?" He said, "(Yes) A reward is given in connection with every living creature".

In Italy there is a lot of people who decided to not eat any meat.

Actually some people follow these rules because they're really motivated and conscious about the choice they made; on the other side, some people don't eat meat just because is a "trend" and because their favourite actors/musicians/idols are vegetarians too. This last option is very depressing...

Then,there is a huge distintion between VEGETARIANS anD VEGANS. The first don't eat meat but they eat fish and also food which derives from animals (eggs, milk, honey...); the second ones refuse, in addition to meat, also every kind of food from animal derivation.

Hi Ella, 

In America it is just another thing and is not a big deal.  There is a huge industry around Vegetarian and Vegan eating.  I have family members who are Vegetarian.

The reason why I posted this is I am a vegetarian. And Francesca explained the different between the vegetarian and vegan. That point is frequent question to me also. But it's hard to me very often. I wanted to be a vegan but your know it's very hard. Every food that doesn't have distinct meat though is likely to have some trace of meat, fish, eggs. So it's so hard to avoide perfectly. These days I faced difficult situations when I was in my office with other cowokers. I was wondering how it is different with countries.

In Viet Nam , we may cant live without meat. It's hard to find a vegterian restaurant here