So, Who Are We?

If you’re wondering who these vegetarians out there are, well I’ll tell you.

We’re everybody. Not just dieters, not just women, and not just hippies.

It seems that there is a stigma in the United States about being a vegetarian, and stereotypes about certain molds vegetarians are supposed to fit in.

I was recently at a dinner party, and when I was offered some salami and cheese and replied simply “no thank you, I’m vegan” I was suddenly bombarded with the landslide of questions I knew were coming from experience.

“What?Why?”

“Uhmm, a vegan? That’s intense.” (cue the shifty-eyed side-glance)

“Why vegan? Do you have some kind of problem with eating like a normal person?”

(Okay that last question isn’t exactly common, but I have been asked it before)

I cannot stress how obnoxious this is.

When this scenario occurs (and it occurs a lot) it’s all I can do to stop myself from going on some meat-hating rant. But instead of mouthing off like some spinach-crazed PETA maniac, I usually blush uncomfortably  and choose to politely reply “Oh, I just don’t like meat. I don’t care about other people eating it.”

Now leave me and my eating habits alone, please.

What are people expecting to hear? It’s not like every time anyone around me is eating meat I pummel them with questions about why they’ve made the choice to eat dead animal carcasses. Mostly because that just sounds like a fairly awkward situation.

But maybe I should start, just to get my point across.

Joking.

Basically, I’m not going around dumping red paint on people wearing fur coats, or even telling the world that I just so happen to be vegan when I’m taken to a steakhouse for dinner, because it’s not a big deal, I’ll figure something out to eat.

It’s not the end of the world people.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t advocate for vegetarianism (because it is so very wonderful), I’m just saying that there are appropriate times, places and manners in which the subject of eating dead animals needs to be delved into.

And a dinner party is not one of them.

Should I get down off my soap-box now?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Okay, being as this is probably not being read to guests at a dinner party, I’ll give you some facts about who the real vegetarians are out there.

Like I said, vegetarians are not all alike.

The Vegetarian Times recently released an article titled “Vegetarianism in America”, in which they looked into the demographics of U.S. citizens who live that good-ol’ veggie lifestyle. The study found that 3.2 percent of U.S. adults (that’s 7.3 million people) follow a vegetarian-based diet. The 2008 study also found that there are about 1 million vegans in America, and 10 percent of U.S. adults, or 22.8 million people say that they largely follow a “vegetarian-inclined” diet.

Who are these 7.3 million people?

•           59 percent are female
•           41 percent are male.
•           42.0 percent are age 18 to 34 years old
•           40.7 percent are 35 to 54
•           17.4 percent are over 55
•           57.1 percent have followed a vegetarian diet for more than 10 years         

And for those of you interested in famous veggies, here’s a few:

• Paul McCartney
• Natalie Portman
• Anne Hathway
• Benjamin Franklin (he was for part of his life)
• Martina Nvratilova 
• Mahatma Ghandi
• George Bernard Shaw
• Alicia Silverstone (also author of The Kind Diet)
• Bill Clinton (for cardiovascular reasons: "Bill Clinton embraces vegetarian diet for heart health")
• Pamela Anderson 
• Plato (and it has been argued that Socrates and Aristotle were also vegetarians)

See what I mean about a diverse group of people?

In reality, being vegetarian is about wanting to live a healthy lifestyle, and reducing one’s individual impact on the environment and ecosystem.

So, maybe the next time a vegetarian is gets interrogated about their diet perhaps they can use these interesting little factoids to say: “Hey Buddy, I’m not the only one.”

For those interested in transitioning to vegetarianism, but don’t know where to start, you can take a gander at PETA’s “Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kit”. 

And here is a more extensive list of famous vegetarians.

And here's a few noteworthy quotes about vegetarianism. 

Enjoy!