RACHEL BERLINER
Co-Founder of Amy's
I've been a vegetarian since 1969. I was a teenager living in southern California, and there was a vegetarian crusader who would take a little lamb and stand outside restaurants with lamb on the menu and try to let people know when they came out that was what they were eating. I was 15 at the time, and I never really realized what I was eating. My father was a vegetarian, and I thought it was the oddest thing — I'd look at his plate and there would be a vegetable and a big hole where the meat was supposed to be. But I never really understood what meat was; once I realized that I was eating an animal, then that was it. I didn't eat meat again.
I remember hearing about veganism when we first started Amy's. Vegans would write to us saying that they wanted us to offer vegan foods (because we used dairy in our products). At that time, the options for vegan food were not good. Veganism just wasn't considered 'a healthy way' in the '70s, and now it is. I think that shows a lot of understanding of how to eat correctly. Vegetarianism used to be a negative thing; now it is considered a positive thing with many people. You will hear a lot of people say, "Oh, vegetarianism! I wish I could be a vegetarian; it sounds like a good thing to do."
Today, there are more options. Previously, every one's perception of vegetarianism was just a boiled vegetable and a salad or baked potato. Now, people travel around the world and have become more global, and there are so many vegetarian options that are delicious that come from Mexico and India and Thailand. People are realizing that there is a lot of delicious food that is made without meat.
INGRID NEWKIRK
Co-Founder and President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Cranks! That was the name of the London restaurant for vegetarians and our family's steamed 'Christmas puddings,' which contained a lucky coin and were made with fat from unlucky cows. We were a rare breed, walking our lonely walk through meaty and milky supermarket aisles, having 'given up' the foods we were raised on, whether steak and kidney pie and roast beef or hot dogs and hamburgers. "How bizarre!" said a waitress, when I explained my dietary preference.
Today, there are veggie burgers in every 'fish and chip' shop in England and vegan cuisine on the menu at Brown's and other lah-di-da places to eat, and there is not only vegan Christmas pudding but vegan haggis (blood sausage) and vegan 'caviar.' My local southern Virginia grocery has shelves creaking with soymilk, and there are faux chicken nuggets in the freezer case. We want for no sensation that our tastebuds once knew but our intellect and hearts rejected. The medical profession, writers, and even most of the carcass-crunching masses realize now that we vegans have not 'given up' anything except a bigger chance of experiencing heart disease and stroke.
I can't wait to read what we'll say in 25 more years! I see vegetarian ideals permeating the Muslim world via small beginnings such as the website <www.islamic concerns.com>, warning labels on meat and milk, the end of government subsidies for poisonous meat and dairy products, physicians telling patients (as they do now with smoking) to stay off animal protein, and new vegan adults, born of their enlightenment from growing up in vegan households and veganized school lunch lines.
Thanks to VRG's work and that of so many individuals who care about animals, human health, and more, being a daily ambassador for vegan living is no longer hard, pioneering work — it is a pleasant duty. Happy Anniversary, you wonderful people!
| VEGETARIAN JOURNAL | Issue Three 2007 | < previous | next > |
