Notes from the Coordinators
How Many Blacks, Latinos, and Asians are Vegetarian & Vegan?
Soon after we moved to Baltimore and started The Vegetarian Resource Group in 1982, we held a vegan potluck picnic in Druid Hill Park. We didn’t realize white people didn’t go to that gorgeous area. Many people told us Blacks weren’t interested in our issues. However, when four of us attended a vegetarian conference in Baltimore around the same time, all of the other attendees were Black. While Debra taught in a Baltimore Public School, none of the children were white. The kids said they used to have white friends, but in middle school, somehow all the Black youngsters went to one school, and the whites to another. Though legal segregation was over, systemic separation was still prevalent.
In the early days of The VRG, many of us ate in Indian restaurants because of the vegan dishes. People assume most Asian Indians are vegetarians, but that is not necessarily true. See our blog on people from India at www.vrg.org/blog/2020/08/19/how-many-people-are-vegetarian-in-india. Interestingly, one of our vegan interns of India heritage said she was not raised vegetarian. She became vegan based on exposure to ideas like a typical American youth. So when making judgments about people, explore outside your own experience, learn more, and be sure not to assume.
The following is from our 2020 Vegetarian Resource Group Harris Poll of U.S. adults. Looking at the number of vegetarians (including vegan) by race/ethnic group shows few differences across the groups, which reflects information we have found in other polls we have conducted. Six percent of Latinos and Asians were vegetarian, while 5% of Blacks were vegetarian, which is pretty close to the U.S. total for all adults. However, of the 5% of Blacks who are vegetarian, included are 4% vegan and 1% not vegan. From our experience, vegetarians from India often have a hard time giving up dairy, which is a part of their culture, and so it makes sense that vegan is a small percentage of Asian vegetarians.
| Black | Latino | Asian | Total | |
| Vegetarians (not including vegans) | 1% | 3% | 6% | 3% |
| Vegetarians (including vegans) | 5% | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Vegans | 4% | 3% | <1% | 3% |
| Eats vegetarian meals including vegan sometimes or always when eating out | 55% | 64% | 59% | 54% |
| Eats vegan meals sometimes or always when eating out | 27% | 30% | 23% | 25% |
| Most important when making food choices | taste (58%) health (43%) cost (37%) |
taste (49%) cost (38%) health (35%) |
taste (55%) cost (40%) health (36%) |
taste (57%) cost (38%) health (36%) |
Debra Wasserman & Charles Stahler
Coordinators of The Vegetarian Resource Group
