VRG-NEWS -- The Vegetarian Resource Group

VRG-NEWS: The Vegetarian Resource Group Newsletter
Volume 15, Issue 12
December 2011

SUPPORT VEGETARIAN OUTREACH -- MATCHING DONATIONS
HOW MANY ADULTS ARE VEGAN IN THE U.S.?
VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN -- HOT TRENDS
About The Vegetarian Resource Group
About VRG-NEWS

1) SUPPORT VEGETARIAN OUTREACH -- MATCHING DONATIONS

In honor of The Vegetarian Resource Group 30th anniversary, a generous donor has committed to matching up to $15,000 in total contributions. So your donation is automatically doubled!

Please donate and support vegetarian outreach by clicking here and writing "matching donation" in the Comments field. [ https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565 ]

You can also donate by calling (410) 366-8343 Monday to Friday, Eastern Time, or mailing a check to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

If you want to mail in a form, you can use this one.

MATCHING DONATION
_____ Enclosed is a $25 donation.

_____ Enclosed is $100 (a matched total of $200) for continued outreach
       to young people.

_____ Enclosed is $500 life membership or ___ $500 donation
       (matched contribution of $1,000)

_____ Enclosed is $1,000 to print and mail out a VRG vegan version of
       the USDA My Plate. (a matched total of $2,000)

_____ Enclosed is $1,500 towards Save Our Water -- The Vegetarian Way
       brochure, Vegan Diets in a Nutshell brochure, and Be Kind to
       Animals - Don't Eat Them bumper stickers. (a matched total
       of $3,000)

_____ Enclosed is $2,500 towards continued outreach to dietitians and
       foodservice staff, and promotion of vegan diets on the VRG
       website to over 160,000 people per month.  (a matched total
       of $5,000!)

_____ Enclosed is $5,000. Please enroll me in VRG's Circle of
       Compassion. (a matched total of $10,000)

_____ Enclosed is $25,000 to be a Project Sponsor.

Thank you.

2) HOW MANY ADULTS ARE VEGAN IN THE U.S.?

With numerous groups pushing Meatless Mondays, Tofurky Tuesdays, or other campaigns to cut back on meat one meal or day per week, The Vegetarian Resource Group wondered how often Americans are eating vegetarian meals. In order to find an estimate, VRG commissioned Harris Interactive(r) to conduct a national telephone poll.

Seventeen percent of Americans stated that they "don't eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at many of my meals (but less than half the time)" and 16% don't eat these foods at more than half of their meals (but not all the time). Thus, 1/3 (33%) of the country are eating vegetarian meals a significant amount of the time (in addition to vegetarians)! This is certainly good news for companies producing vegetarian foods. No wonder why so many restaurants have added vegetarian options.

In a 2008 Vegetarian Resource Group national telephone survey, 40% said when eating out they often order a dish without meat, fish or fowl. For those of you trying to get a handle on the population very interested in vegetarian foods, though not vegetarian, it appears to be 30%-40% of the country.

HOW MANY VEGETARIANS ARE THERE? In this survey, approximately 5% of the country say that they never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry. About half of these vegetarians are also vegan; that is they also don't eat dairy or eggs. Note that we had respondents select that "I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry" or "I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs." Because we use the word "never" and give the definition rather than having respondents self define, our numbers may be lower than other polls. We also did not ask about honey.

METHODOLOGY This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive by telephone within the United States on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group between March 30 and April 3, 2011 among a nationwide cross section of 1,010 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region, number of adults in household, and number of telephone lines were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. There are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (e.g., non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

HOW OFTEN DO AMERICANS EAT VEGETARIAN MEALS (no meat, fish, seafood, poultry)?

6%	One meal per week
4%	One full day per week
17%	Many of my meals, but less than half the time
16%	More than half my meals, but not all the time
5%	Never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry
48%	Thus we estimate this is the audience for good tasting vegetarian foods that fit individual needs.
48%	Say they eat meat, fish, or poultry at all my meals. (The remainder didn't know, refused to answer, or said none of the above.)

NEVER EAT MEAT, FISH, SEAFOOD, OR POULTRY

MALE	FEMALE
5%	6%	One meal per week
2%	5%	One Day per week
13%	20%	Many of my meals, but less than half the time
15%	17%	At more than half my meals
2%	2%	Never (though not vegan)
3%	2%	Never eat meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs

DON'T EAT MEAT, FISH, SEAFOOD, OR POULTRY AT MORE THAN HALF OF MY MEALS

16%	TotaL
15%	Male
17%	Female
17%	Northeast
16%	Midwest
17%	South
13%	West
15%	Republican
15%	Democratic

Maybe this is an issue where we can get Democrats and Republicans to agree and work together (over dinner). Six percent each of Republicans and Democrats also didn't eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry, at one meal per week.

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or fowl. Vegans are vegetarians who also don't use other animal products such as dairy or eggs. The Vegetarian Resource Group is a non-profit which educates the public about vegetarian and vegan diets. It publishes Vegetarian Journal and the book Vegans Know How to Party, offers two $5,000 college scholarships to high school seniors who have promoted vegetarianism, maintains a national restaurant guide at [ http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php ], and sponsors an e-mail list for parents of vegetarians [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vrgparents/ ]. For more information, call (410) 366-8343; e-mail [email protected] write to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; or visit [ http://www.vrg.org ].

For more poll information, see [ http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll ].

3) VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN -- HOT TRENDS

The National Restaurant Association conducted an online survey [ http://www.restaurant.org/pressroom/social-media-releases/release/?page=social_media_whats_hot_2012.cfm ] of 1,791 members of the American Culinary Federation in October-November, 2011. The chefs were given a list of 223 food and beverage items, cuisines, culinary themes, and preparation methods, and were asked to rate each item.

Under appetizers, vegetable/vegetarian appetizers was number one! On a general list, meatless and vegetarian items were ranked number 75 as far as what's hot. Twenty two per cent said meatless/vegetarian items were yesterday's news and 25% said they were a perennial favorite. Vegan entrees were ranked number 107, with 47% saying it was a hot trend and 21% a perennial favorite.

As far as main dishes, meatless/vegetarian items were ranked as number 13 with vegan items ranked as number 16. Locally sourced meats and seafood were number one.

Dairy-free milk was listed number five under nonalcoholic beverages. Milk was number 14.

Under ethnic, Cuban cuisine was number four. (See recipes on VRG's website at [ http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue3/2006_issue3_cuban.php ])

North African was number 6. (See recipes on VRG's website at [ http://www.vrg.org/blog/2011/03/11/eggplant-dishes-from-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/ ])

Korean was number 7. (See recipes on VRG's website at [ http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2004issue2/2004_issue2_kimchi.php ])

Middle Eastern cuisine was at number 11. (See VRG recipes at [ http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vjmesoup.htm ] [ http://www.vrg.org/recipes/egypt.htm ])

Vegetarian restaurants can also be found at [ http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php ]

ABOUT THE VEGETARIAN RESOURCE GROUP

Our health professionals, activists, and educators work with businesses and individuals to bring about healthful changes in your school, workplace, and community. Registered dietitians and physicians aid in the development of nutrition-related publications and answer member and media questions about vegetarian diets. The Vegetarian Resource Group is a non-profit organization. Financial support comes primarily from memberships, donations, bequests, and book sales. The Vegetarian Journal, a print magazine, is a benefit of membership in The VRG. (For more information, please see the Vegetarian Journal online.)

If you would like to make a donation, become a member, volunteer, or find out more about The VRG, contact us at:

The Vegetarian Resource Group P.O. Box 1463 Baltimore, MD 21203 Phone: (410) 366-8343 Fax: (410) 366-8804 E-mail: [email protected] Website: [ http://www.vrg.org ] Donate: [ https://www.givedirect.org/give/givefrm.asp?CID=1565 ]

The contents of this newsletter, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your own best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

ABOUT VRG-NEWS

VRG-NEWS is the e-mail newsletter of The Vegetarian Resource Group. This is an announcement list so subscriber messages are not accepted by the list. If you have a technical question about the list, please contact us at [email protected]. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or corrections to VRG-NEWS, please direct them to [email protected]. Thanks!

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If you are a new subscriber, you might enjoy reading past issues of VRG-NEWS online at [ http://www.vrg.org/vrgnews/ ].

Contents of VRG-NEWS are copyright 2011 by The Vegetarian Resource Group. The newsletter may be freely distributed in electronic or print form provided its contents are not altered and credit is given to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.