Why so many vegans in the US?

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Jebus
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Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Jebus »

If this article is true (and I hope it is) two percent of Americans are now vegans. http://iskconnews.org/16-million-people ... witterfeed

Does this mean the US has the highest percentage of vegans in the world? If so, that would contradict my belief that atheists are more likely to go vegan than theists as the US is one of the most religious countries in the western world.
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Twizelby »

I don't know if that is particularly high in comparison with other less religious countries. I can say that cities are really much more liberal than the south and midwest so I would think that not believing humans are the apex of creation helps in realizing that animals don't exist for humans. I can tell you that most every grocery store sells Vegan alternatives so maybe it is ease. On the flip side while the percentage of people choosing to be vegan may seem encouraging I think US citizens consume the second most meat of any nation nest to Luxembourg but I may be wrong.
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Jebus
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Jebus »

Good Point. The US does indeed have the highest per capita meat consumption in the world.
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Volenta
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Volenta »

I think what is special about the USA is that lots of people are actually vegan, and not vegetarian. People seem to talk about veganism more than about vegetarianism from what I've heard and noticed. If the article is correct and 5% of the population is veg*n, and 2% of them is vegan; that's a lot. Here in the Netherlands for example, around 4% of the population is vegetarian, but maybe 0.3% is vegan (might even be aimed too high).
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Twizelby »

maybe it is the nature of production here. the rate at which we eat meat expedites the process and makes videos more shocking and pertinent? I don't know what farming is like elsewhere but I always hear people from other countries say "we don't raise animals like that so it's okay to use them"
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

Jebus wrote:If so, that would contradict my belief that atheists are more likely to go vegan than theists as the US is one of the most religious countries in the western world.
It's not predominately the religious people who are going vegan. Most vegans I know are either atheist or new-age. Very very few religious.

Christians are usually against showing compassion, because Jesus already forgave them for all the terrible things they do, so why bother? They're usually just out for converts for points.

That said, not all Christians are like that, and some Seventh Day Adventists and Rastafarians are pretty cool.
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by miniboes »

I have a hard time believing 2% is the highest percentage of veganism in the world. In many developing countries I expect veganism to come naturally as they do not have the resources to farm animals.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

miniboes wrote:I have a hard time believing 2% is the highest percentage of veganism in the world. In many developing countries I expect veganism to come naturally as they do not have the resources to farm animals.
Well, they're just "dietary vegans" by accident of situation, if you presented them with meat, they'd eat it. Not being able to eat meat, and rejecting meat for other reasons are quite different.

EDIT: Sorry, I should have said:
They just happen to have a "vegan diet" by accident of situation. They aren't dietary vegans, because dietary vegans choose to exclude animal products from their diets (and just use other animal products, like leather).
Last edited by brimstoneSalad on Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Volenta
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by Volenta »

brimstoneSalad wrote:Well, they're just "dietary vegans" by accident of situation, if you presented them with meat, they'd eat it. Not being able to eat meat, and rejecting meat for other reasons are quite different.
They are still vegans, just not ethical vegans. Should we also reject to count vegan Jews who do it out of convenience? Sure, the reasons are different, but being vegan doesn't mean you have to agree with an ethical or environmental philosophy.

But that putting aside, are there actually people that became vegan because of their undeveloped country? My bet would be that they don't. Livestock is generally a more reliable source of food than crops.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Why so many vegans in the US?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

Volenta wrote:Should we also reject to count vegan Jews who do it out of convenience?
If, when presented with meat they know is kosher, they will eat it? Yes.

If they actually avoid all meat, even if they know it's kosher, because they feel kosher meat may make them crave non-kosher meat, or while convenience may be a major factor there are other motivating reasons too, then no.
Volenta wrote:Sure, the reasons are different, but being vegan doesn't mean you have to agree with an ethical or environmental philosophy.
Of course, but it does mean that if a hamburger fell in your lap, you wouldn't gleefully consume it -- whatever the reason.
Wanting to eat meat, any meat, but just not being able to get your hands on it at the moment because you can't afford it doesn't make you vegan, because at any moment should the opportunity present itself, that would change.

Vegan as identity is a more persistent and stable state than that.

They just happen to have a diet that happens to be vegan, against their wills, but they themselves are not vegan by identity or nature.

Likewise, I would not call somebody who didn't want to eat animal products but was force-fed meat non-vegan. Nor would I say a vegan stops being vegan if stranded on an island where the only food is canned spam that washed ashore.
Last edited by brimstoneSalad on Sun Oct 12, 2014 10:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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