Assets created by: OWYN
As a mom and as someone who loves to cook, I am always interested in food and diet trends. In the last several years, there has been a trend toward vegetarian and vegan options for our food product choices at restaurants and grocery stores, as well as available recipe content. This trend is likely going to increase as people try to avoid weight gain during lockdown and become more aware of the damage that eating meat does to the environment. OWYN is a great source of information on diet and exercise. They recently looked at the Google search trends for the last five years on vegetarian vs going vegan.
As we look at the map, there is an apparent growing trend in searches on veganism over vegetarianism. I think this is not only because of the growing popularity of veganism, but also because many people simply don’t know what “vegan” means. They don’t know the difference between the two terms. (I, myself, had to look up the word “vegan” in the past, because I heard the word a lot in the media, but I really didn’t the actual meaning of it.) Vegan has also become a growing trend, as a lot of people have grown more concerned over their health but also over animal cruelty and the environment.
Let’s compare the two. A vegetarian is a person who doesn’t eat meat but WILL eat other animal products like milk and use other products derived from animals. A vegan, however, should abstain from not only meat, but also animal products like milk, cheese, eggs, and butter. And a strict vegan should not use other products derived from animals, including any health and beauty products.
I think that my idea that a lot of people simply aren’t familiar with the word “vegan,” shows up in my home state of Alabama. The upward trend on searches for vegetarian in my state is only 7%, and yet the search for vegan is 500%. This is interesting since my state is very much a “meat eating” state, and we don’t see a lot of vegan options available here.
Another interesting state to look at is Montana. The trend on searches for vegetarian is -43%, and the trend on searches for vegan is 180%.
I also looked at Hawaii, (simply because my stepson lives there, and I know it’s very different from the home he has known). Hawaii saw on upward trend in both vegetarian and veganism. The upward trend for vegetarian was 84% versus 194% for vegan.
Assets created by: OWYN
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you or anyone in your family eat a vegetarian or vegan diet? Do you see an upward trend toward veganism in your state?
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