1. FACTFILE: VEGETARIAN
Aby and Shania

2. Definition:
A vegetarian is essentially an individual who does not partake in the
consumption of any sort of meat products, that being white meat, red meat,
glucose etc. instead of eating these food products, vegetarians exchange meat
for non-meat products such as: vegetables, fruit, glucose free products i.e.
bread, soya products, sweets such as haribo and Jaffa cakes.
Vegetarianism has many roots the: “far eastern roots are well known and stem
almost exclusively from the doctrine of ahimsa” which is closely related to
Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. “Ahimsa is the doctrine of the sanctity of all
life, of kindness, and of noninjury.” this originated in Indian Vedic literature and
was made popular by “Gautama Buddha who lived around the fifth century b.c.”
(Atlas, N (1999) Vegetariana: A Rich Harvest of wit, lore and recipes. New York:
Comet, p4 – p5)
There are a few famous people who were
vegetarians such as:
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519) – “passionate
humanitarian”, “Vegetarian for most of his life”, “Used
to buy caged birds just to set them free”, “Love of
animals”

3. Demographics:
• The current UK population being: 62.3 million – statistics say that 2% of adults
and children are vegetarian – this is around 1.2 million individuals.
• Year 2000 – 3 million vegetarians in the UK (5% of total population) 3,153 adults
• Year 2010 – 583 children (1.5-18years) 548 adults
• Year 2011 – 1,095 children (1.5-18 years) 1,031 adults
• Year 2012 – 1,582 children (1.5-18 years) 1,491 adults
• https://www.vegsoc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=753
• https://www.vegsoc.org/statistics
There are sometimes a few social problems when it comes to becoming a
vegetarian, for example: if you are the only one in your family or a group of friends
who is a vegetarian, social pressures can arise especially if the family or group
disagree with the idea of vegetarianism – having a personal friend who has become
a vegetarian I have seen these pressures first hand. The family often try to pressure
my friend in to eating meat when she‟s made it evident that she doesn‟t want to, I
understand that having to cook two separate meals is a bit of an issue on the
economic side of things, but it‟s not right to pressure someone to do something they
don‟t want to, they also talk about her choice of diet in a very discriminatory manner
right in front of her saying things such as: “Maybe she chose this lifestyle to lose
weight” or often point out her choice of non-meat products which makes her
uncomfortable.

4. Reasons:
Here are just a few reasons why people might choose to turn to vegetarianism
although there thousands more reasons why people choose to make the
change:
• To “ward off disease” – the vegetarian diet is more healthy than the „average
American diet‟ by „preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and
reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most
effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it
entirely”
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/why-go-veg-learn-about-becoming-a-
vegetarian/
• Ethics – “Love of animals. I love animals as I love myself. I have no desire to
kill them or cause them harm”
http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm
• Global Food Shortage – “raising cattle requires massive amount of water that
could be used elsewhere”, “According to the Vegan Society, more than one-
third of grain grown worldwide is fed to animals.”
http://www.naturalnews.com/030890_vegetarian_reasons.html
• My friends personal reason: The idea of eating meat makes me feel ill and
some people/companies treat the animals that are sent to slaughter super
bad – this is just not appealing to me, therefore I became a vegetarian.
- Alix Burrell, 16, Ripon – Gone 265 days without eating meat

5. Companies:
Quorn: leading brand of „faux meat mycoprotein‟ in
the UK – this is made out of the fungus: Fusarium
Venenatum. This was developed by Rank Hovis
McDougall and Imperial Chemical Industries. Quorn is
produced as a cooking ingredient and as ready meals,
it‟s sold as a healthy alternative to meat that has the
„seal of approval‟ from the Vegetarian Society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
Linda McCartney foods: a British food company
„specializing in vegetarian and vegan food.‟ this was
„created in 1991 by Linda McCartney (1941 – 1998)‟
the brand was then sold to Heinz in 2000 and again to
Hain Celestial Group in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McCartney_Foods
VeggieLand: Found in 1994, it‟s „mission was to
create foods to appeal to not only vegetarians but also
health conscious consumers seeking protein
alternatives‟ – „VeggieLand is now the premier
processor of fine vegetarian foods‟.
http://www.veggieland.com/

6. Non vegetarian products:
• (Besides the obvious, there are a
surprising amount of items vegetarians
need to avid when eating and drinking.
Use this space to detail some of those
things which vegetarians need to be
careful to avoid.)
• Refried Beans – contain hydrogenated
lard (pig fat)
• Tropicana Heart Healthy Orange Juice –
contains tilapia, sardine and anchovy
• Marshmallows – contain gelatine (protein
made of skin and bones from pig or cow)
• Gummy bears - gelatine
• Skittles - gelatine
• Smoothies/yogurts – gelatine
• Worcestershire Sauce – contain
anchovies
• Some bagels – contain L-cysteine – come
from either human hair or poultry feathers
• Beer – contain isinglass (fish bladder)
• Red candies e.g. red sour patch kids –
contain carmine (a colouring made from
crushed up beetles)
• White Sugar – contains bone char
(made from the bones of cattle)
• Cake Mix – use lard (beef fat)
• Bananas – a „new spray-on coating
designed to lengthen the shelf life of
the banana.‟
• Cheese – contains rennet (extracted
from animal intestine linings)
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09
/20/non-vegetarian-ingredients-
foods_n_3942454.html
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisen
er/9-surprising-things-that-might-not-
be-vegetarian

7. Bibliography:
• (Atlas, N (1999) Vegetariana: A Rich Harvest of wit, lore and recipes. New York:
Comet, p4 – p5)
• Website: https://www.vegsoc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=753 – Vegetarian Society
webpage
• Website: https://www.vegsoc.org/statistics - Vegetarian Society Info & Advice
webpage
• Website: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/why-go-veg-learn-about-
becoming-a-vegetarian/ - vegetarian times website
• Website: http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm - 49 reasons why I am A Vegetarian
from The Whole Earth Vegetarian Catalogue
• Website: http://www.naturalnews.com/030890_vegetarian_reasons.html - Natural
news: Natural Health news & Scientific Discoveries webpage
• Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn - Quorn Wikipedia webpage
• Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McCartney_Foods - Linda McCartney
Foods Wikipedia webpage
• Website: http://www.veggieland.com/ - VeggiLand main webpage
• Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/non-vegetarian-ingredients-
foods_n_3942454.html - Huffpost Healthy Living website
• Website: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/9-surprising-things-that-might-
not-be-vegetarian - BuzzFeed Food website