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 or
gelatine. Instead of eating these food products, vegetarians exchange meat for
non-meat products such as: vegetables, fruit and gelatine free products instead
of products such as: 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. Definition:
George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950): “assured by a conclave of doctors that if
I did not eat meat I should die of starvation.”, “confounded this conclave”, “Most
likely outlived them, surviving well in to his nineties as a staunch vegetarian.”
Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948): “great Indian leader”, “vegetarian almost all
his life”, “gave credence to both the health benefits and ethical issues in his
books and lectures.”, “not only a way of eating but a way of life.”
4. 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
• USA
• Overall Vegetarian Americans: 7.3 million
• Overall Americans who follow a „vegetarian-inclined diet‟: 22.8 million
• Overall American Vegans: 1 million
• Female: 59%
• Male: 41%
• Aged 18 – 34: 42%
• Aged 35 – 54: 40.7%
• Aged 55+: 17.4%
• http://www.statisticbrain.com/vegetarian-statistics/
Israel
• Males: 7.2%
• Females: 9.8%
• Young boys: 11%
• Young girls: 20%
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
5. Demographics:
Looking at these statistics it‟s apparent that over the years, children and young adults have
become increasingly aware and interested in vegetarianism, and have then converted. Because
of this, I might try and appeal more to younger audiences when creating my recipe cards.
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 evidently clear
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.
6. 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”
• Religion – “Vegetarianism and religion are strongly linked in a number of religions that
originated in ancient India (Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism). In Jainism
vegetarianism is mandatory for everyone, in Hinduism and Buddhism it is advocated
by some influential scriptures and religion authorities.(Wikipedia).”
http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm
http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~soa29/Religious%20Issues.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
7. Companies:
Quorn: leading brand of „faux meat mycoprotein‟ in
the UK – this is made out of the fungus:
FusariumVenenatum. 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. The idea behind quorn is to create a series of
meals that can be enjoyed not just by vegetarians but
by people who want to simply eat healthier or lose
weight, the products enable you to have your favourite
meals with no meat involved, yet high in protein.
Although the problem with quorn is that, in order to
create most of the meat free meat, the use of eggs
are involved and therefore, quorn meals will never be
suitable for vegans.
They produce such products as:
• Quorn Steak Strips
• Quorn Chicken Pieces
• Quornlasagne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
http://www.quorn.co.uk/about/
8. Companies:
Linda McCartney foods: a British food company
„specializing in vegetarian and vegan food.‟ this was
„created in 1991 by Linda McCartney (1941 – 1998)‟
who was an „original food pioneer‟ Linda believed in
„honest, meat free food‟ the Linda McCartney website
guarantees that „all our recipes are simple and natural
as possible avoiding the use of genetically modified
ingrediants and hydrogenated fats” and that “our food
of course does not contain any products derived from
meat and is fully endorsed by the Vegetarian Society”
however the brand was sold to Heinz in 2000 and
again to Hain Celestial Group in 2006 although the
McCartney family is still very much apart of it.
They sell products such as:
• Vegetarian Sausages
• Butternut Squash & Goats Cheese Tartlet
• Farmhouse Pies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_McCartney_Foods
http://www.lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk/foodvalues/
9. Companies:
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‟ – they ensure that their products are
“developed by chefs” and their recipes, “incorporate
only the highest quality natural ingredients.”
They also ensure that all of their products are made in
a “100% vegetarian facility certified by the American
Vegetarian Association.” and that all of their products
meet certain dietary needs such as: gluten-
free, vegan, cholesterol free, low fat, peanut free and
tree nut free. The VeggieLand official website lists all
of he ingredients, nutrition facts and cooking
guidelines about all of their products.
They produce products such as:
•California Burger
•Veggieballs
•Just-Like-Chicken nuggets
http://www.veggieland.com/pages/VeggieBurger.html
http://www.veggieland.com/
10. Non vegetarian products:
• 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)drinks such
as: Ale, keg beers and lagers, some cider, wines
such as port and sherry, most spirits and liqueurs
apart from: brandy, some malt whiskies.
• Red candies e.g. red sour patch kids – contain
carmine (a colouring made from crushed up
beetles)
• Cochineal – a crushed up beetle used as dye in
food and drink
• Shellac – the female lacbug is crushed up and
turned in to flakes that are sold and dissolved in to
ethanol to make nail polish, food glaze and wood
finish.
• White Sugar – cancontains bone char (made
from the bones of cattle)
• Cake Mix – canuse lard (beef fat)
• Bananas – a „new spray-on coating designed to
lengthen the shelf life of the banana.‟ it contains
chitosan, an insect-based preservative.
• Cheese – contains rennet (extracted from
animal intestine linings)cheeses such as:
ParmigianoReggiano, Gruyere, Manchego,
Emmenthaler, Gorgonzola, Camembert,
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/non-
vegetarian-ingredients-foods_n_3942454.html
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/9-
surprising-things-that-might-not-be-vegetarian
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac
• http://www.businessinsider.com/how-cochineal-insects-color-your-
food-and-drinks-2012-3?op=1
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/vegetarian-cheese-
animal-rennet_n_4467430.html
11. 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.veggieland.com/pages/VeggieBurger.htmlVeggieLand products 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
• Website: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~soa29/Religious%20Issues.htm – Vegetarianism and Religioun
webpage
• Website: http://www.statisticbrain.com/vegetarian-statistics/ Statistic Brain webpage
• Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country Wikipedia webpage
• Website: http://www.lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk/foodvalues/ Linda McCartney „about us‟ webpage.
• Website: http://www.quorn.co.uk/about/Quorn „about us‟ webpage
• Website: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-cochineal-insects-color-your-food-and-drinks-2012-3?op=1
• Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac
• Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/vegetarian-cheese-animal-rennet_n_4467430.html
