Vegetarianism and Veganism in America: Measuring and Understanding Meat-free Eating

• In Event: 398 - Visual Media Poster Session

Abstract

The research council Faunalytics conducted a large-scale study of current and former vegetarians and vegans. The aim of this research was to determine the proportion of current and lapsed vegetarians and vegans in the U.S. and to identify the types of individuals who have, or are, adhering to one of these diets as well as the nature of their experiences.

This poster will focus on one aspect of this research, the data gathered from 221 current vegetarians and vegans. The data was collected as part of an online survey administered to a nationally representative sample provided by Harris Interactive of more than 11,000 individuals aged 17 and over.

Topics in the poster will include: the proportion of vegetarians and vegans in the U.S.; demographic characteristics; the average age at first adoption of the diets; the length of time taken to fully transition to the diets; the length of adherence; motivations for eating the diets as well as the extent of singular or layered motivations; experiences with the diets (convenience, food satisfaction, social relationships, health, etc.); the key differences between vegetarians and vegans; information on the multi-step verification process used to identify vegetarians and vegans; the type of analyses conducted; and the limitations of the research.

Author

• Kathryn Asher