by Rachel H.
Many people, like myself, are vegetarians for the sole belief that animals should not be slaughtered and mistreated for our food.Others are vegetarians because of the trendy restaurants, the ongoing health craze, and the amount of media and celebritiesdemonstrating as well as promoting it. Many people attempt vegetarianism at one point or another during their lifetime, but only last for a day or two. I have been a vegetarian for eleven years and counting. Throughout those years, I have noticed an increasing amount of vegetarian and vegan restaurants throughout major cities in the United States, more specifically in New York City. Vegetarian-Restaurants.net has specified the New York area as “one of the best places to be a vegetarian in the US because of its great selection of pure vegetarian restaurants.” I have been to multiple restaurants that are on their sixteen-page list. Most, if not all of these restaurants that I have been to, and trust me I have been to a lot of them, are extremely trendy with Upper West Side locations and modern décor. This makes me wonder if the people eating there are just trying to be “in” with the current trend or actually believe in vegetarianism.
Many educational institutions are becoming vegetarian friendly because these schools want to teach children “about making good food choices.” Schools across the United States want their students to widen and expand their food horizons by trying new foods such as vegetable pizza. “Meatless offerings for students these days are moving toward dishes that would appeal to nonvegetarians because of taste alone.” This is not only adding to the number of children being exposed to vegetarianism, but also to nutritional education which is causing children to become worried about their weight and self appearance at younger ages. Another promotion of vegetarianism in youths is its display in pop culture. “More students are thinking about vegetarianism as it gains visibility in popular culture and that options for vegetarian meals are becoming more appealing and more available to the school food market.”
Vegetarianism is being displayed in popular culture in numerous ways that are causing it to become a trend. The Simpsons is one example. In one episode, Lisa creates a relationship with a lamb after a trip to the petting zoo and finds herself unable to eat meat after her encounter. She even refuses to dissect a worm in biology class. Lisa feels alone in the vegetarian world until, “she talks to vegetarian Apu. He introduces her to Paul and Linda McCartney, vegetarian activists.” Paul McCartney is a huge influence in the celebrity world and has been promoting vegetarianism for years. In April of 2009 he wrote Pamela Anderson, another celebrity vegetarian, asking her to help promote it. Many people may want to become vegetarians just to become more like these celebrities. Overall, I believe that more people are becoming vegetarians due to popular culture and because it is “cool,” than because of their moral and ethical beliefs.
I like this because it shows that you really believe in being a vegetarian and do not just do it because it is the "in" or healthy thing. I think that your blog could maybe inspire people to become vegetarian and make existing vegetarians think about why they do it. I know I have told myself that I am going to try to be vegetarian, but it is not because I think it is brutally cruel to slaughter animals. This made me think twice about doing something just because it is the thing to do.
ReplyDeleteYour blog posting raises quite a few interesting questions about the nature of motives versus end results. You dissect vegetarianism as a trend, while keeping in mind that many (yourself included) view it as a legitimate food movement that is beneficial both to society and to the individual. Vegetarianism and peoples' reasons for being vegetarian have always intrigued me, and this piece made me wonder to myself: Is it helpful to the vegetarian movement to have these trendy hangers-on, or is it a detriment to the message vegetarians try to convey?
ReplyDelete(john g.)
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you angled this blog to do with how the media and society portrays vegetarians. It was also really interesting to read this with your personal opinions included, and I think you did a very good job incorporating your personal views into those of the greater public. I found the idea that people become vegetarians just because it is "in" very interesting as I have never heard that before. It makes me wonder about peoples decisions to become vegetarian and what else they are affected by.
ReplyDelete-Kristen