More Women Are Vegetarian But More Men Are Vegan

According to NPR, more women are vegetarian but more men are vegan. You can also read that sentence as, more women are kind-of-annoying but more men are super-annoying. (I can say that, I’m vegetarian.) (Or can I? I’m sure you’ll tell me.) Anyhoo, vegan dudes are trying to broaden our limited notions of gender and food:

[Old school green-eating men include] Bronson Alcott, a vegan and father of Louisa May Alcott, who wrote Little Women. Alcott saw his veganism as a continuation of his advocacy against slavery and for women’s rights. According to his daughter, though, Alcott never did any cooking. …

Something hard core about veganism does seem to appeal to some men. In fact, according to a Harris Poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, more women are vegetarian than men, but slightly more men are vegan. John Joseph of the punk band the Cro-Mags and author of a pro-vegan manifesto has rejected animal products for more than 30 years. “I come from jails and gyms where guys were eating Alpo burgers,” he says. “The dudes were like, ‘If it’s good enough for my pit bull, it’s gonna give me more strength and energy!’”

“If it’s good enough for my pit bull” is totally my new motto.

On a macro level, vegetarianism/veganism is generally considered better for the planet. On a micro level, it’s better for your bank account: LearnVest did a test and concluded that veganism is the cheapest diet. A vegan might save $3.50 a day over a meat eater.

This is one hypothetical day out of many, but if the savings were consistent, the vegan would save nearly $1,280 over the course of a year. We recognize that it’s possible to lead a non-vegetarian life on a budget–and to eat expensively as a vegan–but we noticed one general, interesting trend. The most inexpensive foods are often plant-derived products, like carrots, oatmeal, and vegetable products. Plant proteins such as tofu or garbanzo beans, meanwhile, tend to be much cheaper than their equivalents in animal protein. The cheapest cuts of beef average about $3 to $4 per pound, while lentils and dried beans are generally less than $1 per pound and tofu is less than $2 per pound.

So eating in is cheaper. Eating out becomes cheaper too if you confine yourself to the green ghetto, and it’s easier to choose a dish from the menu with fewer options, so you have more time to spend, as well as cash.

But by dragging gender into it, are these dudes trying to make “fetch” happen? The ones profiled are from Brooklyn and we know how we feel about that. (#ShutUpBrooklyn) Are men outside of hipster coastal enclaves going to give up their meat and eggs, and define virility by something other than being able to shoot their own dinner?

People give up alcohol to save money; would you give up animal products, and if you did, would you feel less manly? Does gender even enter into your thinking about food at all?

Thanks for the tip, TSW.


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