A vegetarian is defined as someone who does not eat meat or meat products. Vegetarianism has roots in religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism that emphasize nonviolence towards animals. Some famous historical vegetarians include Leonardo Da Vinci. Statistics show the number of vegetarian children and young adults is increasing in the UK. Common reasons for becoming vegetarian include health concerns, ethics around animal treatment, environmental impacts, and religious beliefs. Major vegetarian food brands include Quorn, Linda McCartney Foods, and VeggieLand. Vegetarians must carefully check ingredients to avoid animal products hidden in foods.

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, gelatine etc. instead of eating these food products, vegetarians exchange
meat for non-meat products such as: vegetables, fruit, gelatine 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
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 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”
• 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

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
• Website: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~soa29/Religious%20Issues.htm –
Vegetarianism and Religioun webpage