No animals were harmed in the writing of this post

The article Uncruel Beauty in the New York Times today brings a welcome mention of vegan and vegetarian products.

According to sources quoted in the article there are now 4.8 million vegetarians in the United States, one-third to one-half of whom are vegan. The source is the Vegetarian Resource Group, who can’t be said to be entirely unbiased, and I suspect (and regret) that these figures are inflated.

I know plenty of vegetarians, mostly amongst my Buddhist friends, but vegetarianism hasn’t made the same headway in the US as it has in my native UK. The selection of vegetarian/vegan meals in restaurants and supermarkets on this side of the Atlantic just doesn’t compare to what you’ll find in Britain, and I don’t think many US vegetarians have yet grasped that the vast majority of US cheeses contain animal rennet — an enzyme extracted from the stomaches of calves. Look for “microbial rennet” in the ingredient list if you want to eat vegetarian cheese, but don’t expect to find much of it around; on my last visit to a supermarket I took a rare peek in the cheese counter and found one vegetarian cheese out of perhaps fifty or sixty varieties. When you start seeing US supermarkets clearly labeling which cheeses are vegetarian you’ll know vegetarianism has really arrived here.

The emphasis in the article — typical of the NYT and of US newspapers generally — is on high-end products like $475 synthetic suede bags and $700 silk suits made from fibers harvested without harming silkworms. Sadly the article doesn’t say how you separate a silkworm from its cocoon without harming it and what you’d do with all the naked worms. Huddle them together for warmth? Wrap them individually in hemp? Put them in a silkworm nudist colony? Once I’ve finished having fun guessing I’ll take a look at the website.

But the article also gives a mention to Vegan Essentials, which offers a good range of reasonably priced non-leather shoes, wallets, and belts, as well as vitamins and a small range of food. They also mention the Vegan Fashion Blog, subtitled “Style with Conscious,” although perhaps that should read “Style without Grammar.” The Vegan Fashion Blog isn’t my scene — it’s unrelentingly oriented at women with a pink color scheme and lots of pictures of scarily-thin models. It looks just like any other fashion site. But then I guess that’s the point. Vegan clothes can look just the same as any other.

3 Responses to “No animals were harmed in the writing of this post”

1. vegchik says:

   January 11, 2007 at 1:28 pm

   Thanks for the mention and I have fixed the tagline. I am a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology and even we make grammar mistakes sometimes. I guess it is the bombardment of scientific information that I must sift through daily, though I really have no excuse. You did nail the point on the blog on the head when stating that it looks like any other fashion site, because it allows people who shy away from veganism realize that vegans come in all shapes and sizes and that we are not a one size fits all mold.
2. bodhipaksa says:

   January 11, 2007 at 4:44 pm

   Apologies, Vegchik!

   I can be a bit of a stickler for grammar and spelling, although like you this doesn’t mean I’m perfect in that regard. It just means I cringe with embarrassment when I see one of my typos in print. And I can be a bit too scathing with regard to other people’s slips, so I apologize if I sounded harsh.

   Keep up the good work on your site!
3. vegchik says:

   January 12, 2007 at 1:37 pm

   No problem. I made the grammar mistake and trust me got a lot of comments regarding it after the article in the NYT. I guess it is a Freudian thing.