A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
This is Amateur Social Science Week at Hunter-Gatherer. Kind of like Shark Week, but more exciting. I recently showed how vegans are taking over vegetarianism. Searches for "vegan" have been a larger and larger proportion of vegan/vegetarian searches. Yet this trend leveled off starting a few years ago.
Maybe if I add a few more events, it will clarify what's going on.
It's the economy, stupid. What we're seeing here is the effect of recession vegetarians. People who stop eating meat (or eat less meat) in order to save money. Or as Urban Dictionary calls them, economic vegetarians: "Only eating Vegetables because you can't afford to buy meat." I love their usage example:
"He used to be an Economic Vegetarian but then he got a better job and can afford to buy steak."
Comments
"Amateur Social Science
"Amateur Social Science Week" is right. The "crocodile mouth" referenced earlier should be the first indication that 2 percentage variables summing to 100% are going to, by definition, move in opposite directions. And you draw inferences from this? This means people were eating more vegetables relative to meat? You should arrange for some remedial arithmetic and logic to go with those brontosaurus burgers.
Maybe vegan foods are Giffen
Maybe vegan foods are Giffen goods, but I doubt it.
I think the word vegan is
I think the word vegan is gaining popularity over vegetarian because it is shorter and easier to spell. To many Americans, the words are synonymous. We are lazy. Simple as that.
In studying this graph I have
In studying this graph I have discovered that it very much resembles the open mouth of a crocodile at one end. And as you know, crocodiles eat meat... coincidence?
This doesn't make much sense
This doesn't make much sense to me. There are a LOT of cheap meat options out there, ones that are much cheaper to feed a family (or even an individual) than vegetables. Bulk "family size" packages that can easily be frozen, etc. Not so much with fresh vegetables. And then there is the fast food angle - again cheaper and typically involving meat. So I don't think you can make any correlation between the tough economy and people migrating to vegetarians or vegans (unless of course those folks are choosing to load up on cheep carbs instead of meat - but I don't buy the vegetable over meat angle).
Interesting point. Also, it
Interesting point. Also, it is conjectured that in a declining economy people gravitate towards comfort foods as a relatively inexpensive way to feel better. I wonder if meat is a more "comfort food" than veggies or other alternatives..?This hold true for alcohol also, but perhaps for different reasons.
That theory makes no
That theory makes no particular sense to me. It could be true, I guess, if searches for vegetarian and vegan were both climbing. But it doesn't do much to explain why searches for vegetarian are dropping while those for vegan climb--unless you think "vegetarian" means "someone who doesn't eat that much meat."
Dry, sarcastic wit can be
Dry, sarcastic wit can be difficult to comprehend in modern society. You should do a post about that!
Sell Monsanto, buy Niman!
Sell Monsanto, buy Niman!
Sell Monsanto, buy Niman!
Sell Monsanto, buy Niman!