Vegetarianism and Veganism Are on the Rise. NewsWire

NewsWire: 5/10/22

• The share of Americans who say they don’t eat meat has risen to 10%. This is double the share from 2018 and appears about evenly split between vegetarians and vegans. (The Conversation)
  
• NH: According to a new survey by researchers at Oklahoma State University, 10% of Americans report being a vegetarian or vegan. That equals about 16.5M people. And it represents a +5 percentage point rise--or a doubling in share--from a 2018 Gallup survey. 
• To be honest, a substantial share of this group may, in actuality, be “partial vegetarians.” A 2018 meta-analysis found that 60% of self-identified vegetarians had recently eaten meat. Researchers assume these people’s diets are more plant-based than not. But some of this group could be misrepresenting their behavior to seem more right-minded. 
• These partial vegetarians may help explain why US meat consumption remains high. In 2020, American per capita consumption of red meat and poultry reached 224.6 pounds. That’s a record high. While this may seem surprising with the rise of mock meats, a 2019 NPD survey found that 89% of people who eat meat and dairy substitutes aren’t vegetarian. In other words, fake meat is more commonly eaten as a supplement alongside real meat. 

• Many of the large US meat producers now have a foot in both worlds. Tyson Foods (TSN) and Smithfield Foods both sell faux meat. And TSN is even on the cutting edge of plant-based fish. (See “Please Pass the Faux Fish.”) Since fake meat consumption is not limited to vegetarians, this market has a significant amount of room to grow.