Interview with the Vegan: The Vegan Chronicles

Yearly veggie poll highlights increase in vegans and vegetarians; why go plant-based?

With the popularity of Meatless Mondays and Tofurky Tuesdays, the Vegetarian Resource Group’s (VRG) annual Harris Interactive survey of vegetarians and vegans in America has confirmed that the number of animal-friendly eaters is growing.

Americans have been cutting back on flesh foods overall, even if they don’t necessarily self-identify as vegetarians or vegans, numbers show.  Almost one in five (17 percent) poll respondents state that they “don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at many of my meals (but less than half the time)” while 16 percent don’t eat these foods at more than half of their meals (but not all the time).” This means that one-third (33 percent) of diners are eating vegetarian meals a significant amount of the time (in addition to vegetarians), VRG concludes.

Overall, VRG says of the telephone poll, approximately five percent of the country say that they never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry. About half of these vegetarians are also vegan; they also don’t eat dairy or eggs.

Why are so many Americans cutting back on animal products, and going vegetarian and vegan? The two top issues are concern about animal cruelty and health issues.

Scranton, PA-based animal advocate Sarah C. Panullo, a vegetarian since the age of four, became fully vegan about seven years ago.

Panullo’s decision as a young child to become vegetarian arose, she recounts, “When I saw a calf murdered. They bashed her on the head with a sledge hammer, and she let out a horrible cry.”

“I had bottle fed this sweet little babe, but to some, all she was worth was veal,” she explains. “I hadn't known what meat was before that; I asked my grandfather why the man did that to the calf, and he told me that is where meat is from.”

After this experience, Panullo never ate meat again.

When she became older, she discovered the connection between the veal trade and the dairy industry. After researching the way the industry works—keeping dairy cows pregnant so that they will produce milk for people, while their babies are taken to be used as veal—Panullo stopped consuming cheese and other dairy products.

“[Eating dairy] was no better for animals than people eating meat,” she maintains. “I didn't want to cause that stuff to happen to any animals—never mind baby cows.”

While Panullo went vegan before the advent of non-dairy cheeses like Follow Your Heart and Daiya, today she uses these and other products to make delicious, healthy meals.

“I started to eat tofu, hummus, and lots of other great veggie foods I had never tried before,” she says. “I also feel so much healthier as a vegan.”

Health issues began to disappear. Though Panullo had felt unwell when eating so much dairy-based cheese as a vegetarian, “I didn't realize that there is actually an addictive substance in [dairy]. I feel so much better, both mentally and physically, as a vegan.”

After a reading about the health benefits of a plant-based diet, Panullo’s mother also became a vegan.

“She was diagnosed about three months ago with type 2 diabetes,” she says. “She bought the book Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes. He recommends a low-fat vegan diet, and other tips to help reverse and possibly cure diabetes. It's been proven, in studies, to work. Her sugar was dangerously high, almost 400, and now it's staying normal. Her blood pressure was also very high and now it's normal, with the help of celery and her vegan diet.”

Panullo’s cousin is now interested in going vegan, she says.

In her work as an animal advocate, showcasing videos of cruelty to farm animals, Panullo has seen an increase in people—especially teens—interested in finding out more about how animal agriculture, and changing their choices to fit their compassionate values.