xv In 2018, there were an estimated 17 million vegetarians and 10 million vegans in the United States, 5 percent and 3 percent of the population, respectively. These numbers appear to have been increasing over the previous two decades. Similar trends have been observed in the United Kingdom, with the num- ber of self-identified vegans increasing from 150,000 in 2014 to 276,000 in 2016, and about 600,000 in 2018. Interest in meat-free diets can also be estimated by the number of Google searches for the terms vegetarian and vegan over time. For the latter, interest has increased from 15 (with 100 the highest pos- sible number) in 2004 to 36 in 2012 to 50 in 2015 to 100 in January 2018. Other data confirm a growing interest in vegetarianism and veganism. The value of plant-based foods that make up a vegetarian or vegan’s diet in the period from June 2017 to June 2018 in the United States was estimated to be $3.3 bil- lion. This number represented an increase of 20 percent in that period, compared to an average of about 2 percent for most other food categories. Growth was particularly strong among plant-based foods, such as synthetic or substitute-meat (24 per- cent), cheese (43 percent), and yogurt (55 percent) products. Other data confirm this trend. A recent study found that there are now an estimated 485 vegan restaurants in the United States, an increase of 127 percent over the 1993 count of 55 such facilities. Vegetarianism and veganism are also working their ways into the menus of traditional restaurant chains, such as Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Dairy Queen, Preface
Previous Page Next Page