By Charles Stahler

Food companies, marketers, researchers, students, and media for years have been asking The Vegetarian Resource Group about the number of vegetarians and vegans. To again help answer this question, VRG commissioned Harris Interactive® to conduct a nationally representative telephone poll of 2,030 adults aged 18 and over. We asked:

Which of the following, if any, best describes your eating behavior?
(Just select one choice.)

1) You never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry.
2) You don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at one meal per week.
3) You don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry one full day per week.
4) You don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at many of my meals, but less than half the time.
5) You don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at more than half of my meals, but not all the time.
6) You never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs.
7) Not any of the above.
No Answer.

We considered those that never eat meat, fish, seafood or poultry, as vegetarian; and those that never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs, as vegan. Because we use the word “never” and don’t just ask if a person considers him/herself vegetarian, our numbers may be lower than others. We did not ask about honey for vegans.

Forty seven percent of the country eats at least one vegetarian meal per week. This has strong implications for food companies and restaurants. There is incentive for producing vegetarian products as there is demand from almost half the population. However, based on our other research outside this poll, it’s not enough just to produce meatless items, but businesses have to cater to various needs, which may include price, health, convenience, source of ingredients, taste, religious requirements, etc. And since half the country did not say they consume vegetarian meals, marketing is more complex because of such different audiences.

HOW OFTEN DO AMERICANS EAT VEGETARIAN MEALS?
(Don’t Eat Meat, Fish, Seafood, or Poultry)

7% One meal per week
7% One day per week
15% Many of your meals, but less than half the time
14% More than half your meals, but not all the time
4% Always (Vegetarian including vegans. Never eat meat, fish, or poultry)
3% Always (Vegetarian not including vegans. Never eat meat, fish, or poultry.)
1% Always (Vegans. Never eat meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or eggs)
47% Estimated population who eats vegetarian meals

The needs of the individuals interested in vegetarian meals can be different. For example, food companies and restaurants should note that consumers may be looking for vegan, low-sodium, gluten-free, locally grown, organic, gourmet, kosher, or other selections. If developing a vegetarian product or offering vegetarian meals, they will need to do more research on their customers’ food preferences. In addition, when considering products and marketing strategies, businesses should consider the special needs of vegetarians versus those interested in vegetarian meals.

PEOPLE WHO NEVER EAT MEAT, FISH, OR POULTRY
(Total Number of Vegetarians and Vegans)

4% Total
3% male
5% female
5% 18-34
4% 35-44
4% 45-54
3% 55-64
3% 65 plus
4% Northeast
3% Midwest
4% South
5% West
3% White
6% Black
8% Hispanic
4% Below $35,000 household income
5% $35,000 – $50,000 family income
4% $50,000 – $75,000 family income
5% $75,000 – $100,000 family income
1% Over $100,000 family income.
5% High school education or less
3% Partial college
5% College graduate

It is fascinating that contrary to popular thought that there isn’t much difference between male, female, region, or age for actual vegetarians. This also generally applies to family income, except for those making over $100,000 per year. Interesting that those earning over $100,000 are “the one percent.” Though the number of Hispanics is higher than might be expected, we’ve seen this kind of result previously in our poll and other polls. Among vegans, we found there isn’t a difference between male and females, with one percent of each being vegan.

PEOPLE WHO EAT ONE OR MORE VEGETARIAN MEALS PER WEEK
(Not including vegetarians or vegans)

43% Total
40% male
45% female
41% 18-34
39% 35-44
44% 45-54
46% 55-64
45% 65 plus
41% Northeast
41% Midwest
41% South
47 % West
44% White
40% Black
39% Hispanic
43% Below $35,000 household income
42% $35,000 – $50,000 family income
45% $50,000 – $75,000 family income
46% $75,000 – $100,000 family income
47% Over $100,000 family income.
39% High school education or less
47% Partial college
45% College graduate

METHODOLOGY
Harris Interactive conducted this survey within the United States by telephone on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group from March 15 to March 18, 2012, and from March 22 to March, 25, 2012, among a nationwide cross section of 2,030 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region, number of adults in household, and number of telephone lines were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the U.S. population. In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys, including refusals to be interviewed (i.e., non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

Four percent of U.S. adults were found to be vegetarian. With U.S. adults 18 and over numbering about 230 million, we can estimate the number of vegetarians in the U.S. adult population, based on this poll, to be approximately nine million adults. Vegans included in the vegetarian figures would be around 2 million people. If you take into account the margin of sampling error of the poll, we can estimate the number of vegetarians in the U.S. population to range from approximately 5 million to about 14 million adults. With margin of sampling error, vegans could range as high as 6.9 million.

Food companies, marketers, researchers, students, and media for years have been asking The Vegetarian Resource Group about the number of vegetarians and vegans. But now that our audience is being taken much more seriously, we are being asked more in-depth questions.

Should items containing sugar whitened with bone char be labeled vegetarian? Will vegetarians eat veggie burgers cooked on a grill where meat was cooked? What about
growing meat in a test tube? To help answer some of these questions, we wanted to find out what vegetarians and vegans are thinking. We did an informal survey of our
Vegetarian Journal subscribers, booth attendees, and on-line visitors. But we also wanted to run a more scientific random poll, which can be extrapolated to the United States adult population.

First we commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct a national telephone poll of a representative sample of 2,030 respondents. This gave us the number of vegetarians with a sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points. We then asked the vegetarians, vegans, and those interested in vegetarian meals:

If you’re looking to buy a vegetarian product, you would purchase:
(Select all that apply.)

1. Your favorite veggie burger cooked on the same grill where meat is cooked, if the grill is cleaned first.
2. A vegetarian vegan deli slice sandwich in Subway.
3. Your favorite dessert containing sugar, if the source of sugar isn’t specified.
4. A vegetarian dish containing leafy greens such as broccoli, kale, or collards.
5. A vegetarian dish containing whole foods such as lentils, chickpeas, or rice.
6. A meat alternative grown from animal cell DNA obtained ten years ago, which does not currently involve the raising of animals.
7. Your favorite dessert containing sugar whitened through a bone char filter, if bone char is not in the sugar.
8. None of the above

No answer

NUMBERS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FOOD COMPANIES, RESTAURANTS, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, AND FOOD SERVICES
(The questions were asked of those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week.)

WOULD PURCHASE A VEGETARIAN DISH CONTAINING LEAFY GREENS SUCH AS BROCCOLI, KALE, OR COLLARDS
74% Total
77% Vegans
72% All Vegetarians including vegans
70% Vegetarians not including vegans
75% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans

Of note is that about three fourths of all audiences are looking for healthy greens, as your favorite dietitian and mom suggested. For restaurants, foodservices, and companies, that are only thinking meat analogs, producing items with green vegetables should seriously be taken into consideration. On the other hand since one quarter of those eating vegetarian meals may not go out of their way to purchase green vegetables, it should not be assumed that a vegetarian or someone eating vegetarian meals (or a meat eater) is automatically eating a healthy diet as suggested by health authorities. When evaluating a vegetarian (or meat eating) client’s diet, a dietitian or other medical professional should specifically ask what is being consumed.

WOULD PURCHASE A VEGETARIAN DISH CONTAINING WHOLE FOODS SUCH AS LENTILS, CHICKPEAS, OR RICE
67% Total
80% Vegans
65% All Vegetarians including vegans
61% Vegetarians not including vegans
68% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans

This may be of concern long term that about 40% of vegetarians are not seeking whole foods. Dietitians, public health professionals, and educators may need to keep an eye on this. Vegans do appear to be looking for healthier meals.

WOULD PURCHASE YOUR FAVORITE VEGGIE BURGER COOKED ON THE SAME GRILL WHERE MEAT IS COOKED, IF THE GRILL IS CLEANED FIRST
56% Total
53% Vegans
57% All Vegetarians including vegans
58% Vegetarians not including vegans
56% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans

About half will purchase a veggie burger cooked on the same grill where meat is cooked, if the grill is cleaned first, and about half won’t. We don’t know what percentage of the non-purchasers will eat a veggie burger if the burger is cooked separately. Since people have different views, we believe this points towards labeling and disclosure so customers can make their own decisions. Even in small establishments, it may be possible to meet the needs of some vegetarians by working together. Various options include a microwave or separate pan on the grill. Education of food service staff may work to attract and keep new customers.

WOULD PURCHASE YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT CONTAINING SUGAR, IF THE SOURCE OF THE SUGAR ISN’T SPECIFIED
47% Total
25% Vegans
37% All Vegetarians including vegans
40% Vegetarians not including vegans
49% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans

Some vegetarians or vegans won’t eat products with white sugar because of concern of the sugar being processed through bone char. See http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2007issue4/2007_issue4_sugar.php

And some individuals don’t want to consume added sugar at all, or only certain types of sugar for health or political reasons. Just over half of the people eating one or more vegetarian meals once a week are not choosing to buy a dessert if the source of sugar isn’t specified. This is a very strong case for labeling. Manufacturers, restaurants, and foodservices should label the source of their sugar so that consumers can make their own choices. This information should also be easy to find on product and restaurant websites. It makes sense that vegans would be most concerned about the sugar, but it is fascinating there was also a high level of concern among all those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week. If a manufacturer or restaurant has a doubt about any ingredient being suitable, they certainly should label and disclose.

WOULD PURCHASE A VEGETARIAN VEGAN DELI SLICE SANDWICH IN SUBWAY
47% Total
54% Vegans
54% All Vegetarians including vegans
54% Vegetarians not including vegans
47% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans

Most chains and restaurants have added vegetarian burgers. About a half of those eating vegetarian meals and thus at least one quarter of the whole population would also buy vegan deli slices. It makes sense for restaurants and food services offering veggie burgers to take this next step and add and promote another convenient sandwich product.

WOULD PURCHASE YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT CONTAINING SUGAR WHITENED THROUGH A BONE CHAR FILTER, IF BONE CHAR IS NOT IN THE SUGAR
21% Total
3% Vegans
21% All Vegetarians including vegans
26% Vegetarians not including vegans
21% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including
vegetarians/vegans.

We were surprised that 80% of the people who eat vegetarian meals, but are not vegetarian, wouldn’t purchase the sugar processed through bone char. Since they already eat meat, why would they care? Possibly many of these people didn’t want a product with sugar, and bone char wasn’t the issue. Or maybe the words “bone char” just sounded bad to them, and they don’t care that it’s an animal product. But it was striking that twice as many people would eat sugar if they didn’t know the source as people who would eat the sugar processed through bone char if they knew this happened. There’s no question that to meet the needs of consumers, companies should be labeling the sources of their ingredients so customers can make their own decisions. This question appears to be the only place where there was a truly large difference between vegans and vegetarians. But this issue still seems like it matters to many vegetarians and those eating vegetarian meals, who are not vegan.

WOULD PURCHASE A MEAT ALTERNATIVE GROWN FROM ANIMAL CELL DNA OBTAINED TEN YEARS AGO, WHICH DOES NOT CURRENTLY INVOLVE THE RAISING OF ANIMALS
11% Total
2% Vegans
4% All Vegetarians including vegans
5% Vegetarians not including vegans
12% All those that eat one or more vegetarian meals per week, not including vegetarians/vegans.

Some advocacy groups, individuals, researchers, and businesses see meat grown in a factory as the answer to numerous environmental and animal welfare issues. As of
now, almost every vegetarian-interested consumer segment seems not to be ready for this product. It is to be expected that vegans wouldn’t want to eat the product, but it’s fascinating how many of the non-vegetarians are not ready for this development. These types of products should be labeled and disclosed so consumers will be able to make their own decisions in the marketplace.

METHODOLOGY

Harris Interactive conducted a survey within the United States by telephone on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group between March 15-18, 2012 and March 22-25, 2012, among a nationwide cross section of 2,030 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region, number of adults in household, and number of telephone lines were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the U.S. population.

For those that ate one or more vegetarian meals per week, we asked follow-up questions.

For the vegetarians, in theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 10 percentage points. For those that ate one or more vegetarian meals per week, the sampling error would be approximately three percentage points. From our first question, we determined that forty seven percent or 982 respondents ate one or more vegetarian meals per week and asked the follow-up questions of these individuals.

Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys, including refusals to be interviewed (i.e., non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

The data above are from the Harris Interactive telephone poll. The interpretation and analysis above are those of The Vegetarian Resource Group, and not directly a result of the poll. The thoughts are based on these numbers and other polls, as well as our other experience and research in the vegetarian movement. These results and our conclusions can drastically change, especially as there are more vegetarians and vegetarians are more knowledgeable.

For more information on Vegetarian Resource Group polls, see
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll

Seventeen percent of Americans stated that they “don’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry at many of my meals (but less than half the time)” and 16% don’t eat these foods at more than half of their meals (but not all the time). Thus, 1/3 (33%) of the country are eating vegetarian meals a significant amount of the time (in addition to vegetarians)! This is certainly good news for companies producing vegetarian foods. No wonder why so many restaurants have added vegetarian options.

In a 2008 Vegetarian Resource Group national telephone survey, 40% said when eating out they often order a dish without meat, fish or fowl. For those of you trying to get a handle on the population very interested in vegetarian foods, though not vegetarian, it appears to be 30% – 40% of the country.

HOW MANY VEGETARIANS ARE THERE?
In this survey, approximately 5% of the country say that they never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry. About half of these vegetarians are also vegan; that is they also don’t eat dairy or eggs. Note that we had respondents select that “I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry” or “I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs.” Because we use the word “never” and give the definition rather than having respondents self define, our numbers may be lower than other polls. We also did not ask about honey.

METHODOLOGY
This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive by telephone within the United States on behalf of the Vegetarian Resource Group between March 30 and April 3, 2011 among a nationwide cross section of 1,010 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region, number of adults in household, and number of telephone lines were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. There are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (e.g., non-response), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

Maybe this is an issue where we can get Democrats and Republicans to agree and work together (over dinner). Six percent each of Republicans and Democrats also didn’t eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry, at one meal per week.

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or fowl. Vegans are vegetarians who also don’t use other animal products such as dairy or eggs. The Vegetarian Resource Group is a non-profit which educates the public about vegetarian and vegan diets. It publishes Vegetarian Journal and the book Vegans Know How to Party, offers two $5,000 college scholarships to high school seniors who have promoted vegetarianism, maintains a national restaurant guide at http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php, and sponsors an e-mail list for parents of vegetarians http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vrgparents/. For more information, call (410) 366-8343; e-mail vrg@vrg.org write to VRG, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; or visit http://www.vrg.org.

For more poll information, see http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll/a>.

For over fifteen years The Vegetarian Resource Group has been polling the number of vegetarians in the United States. See http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll. We now wanted to look at the number of people who stay vegetarian along with their motivations.

In 2006 we received 267 surveys from readers and collected by volunteers. In 2009 we resurveyed the same people and received back 153 surveys from individuals who were vegetarian or vegan in 2006. Our methodology is exploratory and further research is necessary to extrapolate to the general population. Note that we don't have information about the 34% of non-respondents.

The vast majority of vegans and vegetarians stayed at least vegetarian. Our hypothesis was that people who became vegetarian primarily for ethical reasons would be much more likely to stay vegetarian than health vegetarians. This did not hold up, with 91% of health individuals staying vegetarian from 2006 to 2009, and 94% of ethical motivators staying vegetarian. Interestingly, the environmental was 100%.

We also theorized that vegans were more likely to stay vegetarian or vegan than vegetarians who weren't vegan in 2006. We were wrong here also as 94% of both 2006 vegetarians and vegans stayed vegetarian and vegan in 2009. Six percent of vegans stopped being vegetarian and six percent of vegetarians stopped being vegetarian. Eight percent of 2006 vegans became vegetarian, while eleven percent of 2006 vegetarians became vegan.

94% of males stayed at least vegetarian and 94% of females stayed at least vegetarian. One hundred percent of vegan males stayed vegan, while 83% of females stayed vegan. Of those that were vegetarian less than two years, 75% stayed vegetarian; while those three years to 30 years or more varied between 90% and 100%. So possibly those most likely to stay vegetarian are male vegans and individuals who have been vegetarian (no meat, fish, fowl) three or more years. In our survey, respondents were asked if they did not eat meat, fish, fowl, dairy, eggs. Though this study can't be extrapolated to the general population, we look forward to building upon this research.

Click here to read the entire report.

From Zogby International:

Vindicated Interactive Polling By John Zogby

Much has been written about the use of interactive, or Internet-based, polling. Most critics claim it is not trustworthy or credible, but I have found interactive polling has proven to be accurate.

Our own final 2010 Congressional generic Zogby Interactive poll was very accurate, and matched closely or exactly with the exit polling. Specifically, here are the percentages in our Zogby sample and the actual exit voter poll turnout numbers in parentheses: conservatives 40% (41%), Democrats 36% (36%), Republicans 35% (36%), independents 30% (28%), white 78% (79%) and college graduates 45% (49%).

Just as important our last pre-election poll had independents breaking for Republicans, 54%-37%. The exit polls found the GOP winning among Independents, 56%-39%, all within the margin of error of our interactive poll findings.

While 2010 proved to be a good year for interactive polling, so have previous election years. In 2004, the last Zogby Interactive poll before the election (results on Nov. 1, 2004) found almost exactly the same results as the exit polling on Election Day, the Zogby results in parentheses, Bush 51% (50%) and Kerry 48% (49%). In 2008, we did not poll all the way up until Election Day, however, our last poll results (Oct. 31, 2008), were still very close to the actual results and certainly accurate for four days from the election. Specifically, the Zogby numbers (in parentheses) matched very closely to the actual results: Obama 52% (49%) and McCain 46% (47%).

Click here for press release and here for PDF of survey results.

1. Chipotle
2. Qdoba Mexican Grill
3. Taco Bell
4. Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes
5. Subway
6. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
7. Noodles & Company
8. Moe’s Southwest Grill
9. Panera Bread
10. Baja Fresh Mexican Grill

Click here to cast your vote!