{"id":16871,"date":"2021-02-03T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2021-04-02T12:20:06","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T16:20:06","slug":"comparing-the-experiences-of-vegan-high-schoolers-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/02\/03\/comparing-the-experiences-of-vegan-high-schoolers-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Comparing the Experiences of Vegan High Schoolers in America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By\nClarissa Hauber, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n21st Century marks a period of advocacy, education, and innovation within the\nfood industry. Genetically modified foods are sold in every supermarket. Hydroponic\nfarming allows food to be grown without soil or sunlight. Beyond and Impossible\nburgers have encouraged people to eat meat without actually <\/em>eating\nmeat. And the number of vegans and vegetarians is higher now than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     According to a 2020 poll conducted by The\nVegetarian Resource Group, vegans now account for 3% of the US population.\nDespite the poll being limited to 18+ adults, it is assumed that a similar\npercentage of vegans account for the US teenage population. With more\nand more people and even celebrities becoming vegan and sharing their concerns\nfor animal rights and the state of the environment, veganism is becoming\nincreasingly popular among teenagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Being an eighteen-year-old vegan, I\nunderstand firsthand what it is like to be a vegan teen living in the US.\nFortunately for me, I live in an area \u2013 Baltimore,\n MD \u2013 where veganism is not seen\nas some strange, radical lifestyle. Instead, Baltimore has numerous vegan\nrestaurants and caf\u00e9s, and nearly every supermarket around me has at least an\naisle dedicated to vegan products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     My experience as a vegan teen in Baltimore\nleft me wondering about the experience of vegan teens living in other regions\nof the US. Did they feel the same sense of accommodation as I felt, living in Baltimore? I reached out\nto two fellow vegan teens in two vastly different regions, Lucia Rivera from California and Anayeli Camacho from Texas. I sent them a list of questions to\ncompare each of our experiences as vegan teens living in the Mid-Atlantic, the\nSouthwest, and the Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     As a preface, I asked Lucia and Anayeli\nwhen and why they decided to go vegan. It seems the three of us had a similar\ntransition into veganism \u2013 each having been vegetarian for a period of time\nbefore going vegan in high school. Lucia and I both committed to going vegan\nafter taking an environmental science class in high school. Anayeli was\nmotivated to go vegan after questioning the morality of eating animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I asked both about the prevalence of vegans\nwhere they lived. Anayeli explained that no one in her family had even known\nwhat the word vegan meant before she became one. This was quite different from\nmy situation, as a close friend of mine was vegan, my cousin was vegan, and my\nbrother\u2019s girlfriend at the time was vegan. Like me, Lucia mentioned that,\nwhile she was not entirely sure how many vegans there were where she lived, she\nfelt that she lived in a \u201cvegan-friendly\u201d place, noting the vast number of\nvegan products at grocery stores near her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     To get a better understanding of the\nprevalence of vegan teens in their areas, I asked Anayeli and Lucia how common\nveganism was at their schools and what their peers thought about it.\nInterestingly, Lucia noted that a few years ago her school newspaper reported\nthat 5% of the students were vegan (much higher than the national average). At\nher school, she says, students are indifferent to veganism \u2013 though some peers\nshow excitement over her being vegan and others are reluctant to eat meat in\nfront of her. While I do not know the percentage of vegans at my school, I,\ntoo, have met several, and most students seem indifferent to it. In contrast,\nAnayeli describes that being vegan at her school was \u201ccompletely unheard of\u201d\nand that her school administration and peers did not understand her choice. In\nfact, Anayeli was the first at her school to publicly speak about veganism and\nto advocate for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Expanding on their high school experiences\nas vegans, I asked them what they ate for lunch and how well their schools\naccommodated vegans. Lucia said that she opted for bringing her own vegan\nsnacks during lunch, and that while her school did offer vegan options, she had\nnot tried them herself. Again, my experience is like Lucia\u2019s, as I also opted\nfor bringing my own vegan snacks rather than a lunch. My school, unfortunately,\ndid not have any decent vegan options. Anayeli\u2019s school, like mine, limited\ntheir vegan options to chips and fruit. She said, however, that the lack of\nlunch options inspired her to make her own vegan lunches and get creative with\nthem \u2013 she even shared her lunches with her nonvegan friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Often, classes like Anatomy or Biology\nrequire students to conduct animal dissections, contradicting a vegan\u2019s morals.\nI asked Lucia and Anayeli if their morals as vegans had ever clashed with a\nschool assignment and how they dealt with that. Both Anayeli and Lucia said\nthey were assigned dissections in their science classes. Anayeli\u2019s group let\nher collect data rather than participate in the actual dissection of the\nanimal. Lucia could take notes rather than involve herself at all in the\ndissection \u2013 her teacher was quite understanding, she said. While my school\ndoes not conduct dissections, they do take a zoo field trip. Unfortunately,\nattendance at the trip was graded, so I felt obligated to go \u2013 though, looking\nback, I wish I had opted out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Finally, I asked Lucia and Anayeli what\nadvice they might give to a high schooler considering veganism in their area of\nthe country. Lucia says that any high schooler in her area who is considering\nveganism should absolutely give it a try, especially since she lives in an area\nwith a severe water shortage. And, it is critical to research and connect with\norganizations like The Vegetarian Resource Group. Anayeli tells them to \u201calways\nremember their why.\u201d \u201cRemembering her why,\u201d she said, is what helped her go\nvegan and, ultimately, stay vegan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Hearing about Lucia and Anayeli\u2019s\nexperiences as vegan high schoolers in the US was eye-opening. It seems that,\nwhile on opposite ends of the country, Lucia from California\nand I from Baltimore\nhad similar experiences. Both of us are lucky to live in environments where\nveganism is common and accepted. Anayeli from Texas does not live in an area as\nunderstanding about veganism, but she still managed to become a vegan herself\nand continues to educate the people around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nmore information on teen vegans, see: https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/teen\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contents of this posting, our\nwebsite, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not\nintended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained\nfrom a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient\ninformation from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a\nstatement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be\nmade. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for\nyou. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clarissa Hauber, VRG Intern The 21st Century marks a period of advocacy, education, and innovation within the food industry. Genetically modified foods are sold in every supermarket. Hydroponic farming allows food to be grown without soil or sunlight. Beyond and Impossible burgers have encouraged people to eat meat without actually eating meat. And the number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16873,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions\/16873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}