Do you personally know many vegetarians?

Question

I live in hick-ville in the Midwest (Iowa) and I swear I'm the only veg for 100 miles...does anyone else feel like this?

Answer 1

I could have asked your question! I *know* beyond any possible shadow of doubt that the next closest veg is just under 100 miles from me! For that matter so are health food stores and anything else that most folks call civilization. There is a town that's not too far away (county seat), but it's smaller than many big-city high schools. The local grocer doesn't even carry the accidentally vegetarian stuff like Silk or MS Farms (good thing I can make my own).

But I will say that it's a LOT easier to be an 'isolated' veg nowadays than when I first went veggie. I went veg about 50 years ago smack-dab in the middle of Texas beef country and I'll tell you it was MUCH worse to be the only veg around a lot of people back in those days than it is to be the only veg in less populated areas today. One obvious difference is that with the internet and email it's easy to 'meet' and 'talk' to other veggies! I've 'met', 'know' and 'talk' to more veggies through email here in the V&V section than I've seen face to face in probably 20 years!

Since you and Jessica are also 'stuck' in the boonies y'all get contacts!

Answer 2

I used to, kind of. I used to live in a small rural town in Missouri where I worked at the local state mental hospital. I was from St. Louis and I had just graduated with a degree in mental records; the rural mental hospital was the only place where I could find a job.

Every once in a while I would hear someone say they were vegetarian, but about 99% of the time it turned out to not be true.

Then I met the other vegetarian, an Indian lady who was the dietitian at the same hospital. Now we have been married for 15 years.

Answer 3

When I went veg in '87, I didn't know anyone else who didn't eat meat. Gradually this changed as I started asking questions in natural food stores & meeting new ppl here & there who also are veg. Also, now & then someone I already knew would become veg. My SO stopped eating meat the 1st year we were together. Veg friends & relatives would have babies who would be raised veg until old enough to decide for themselves & often they would decide to remain veg (or in a couple of cases, return to being veg after a few years).
Yes, it can feel weird when you're the only veg in your area, I know. You're not *really* alone, though-- we're all out here ;-)

Answer 4

where i live there's a few vegans...

it's ok.. but i'm always fighting to find soymilk..

:(

we have a few vegan resturants... but i question them... along with the few vegans we have.....

it's not that great.. they're just as bad as everyone else unfortunately....

they run red lights.. they fight.. they're noisy.....
they make comments and are prejudiced.. most preach but do not practice.. it's crazy. when they find out i'm vegetarian they go on and on about how i am suppose to be.

little do they know i was vegetarian long before most of them were born.

i like how they pick their noses.. (damned them!) and pick through the greens and sort out what they want... filthy people like the rest. they're no better and they're not different.

oh and they talk on their damned cell phones while they're doing it. they leave the produce section in a shambles when they are done and leaving nothing but bruiced fruits and ripped up leafy green veggies... makes me so damned mad.

i have 2 vegetarian families in my building.. the husband from one spits all over the place... and yells at his wife.

the other smokes and tosses the lit cigarettes over the balcony and nearly burned down the building two times already in 3 years.

you're not missing anything.

Answer 5

I am the only vegan or vegetarian I know of. I live in the middle of 'hick-ville' too, and everyone here raises cattle for beef and hunts. I swear if I see one more "Beef, it's what's for dinner" bumper sticker (which, by the way, does not even make sense... Beef it is what is for dinner??) or someone talking about what he or she killed over the weekend, I will scream.

I would be surprised if the people here knew what the word 'vegan' meant...

Answer 6

Nope, my mom, my sister and my boss are all vegetarian. But I live in a hip, diverse West Coast city... we have vegetarian and vegan restaurants and even a vegan grocery. It's good to be veg here because everyone pretty much gets it.

Answer 7

I live in Brattleboro, VT. There are tons and tons of vegetarians and vegans here. In fact, the Brattleboro Food Co-op has a whole deli section with nothing but vegetarian and vegan cuisine. I love our little hippie town!

Answer 8

I'm not a vegetarian, but totally respect that choice. I used to know a lot when I lived in New England, but since I've moved to Ohio, not so many. I think it does have a lot to do with where you live. Stick to your convictions, the people are out there, just not where you are.

Answer 9

Brattleboro, VT eh? Yet another reason to move to Vermont!! Seemingly the last state to remember a time when the U.S.A. was a free and democratic country. Vote Ron Paul.

Answer 10

I live in a college/hippie town. There's a ton of vegetarians and vegans here. There's always special menus in the restaurants for them.

Don't let others make you feel isolated. If it's something you believe in, stick with it! Good for you.