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I’m proud that he’s standing up for animals, but can there be Thanksgiving without turkey?
By Jennifer Graham
Every parent knows there’s a risk when a child goes away for an extended period of time, whether to a camp, college, mission or job. That child, when he returns, will be different in some way. Hair that was blond might be pink. The voter registration card may reflect a different political party from yours. And the carnivore you raised may now be vegan.
For parents who grew up eating hamburgers and pot roast, and fed their offspring similarly, the latter can be quite a shock — particularly since, at a casual glance, the number of vegans in the U.S. seems miniscule.
Last month, Gallup released its latest survey on dietary preferences and said that 4% of Americans identify as vegetarians, and just 1% as vegans. That doesn’t seem like anything members of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association would stay up late worrying about. The numbers are consistent with polling from 2012 and 2018, Gallup said.
But as it turns out, the numbers change when you break them down by age, as an Economist/YouGov poll did in 2020. That survey found that 15% of Americans under 40 identify as vegetarian or vegan, which helps to explain why so many products these days carry a vegan symbol.
And why I’m already worrying about what will be on my Thanksgiving table this year.
With no advance notice or fanfare, my 23-year-old son announced in January that he was vegan. I would have been less shocked if he’d said he was becoming a circus juggler. This was a kid who loved sausage and brats, crayfish and shrimp. Since early childhood, he had enthusiastically consumed types of meat I won’t cook, let alone eat. There had been no pivotal moment, he insisted. He had friends who were vegan and had been reading their posts on Instagram about animal cruelty, and he just decided he was done with it.
He’d just taken a short-term job in Philadelphia, and I figured the cheesesteaks would make quick work of his veganism.
https://www.deseret.com/2023/9/16/23862956/help-my-son-is-a-vegan-plant-based-meat-candy-torfurky