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.She s been raised ina house full of animals and we taught her to respect them. In ele-mentary school and middle school, Jasmin was the only vegetarian,explains her mother. Because she is a vegetarian, she is recipient ofteasing at school.Most is good-natured teasing by friends, and notnasty comments from people who are not friends.Things havegotten better as we ve gone along. However, Baker concedes, Vegetarianism is still very much a sub-culture. Three years ago, when Jasmine was in ninth grade, Baker wason the food committee for a school dinner event to ensure her daugh-ter would have vegan food to eat.Baker did not want her daughter tobe an outsider, or pay a fee for food she would not eat and have to bringher own meal to the event. It was the principle of the thing, she says.Asking that a vegan entre be made available to her daughter created turmoil, says Baker, although she carefully explained what thatmeant and even offered to provide for free the meatlike vegan foodfrom a local gourmet company.Although a vegetarian entre was deemed acceptable, at first a veganoption was out of the question.Eventually, Baker was heard, butnot until after she experienced conflict and the feeling of not havingbeen heard.Turns out vegetarianism was practically unknown, andveganism was not known at all to the person initially resistant to of-fering a vegan option, says Baker.Jasmin did get to have a vegan meal,but her mother recalls that getting to that point was difficult. 182 Vegetarians and Vegans in America TodayMOVING INTO THE FUTUREVegetarianism and veganism in the United States continue to grow.Reasons for optimism aside, the very nature of vegetarianism is rapidlychanging as biotechnologists take over from gardeners, and globalismtrumps American food laws.The mainstreaming of vegetarian and vegan products that is, theenculturation and perhaps co-opting of vegetarianism by multina-tional corporations might mean the dominant culture is movingaway from meat, or might that have other implications? As Americanscontinue to incorrectly use the word vegetarian, believing a vegetarianeats chicken or fish, will the dictionary definition change?As this book has shown, people who do not eat dead animals are partof the great tradition of American individualism, and that inherentlymeans they have their own thoughts and opinions on everything andwill not be of one groupmind.This strength helps vegetarianism as asocial cause, as does devotion to the philosophy and practice.Stanley M.Sapon, who as an elder vegan has wisdom and experienceand as a psycholinguist has insight into aspects of vegetarianismothers may not see (or may not agree with, vegetarians being vege-tarians), writes,Without doubt the most pressing challenge facing vegetarianism inthe USA is the dilution of energy and focus resulting from a cripplingambiguity in the meaning of the word, and the fading of its perception asa moral statement.It can be said that there are as many definitions of vegetarian as there are people who call themselves vegetarians. When I reject a restaurant dish because it is made with chicken broth, Iam often confronted by a server who informs me, I have lots of patronswho are vegetarian, and they have no objection to chicken. When I askfor dishes that are free of dairy or eggs because I follow a Vegan lifestyle,I am sometimes chided, reproached or mocked for being too fussy, afanatic beyond the fringe of vegetarianism, or carrying the notion of vegetarianism to extremely impractical and unreasonable lengths.And if I reach for some authoritative source to validate my values andmy practices say, get on the Web and Google the words vegetarian and Vegan, I am overwhelmed by the number of differing and conflictingdefinitions, and confounded by a flood of hyphenated vegetarians. Thelist includes: ovo-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, pisco-vegetarian, pollo-vegetarian, pisco-pollo vegetarian, complete vegetarian,semi-vegetarian, part-time vegetarian, ethical vegetarian, eco-vegetarian,animal rights vegetarian, raw foods-vegetarian, flexitarian, and evena newly minted outrage, Freegan. There are fewer ambiguities andcontradictions under Veganism, but while there are differences in Hope Springs Eternal 183motivation, rationale or strategy, Veganism seems primarily concernedwith ending the cruel treatment of animals through the widespreadadoption of a plant-based diet.In simplest terms, the word vegetarian has become a lexicographer snightmare, a modern-day, real life situation presciently brought to life asHumpty Dumpty, in Through the Looking Glass, proclaims absolutesemantic liberty. A word, he declares, must mean exactly what I wantit to mean.No more, no less. When the meaning of vegetarian includes all the hyphenatedvegetarians it becomes impossible to know with certainty what are themissions, methods, rationales or philosophies that support the practiceof every different kind of vegetarian. It is not possible to know whetherthe word vegetarian refers only to a diet or to a guiding philosophy thatincorporates some special restrictions on acceptable foods
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