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Jun 25, 2008 From
The Gloucester County Times Beef: It's what (used to be) for dinner. As the number of herbivores in this country has climbed, traditional meat-and-potatoes meals have given rise to an influx of vegetarian options in grocery stores and restaurants. Even fast food has adapted -- Burger King has veggie burgers, and KFC stores in Canada sell vegan chicken. "I have been doing this work for 19 years, and the change from 19 years ago is so dramatic on many different levels," said Janine Motta of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance. "I used to do -- and still do -- a lot of public outreach. When I first started, it was really on the fringes, and slowly over time I've seen such a change." That change has led to the creation of VegNJ.com, a Web site dedicated to New Jersey restaurants that have vegetarian and vegan dishes. So far, there are "Veg" Web sites in New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania, though the goal is eventually to get them in every state. "People who might want to do it are sometimes unsure as to where they can buy the food that they can cook themselves or where they can go out to eat. They tend to think it's a lot more difficult or more daunting than it really is, so having something out there for the public will just make it that much easier for (them) to make the transition and stick with it," Motta said. There are about 5 million vegetarians in America (or 2.3 percent of the population), and around half of them are vegans, according to a 2006 poll by the Vegetarian Resource Group. Don's Bagels in Glassboro, one of the restaurants listed on VegNJ.com, has veggie burgers, vegan sausage and vegan bacon on its menu. Owner Mike Calabrese said he added the burgers about eight years ago, and as requests for vegan options mounted -- especially from Rowan University students -- he added meat-free sausage and bacon three years ago. "There are some regulars who come in a couple times a week for the sandwiches. I wouldn't be able to carry my whole menu with it, but there's a nice following," Calabrese said. The animal-free products are more expensive and harder to stock than chicken or beef, so customers have to pay more for them. "A strict vegetarian or vegan diet can be much less expensive. When you get into expense is when you purchase the meat analogs. You can makes these things yourself, and that can be dirt cheap, but it's a time consuming process," Motta said. She noted that, like Don's Bagels, many businesses have added meat substitutes to existing selections, though few offer whole menus of animal-free dishes. "I may be able to count on two hands the number of restaurants in New Jersey that are strictly vegetarian," she said. A good option for vegetarians, then, is to explore ethnic restaurants, which are known for their vegetable heavy menus. "Indian food and a
lot of Asian foods will either have no meat in them, or if they did
(have meat) they have bean curd, or tofu, to use in its place,"
Motta said.
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