This past November, Tim Gargiulo and Lester Karplus opened a vegan restaurant in Boulder, Colorado called V.G. Burgers; however, you’d never know it is vegan. Nowhere on their menu or marketing materials is the word vegan, or even vegetarian, used.

“The word tends to scare people… and to exclude people,” said Gargiulo, “We’re still developing the right language.”

Last year, only 2.3% of Americans called themselves vagetarian. Only 1.4% called themselves vegan. So, from a marketing point of view, attracting only vegans would be bad business.

The good news for restaurant owners is that about half of American adults strive to eat two to three meatless meals per week. In return, the vegan restaurant owners can show half of America that the word vegan does not translate to “doesn’t taste as good.”

Find out for yourself by trying out some of the vegan recipes on our vegan recipes page!

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“I had gone four years to Michigan State University. I don’t think I was that stupid, but I had never heard that word. I hooked up with some people in Cleveland, found out what these funny v-words meant, and started making changes in my diet. My health improved.”

This statement came from previous cattle farmer and mechanic Harold Brown, and the “v-words” he spoke of are “vegetarian” and “vegan”.

Brown first heard the words after seeing a bumper sticker that said, “I don’t eat my friends”. After asking the owner of the car what the sticker meant, he researched the topic further, taking vegetarianism, and later veganism, as his lifestyle of choice.

Brown now works for Farm Sanctuary, a shelter for farm animals in upstate New York. Monday evening at the Rockefeller Center, Brown gave Dartmouth students a lecture called “Animal Killer to Animal Advocate”, which informed students about his experience with animals and the benefits of vegetarianism.

In this lecture, Brown explained that, “…if I want to do what is optimal for this organism that I live in, I need to be vegan.”

Brown gave the students an opportunity to ask questions, and corrected any misconceptions about vegan lifestyle, including the common fallacy that vegan’s don’t get enough protein.

On this topic, Brown commented, “In America, It comes own the the big three - beef, fish, and chicken. We eat 3 - 5 times more protein in this country than we need to.”

He charged this country’s high rates of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to hormone and pathogen laden meats.

“Of all the cancers,” he said, “The ones that have grown the fastest in the past 30 years, besides the ones from smoking, are hormone cancers. We’re eating stuff that has a lot of hormones in it already. They just don’t tell you.”

Brown also commented on the fact that a vegan diet is more economical than a diet of meat by saying that, “On average, steaks start at $2.99 per pound, whereas a five pound bag of apples will cost you about four bucks.”

So save your money and your health. Visit our vegan recipes page today!

A study by the American Diabetes Association has shown that a low-fat vegan diet may be better for managing type 2 diabetes than traditional diets.

The study found that 43 percent of the participants who followed a vegan diet reduced their need for medication, compared to only 26 percent who followed the diet recommended by the ADA.

In addition, all participants who followed the vegan diet experienced greater weight loss and reductions in cholesterol levels.

These results showed that both diets improved diabetes manageability and cholesterol levels, but improvements were far greater for those on the vegan diet.

Send this article to someone you love who has diabetes. Don’t forget to point them toward our vegan recipes page!