Vegetarianism as a Social Norm

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When thinking about my food choices and how they have been influenced by social norms I instantly think about the period of time that I spent living in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga is a very wealthy town. So the people living in it want the best of everything; cars, houses, clothes, and of course food. Almost every person that I had encountered was a vegetarian. The foods they ate were all completely organic. There were even several vegetarian restaurants in the downtown. After living here a few months, I too adopted a vegetarian life style. This was mainly because I felt a lot of pressure from the current people in my life and the surrounding community. I too began shopping at whole foods and buying tons of all organic fruits and vegetables.

Living a vegetarian lifestyle definitely helps to overcome the social issue of obesity. By cutting out meat, you are forced to up your intake of fruits and vegetables. Typically, at least from my experience, this results in a much better quality of overall health, including weight loss and/or maintaining a healthy weight Essentially all of the people in Saratoga whom were vegetarians were also very fit and healthy. Another social issue vegetarianism addresses is the cruelty of animals. Vegetarianism helps stop the act of factory farming which has become a major issue in todays society for many environmental reasons and also ethical reasons for its cruelty to animals. Factory farming forces animals to undergo seriously inadequate and cruel conditions such as crammed into small spaces, mutilation, and overdosed with antibiotics.

 

Vegetarianism Map_cpw5146

4 thoughts on “Vegetarianism as a Social Norm”

  2. My name is Peter Han and I am studying Mechanical Engineering here at Penn State. My blog talked about how fast food was a social norm. I found your blog post very interesting as I have not met many vegetarians in my lifetime. Even though I may not be able to convert to vegetarianism, I found it very interesting reading about your experience. This lifestyle choice is a healthier one than eating at fast food restaurants and helps to deal with the problem of factory farming. Factory farming is a major issue that is helped by vegetarians, but also needs to be solved in other ways.
    Here is a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/04/food-choice-and-social-norms-peter-han/

  3. I didn’t know there was any correlation between vegetarians and affluence. I find that hard to believe. However I do believe and know that it is far more expensive to live a healthy lifestyle purchasing and consuming organic products from places such as Whole Foods. I find it better to shop at Whole Foods but it shouldn’t cost more for less. truly organics are less. Pure and in its simplest forms. Profit and greed created GMO’s and now people are aware of the issues in which it presents and we have a choice. Thanks

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