The Veganism Episode: Why Don't We Care Enough to Be Vegan?

Let's get it out in the open: it's 2019. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the meat industry is morally bankrupt and also terrible for the planet. And yet, as of 2015, only 3.4% of the population said they were vegetarian and 0.4% said they were vegan. At the same time, Beyond Meat had the largest IPO of any company in 2 decades when it went public in May 2019. This means lots of people are betting big money that we are on the cusp of a huge change in the way we eat, especially along millennials, with the Economist predicting that 2019 will be remembered as The Year of the Vegan. So we decided to get a vegan, Marissa Soltoff, in the room with us and talk to us about the ethics of meat, the social stigma around veganism, and the environmental impact. Hopefully this episode will get us all to think more about how our everyday choices have a wider impact than we often care to think about.

Here's some more about Marissa:

Marissa Soltoff recently graduated from George Washington university. She is 22 and has been vegan for 4.5 years. Her interests include traveling, making vegan Mac and cheese, and promoting effective vegan advocacy.

*NOTE: In our conversation, we touch on making veganism accessible for all social classes, not just rich people. It turns out, this was actually a completely false assumption. According to a Gallup poll, most vegans and vegetarians actually make less than $30,000.

Links:

Beyond Meat Stock Soars: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/14/beyond-meat-stock-how-the-alternative-meat-company-surged-500-percent.html

Economist 'Year of the Vegan' Prediction: https://worldin2019.economist.com/theyearofthevegan

Forbes article showing most vegans and vegetarians actually make less than $30,000: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/08/06/who-are-americas-vegans-and-vegetarians-infographic/#768b2dc8211c

Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.

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