I don't think you can entirely dismiss the "vegetarian-inclined" segment just because the term is stupid. There is a HUGE difference in the culinary lifestyle of someone who eats meat once (or more) per day and someone who eats meat once every 2 months. I happen to fall into the latter catergory, and the best term I have for it is "being smart about the health, environmental, and animal rights aspects of excessive meat consumption, and attempting to re-define what 'enough' and 'too much' meat in a diet means."

Since that's rather verbose, people say things like "near-vegetarian," "meat reducer," and "concientous omnivore," which I agree are silly terms. But I maintain that the problem is not in making the distinction, but in the language used to do so.

First, I would be skeptical of statistics about vegetarians released by the Vegetarian Times for the same reason I would expect the Mormon Times might place the number of Mormons higher than independent studies.

And pooh-poohing the vegetarian-inclined is nonsense. I know several people who eat chicken or fish once or twice a month and therefore don't consider themselves vegetarian. Lumping them in with the other 96.5% of gleeful omnivores (like me!) is silly. There is a distinction there, and it's worth noting if we're talking about these things.

Unless, of course, you're getting into the ethical side where anyone who ever eats meat might as well burn kittens alive, but in that case we can consider the 3.2% vegetarians to be just as bad as omnivores, since many food producing animals live unpleasant and short lives even if they are not directly slaughtered for meat.

I agree with the above posters, this dismissal of the vegetarian inclined comes off as extremely elitist. There are many people out there who prefer not to eat meat on a regular basis but who are not going to give up an entire class of food because of some shaky ethical problems. And especially for a publication such as the Vegetarian Times, it is important to distinguish these people from the vast majority of Americans who consume an incredible amount of beef every day.

Just out of curiosity, how many lbs of meat do you think people eat a day?

Look. What it comes down to is this- someone needs to tell me what defines "vegetarian inclined". Technically speaking, considering the amount of sugar and starches we consume in comparison to meat, we are all "vegetarian inclined"

I agree with the comments above - with only 3% of the population vegetarian, it doesn't take a lot of change by the remaining 97% to radically reduce the amount of meat consumed.

I understand the vegetarian argument that it's symatically and conceptually nonsensical to be a "semi-vegetarian", but as far as I'm concerned there's more positive impact to Earth if more people eat less meat, than if a tiny majority grows into a slightly less tiny majority.

By comparing the vegetarian numbers to Jewish/Mormon religions, you're saying that vegetarianism is a religion.

Jenn,
I don't agree. The statistics simply put the number of vegetarians in perspective to other minority groups.

Wow! I had no idea that people who ate meat so infrequently could muster the energy to become so enraged.
And Jenn, that is a truly ridiculous statement.
AH, you are completely correct. The amount of meat consumed is vastly outweighed by other food types. I consider myself a rabid carnivore but even I don't eat meat everyday.

I love your blog, but this is the first time I've been inclined to comment. I am not a vegetarian. I eat steak at a nice restaurant every couple of months. I NEVER buy meat to cook at home. I don't eat dishes with meat at casual restaurants. My toddler is a complete vegetarian.

I'm not yet willing to go that extra step to completely give up meat, but I'm sure as hell making more of an impact than I was a year ago when I was eating meat at 6 meals a week.

Hey Kate, according to something I just read, the supposed average daily consumption of meat in the US is 8oz (Bittman in NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

So eating meat once a week, once a month or even less often definitely doesn't qualify you as vegetarian, but places you much closer to vegetarianism than the average omnivore's diet.

"there's already a word for someone who is 'vegetarian-inclined'. It's called an "omnivore'"

Hilarious! Although I hate the word omnivore. It just being normal, not part of a cult, so there's no need for a special name. It's like calling people gentiles when there's no particular Jewish context. Or it's like saying pro-life (to imply everyone else is pro-murder).

I'd like some stats on how many vegetarians actually eat vegetables, that is, more vegetables than omnivores. All the vegetarians I know live on pasta, bread, cereal bars, engineered fake meat, and whatnot. They should change the name to non-meatatarian.

Hey, I always say if people don't want to eat meat, fine with me. Still I don't know who's funnier, you Kate or Mark, the commenter above.

I don't care if you are vegetarian or Presbyterian, and I've friends who are one, the other or both.

However don't try conversion, that tends to annoy. And is why I think that vegetarians, especially vegans, get such a negative reaction from omnivores

I think that slamming on the term "vegetarian-inclined" is a bit much--eating meat once a month or so does significantly reduce the amount of meat eaten in a household, which then reduces the amount of meat eaten in the US significantly. If every American gave up eating meat every day, and instead just ate it once a week, or hell, even every other day, it would become a vast reduction in the amount of meat eaten in this country.

And as far as the environment goes, that would be a great thing.

So, I don't go off on people for having a silly-sounding term to describe their philosophy on reducing the amount of meat they personally consume.

But do you know what really torques my gizzard?

Folks who call themselves vegetarian, and then turn around and say, "But I eat fish."

My usual reply is, "I didn't know that fish grew out of the ground. How intersesting!"

But worse are the ones who tell me that they are vegetarian, but that they eat fish and chicken. At this point, I always ask, "And exactly what tree do fish and chicken come from?"

These folks are not vegetarians, and often are not even "vegetarian-inclined," which is a better term than the misleading label of "vegetarian." They are omnivores who prefer to eat white meat to red meat.

It is just not a black and white world.

Those of us that all but entirely forego meat outside of the occasional bit of, say, cheese (which is almost always processed with rennet which is a meat product) are too far removed from a meat-based diet to be called omnivores but not far enough to be called vegetarians.

So what are we if not almost vegetarians? Clearly, in our gray world, we are an "Almost Vegetarian."

Which is why I identify myself as that: an almost vegetarian. Anything else would be a lie.

Cheers!

Barbara, fish is parve so it is a vegetable. :-) I'm one of those vegetarians who eat fish.

Pulling out those Jewish kosher laws to confuse me, eh, Daniel?

;-)

But I still want to know what plant fish grow from.

I think "vegetarian-inclined" is an interesting term. I grew up in a house that I considered normal for the U.S. Meat for every meal--steak once a week (calculating the number of steaks my dad must have grilled in his life time is mind boggling--as well as the number of arguments my parents had about when the coals were going to be ready and if the steaks were done *grin*). Anyway, so now that I am an adult and live in a household where we never eat meat at home, and I only eat chicken or turkey when we go out--never beef--I feel like I am making a conscious decision to follow a little stricter diet. To hear my family, you'd think I'd turned into an alien. My nutritionist also seems to think this is significant and different, but she calls it being "flexitarian."

Hmmm... what's wrong with "vegetarian-inclined"? That's how I think of my eating habits. I eat chicken, turkey or fish a couple of times a week, grass-fed beef or bison rarely - maybe every couple of months (once in a while I crave a cheeseburger or a nice filet mignon) but for the most part I eat eggs, nuts, yogurt, beans and tofu for protein. I feel healthier and my biggest concern is cutting back on the consumption of meat as a question of sustainability. I guess it's a matter of semantics. Call it what feels right to you!

I think most English speaking people will understand what vegetarian-inclined means. Why do we need to be so black and white in our speech? We use words like "most", "some", "often", "seldom", etc.
Why the need to have everything explained so perfectly? If you need further explanation, you can ask. You can call yourself "carnivore-inclined"... I'll understand what you're saying. No big deal.

Whether it's for animal rights, or the environment, or their own health, at least the "vegetarian-inclined" are doing something. Better than nothing, huh?

I'm a vegetarian, and I won't pounce all over someone who says they care about animals and are not a vegetarian.

You can say you care about people, but what are you doing for the people in China or Myanmar? Much suffering in Africa. So much needs right in your own country.

If you want to make everything so black and white, call yourself an incredibly selfish jerk, who doesn't care about other people. You buy that flat-screen TV or that Ipod, or that new SUV, or nice home, rather than wanting to help others who are suffering a hellish existence here, but you don't care because of your selfish indulgences. How selfishly we spend on ourselves, but don't want to lift a finger, or are very skimpy on charitable giving, whether it's monetary, or sacrificing our own time. Be so black and white about things like that and you'll have to dress in rags and donate all of your extra time and money to helping other people... or else don't say you care about others at all!

I'm laid-back-inclined. I'm pretty easy-going, except around uptight people who look down on others. Chill, dudes. Whether you're vegan looking down on everyone else, or "carnivore-inclined" snobbing vegetarians.

I can nail each and every person to the wall, pulling up inconsistencies in the way each person lives. We need to cut each other some slack. Peace, dudes.

"vegetarian" isn't supposed to mean "vegetable eater." It's derived from the same latin root as the word vegetable, meant to mean "full of life" or somesuch.

Though, in practice, most vegetarians do indeed eat more vegetables than most followers of an omnivorous diet.