# Vegetarian/Vegan And Gender **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2010, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031 "2010-06-05T08:08:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/1 "2010-06-05T08:08:07Z")
Noticed in the Vegan dating non vegan thread that most of the people who are Vegan or Vegetarian are women. Thought I’d make a poll for it as most of the vegetarians I know in real life are women also. (Ps never done a poll before so hope I don’t fuck it up.) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/2 "2010-06-05T08:30:53Z")
Slight hijack: Among vegans/vegetarians, has anyone noticed differences in militance/preachiness between the genders? Is one gender more likely to rub it in people’s faces and try to convert them? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/3 "2010-06-05T08:38:24Z")
Men [consistently](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7305505.stm) like meat more than women. It seems logical that women would therefore be easier to convince of an all-veggie diet. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/4 "2010-06-05T09:06:34Z")
I’m a female omnivore, with a preference for meat. Red meat. Gimme a steak, dammit, and make it medium rare. No, I don’t want a chicken stirfry. I’ll eat it, but I want a steak. There are times when I don’t especially want meat in my meal, but that’s usually limited to breakfast. If I had my druthers, I’d start almost every day with a ham’n’cheese omelet, with a side of bacon. However, that doesn’t fit into my diet, so I usually have a whole grain cereal (hot or cold) and some tea. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/5 "2010-06-06T11:09:15Z")
I am a man, and I am an omnivore. I will say, however, that most of the time I eat vegetables. I eat meat or fish rarely. There is something, however, that I haven’t seen addressed too much when discussing vegetarianism, and it is the economical angle. I eat little meat or fish because, (1) although they are cheap, I am not attracted to fast-food franchises _à la_ McDonald’s or KFC. And, therefore, given that I do most of my cooking at home, I have found that, because I tend to like the fresh stuff rather than the usual standardised supermarket fare, (2) it is cheaper to eat vegetables, most of the time. The pocketbook is thankful for that. Of course, I do not eschew meat or fish: I like to have it from time to time. But I see that it is really more expensive. It possibly has to do with what I said before: I prefer to buy in grocery shops, at the butcher’s, or at the fishmonger’s, rather than in the supermarket. I guess that, if I were to buy everything in the supermarket, I would find that there is not such a big difference in prize. I like the quality of what I get in my individual shops, though. So, what is your opinion? Do you think that there can be a “pocketbook angle” involved when deciding whether to go all vegetarian or not? ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/6 "2010-06-06T13:11:45Z")
I am a person who eats red meat regularly. I have mild anemia which is under control but lean beef is good for my blood. I Love vegies too. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/7 "2010-06-06T15:06:20Z")
Guy vegetarian. Been vegetarian for about 17 years. My wife is an omnivore, although she’s happy eating vegetarian much of the time anyway. ---
**Author:** ![spoike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@spoike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoike)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/8 "2010-06-06T15:21:31Z")
In my house, there are two 10-year vegetarians (me and my son) and one omnivore (my husband). For all intents and purposes, my husband is a vegetarian at home, however. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/9 "2010-06-06T16:24:28Z")
Female omnivore with carnivorous leanings. While I eat vegetables because I know I should there are very few of them that I enjoy or would choose over a perfectly grilled steak. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-vegan-and-gender/542031/10 "2010-06-06T20:14:06Z")
I do know more female vegetarians and vegans than I do male, but the ratio isn’t high - maybe 65-35.