Eating is a staple of life. In every culture, food customs and variety are part of that cultures definition. In American society and other cultures, meat is a main food that is consumed, yet not by everyone. Dating back to medieval times, some meats were not consumed due to the "impurities" they were seen to be by the religions of the time. Throughout history, this has developed from not eating red meat, to not eating any meat at all, and even further to the vegan extreme of not eating any animal products at all. Though not everyone feels this way, more and more people change their eating habits every day.

Methodology
Due to the nature of this report, information is not hard to find, especially in this town. Considering that there is a whole food "industry" in today's society, the data is not hard to collect. Also, with the new wave of vegetarianism and veganism making its way through society, research on it was plentiful. Most of the books in the library tended to be older books, but they did briefly go into vegetarianism in certain sections. As is shown through various graffiti art on the sidewalks, such as "VEGAN POWER XXX," to the food in the dorms (signs stating the vegan or vegetarian nature of the food), this is a new heath and moral concern with people, but especially college students today. Students who have changed their eating habits are also good sources for information on how one goes about changing theirs too.

Description and Analysis
To live, one has to eat, and the best food for the body is that of the healthy nature. "The concept of eating in such a way as to help the body to balance and adjust itself is of course a widespread one," (pg. 93, Wheeler/Poh). Over the years, starting back into the medieval times and maybe even further back, people have chosen to limit what they eat in order to remain healthy, for religious reasons, or sometimes due to their societal position. One of the main dietal changes people make is the choice of eating meat.

"Eating, as has been commonly remarked, produces a particularly intimate identification with the consumed product: we are what we eat. It is therefore not surprising when we look cross culturally at food patterns that meat, and to a lesser extent animal products, are by far the most common focus of taboo, regulation and avoidance," (pg. 18, Twigg). Though the religious establishments were mostly responsible for stating that meat, mainly red meat, could not be consumed due to the filthy nature of the animals it was taken from, people still were allowed to eat fish and poultry, except on certain days of fasting, like Good Friday or Lent. So, vegetarianism started out as a form of religious restraint on the people's diets. However, today's vegetarian differs from that of the older generations in that it has become an individual choice, relating to the person's feelings about the animals, but not necessarily being limited to that reason. "In the west& vegetarianism is very much a product of individual choice, and indeed, requiring one, as it does, to step outside the culturally prescribed forms of eating, depends on the development of a highly individuated sense of the self," (pg. 19, Twigg).

Laura Denny, a junior at IU, was a typical meat consuming American at one point in her life, but has recently, in the past couple of years, decided to change her eating habits. "I'm vegetarian for several reasons& one of them being, I have read a lot about the treatment of animals and I guess it's more along my evolution as a person, too. I have come to think not of animals just as things& who are void of spirits, feelings and things like that, so, the idea of massacring them and eating them doesn't really appeal to me very much," stated Denny. "Eating meat is a way of saying that's ok and I accept that [animals are being killed for food use]. For years, while I didn't agree& I couldn't talk about or look into about how animals [were treated] and yet at the same time I still ate meat. So, for me that was very [hypocritical] to me, [but] that was when I was just a teenager."

Vegetarianism, having started out mostly as a religious observance, has developed and changed throughout the years, but four main ideas with the concern of not eating meat have been identified. Julia Twigg, a field researcher, states in her essay "Vegetariainism and the Meanings of Meat," in The Sociology of Food and Eating, that, "There have traditionally been four major foci to the vegetarian argument-health, and animal welfare, and to a lesser extent, the economic/ecological and the spiritual," (pg. 20, Twigg). Most vegetarians, as aforementioned briefly by Denny, feel that animals do have spirits and that too eat them is like murder. "[Eating meat] has a lot to do with western and eastern philosophy& as far as everything humans play a role in, [in] the whole scheme of life and the whole circle of life and how we are superior to every other living creature on this earth. That's demonstrated by the way we go about with our eating habits& I'm not saying that everyone has to believe that or 'buy into' the fact that animals do have spirits& [it's just that] the more you read about the manufacturing of all this meat and how much money, it's so American and it's very disturbing for me," stated Denny.

Vegetarianism is very much an individual choice and everyone has their differing reasons for changing their eating habits. "For me, [the] things I'm carrying out, [is] kinda like acting upon what I feel and what I think and what I believe and what I've learned. It's very difficult to ignore that cause it's so strong& a lot of it's just how it feels inside of me, it's not a welcoming feeling in my body," remarked Denny. "I don't know who quoted this, probably somebody from Sunrider [a food company who's theme is that of healthy, natural, live food], but they said, 'Eating meat is like bringing death into your body,' and it's true. So, I am very much into live foods and live enzymes and things that give me energy and dead flesh doesn't give me energy." The healthy reasons for not eating meat are a part of the definition of vegetarianism, according to Twigg. "Vegetarianism constantly stresses eating as an ingestion of vitality," (pg. 28, Twigg).

The words used by vegetarians tend to be a bit paradoxical, according to Twigg, due to the fact that, "they do not eat living things and yet we find vegetarians speaking of vegetarian food as 'alive' and meat as 'dead,'" (pg. 28, Twigg). Also, as Denny mentioned, the idea of raw, live foods is better for your health in that the enzymes can actually be used by the body instead of just passing through the body's system.

Denny, who obviously has to be a part of the American society every day, finds it sometimes difficult to deal with the way others eat, but finds that all she can do is serve as an example for others. "[Being part of American culture] is where I have a hard time. We're all about diversity and so eating habits is obviously one of those things. The way people feel that because it's tradition or it's the way things always have been done are part of the reasons why people eat the way they do. People are afraid to get out of a pattern of life that is obviously very destructive for them and yet they have no initiative to change things for themselves. But as far as people in my life who have these kind of habits, I feel that the best thing I can do is be a good example and so that's how I live my life the way I want to," remarked Denny. "I have noticed a lot of changing going on with my family and my friends, and they take note and they ask questions and they even maybe decide they want to make a lifestyle change themselves and so that's the only thing I could ever want& I want for other people what I want for myself. I feel the difference, maybe that sounds a bit& strange, but all I know is how I feel. I used to eat the way almost every single American does and I don't remember one day that I used to feel the way I do now. So, it's made a tremendous life change for me and for so many other people that I know and I can't help but want that for other people when I see them struggling and suffering."

Every year more and more people decide to make little changes about their diet, some from hearing a commercial about a special health product, others make changes because of seeing others making different choices. Either way, Denny, along with other vegetarians, feels that new eating habits are becoming important for more and more people. "I think people are starting to be a little bit more aware and I think things are changing for the better. I don't know how things are everywhere, [but] we'll see where things lead to," stated Denny.

Reflection
Vegetarianism is a new wave that has been sweeping the nation for awhile. All over Bloomington there are signs of vegetarianism and veganism, along with lots of information for people to look into the subject. My report didn't even start out as the folklore of vegetarianism, it was actually supposed to be about the obsession with the mouth, like smoking and lipstick and such. Then when I tried to research the subject, the only books I could find about that were ones about food, so my subject matter changed to food. Then I noticed that there was quite a bit of information about vegetarianism, plus Laura Denny is a co-worker of mine and we have had many a discussion about the matter. Actually narrowing my paper down helped me be more productive for I had a goal in mind instead of just a very broad subject matter of food. This report turned out very well and I enjoyed researching it. However, in the future I hope to interview more people to get more of a range of opinions.

Overall, I enjoyed doing this research and finding out more about vegetarianism than I could have ever imagined.

References
Denny, Laura. 2001. Interview by Sarah E. Patterson, 2 December, Bloomington, Indiana. Tape Recording. SEP A-052.

Twigg, Julia. 1983. "Vegetarianism and the Meaning of Meat," in The Sociology of Food and Eating, by Anne Murcott. England: Gower Publishing Company Limited.

Wheeler, Erica and Poh, Tan Swee. 1983. "Food for Equilibrium," in The Sociology of Food and Eating, by Anne Murcott. England: Gower Publishing Company Limited.

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