Israel second largest percent of vegetarians

[israel]

After india israel has the biggest vegetarian percentage in the world !!

http://articles.submityourarticle.com/v ... orld-79577



Just letting my national pride out - now im good - you can continue with your life now ( )

[JP]

thats interesting, though i am sceptical about these figures unless the question has been exactly the same way defined in different countries.

because depending on how the question has been set, the number of vegetarians in uk can range from 5-12%

but if this was correct, why do you think that is?

[israel]

yea im not sure also - i just cant waste a national pride moment slip

there is hype now about gary yourofsky giving lectures on animal rights and how israel is becoming vegan because of it BUT this article was from 2010 (if i got the date right) and it was before the hype around this guy - also i really belive its more of a hype and that vegetarianism was getting big before him

Its easier to be vegan in israel because of the kosher food labeling : meat products dairy and "parve" which is all that isnt meat or dairy (fish is considered parve) - because you cant mix meat and dairy the restaurants are divided to "milky" and "meaty" so that makes any restaurant that wants to serve one dairy dish become a vegetarian restaurant - as an example a freind of mine was in spain and she speaks spanish and she ordered a salad and without mentioning it in the menu it had pork in it - she was shocked - in israel because of kosher if there is meat in the salad it will be mentioned

But its all just guessing by me there are a lot more of mini reasons which can explain this but im to lazy to right it all down

The important thing to know is this israel population had 20% muslims and most if not 99% of them are not vegetarian if you look only at the jewish israelis i believe the percentage should be much higher

[israel]

Just want to say that gary yourfsky is doing an exellent job didnt mean to say his just hype - the hype is because of him and it helps him convert more people cause people want to be where every bodys at and for that you need hype - i just dont think his the reason israel is second cause again he just started recently but he might be the reason israel will be number one who knows

[JP]

are there any funny religious cults/sects following vegetarianism?

even in UK i think less than half would be "ethical" vegetarians, it would be really suprising if that was the case in israel.

then again, almost every israeli i have met has been vegan or vegetarian But thats because of the political/leftie/animal rights/anarchist connections, so not really very representative

[israel]

Yes there is a cult lol

there is the black hebrew israelites that live in israel - they are all vegan ! but also follow polygamy - but there not like the racist ones in the u.s and they go to the army and are very nice people - but there is not much of them wiki says 5,000

religious people i think would be less vegetarians - i dont belive there are much ultra orthodox jews that are vegetarian but "light" religious people like the settlers as far as i know have the same amount as secular jews

And to add other mini reason might be humus and falafel popularity , less use of animal fat in cooking , i remember seeing a survey that people in israel are using the internet a lot and that increases chances to watch animal abuse videos

[thestoatyone]

I always assumed that if you are eating more or less kosher, then the transition to veganism must be easier than for you average cheeseburger muncher. Less stress having to figure out what's in what you're eating if nothing else...

[Lordmuppet]

googling related terms brings up some interesting stuff on the topic

a list of veggie rabbis http://jewishveg.wikispaces.com/Vegetarian+Rabbis

a letter sent to 3500 rabbis that argued that eating meat is incompatible with Jewish values as well as pointing out some realities of meat production
http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/campaign-change.html

[israel]

Less stress having to figure out what's in what you're eating if nothing else...

yep

[loveliberate]

I recently attended my first Hanukkah celebration - happily all the food was veg & most was vegan! I am not sure how typical this is (the party was certainly very informal) but I didn't hear anyone voice anything other than how good the food was.

[israel]

There was also a big undercover investigation about abuse of cows that are used for meat which the majority of them are shipped from australia and i think will give an extra boost now

plus all the talk as if israel is going to be vega only helps even if its not real - and it makes the sellers think and give more vegan options - and big organization will put more effort in there vegan options like hospitals airports jails army

so saw this while googeling about the army : http://israel360.org/main/2012/11/01/a- ... -military/
im sure not all options are easy to get and they probobly dot taste good yet but as long as its improving ...

i believe its a snowball and the first steps are the hardest and then it rolls on it own