The problems multiply for the country's growing population of vegans, who shun all animal products, including milk and eggs. Another exasperated Washington resident is two-year vegan Joanna Rom, who tells of restaurant foibles such as beef broth included in tomato sauce or burritos filled with beans cooked in lard. You really have to interrogate the chef to find out what the base is. While some unenlightened operators might wish that vegetarians just stay home, the truth is, as Rom remarks, vegetarians appreciate good food, and most like to eat out. We do not have to eat bland food.
Hard numbers verifying the growth of vegetarianism are difficult to find.
Carl V. Phillips, a social science researcher at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, notes several reasons. The studies that have been done, Phillips says, have not been successful in getting accurate numbers. Also troubling is the lack of recent studies. Most vegetarian groups cite a 1992 survey by the Vegetarian Resource Group, a 15,000-member nonprofit organization based in Baltimore, in which 12.5 million Americans identified themselves as vegetarian. National Restaurant Association statistics on the number of vegetarians are even older.