Vegans Take America

Drop that hot dog. America goes vegan. We look at the trend with Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Mollie Katzen, and more.

For years and years, to be vegan was to be well outside the American mainstream.

On TV Americans heard “Beef: it’s what’s for dinner,” while vegans ate no meat, no fish, no eggs, no dairy – for some not even honey. Nothing that would exploit an animal, never mind keep a steakhouse or burger joint running.

But things change, and suddenly vegans and veganism seem to be everywhere. Some Americans going all the way.  Some toe-dipping. It’s a remarkable moment, a remarkable shift.

We look at what’s up with Americans going vegan.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guests:

Kim O'Donnel, journalist, chef and author of The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook. Her food column for USA Today is Family Kitchen.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of the "Post Punk Kitchen" blog and author of the new book Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes. You can read an excerpt.

Mollie Katzen, best-selling cookbook author. Her books include Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

Susan Nitzke, chair of the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin, where she also is a researcher in diet and nutrition. For nutritional information on vegan diets, she recommends going to the Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group.

**Check out more of On Point’s food coverage: Mark Bittman on Intelligent Eating; Anthony Bourdain on “Medium Raw”; Michael Pollan’s ‘Food Rules’; Gourmet’s Ruth Reichl: “Not Becoming My Mother”; Food Critic Frank Bruni Talks “Born Round”; Sweet Lightning: Extreme Chocolate.