The Boston Globe ran a story today on the rise of veganism among men—manly men! And look! They’ve gone ahead and coined a term: “hegans.” Though there’s no doubt that veganism is on the rise (Grid has actually profiled vegan bakeries in back-to-back issues; someone must be eating the stuff), this seems like yet another hilariously thin fake trend story. Here’s Salon’s take:
Unfortunately, Pierce admits, there are “no hard numbers on how many hegans exist.” This is unfortunate, because when promoting arbitrary trends, it’s often useful to have hard figures. (The entire trend piece, as it turns out, is based on anecdotal interviews with male vegans or vegan establishment owners.) Of course, that doesn’t mean that male vegans aren’t really on the increase — the growth of yoga culture and Michael Pollan-esque food politics have doubtless made it more and more acceptable for men to make educated eating choices, and statistics have shown that even if men aren’t going vegan, they’re spending more time in the kitchen.
