It's the 20th anniversary of The Vegetarian Resource Group! Making it easier for you to be vegetarian

Vegetarian Journal, May-June, 2002

EVERY DAY IS BUSY, BUT VOLUNTEERS WERE ESPECIALLY APPRECIATED WHEN ...

In 1990 The VRG's contact information was given in the New York Times, resulting in over 300 phone calls in two days. As soon as the phone stopped ringing, we were deluged by over 1,500 letters requesting information. In 1993, due to a feature in Parade magazine, we received thousands of requests for vegetarian information. Mentions in the consumer publication Workbasket and the employee wellness periodical The Hope Heart Newsletter, resulted in similar responses.

IT'S OUR BUSINESS

In order to have more vegetarian products, The VRG always recognized that we needed to work with businesses. Several companies have told us that they received a jump in sales, a new connection, or a nice contract because of a mention in Vegetarian Journal or our Foodservice Update. We have been of assistance to small and large companies through our national polls indicating the number of vegetarians, taste-testing (a company's products before they're ready for market), and giving advice about marketing to vegetarians.

In 1993 in "Overlooking a Powerful Market?" in the Packer, the business newspaper of the Produce Industry, Debra was quoted: "A joke among vegetarians is that for them to conform to 5 a Day, we'd have to cut back on fruits and vegetables." This article encouraged businesses to market to vegetarians.

We also approached businesses on the academic level; for example, VRG Advisor Wayne Smeltz, PhD presented a paper at the Association for the Study of Food and Society conference on the linkages between Business, Ethics, and the Environment as they relate to food production.

THE VRG IN CYBERSPACE

Our first foray into the Internet began during the early 90's. At that time, "NurseBobbi" Pasternak was reaching out to people interested in vegetarianism via FTP sites and monitoring USENET groups. She made our files available in the file libraries of CompuServe and AOL. Between 1993 and 1999 she regularly referred people to VRG publications through her weekly vegetarian chats. Brad Scott set up VRG information on Envirolink in 1995, and <www.vrg.org> went live in January, 1997. Now, by 2002, we have over 125,000 visitors a month, with over 2 million files accessed every four weeks. In 1997 the Tufts University Nutrition Navigator awarded the VRG website one of their highest rankings for a nutrition website.

FOOD SERVICE BECOMES HEALTHIER

A major program of The VRG has been assisting food services to serve more vegan and vegetarian food. In 1991 we published 30 quantity vegan recipes in servings of 25 for use by food services. These were simple recipes that were of practical use, especially to schools and camps. We based them on our experiences cooking for our own conferences and at soup kitchens.

In 1992 Debra had a letter to the editor published in The New York Times headlined, "Chefs in US: Must Recognize Demand for Vegetarian Cuisine," and it offered information and quantity recipes. The letter was prominently boxed off and it brought us a lot of attention in the food service industry. Inquiries for our materials have ranged from a US Air Team requesting advice concerning a proposal for serving vegetarian foods, to the Food Service Director at Galludet University, to the Omaha Steaks company.