AMERICANS ARE SLOWLY TURNING VEGETARIAN

Again, that's not my wording - it's the lead of this MSNBC story on the huge growth of vegetarian and vegan foods. Granted, a lot of this growth is doubtlessly thanks to "flexitarians," which is why I believe we should welcome that self-categorization. They may not adhere to a strict ethical diet, but with their help, vegetarian food sales have doubled in the past five years, reaching $1.6 billion last year, and Mintel, a global market research firm, expects the market to grow another 61 percent by 2008. Mintel also noted that "Interest in vegetarianism is highest among the youngest age groups (ages 25 to 34)." It will be interesting to seen, then, if this growth accelerates over the next decade or so.