According to studies done in 2008, there are 11 million people (3.5% of population) that are classified as being Vegans or Vegetarians. Another 22.8 million people (10% of population) follow a vegetable based diet. Another 13% of the population are partial-vegetarians who eat “mostly” vegetarian, and another 11 million non-vegetarians state that they are very interested in changing to a vegetable based diet in the future.
According to studies, 60% of vegetarians are female, 84% are between 18-54 years old, and 57% have followed a vegetarian diet for more than 10 years.
U.S. vegetarian food sales have more than doubled since 1998, and totaled $1.6 Billion in the 5 years between 1998 and 2003.
In 2011, Walmart stores offered 400 organic products, SuperTarget stores offered over 700 organic products, Safeway stores offered more than 300 organic products, and Kroger stores now offers its own entire line of organic products directly (in-house).
Organic sales are growing at a rate that far surpasses other types of food sales, and accounted for more than $28.6 Billion in 2010 alone.
Clearly, vegans, vegetarians, and other health-conscious folks who are opting for more and more organic foods are a quickly growing part of the population; and yet (as of this writing), The Food Network (and its affiliate The Food Channel) do not offer even one single show that is dedicated to this part of the population. Why?
More women than men watch food television. Most people who watch food television are between 30-50 years old. Why would they ignore a market whose demographics mirrors their own so closely? Most of these people have followed their diets for more than 10 years already, and in an age of little to no brand loyalty among consumers (outside of the “progressive” hipsters who bow to all things Apple), what could be a better target group than one who has 10+ years invested? People who have been eating the same specific foods for over ten years, are no more likely to change their food choices than someone who has drunk the same beer for 10 years, or watched the same newscasters, or used the same bath soap!
It is a MADE market, and the Food Network empire is ignoring it. They have done the very occasional “special” program on vegetarian topics, and had occasional vegetarian episodes of their regular series, so it isn’t as if they can say they have never heard of this part of the population. They have people and firms who do market research for them in all things food and TV related, so it MUST be a deliberate choice that they do not offer ANY on-going series aimed at vegans, vegetarians, and the organic-minded. Why?
Honestly, if you watch the Food Network for more than a few hours at any given time, on any given day, you’ll get the idea that if they cannot rope it and grill it, or beat it and frost it, it just doesn’t exist! Well, why the heck not?
My own belly size is testament to the fact that being vegetarian doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy sweets and desserts at least as much as the next person; and there are ways to combine even BBQ-ing with vegetable-based diets as long as you are just a little bit creative (of course the growing number of been-there done-that shows that reflect nothing more than a handful of previous shows is itself testament to the lack of true creativity on Food Network). So again I ask, why the heck isn’t there even one show dedicated to this segment of society?
Out of the more than 115 shows currently listed on Food Network, why is there not even ONE show dedicated to this segment of the population? Seriously, why the heck not?
Food Network makes darn sure that it has enough hosts and guests who are different ethnicities, and different geographical backgrounds. There is an abundance of hosts with trendy goop-swirled messes on their heads, and the even trendier plethora of garish tattoos and piercings (not to mention the clothes apparently stolen from a junior high school age kids closet).
They even recently tried to show they are socially-concerned by promoting programs to fight hunger among children here in the USA (an utter sham perpetuated for the ratings when you consider just how much food is wasted every single day in making many of their shows (especially ones like the Iron Chef where 500 pounds of celery is rotted under the stage lights for effect while the chefs uses a spear or three in a few small bowls of soup that guests will take a taste or two of)). If they were really concerned about starving kids, they’d be out feeding them, not patting themselves on the back for doing PSA’s about the problem, starting with a MAJOR curbing of food waste by their shows and specials. And seriously - you’ll pardon my going off on a tangent for a second - is there anybody who finds the American-ized version of Iron Chef to be more entertaining than the Japanese original was?
And as far as child nutrition is concerned, wouldn’t kids (and all of us parents!) be better served by having at least a couple of shows about truly healthy ways of eating? Instead of aiding and abetting the obesity in this country with yet another 10-15 shows about cupcakes, why not have Ellie Krieger (who does at least tend to focus on healthy foods) do a new series or three aimed at healthy organic vegan and vegetarian foods?
Wouldn’t it be worth a few less heart attacks from arteries clogged by encouragement of Bobby Flay’s made to cause seizure porkchops, or Guy Fieri’s stroke inducing gravy-covered fries to have at least a couple of shows that truly encouraged people to eat healthy, and even more importantly – teach their children to eat healthy? Wouldn’t that show at least a little true concern for the health of our society and their viewers?
Here’s a creative idea for them:
Have a new show wherein the healthy-cooking host teaches 3 or 4 of their less than trim-n-fit hosts how they can cook healthier, eat healthier, and be healthier while doing it. A series that showed famous TV food hosts getting in shape, and learning all new cooking techniques would draw viewers from all sorts of demographics – fat boys like me and the Biggest Loser crowd, competition reality TV viewers, as well as the vegetable-organic crowd I’ve been talking about. WHY NOT???
So – even when statistics show that there is serious money to be made (billions to be shared), and the ratings garnered from doing so – why are vegans, vegetarians, and organic-minded folks so purposefully and continually minimal-ized on their network(s)?
Folks like me make up a roughly 20% and growing quickly part of the U.S. population, and we don’t make up even 1% of programming by the Food Network, and it makes no logical sense for them to continue to do so.
So, why do they really do it?
According to studies, 60% of vegetarians are female, 84% are between 18-54 years old, and 57% have followed a vegetarian diet for more than 10 years.
U.S. vegetarian food sales have more than doubled since 1998, and totaled $1.6 Billion in the 5 years between 1998 and 2003.
In 2011, Walmart stores offered 400 organic products, SuperTarget stores offered over 700 organic products, Safeway stores offered more than 300 organic products, and Kroger stores now offers its own entire line of organic products directly (in-house).
Organic sales are growing at a rate that far surpasses other types of food sales, and accounted for more than $28.6 Billion in 2010 alone.
Clearly, vegans, vegetarians, and other health-conscious folks who are opting for more and more organic foods are a quickly growing part of the population; and yet (as of this writing), The Food Network (and its affiliate The Food Channel) do not offer even one single show that is dedicated to this part of the population. Why?
More women than men watch food television. Most people who watch food television are between 30-50 years old. Why would they ignore a market whose demographics mirrors their own so closely? Most of these people have followed their diets for more than 10 years already, and in an age of little to no brand loyalty among consumers (outside of the “progressive” hipsters who bow to all things Apple), what could be a better target group than one who has 10+ years invested? People who have been eating the same specific foods for over ten years, are no more likely to change their food choices than someone who has drunk the same beer for 10 years, or watched the same newscasters, or used the same bath soap!
It is a MADE market, and the Food Network empire is ignoring it. They have done the very occasional “special” program on vegetarian topics, and had occasional vegetarian episodes of their regular series, so it isn’t as if they can say they have never heard of this part of the population. They have people and firms who do market research for them in all things food and TV related, so it MUST be a deliberate choice that they do not offer ANY on-going series aimed at vegans, vegetarians, and the organic-minded. Why?
Honestly, if you watch the Food Network for more than a few hours at any given time, on any given day, you’ll get the idea that if they cannot rope it and grill it, or beat it and frost it, it just doesn’t exist! Well, why the heck not?
My own belly size is testament to the fact that being vegetarian doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy sweets and desserts at least as much as the next person; and there are ways to combine even BBQ-ing with vegetable-based diets as long as you are just a little bit creative (of course the growing number of been-there done-that shows that reflect nothing more than a handful of previous shows is itself testament to the lack of true creativity on Food Network). So again I ask, why the heck isn’t there even one show dedicated to this segment of society?
Out of the more than 115 shows currently listed on Food Network, why is there not even ONE show dedicated to this segment of the population? Seriously, why the heck not?
Food Network makes darn sure that it has enough hosts and guests who are different ethnicities, and different geographical backgrounds. There is an abundance of hosts with trendy goop-swirled messes on their heads, and the even trendier plethora of garish tattoos and piercings (not to mention the clothes apparently stolen from a junior high school age kids closet).
They even recently tried to show they are socially-concerned by promoting programs to fight hunger among children here in the USA (an utter sham perpetuated for the ratings when you consider just how much food is wasted every single day in making many of their shows (especially ones like the Iron Chef where 500 pounds of celery is rotted under the stage lights for effect while the chefs uses a spear or three in a few small bowls of soup that guests will take a taste or two of)). If they were really concerned about starving kids, they’d be out feeding them, not patting themselves on the back for doing PSA’s about the problem, starting with a MAJOR curbing of food waste by their shows and specials. And seriously - you’ll pardon my going off on a tangent for a second - is there anybody who finds the American-ized version of Iron Chef to be more entertaining than the Japanese original was?
And as far as child nutrition is concerned, wouldn’t kids (and all of us parents!) be better served by having at least a couple of shows about truly healthy ways of eating? Instead of aiding and abetting the obesity in this country with yet another 10-15 shows about cupcakes, why not have Ellie Krieger (who does at least tend to focus on healthy foods) do a new series or three aimed at healthy organic vegan and vegetarian foods?
Wouldn’t it be worth a few less heart attacks from arteries clogged by encouragement of Bobby Flay’s made to cause seizure porkchops, or Guy Fieri’s stroke inducing gravy-covered fries to have at least a couple of shows that truly encouraged people to eat healthy, and even more importantly – teach their children to eat healthy? Wouldn’t that show at least a little true concern for the health of our society and their viewers?
Here’s a creative idea for them:
Have a new show wherein the healthy-cooking host teaches 3 or 4 of their less than trim-n-fit hosts how they can cook healthier, eat healthier, and be healthier while doing it. A series that showed famous TV food hosts getting in shape, and learning all new cooking techniques would draw viewers from all sorts of demographics – fat boys like me and the Biggest Loser crowd, competition reality TV viewers, as well as the vegetable-organic crowd I’ve been talking about. WHY NOT???
So – even when statistics show that there is serious money to be made (billions to be shared), and the ratings garnered from doing so – why are vegans, vegetarians, and organic-minded folks so purposefully and continually minimal-ized on their network(s)?
Folks like me make up a roughly 20% and growing quickly part of the U.S. population, and we don’t make up even 1% of programming by the Food Network, and it makes no logical sense for them to continue to do so.
So, why do they really do it?
