PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Have you noticed an uptick in plant-based offerings at your favorite Oregon restaurants, cafés and bars? If so, you may not be the only one — and there’s a reason for that.
A report from Gambling.com, a marketing company for the online gambling industry, shows which U.S. states are most likely to go vegan, and Oregon was listed at No. 2.
To determine which places were most likely to opt into a plant-based diet, Gambling.com compiled each state’s number of vegan-related Google searches, vegan restaurants, vegan meet-ups and savings for vegan products versus meat products.
And while the number of people who choose plant-based diets has spiked throughout the country, Oregon in particular seems to be a hot spot for vegans.
“Oregonians had the highest vegan Google search interest across the U.S. and the second-highest number of vegan restaurants per person,” the site said. “All four categories culminate in an overall vegan score of 86.6 for the Beaver State, which also performs strongly in the vegan savings and meetups sections.”
Hawaii was the only state to top Oregon’s score, with a total of 91.7 points out of 100. California, New York and Washington rounded out the top five.
Many Oregonians won’t be surprised by their No. 2 ranking, considering their state’s overall push to be more eco-friendly.
Just within the past year, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality banned the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in the state by 2035, Eugene prohibited gas hookups in new low-rise homes, and a Portland coffee shop won an award for making oat milk its default milk option.
On the other end of the spectrum, states including Wyoming, Arkansas and West Virginia were named the least likely to change to a plant-based diet.