True vegans don't go to zoos, circuses or aquariums.
Helen Cordes, editor of the bimonthly newsletter Daughters, said that the young girls are motivated to become vegan or vegetarian equally by a concern for animals and a desire to eat healthfully - two trends much in the public awareness.
"Certainly girls are thinking about moral and ethical issues and what is fair," said Cordes. "But it also is about control. The idea that you know who you are and you are in control of things can be very seductive, especially for girls in the `tween' years who are trying to control that feeling of powerlessness."
Gabby Levey, a 14-year-old from Pikesville, said she took the step from vegetarian to vegan about five months ago, and her reasons illustrate how well informed young girls can be about the issues that surround food.
"I didn't want to support any sort of animal cruelty," she said. "I realized that meat is so unhealthy and a leading cause of heart disease. And I realized that all this is terrible for the environment, in terms of pollution and global warming."
Levey sometimes gets chicken nuggets waved at her in her school cafeteria, but she shrugs it off.
Her mother is a vegan and her father is vegetarian, but this can be a tough road for some parents, who worry about the nutritional needs of a growing child.
"I remember we were on the Eastern Shore, driving behind a truck that was carrying chickens in cages," said Carolyn Curcio of Northwest Washington, whose daughter gave up beef and pork in the second grade because she felt bad for the animals.
"We had insisted that Cara continue to eat chicken and fish for health reasons," said Curcio. "But when she saw the truck, she said there was no way she was eating chicken again for the rest of her life.
"Having seen what she saw, we knew there was no way we were going to change her mind," she said of her daughter, a vegan since 16 and a freshman at New York University.
The Internet and organic food store chains, as well as colleges and universities, have made it easier to keep the vegan faith.
And there are plenty of vegan meat and dairy substitutes - crafted of soy or wheat or some other product to look like the real thing. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch has recipes for Philly cheese steaks, Fettuccine Alfredo and sloppy Joes.
Erin Marcus, 25, who gave up meat in the fifth grade and became a vegan at 20, said Baltimore is a wonderful town in which to be a vegan.
