CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- You see it almost everywhere: plant-based alternatives to animal products.
And Chicago is no exception.
Chicago is called the “Hog Butcher for the World” but Kay Stepkin, who started the National Vegetarian Museum right here in Chicago, told WBBM's "At Issue" program that the city has a rich history of plant-based eating.
"We had quite a booming vegetarian movement back in the 1800s," said Stepkin. But the modern vegetarian movement "started in 1970 in Chicago — fairly slowly but steady, another place opened, another place, another place."
Stepkin said there are more than 50 vegetarian restaurants in Chicago now and whenever the museum prints up a pamphlet they have to add a few more.
Robbin O'Harrow owns Munch, a restaurant in Oak Park. She said many people are scared away from the term vegan because it's so strict — no animal products whatsoever — so she prefers the term plant-based, which she believes is friendlier and more open.