Vegan-friendliness rating system for cities / areas

[Second Summer]

I've been thinking about how cities and areas differ in terms of vegan-friendliness, and whether a semi-serious rating system could be constructed.

Which criteria would you include in such a system? E.g. is the availability of hummus in grocery stores one such criterion? The number of vegan restaurants within a radius of 20 minutes on public transportation? (Or the number of other restaurants that cater "properly" to vegans?) The existence of vegan meetup groups?

Obviously, such a system would be biased in one way or another, I think that's unavoidable. But if all the most common criteria were represented in an easy-to-use user interface, then everyone could use their own formulae and the system would calculate their personal rating! (And no, I did not just volunteer to create the software!)

 

[RabbitLuvr]

Kansas City metro area doesn't even have decent public transportation.

 

[Digger]

It's an interesting thought, Indian Summer, but I wouldn't even know how to begin such an undertaking. I live in a relatively small town in the middle of hunting country, but because it's a university town I've found the local grocery stores to be very well-stocked with vegan foods, and public transportation gets me pretty much anywhere I need to go. But I suppose it's all relative. Compared to some cities, where I live would be considered absolutely barbaric, but as rural towns go it's not difficult at all to be vegan.

 

[led.boots]

Also accessibility to farmers markets is important. It is where most of my food $$ goes.

 

[beancounter]

I would say the number of veg freindly restaurants and grocery stores per capita would be the best indicator.

 

[Second Summer]

It's an interesting thought, Indian Summer, but I wouldn't even know how to begin such an undertaking.

I'm thinking what we need is a metric of some sort. Here is the outline of one way to calculate it, I've tentatively named it the V-value or Vv for short

Vv = g(tofu, soya milk, vegan yoghurt, hummus, guacamole, vegan supplements ...) * w_g + o(other vegan items such as toothpaste, cosmetics, clothing, shoes etc.) * w_o + s(meetup groups, vegan festivals, ...) * w_s + a(AR groups, veganism groups/organisations, ....) * w_a + r(vegan restaurants, vegan-friendly restaurants, other vegan or vegan-friendly places serving ready-to-eat food, ....) * w_r

where g is a function to calculate a value for the availability of various vegan groceries,
o is a function to calculate a value for the availability of various other vegan items,
s is a function to calculate a value for the social arena,
a is a function to calculate a value for the activism arena,
r is a function to calculate a value for the the availability of suitable restaurants or other places serving ready-to-eat food,
w_g is a weight applied to g,
w_s is a weight applied to s,
w_a is a weight applied to a, and
w_r is a weight applied to r

 

[beancounter]

And then there is analysis paralysis....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_paralysis

I'm thinking what we need is a metric of some sort. Here is the outline of one way to calculate it, I've tentatively named it the V-value or Vv for short

Vv = g(tofu, soya milk, vegan yoghurt, hummus, guacamole, vegan supplements ...) * w_g + o(other vegan items such as toothpaste, cosmetics, clothing, shoes etc.) * w_o + s(meetup groups, vegan festivals, ...) * w_s + a(AR groups, veganism groups/organisations, ....) * w_a + r(vegan restaurants, vegan-friendly restaurants, other vegan or vegan-friendly places serving ready-to-eat food, ....) * w_r

where g is a function to calculate a value for the availability of various vegan groceries,
o is a function to calculate a value for the availability of various other vegan items,
s is a function to calculate a value for the social arena,
a is a function to calculate a value for the activism arena,
r is a function to calculate a value for the the availability of suitable restaurants or other places serving ready-to-eat food,
w_g is a weight applied to g,
w_s is a weight applied to s,
w_a is a weight applied to a, and
w_r is a weight applied to r