The article discuses the fundamental characteristics of vegetarianism as a heterogeneous and controversial practice, and tries to asses its scope in contemporary Western world. In the central part it presents the main results of the empirical study of vegetarianism and its perceptions on a representative sample of adult residents of the two largest cities in Slovenia, Ljubljana and Maribor. On this basis, the author proposes a more comprehensive design of quantitative and qualitative research on social aspects of vegetarianism and responses to it
