their lines for the episode, showrunner david mirkin, who had recently stopped consuming meat, gave linda and paul mccartney "a container of his favorite turkey substitute," with both voicing characters in an episode which focused around vegetarianism. critic alan siegel said that before the episode vegetarians had been portrayed as "rarely as anything but one-dimensional hippies" but that this episode was different as it was "told from the point of view of the person becoming a vegetarian." he said that the episode was one of the "first times on television that vegetarians saw an honest depiction of themselves" and of people's reaction to their dietary choices. the idea for the episode was originally proposed by david x. cohen and the mccartneys agreed on the condition that lisa remain a vegetarian, with both satisfied with how the episode turned out. in the episode, lisa decides to stop eating meat after bonding with a lamb at a petting zoo. her schoolmates and family members ridicule her for her beliefs, but with the help of apu as well as paul and linda mccartney, she commits to vegetarianism. the staff promised that she would remain a vegetarian, resulting in one of the few permanent character changes made in the show. in an august 2020 interview, mccartney said that he and is wife were worried that lisa "would be a vegetarian for a week, then homer would persuade her to eat a hot dog," but were assured by the producers that she would remain that way, and he was delighted that they "kept their word." in september 1998, the king of the hill episode "and they call it bobby love" aired on fox. in the episode, "bobby has a relationship with a vegetarian named marie. she later dumps him after he eats a steak in front of her. in the march 2002 south park episode "fun with veal", stan marsh becomes a vegetarian after he learns that veal is made of baby cows, with cartman makes fun of. the episode ends with the boys, including stan, getting grounded, but not before going out with their parents for burgers, meaning that stan is no longer a vegetarian. in the dvd commentary, the creators said they wanted to balance their message of not eating baby animals, by at the same time not advocating people abstain from meat consumption altogether. aang, in the animated series avatar: the last airbender and the legend of korra was vegetarian. according to the show's creators, "buddhism and taoism have been huge inspirations behind the idea for avatar." as shown in "the king of omashu" and "the headband", a notable aspect of aang's character is his vegetarian diet, which is consistent with buddhism, hinduism, and taoism. in the brahmajala sutra, a buddhist code of ethics, vegetarianism is encouraged. other fictional characters who are vegetarians appears in other media. this includes count duckula in count duckula, beast boy in teen titans go, lenore in supernatural, and norville "shaggy" rogers in the animated series what's new, scooby doo?. before the latter animated series, shaggy was known for having an "enormous appetite" earlier in the scooby-doo franchise. the decision to make shaggy a vegetarian occurred after his voice actor, casey kasem, convinced the producers to do so, since he was a vegan who supported animal rights and opposed factory farming, saying he would refuse to voice shaggy unless the character was vegetarian. also, a netflix original, okja, focused on vegetarianism, while a october 2019 south park episode, "let them eat goo," featured a vegetarian character. additionally, steven universe, the protagonist in the show steven universe and the limited epilogue series, steven universe future, is a vegetarian. in the episode "snow day" of steven universe future, steven tells the gems he lives with that he has been a vegetarian for a month, drinks protein shakes and mentions that he does "his own skincare routine." film in the 1999 film, notting hill, keziah, played by emma bernard is a vegetarian. in one scene, keziah tells william "will" thacker (played by hugh grant), that she is a fruitarian. she says she believes that "fruits and vegetables have feeling," meaning she opposes cooking them, only eating things that have "actually fallen off a tree or bush" and that are dead already, leading to what some describe as a negative depiction. in the 2000 film, but i'm a cheerleader, before megan, one of the film's protagonists, is sent to a conversion therapy camp, her parents and others claim she is a lesbian because she is a vegetarian. legally blonde, a 2001 film, also featured a vegetarian. when elle wood introduces herself at harvard law school, she describes herself and her dog as "gemini vegetarians." in the 2018 hollywood blockbuster, black panther, m’baku (voiced by winston duke), the jabari tribe leader who lives in the mountains of wakanda, declares to a white cia agent named everett ross (voiced by martin freeman), "if you say one more word, i’ll feed you to my children!" after everett is shaken by these words, he jokes, saying he is kidding because all those in his tribe, including himself, are vegetarians. some praised this scene for challenging a stereotype of black culture and the perception of what vegetarians look like. duke later said that some black outlets cooked vegan meals for him, and said that the scene is "kind of teaching kids that eating vegetables is cool," which is something he is for. vegetarian themes have also been noted in the twilight novel (2005–2008) and film franchise (2008–2012), the road (2006) and the year of the flood (2009). in march 2020, scholar nathan poirer reviewed thinking veganism in literature and culture: towards a vegan theory, a book edited by emelia quinn and benjamin westwood, and he concluded that veganism could "infiltrate popular culture without being perceived as threatening," while noting others who contribute to the book examining vegan cinema that "challenges the normality of human supremacy by situating humans as potential prey," and stating that the essays outline ways veganism can be successful in popular culture. other scholars noted vegetarian themes in the films the fault in our stars, the princess diaries series, and the 2009 film, vegetarian. video games when it comes to video games, bryce the cow in steer madness is perhaps one of the most prominent vegetarian characters. in this animal rights inspired action-adventure game, the player assumes the role of bryce the cow, a walking, talking bovine determined to put an end to animal exploitation and turn everyone vegetarian. during gameplay, the player goes on a series of missions to save the animals using many different tactics. the game is based in an open city environment and features several transportation methods, with gameplay similar to the game grand theft auto iii (without the guns or violence), and was given a peta award.