If you are what you eat, then Brooklyn's Zachary Koval, 28, and San Jose's Tiana Rae Tran, 22, must be eating a whole lot of hotness. One thing their not injesting is meat. They are the winners of PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Contest 2012, and they each received the grand prize: a free trip for two to Hawaii.
Koval has been a vegarian since he was 10, long before he moved to Brooklyn from Portland, Oregon, but it was only two and a half years ago that he became a vegan. He changed his diet when he began working in a vegan restaurant in Manhattan. He told the Huffington Post that the evironment, while not the main factor for his dietary choices, is a motivation for him, saying, "The waste and pollution of our fresh water, the destruction of our rainforests, and overgrazing and loss of farmable soil, all due to the agricultural demands of livestock is overwhelming."
Tran, who became a vegetarian five years ago, is motivated more by religion. In a press release, she said, "I no longer have to worry about the day I enter heaven and have to look into the eyes of all those I have eaten and apologize." This isn't the first time she's won a competition. The PETA website reports that although she's currently a child development student, Tran currently holds the title of Miss National Asia, and uses that as a platform to bring attention to animal rights. In fact, while at a pageant in Hong Kong when she was 19, Tran made sure contestents were served vegetarian meals.
Both winners note the physical health benefits of vegetarianism. Tran credits her diet with making her energized, and Koval sees his diet as a weapon against the high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease that run in his family.
