In What's New, Scooby Doo?, the franchise turned Norville "Shaggy" Rogers into a vegetarian. The character, known for his enormous appetite, was always seen eating ham sandwiches, steaks, pizzas, and more alongside his favorite eating companion, Scooby-Doo, in the older cartoons, but that changed in later years, when Shaggy started leaving meat out of his meals.

The dynamic of Scooby and Shaggy has been a central aspect of the franchise since it began in 1969 with Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, which ran for three seasons. In the series, Scooby and Shaggy typically got into trouble together, and were always paired up when Fred Jones would split up the Mystery Inc. gang. Nearly every time Scooby and Shaggy were alone, they would end up being chased by what they thought was a ghost or a monster. Most of the trouble that the two found themselves in arose from their eating habits, as neither character could ever resist a good meal or a late night snack.

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The Scooby-Doo franchise has been rebooted with numerous cartoons and the series that aired on Cartoon Network during the early 2000s — What's New, Scooby Doo? — made a notable change to Shaggy's diet. It was revealed in one of the episodes that Shaggy is a vegetarian. This has also been offered as an explanation for his skinny frame. This decision was made after Shaggy's voice actor, the well-known radio personality Casey Kasem, convinced the producers to make Shaggy a vegetarian [via ThinkProgress]. It was his wish that his character reflect his own values, as Casey Kasem practiced a vegan diet. Kasem had a long-held reputation for championing animal rights. He was also a big opponent of factory farming. For these reasons, it was important to Kasem that Shaggy refrain from eating meat.

What's New Scooby-Doo

In fact, changing Shaggy's diet was a condition to get Kasem to voice the character again. Kasem quit in the 1990s and was replaced by Billy West and Scott Innes when he refused to voice Shaggy in a Burger King commercial. So when the producers of What's New, Scooby Doo? tried to get Casey Kasem back, he insisted on the change to Shaggy being made. Even after Kasem retired from the role, Shaggy has been seen continuing to follow his vegetarian diet in shows like Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Also, the live-action version of Shaggy (played by Matthew Dillard) ate veggie burgers in Scooby-Doo: The Movie.

Though Shaggy's vegetarian lifestyle may seem like a small detail that was added to Shaggy Rogers, it was actually a change that allowed Casey Kasem to leave a lasting mark on the iconic Hanna-Barbera character. It seems fitting that one of Shaggy's character traits would be influenced by Kasem, considering that he was voiced by Kasem for decades. His Shaggy voice is a big part of what made the Scooby-Doo character so popular, and why it was always important that his replacements emulate Kasem in their portrayals of Shaggy.

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