Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.
Victoria Moran,
MainStreetVegan.net
April 2018
We don’t have to be just alike to stand together as a powerful movement that will change, well, pretty much everything for the very much better.
Some people don’t eat animals for the animals’ sake.
Some people don’t eat animals for their health’s sake.
I’m with Freya Dinshah, cofounder of the American Vegan Society in 1960.
If you’re not a member, please become one:
www.americanvegan.org
Some people don’t eat animals to save the planet.
And some people don’t eat animals because of religion or yoga or world
hunger or because there’s a vegan they want to date. Most of the people who
stop eating animals (and animal products) eventually stop wearing animals,
too, and they stop supporting businesses and organizations that exploit
other beings. In the nearly 50 years that I’ve been aware of vegans and
following this movement, I’ve seen that most “ethical vegans” eventually
come to value health-supporting choices, and most “health vegans” eventually
open their hearts to animals. We all start to live a little greener, adding
other eco-friendly practices to our lives in addition to the way we eat,
which in itself shrinks our carbon footprint to about a size 2.
The first inkling of veganism as a “thing” was Donald Watson’s November 1944
newsletter, going to a few interested members of The (UK) Vegetarian
Society. It was called The Vegan News: Quarterly Magazine of the Non-Dairy
Vegetarians. These early vegans saw the connection between dairy and egg
consumption and animal exploitation. They weren’t fully convinced that
humans could live with no animal products, but they set out to try. It is
absolutely true, then, that the basis of veganism was and is ethical, but
it’s grown into a multi-faceted way of life that attracts people with myriad
interests, concerns, and motivations.
Artist Peter Max and his wife, Mary. A follower of Swami Satchidananda
starting in the 1970s, Mr. Max has been a huge force in promulgating
vegetarianism/veganism for decades.
In the newsletter’s second edition, February 1945, Watson laid out his
concept of veganism: “It is proposed that the Vegan Society shall have
but one rule, as follows: ‘I desire to be enrolled as a Member of the Vegan
Society, and during my period of membership I promise not to partake of
fish, flesh, fowl, eggs, animals’ milk or any of its products, and also that
I will not consciously use foods in which any of the above are included. In
their place I will use the wholesome products of the vegetable kingdom.’”
Yowza! The 1985 definition of veganism that we’re so fond of quoting* is a
lovely explanation of the ethical vegan life, but it is not original, and
not from Donald Watson who retired from his leadership role in the Society
in 1948. Watson’s view of veganism was simple: a vegan was a vegetarian who
did not consume milk and eggs, but instead would eat wholesome products of
the vegetable kingdom. There are a lot of ethical vegans today who would be
offended by the inclusion of the word “wholesome,” but there it is, from the
ground up. A strong ethical message and a supportive health message have
been part of veganism since its inception.
One might also note that there is no mention of honey, a hotly contested
topic in the first decades of the vegan movement. From 1948 to 1962, The UK
Vegan Society’s published definitions of veganism stated that honey could be
part of a vegan diet; and from 1972 to 1988 the issue of honey consumption
was “left to individual conscience.” This is when I came to veganism and
it’s still the way I see it. (I don’t like it when the rules change. I’m
still not fully past Vatican II.)
In any case, the original vision of a vegan was a complete vegetarian –
someone consuming no meat, fish, fowl, eggs, or dairy. This means that
today’s Whole Food Plant-Based people are vegan. Raw fooders who don’t
consume animal products are vegan. Activists who want to try every new mock
meat, faux fish, and compassionate croissant are vegan. Gourmets who spend
hours creating their plant-exclusive meals are vegan, and busy folks who
pack a banana and a Lara bar in the morning and figure they’ll get a real
meal at some point are vegan, too, as long as they avoid animal foods.
So why not be open and welcoming, as those earliest vegans were? A friend
confided about feeling hurt after a speaker at a vegfest asserted that
veganism was only about animal rights and anyone who does it for health
isn’t vegan. “I came to this for my health,” he said, “but later I learned
about the animals. Now I’m committed to animal rights, but if it weren’t for
Rip Esselstyn and his dad, I’d still be eating animals and wouldn’t even
care. So how is it bad that I’m a WFPB vegan?”
I told him that there is no way to be a bad vegan, except to stop doing it,
or to be so unkind and overbearing to humans that it sullies the vegan name
for the rest of us.
And this is a two-way street. A lot of WFPB people don’t even want to be
labeled vegan or associated with veganism, and this makes me sad
(so sad, in fact, that my post on May 1 is going to be about that). Three
generations of vegans have worked for this way of life to be recognized and
understood. Now it is. We’re big — but not big enough to split into
factions. Let’s hang together, and be wonderful, diverse parts of this
glorious whole. We don’t have to be just alike to stand together as a
powerful movement that will change, well, pretty much everythingfor the very
much better.
Victoria Moran is an author, podcaster, and director of Main Street Vegan
Academy. She has been vegetarian since 1969 and vegan since 1983. It’s never
been better.
***
Curiously, there have been 14 definitions of veganism in The (UK) Vegan
Society’s history, cited here. (The official site of The Vegan Society is
www.VeganSociety.com .)
May 1945 – Veganism is the practice of living on fruits,
nuts, vegetables, grains, and other wholesome non-animal products. Veganism
excludes as human food: flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey; and animals’ milk,
butter and cheese. Veganism aims at encouraging the manufacture and use of
alternatives to animal products.
Spring 1946 – The aims of the Society are:
To advocate that man’s food should be derived from fruits, nuts, vegetables,
grains and other wholesome non-animal products and that it should exclude
flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, and animals’ milk, butter and cheese.
To encourage the production and use of alternatives to animal commodities.
Mark Braunstein wrote for Vegetarian Times and other publications in the
1970s and 80s. His seminal book, Radical Vegetarianism, was published in
1981.
Spring 1947 – The aims of the Society are:
(a) To advocate that man’s food should be derived from fruits, nuts,
vegetables, grains and other wholesome non-animal products and that it
should exclude flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, and animals milk, butter and
cheese.
(b) To encourage the production and use of alternatives to animal
commodities.
(c) To extend and organise Veganism nationally and internationally between
those endeavouring to follow this way of life.
Spring 1948 – The Vegan Society, founded 1944, ADVOCATES
that man’ food should be derived from fruits nuts, vegetables and grains,
and ENCOURAGES the use of alternatives to all products of animal origin.
Spring 1954 – The Society affirms that man has no right to
exploit animals, advocates that man’s food should be derived from fruits,
nuts, vegetables and grains, and encourages the use of alternatives to all
products of animal origin.
Winter 1954 – Veganism is the doctrine that man should live
without exploiting animals. The Vegan Society seeks to end this exploitation
in its many forms, advocates that man’s food should be derived solely from
the vegetable kingdom to the exclusion of all animal products, encourages
the production and use of alternatives to commodities of animal origin,
promotes veganism at home and abroad, and facilitates contacts between those
endeavouring to further the aims of the Society.
Gene Baur cofounded Farm Sanctuary, the first sanctuary for farmed
animals, in 1986.
Summer 1957 – Veganism is the practice of living on the
products of the plant kingdom – to the exclusion of all animal foods –
proceeding from a wide consideration of man’s place in nature. The objects
of The Vegan Society are to provide in thought and practice for the advance
of veganism and to relate veganism to every aspect of creative co-operation
between man and nature.
Summer 1962 – Veganism is a way of living which excludes
all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and
includes a reverence and compassion for all life. It applies to the practice
of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh,
fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourage the
use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly, or in part from
animals. Veganism remembers man’s responsibilities to the earth and its
resources and seeks to bring about a healthy soil and plant kingdom and a
proper use of the materials of the earth.
Autumn 1972 – The Vegan Society, founded 1944, advocates
living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of all food and
other commodities derived wholly or in part from animals. Its members base
their lives on the ethic of Reverence for Life and seek to free themselves
from all forms of cruelty and exploitation. They are aware of man’s
responsibilities to his environment and seek to promote the proper use of
the resources of the earth.
Winter 1974 – Veganism is defined as a way of living on the
products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs,
animal milk and its derivatives. It encourages the study and use of
alternatives for all commodities normally derived wholly or partly from
animals. The objects of the Vegan Society are to further knowledge of an
interest in sound nutrition and in veganism and the vegan method of
agriculture as a means of increasing the potential of the earth to the
physical, moral and economic advantage of mankind.
Winter 1979 – Veganism is defined as a way of living on the
products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs,
animal milk and its derivatives (the taking of honey being left to
individual conscience). It encourages the study and use of alternatives for
all commodities normally derived wholly or partly from animals. The objects
of the Vegan Society are to further knowledge of an interest in sound
nutrition and in veganism and the vegan method of agriculture as a means of
increasing the potential of the earth to the physical, moral and economic
advantage of mankind.
Winter 1981 – The Vegan Society was formed in 1944 by a
group of vegetarians who had become aware of the suffering inseparable from
their diet. Its advantages as regards human health and the wise use of the
world’s resources became apparent and in 1964 it was granted Charity status.
In 1979 it became a Limited Company and its Charity status was confirmed.
Its declared object is ‘to further knowledge of an interest in sound
nutrition and in veganism and the vegan method of agriculture as a means of
increasing the potential of the earth to the physical, moral and economic
advantage of mankind’. Veganism is defined as a way of living on the
products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs,
animal milk and its derivatives (the taking of honey being left to
individual conscience). It encourages the study and use of alternatives for
all commodities normally derived wholly or partly from animals. Free from
commitment to any religious, political, philosophical, social, dietary or
medical group, members of the Vegan Society endeavour to co-operate with all
who are seeking a positive way forward for mankind.
Summer 1985 – Veganism may be defined as a way of living
which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practical, all forms of
exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom for food, clothing or
any other purpose. In dietary terms, it refers to the practice of dispensing
with all animal produce – including flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, (non-human)
animal milks, and their derivatives, with the taking of honey being left to
the individual conscience.
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