Vegan

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A vegan (noun) is a person who avoids as far as possible the use of animals or any animal products for nourishment or for any other purpose.

Vegan is also as an adjective to describe people (one who avoids all animal products), diets (plant-based), food (containing no animal products), and products (containing no animal products and not animal tested).

Contents

Overview

The word vegan (pronounced vee-gun, but less commonly as vay-gun) was originally derived from vegetarian in 1944 when Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson founded the UK Vegan Society. The word starts and ends with the first three and last two letters of vegetarian, representing that veganism begins with vegetarianism and then takes it to its logical conclusion. Therefore the term vegan was originally coined to differentiate those vegetarians who (primarily for ethical or environmental reasons) sought to eliminate all animal products in all areas of their lives from those who simply avoided eating meat.

Those who are vegans for ethical reasons today generally oppose the violence and cruelty they see as involved in the (non-vegan) food industry. By extension cruelty and exploitation is avoided in all human activities and relationships between people as well as with animals.

"The group argued that the elimination of exploitation of any kind was necessary in order to bring about a more reasonable and humane society. From its inception, veganism was defined as a "philosophy" and "way of living." It was never intended to be merely a diet and, still today, describes a lifestyle and belief system that revolves around a reverence for life." - Joanne Stepaniak (author of The Vegan Sourcebook}.

Veganism (as a diet) is a stricter form of vegetarianism and is an expansion of vegetarian ideals. Animal products such as leather, silk or wool are also avoided. Soap must be of vegetable oil instead of animal. Toothpaste and hair product etc. must not be tested by animal experiments such as vivisection or LD50.

Some vegans insist on organically grown fruits and vegetables. The term used is "veganic".

Some vegans will only eat raw fruits and choose to avoid damaging the plant from which the fruit comes. The term for this is "fruitarian".

Animal products

Animal products include all forms of meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, dairy products, fur, leather, wool, silk, and byproducts such as gelatin, rennet, whey, and the like. The Vegan Society and most vegans include insect products such as honey and beeswax in their definition as well. There is some debate on the finer points of what constitutes an animal product; some vegans avoid cane sugar that has been filtered with bone char and some won't drink beers and wines clarified with egg whites, animal blood (this is exceedingly rare today), or isinglass (even though they are not present in the final product). Further, some vegans won't eat food cooked in pans if they have ever been used to cook meat, while other vegans are content to simply remove meat, fish, eggs, and milk from their diets.

Motivation

Many vegans cite as their primary motivation, the concept of reducing animal suffering. Utilitarian philosopers, such such as Jeremy Bentham, and especially Peter Singer argue that the suffering of all sentient animals should be taken into consideration when making ethical decision; thus, by abstaining from consuming products from animals exploited for food - veganism is the application of this system of ethics. Though Singer's system recognizes the suffering of sentient animals, it does not rely on a concept of rights. However, philosophers such as Tom Regan believe that because sentient animals are capable of valuing their life, they have the inherent right to possess their own flesh, and therefore it is unethical to treat sentient animals as property, or as a commodity. Thus, vegans not only avoid eating meat and dairy products but also avoid the use of any product whose production involves the suffering, or commodification of animals. Depending on one's level of commitment this can include not using certain medicines because they are required to be tested on animals by various governmental agencies. Some feel so strongly about it that they avoid buying film, which contains gelatin, and use digital cameras instead. While there continues to be a debate within the vegan community regarding these issues, most vegans value compassion towards all living beings, and strive to live in peace with animals. For this reason many vegans are also supportive of the animal rights movement.

For many the vegan philosophy also has close connections with the concept of Ahimsa, a Sanskrit word central to the Jain sect of Hinduism and taught by Mahatma Gandhi - Ahimsa roughly means "non-killing and non-harming." The American Vegan Society website says: "It is not mere passiveness, but a positive method of meeting the dilemmas and decisions of daily life. In the western world, we call it Dynamic Harmlessness." Ahimsa is also used as an acronym: Abstinence from animal products, Harmlessness with reverence for life, Integrity of thought, word, and deed, Mastery over oneself, Service to humanity, nature, and creation, and Advancement of understanding and truth.

Those who avoid animals products for reasons of health (eg, due to allergies or to avoid cholesterol) rather than compassion sometimes describe themselves as "dietry vegans". However, popular vegan author Joanne Stepaniak argues that this term is inappropriate because veganism is by definition about helping animals. She believes that a term such as "total vegetarian" would be a better categorisation for those who, for example, avoid eating meat and dairy products, but continue to buy new leather shoes.

A Time/CNN poll published in Time Magazine July 7, 2002, found that 4% of Americans consider themselves vegetarians, and 5% of self-described vegetarians consider themselves vegans. This small-sampled poll may suggest that two-tenths-of-one-percent of Americans are vegans; there are about half-a-million American vegans. A 2000 poll suggested closer to 0.9% of the USA population may be vegan, i.e. 2.5 million citizens...

In the UK, research [1] showed that 0.4%, approximately 250 000 people were vegan in 2001.

Similar diets

There are several diets similar to veganism, though stemming from different philosophy, including fructarianism, raw foods, and the macrobiotic diet. There are also numerous religious groups that regularly or occasionally practice a similar diet, including some sects of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Christian sects including the Eastern Orthodox church and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Possible problems

According to the American Dietetic Association's position paper on vegetarian diets, vegans eating a varied diet have ample sources of nutrients, but vegans should pay attention to intake of vitamin B12. There is evidence however that indicates it is not difficult to acquire sufficient levels of B12 provided one consumes a variety of foods that are supplemented with it. This includes many kinds of rice milk, soy milk, yeast extracts, breakfast cereals, sublingual vitamins, and meat analogs. Vegans generally have lower calcium intake than non-vegetarians but may have lower calcium requirements as well. Vegans (and vegetarians) should also take into consideration the intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Most people in modern countries don't get enough of this nutrient, so it's not a problem with the vegan diet per se, but higher levels of long chain omega-3s are found in fish than in plant sources. So, vegans should include abundant omega-3 sources in their diet such as flax seed, walnut and dark green vegetables.

Possible benefits

A vegan diet may reduce the risk of many health problems, including heart failure, obesity, diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and cancer. Veganism also may be healthier for the enviroment and may improve the conditions of low income people in and out of third world countries by freeing more food for human consumption.

Vegan cuisine

For a list of vegan recipes complementary to this article see the wiki cookbook section, Vegan cuisine.

See also

Vegan essays online

External links

(See also external links on the vegetarianism page.)

VeganWiki

There's a VeganWiki at http://veganwiki.org/ mainly in German but also open for other languages with many articles about veganism, animal right, speciesism, ethics and moral purchasing.


References

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