eganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an

associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals.[b] A follower of the diet or
the philosophy is known as a vegan.[c] Distinctions may be made between several categories of
veganism. Dietary vegans (also known as "strict vegetarians") refrain from consuming meat,
eggs, dairy products, and any other animal-derived substances.[d] An ethical vegan (also known
as a "moral vegetarian") is someone who not only follows a vegan diet but extends the
philosophy into other areas of their lives, and opposes the use of animals for any purpose.[e]
Another term is "environmental veganism", which refers to the avoidance of animal products on
the premise that the industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and
unsustainable.[21]

Well-planned vegan diets are regarded as appropriate for all stages of life, including infancy and
pregnancy, by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,[f] Dietitians of Canada,[23] the
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council,[24] New Zealand Ministry of Health,
[25]
Harvard Medical School,[26] and the British Dietetic Association.[27] The German Society for
Nutrition does not recommend vegan diets for children or adolescents, or during pregnancy and
breastfeeding.[g] In preliminary clinical research, vegan diets lowered the risk of type 2 diabetes,
high blood pressure, obesity, and ischemic heart disease.[29][30][31][32] Vegan diets tend to be higher
in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals; and
lower in dietary energy, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D,
calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.[h] As with a poorly-planned diet of any other variation, an unbalanced
vegan diet may lead to nutritional deficiencies that nullify any beneficial effects and may cause
serious health issues.[33][34][35] Some of these deficiencies can only be prevented through the choice
of fortified foods or the regular intake of dietary supplements.[33][36] Vitamin B12 supplementation
is especially important because its deficiency causes blood disorders and potentially irreversible
neurological damage.[35][37][38]

Donald Watson coined the term "vegan" in 1944 when he co-founded the Vegan Society in the
UK. At first he used it to mean "non-dairy vegetarian",[39][40] and by May 1945 vegans explicitly
abstained from "eggs, honey; and animals' milk, butter and cheese". From 1951 the Society
defined it as "the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals".[41] Interest in
veganism increased in the 2010s,[42][43] especially in the latter half.[43] More vegan stores opened
and vegan options became increasingly available in supermarkets and restaurants worldwide.

Contents
 1 Origins
o 1.1 Vegetarian etymology
o 1.2 History
o 1.3 Vegetarian Society
o 1.4 Vegan etymology (1944)
 2 Increasing interest
o 2.1 Alternative food movements
 o 2.2 Mainstream
 3 Veganism by country
 4 Animal products
o 4.1 Avoidance
o 4.2 Eggs and dairy products
o 4.3 Honey and silk
o 4.4 Pet food
 5 Vegan diet
o 5.1 Soy
o 5.2 Plant milk, cheese, mayonnaise
o 5.3 Egg replacements
o 5.4 Raw veganism
o 5.5 Nutrients
o 5.6 Health research
o 5.7 Professional and government associations
o 5.8 Pregnancy, infants and children
 6 Personal items
 7 Philosophy
o 7.1 Ethical veganism
o 7.2 Environmental veganism
o 7.3 Feminist veganism
o 7.4 Religious veganism
 8 Prejudice against vegans
o 8.1 Studies
o 8.2 Media
o 8.3 Reasons
 9 Symbols
 10 Economics of veganism
 11 See also
 12 Notes
 13 References
 14 External links

Origins
Further information: History of vegetarianism

Vegetarian etymology

The term "vegetarian" has been in use since around 1839 to refer to what was previously
described as a vegetable regimen or diet.[44] Its origin is an irregular compound of vegetable[45]
and the suffix -arian (in the sense of "supporter, believer" as in humanitarian).[46] The earliest-
known written use is attributed to actress, writer and abolitionist Fanny Kemble, in her Journal
of a Residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838–1839.[i]
History

Vegetarianism can be traced to Indus Valley Civilization in 3300–1300 BCE in the Indian
subcontinent,[49][50][51] particularly in northern and western ancient India.[52] Early vegetarians
included Indian philosophers such as Mahavira and Acharya Kundakunda, the Tamil poet
Valluvar, the Indian emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka; Greek philosophers such as
Empedocles, Theophrastus, Plutarch, Plotinus, and Porphyry; and the Roman poet Ovid and the
playwright Seneca the Younger.[53][54] The Greek sage Pythagoras may have advocated an early
form of strict vegetarianism,[55][56] but his life is so obscure that it is disputed whether he ever
advocated any form of vegetarianism at all.[57] He almost certainly prohibited his followers from
eating beans[57] and from wearing woolen garments.[57] Eudoxus of Cnidus, a student of Archytas
and Plato, writes that "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and
killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and
hunters".[57] One of the earliest known vegans was the Arab poet al-Maʿarri (c. 973 – c. 1057).[a]
[58]
Their arguments were based on health, the transmigration of souls, animal welfare, and the
view—espoused by Porphyry in De Abstinentia ab Esu Animalium ("On Abstinence from
Animal Food", c. 268 – c. 270)—that if humans deserve justice, then so do animals.[53]

Vegetarianism established itself as a significant movement in 19th-century Britain and the

United States.[59] A minority of vegetarians avoided animal food entirely.[60] In 1813, the poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley published A Vindication of Natural Diet, advocating "abstinence from
animal food and spirituous liquors", and in 1815, William Lambe, a London physician, stated
that his "water and vegetable diet" could cure anything from tuberculosis to acne.[61] Lambe
called animal food a "habitual irritation", and argued that "milk eating and flesh-eating are but
branches of a common system and they must stand or fall together".[62] Sylvester Graham's
meatless Graham diet—mostly fruit, vegetables, water, and bread made at home with
stoneground flour—became popular as a health remedy in the 1830s in the United States.[63]
Several vegan communities were established around this time. In Massachusetts, Amos Bronson
Alcott, father of the novelist Louisa May Alcott, opened the Temple School in 1834 and
Fruitlands in 1844,[64][j] and in England, James Pierrepont Greaves founded the Concordium, a
vegan community at Alcott House on Ham Common, in 1838.[4][66]

Vegetarian Society

Further information: Vegetarian Society

Fruitlands, a short-lived vegan community established in 1844 by Amos Bronson Alcott in
Harvard, Massachusetts.

Mahatma Gandhi, Vegetarian Society, London, 20 November 1931, with Henry Salt on his
right[k]

In 1843, members of Alcott House created the British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of
Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food,[68] led by Sophia Chichester, a wealthy benefactor
of Alcott House.[69] Alcott House also helped to establish the UK Vegetarian Society, which held
its first meeting in 1847 in Ramsgate, Kent.[70] The Medical Times and Gazette in London
reported in 1884:

There are two kinds of Vegetarians—one an extreme form, the members of which eat no animal
food products what-so-ever; and a less extreme sect, who do not object to eggs, milk, or fish. The
Vegetarian Society ... belongs to the latter more moderate division.[60]

An article in the Society's magazine, the Vegetarian Messenger, in 1851 discussed alternatives to
shoe leather, which suggests the presence of vegans within the membership who rejected animal
use entirely, not only in diet.[71] By the 1886 publication of Henry S. Salt's A Plea for
Vegetarianism and Other Essays, he asserts that, "It is quite true that most—not all—Food
Reformers admit into their diet such animal food as milk, butter, cheese, and eggs..."[72] Russell
Thacher Trall's The Hygeian Home Cook-Book published in 1874 is the first known vegan
cookbook in America.[73] The book contains recipes "without the employment of milk, sugar,
salt, yeast, acids, alkalies, grease, or condiments of any kind."[73] An early vegan cookbook,
Rupert H. Wheldon's No Animal Food: Two Essays and 100 Recipes, was published in London
in 1910.[74] The consumption of milk and eggs became a battleground over the following
decades. There were regular discussions about it in the Vegetarian Messenger; it appears from
the correspondence pages that many opponents of veganism came from vegetarians.[7][75]

During a visit to London in 1931, Mahatma Gandhi—who had joined the Vegetarian Society's
executive committee when he lived in London from 1888 to 1891—gave a speech to the Society
arguing that it ought to promote a meat-free diet as a matter of morality, not health.[67][76] Lacto-
vegetarians acknowledged the ethical consistency of the vegan position but regarded a vegan diet
as impracticable and were concerned that it might be an impediment to spreading vegetarianism
if vegans found themselves unable to participate in social circles where no non-animal food was
available. This became the predominant view of the Vegetarian Society, which in 1935 stated:
"The lacto-vegetarians, on the whole, do not defend the practice of consuming the dairy products
except on the ground of expediency."[75]

Vegan etymology (1944)

External images
The Vegan News
first edition, 1944
Donald Watson
front row, fourth left, 1947[77]

In August 1944, several members of the Vegetarian Society asked that a section of its newsletter
be devoted to non-dairy vegetarianism. When the request was turned down, Donald Watson,
secretary of the Leicester branch, set up a new quarterly newsletter in November 1944, priced
tuppence.[6] He called it The Vegan News. He chose the word vegan himself, based on "the first
three and last two letters of 'vegetarian'" because it marked, in Mr Watson's words, "the
beginning and end of vegetarian",[6][78] but asked his readers if they could think of anything better
than vegan to stand for "non-dairy vegetarian". They suggested allvega, neo-vegetarian,
dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivores, and beaumangeur.[6][79]

The first edition attracted more than 100 letters, including from George Bernard Shaw, who
resolved to give up eggs and dairy.[7] The new Vegan Society held its first meeting in early
November at the Attic Club, 144 High Holborn, London. Those in attendance were Donald
Watson, Elsie B. Shrigley, Fay K. Henderson, Alfred Hy Haffenden, Paul Spencer and Bernard
Drake, with Mme Pataleewa (Barbara Moore, a Russian-British engineer) observing.[80] World
Vegan Day is held every 1 November to mark the founding of the Society and the month of
November is considered by the Society to be World Vegan Month.[81]

Barbara Moore attended the first meeting of the Vegan Society as an observer.[80]

The Vegan News changed its name to The Vegan in November 1945, by which time it had 500
subscribers.[82] It published recipes and a "vegan trade list" of animal-free products, such as
toothpastes, shoe polishes, stationery and glue.[83] Vegan books appeared, including Vegan
Recipes by Fay K. Henderson and Aids to a Vegan Diet for Children by Kathleen V. Mayo.[84]

The Vegan Society soon made clear that it rejected the use of animals for any purpose, not only
in diet. In 1947, Watson wrote: "The vegan renounces it as superstitious that human life depends
upon the exploitation of these creatures whose feelings are much the same as our own ...".[85]
From 1948, The Vegan's front page read: "Advocating living without exploitation", and in 1951,
the Society published its definition of veganism as "the doctrine that man should live without
exploiting animals".[85][86] In 1956, its vice-president, Leslie Cross, founded the Plantmilk
Society; and in 1965, as Plantmilk Ltd and later Plamil Foods, it began production of one of the
first widely distributed soy milks in the Western world.[87]

The first vegan society in the United States was founded in 1948 by Catherine Nimmo and Rubin
Abramowitz in California, who distributed Watson's newsletter.[88][89] In 1960, H. Jay Dinshah
founded the American Vegan Society (AVS), linking veganism to the concept of ahimsa, "non-
harming" in Sanskrit.[89][90][91] According to Joanne Stepaniak, the word vegan was first published
independently in 1962 by the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, defined as "a vegetarian who eats no
butter, eggs, cheese, or milk".[92]

Increasing interest
Alternative food movements

In the 1960s and 1970s, a vegetarian food movement emerged as part of the counterculture in the
United States that focused on concerns about diet, the environment, and a distrust of food
producers, leading to increasing interest in organic gardening.[93][94] One of the most influential
vegetarian books of that time was Frances Moore Lappé's 1971 text, Diet for a Small Planet.[95] It
sold more than three million copies and suggested "getting off the top of the food chain".[96]

The following decades saw research by a group of scientists and doctors in the United States,
including physicians Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, Neal D. Barnard, John A. McDougall,
Michael Greger, and biochemist T. Colin Campbell, who argued that diets based on animal fat
and animal protein, such as the Western pattern diet, were detrimental to health.[97] They
produced a series of books that recommend vegan or vegetarian diets, including McDougall's
The McDougall Plan (1983), John Robbins's Diet for a New America (1987), which associated
meat eating with environmental damage, and Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart
Disease (1990).[98] In 2003 two major North American dietitians' associations indicated that well-
planned vegan diets were suitable for all life stages.[99][100] This was followed by the film
Earthlings (2005), Campbell's The China Study (2005), Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin's
Skinny Bitch (2005), Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals (2009), and the film Forks over
Knives (2011).[101]

In the 1980s, veganism became associated with punk subculture and ideologies, particularly
straight edge hardcore punk in the United States;[102] and anarcho-punk in the United Kingdom.
[103]
This association continues on into the 21st century, as evinced by the prominence of vegan
punk events such as Fluff Fest in Europe.[104][105]
Mainstream

See also: 2010s in food and List of vegans

The vegan diet became increasingly mainstream in the 2010s,[42][43][106] especially in the latter half.
[43][107]
The Economist declared 2019 "the year of the vegan".[108] The European Parliament
defined the meaning of vegan for food labels in 2010, in force as of 2015.[109] Chain restaurants
began marking vegan items on their menus and supermarkets improved their selection of vegan
processed food.[110]

The global mock-meat market increased by 18 percent between 2005 and 2010,[111] and in the
United States by eight percent between 2012 and 2015, to $553 million a year.[112] The
Vegetarian Butcher (De Vegetarische Slager), the first known vegetarian butcher shop, selling
mock meats, opened in the Netherlands in 2010,[111][113] while America's first vegan butcher, the
Herbivorous Butcher, opened in Minneapolis in 2016.[112][114] Since 2017, more than 12,500 chain
restaurant locations have begun offering Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods products including
Carl's Jr. outlets offering Beyond Burgers and Burger King outlets serving Impossible
Whoppers. Plant-based meat sales in the U.S have grown 37% in the past two years.[115]