Veganism is Here to Stay?

With such a huge influence on the lifestyle of several people, it is important to understand what exactly veganism, and a plant-based diet is. According to The Vegan Society, “Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms, it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals”.

So not only does a vegan exclude animal-based products from their diet, they do not incorporate any animal product at all. Be it a leather jacket, or a velvet suit, vegans do not endorse the use of any animal-based materials at all, for ethical reasons. With a plant-based diet however, according to Piedmont, you can decide whether or not you want to consume animal products, and the focus is on eating mostly foods that come from plant sources. Plant-based diets also emphasize eating whole foods, meaning the food has undergone little – if any – processing and is as close to its natural state as possible.

So how did it all start then? Donald Watson, a British woodworker had primarily come up with the term ‘vegan’. He had coined this term in an effort to be able to distinguish between dairy and non-dairy-consuming vegetarians, and had also effectively formed the Vegan Society along with a bunch of others identifying as vegan. Watson used the fact that about 40% of Britain’s dairy cows were found to be affected by Tuberculosis the previous year to his advantage, and had claimed that adopting a vegan lifestyle would effectively protect them. In 1951, the Vegan Society had updated its definition to “exclude all forms of animal exploitation”. Almost six decades later, in 2005, there were about 250,000 self-identifying vegans in Britain and 2 million in the U.S. As of now, there are about 79 million people who identify as vegans worldwide.

The reason behind why people opt to go the vegan way varies from one to another. According to a survey by Vegan Food & Living in 2020, it was found that about 76% of the respondents had chosen to go vegan for animal welfare, while about 18% were doing it for their health. However, for those who classed themselves as plant-based, when asked for the main reason they decided to follow that diet, 43% said animal welfare, but equally 43% said their motivation was health. The health benefits to going vegan, according to verywellfit, is that it becomes much easier to load up on healthy whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables that many people on regular diets lack. Studies comparing different types of diets have found that vegan eating ranks highest for nutritional quality. A vegan diet is generally high in fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, and folate and lower in calories and saturated fats.