What is veganism, how did it come about, and who were the pioneers of the movement? Welcome to our guide to the essentials of veganism.

Etymology

The word "vegan" is known to trace back to the word "vegetarian". For a long time, most people and dictionaries accepted that "vegetarian" derived from the Latin "vegetus" — meaning lively, healthy, full of life — rather than, as often assumed, from the Latin "vegetabile" (vegetable/plant).

Some sources, however, describe that account as an urban legend. Archival research has shown that the first people to call themselves "vegetarians" in London in 1842 (the Alcott House School) ate an entirely plant-based diet, and that in the first half of the 19th century the English word "vegetable" described foods obtained purely from plants, including fruits and grains. Proponents of this view therefore hold that "vegetarian" derives from the Latin "vegetabile" — as in "Regnum Vegetabile", the Plant Kingdom (International Vegetarian Union – IVU). It remains possible that "vegetable" itself descends from "vegetus", but the prevailing belief is that the word was formed as "vegetable + arian".

Like people, of course, words, definitions and institutions evolve over time.

Today, the definition of vegetarianism adopted unanimously by all IVU member societies in 2011 reads: "A diet of plant origin, with or without dairy products, eggs and honey (consumed by choice or not at all)." In other words, while vegetarians do not eat the body parts (meat) of an animal such as cattle, sheep or goats, unlike vegans they may consume animals such as fish and chicken, and animal secretions such as eggs, milk and honey (lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarianism). Also unlike vegans, they may see no objection to using materials obtained from animals, such as wool, silk and leather.

Ve.gan

The word "vegan", formed from the first and last syllables of "vegetarian", was introduced into the literature in the 20th century by Donald Watson, one of the founders of The Vegan Society.

Watson, a former member of the Vegetarian Society of England, announced in November 1944 — after removing animals and animal products from his diet — that he would coin a new term, "vegan", to mark the difference between vegans and vegetarians (who eat milk and eggs). A year earlier, tuberculosis had been found in 40% of England's dairy cows, and Watson argued on the back of that finding that the vegan way of life protected people from tainted food. Three months after coining the term, he published an official note on how the word should be pronounced. In the new Vegan Society newsletter, which had 25 subscribers, he wrote that it is "pronounced veegan, not vee-jan".

The definition of veganism was set down by The Vegan Society in 1979 as follows, and it remains the widely accepted definition worldwide:

[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 humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

In a 2002 interview, Donald Watson described veganism this way: "Veganism is a way of excluding all forms of exploitation and cruelty to the animal kingdom, and of showing reverence for life. In practice, it means living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and using alternatives to all commercial goods derived wholly or partly from animals."

In an interview published on 11 August 2004, about a year before his death, he shared some curious details about the word's origin: "I invited my early readers to suggest a shorter term to replace 'non-dairy vegetarian'. Some bizarre suggestions came in — dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivore, beaumangeur and the like. I settled on my own word, vegan, containing the first three and last two letters of 'vegetarian'. The word was accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary, and no one has tried to improve on it."

The earliest recorded use of the word "vegan" in Turkish appears in a 1990 news story in the Milliyet newspaper.

Concept and Philosophy

Still sometimes confused with vegetarianism, veganism is not merely a way of eating; it is a concept and a way of life with a strong philosophical foundation, one that frames the relationship between humans, animals and nature in terms of justice and equality.

Those who embrace the ethical vegan philosophy and lifestyle — grounded in animal freedom and liberation — reject anthropocentric and utilitarian approaches. They see it as a moral obligation towards non-human animals to eat an entirely plant/fruit/legume-based diet, to avoid any material or product that is animal-based or tested on animals, and to reject every form of entertainment in which animals are held captive and exploited, such as zoos, circuses with animals, marine parks and themed aquariums.

Veganism:

  • Rejects speciesism — a form of discrimination based on the fallacy that humans are superior to other animals, which assigns value to individuals according to their species membership.
  • Represents a philosophy and way of life that rejects, and seeks as far as possible to prevent, every act that exploits or inflicts cruelty on non-human animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
  • Regards non-human animals — each the subject of a life — as sentient individuals with innate fundamental rights and emotions such as pain, fear, joy and compassion.
  • Opposes the enslavement of animals by industries that treat them as resources, products, goods or property for human interests.
  • Supports the development of nature-friendly, ethical alternatives that involve no animal use, for the good of animals, people and the planet.