VEGANISM

When Is A Vegan Not A Vegan?

Defining (and Mis-defining) Veganism

How do you define the term ‘vegan’?

Is there such a thing as 100% vegan (and by implication can you ever be 90% vegan)?

And why are there so many wrong definitions of veganism?

In recent times, it has become increasingly popular for people to identify themselves as an environmental vegan, health vegan, dietary vegan, ethical vegan, religious vegan… even 90% vegan! It seems almost everyone and their granny has a different definition of what the term ‘vegan’ actually means.

The thing is, the term itself is actually very clearly defined.

The origin of the word ‘vegan’.

The idea of veganism has been around literally for millennia. For example, I have talked elsewhere of how many of the tenets and teachings of Buddhism espouse non-harm to sentient beings and how the rules of the order created by Siddhartha Gautama include not knowingly eating food which has caused harm to living creatures.

But it’s not just Buddhists who have sought to eliminate from their diets ingredients which entail killing or harming others. Around 2500 years ago, Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras was also promoting…