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Veganism
DefinitionVeganism (pronounced VEE-ganism), which is
sometimes called strictvegetarianismor pure vegetari-
anism, is a lifestyle rather than a diet in the strict sense.
The term itself was coined in 1944 by Donald Watson, a
British vegan frustrated by the fact that most vegeta-
rians saw nothing amiss with consuming eggs or dairy
products. He derived vegan from combining the first
three and the last two letters of the word vegetarian,
maintaining that veganism represents ‘‘the beginning
and the end of vegetarian.’’ The Vegan Society, which
Watson and Elsie Shrigley co-founded in England dur-
ing World War II, defines veganism as of 2007 as ‘‘a
philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—
as far as is possible and practical—all forms of exploi-
tation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or
any other purpose.’’ November 1, the anniversary of
the foundation of the Vegan Society, is observed annu-
ally as World Vegan Day.
In terms of food consumption, vegans exclude all
meat, dairy, fish, fish, poultry, and egg products from
the diet, deriving theirproteinfrom such sources as
beans, tofu and othersoyproducts, nuts, seeds, and
whole grains. Vegans go further than most other vege-
tarians, however, in avoiding items of dress, cosmetics,
other products for personal use, or jewelry made from
animal products. These would include items made of fur,
leather, silk, or wool; jewelry set with pearls, mother-of-
pearl, or inlays of white shell or spiney oyster shell
(commonly found in NativeAmerican jewelry); any
food that contains honey, whey, rennet, or gelatin; any
cosmetics containing beeswax, glycerin, or lanolin; any
cosmetics or personal care products that are tested on
animals; soap made with animal rather than vegetable
fat; any item made of wood that has been finished with
shellac (which is made from a resin secreted by scale
insects); and toothpaste containingcalciumextracted
from animal bones. Vegans also typically avoid zoos,
circuses, rodeos, and other activities that they regard as
exploiting animals for human amusement.
The numbers of adult vegans in the United States
and the United Kingdom vary somewhat depending on
the particular population survey or poll. According to a
2002 poll conducted byTimemagazine and CNN, 4%
of American adults define themselves as vegetarians,
and 5% of these vegetarians say that they are vegans,
which comes to about 0.2% of the adult American
population. Charles Stahler reported in an article in
Vegetarian Journalin 2006, however, that a poll con-
ducted by Harris Interactive indicated that vegans com-
prise about 1.3% of the adult population in the United
States, or 2.4 million adults. He estimated that about
half the vegetarians in Canada and the United States
are vegans, which is considerably higher than the per-
centage given byTimein 2002. The American Dietetic
Association (ADA) and the Dietitians of Canada (DC)
accept Stahler’s estimate that somewhere between 40%
and 50% of vegetarians in North America are vegans.
In the United Kingdom, the UK Food Standards
Agency stated in 2002 that approximately 0.25% of
British adults are vegans.The Times(London) reported
in 2005, however, that there are at least 250,000 vegans
in Britain, which represents about 0.4% of the adult
population.Origins
Although the term veganism was not used before
the twentieth century, people have practiced vegan
lifestyles for thousands of years. Veganism is not,
however, natural to human beings, based on the evolu-
tionary evidence. Archaeological findings indicate
that prehistoric humans were not vegans, but obtained
about a third of their daily calories from meat or other
animal products. The structure of the human digestive
tract suggests that humans evolved as omnivores (ani-
mals that feed on both plant and animal substances),
as human intestines are relatively short in comparison