The V Word

Am I a vegan? Initially, I said I was. However, the answer is, of course, entirely dependent on the question "what is a vegan?". The answer to that depends on whose definition you use.
Donald Watson coined the term "vegan" in 1944 when he founded the Vegan Society, a breakaway from the existing Vegetarian Society. His initial definition was simply dietary. A vegan was someone who did not eat animal products. However, in 1949 Leslie Cross suggested an alternative definition, "the principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man".

Now, while in my opinion there's no reason why diet should have any political connotations, in practice veganism has long been associated with the left. In a story that will be all too familiar to anyone with left-wing affiliation, the Vegan Society followed, and still follows, a continual cycle of growth under moderates - takeover by hardliners - shrinkage under hardliners - virtual collapse – re-takeover by and growth under moderates - rinse and repeat [1]. The Judean Peoples' Front and the Peoples' Front of Judea turn on each other, occasionally uniting against their true enemy - The Judean Popular Peoples' Front.

By now there are many more than two definitions. Apocryphally, I read that there are at least 8 definitions of vegan that allow consumption of honey, and 7 that don't. The label is now basically unhelpful. It's not worthless, but it is unhelpful. For a start, it's perfectly possible to eat a very unhealthy diet that still qualifies as vegan. Drink Pepsi and eat Pringles all day and you'll be a vegan, but not a very healthy one. On top of that, absolutist definitions that extend to using no animal products at all make it very easy for opponents to cry hypocrite. A "discussion" of veganism on a British morning TV show degenerated into the host shouting over the guest about the latter's leather watch strap as though that rendered all argument moot.

That's why I'm dropping the label for myself. I eat a Whole Food Plant Based Diet. I don't care if that makes me a vegan or a martian, feel free to argue that amongst yourselves. I haven't thrown away the wool sweater that my mother gave me, but I don't think that's relevant to my views on diet and health.

I can decline the label but it's still in very common use, so there are a few things you need to know when evaluating the information you receive. Firstly, vegan and vegetarian are two very different things. Vegetarians eat dairy (some even eat fish), and the whole thrust of the WFPB movement is that dairy, as well as meat, is bad for your health. If a study relates to vegetarians without mentioning vegans at all, or lumps vegetarians and vegans into the same category, it's basically worthless for the purposes of evaluating a WFPB diet.

Studies that do split off a pure vegan category also have to be handled with care. After all, our man living off soda and crisps is going to be categorised as vegan. While there is certainly value in a large scale study like Adventist-2 [2], which splits vegetarians into 3 categories [3] and vegan into a fourth, we have to bear in mind that the true effects of a WFPB diet might be diluted or lost entirely in the wash.

Finally and unfortunately, there are significant elements of the vegan community whose strident and judgemental activism probably does more harm than good (I'm looking at you PETA). That, as I say, is why I don't use the label myself even though I technically am vegan by some of the definitions. Of course there are also many vegans who do great work without alienating people too. In general, arguing about who's a vegan and what vegan means exactly is yet another example of the labelling and reductionism that has, to some extent, brought us here in the first place.

So if I'm not a vegan, what am I? Don't answer that. Next time I'll be looking at exactly what following a WFPB diet entails.

[1] You can read more about this in an account of the history of the Vegan Society here http://vegansociety.today/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4073139/ - Beyond Meatless, the Health Effects of Vegan Diets: Findings from the Adventist Cohorts

[3] lacto-ovo-vegetarians who eat dairy but no fish or meat, pesco-vegetarians who also eat fish, and semi-vegetarians who also eat a small amount of animal meat. Again we get into trouble with labels, as that last one doesn't sound vegetarian to me, but the thrust of the study is diet and health, not the labels themselves.

Further Viewing :

You're Not Vegan! Full Documentary