Donald Watson coined the term "vegan" in 1944 when he co-founded the Vegan Society in the UK. At first he used it to mean "non-dairy vegetarian", and by May 1945 vegans explicitly abstained from "eggs, honey; and animals' milk, butter and cheese"
Veganism is an extreme form of vegetarianism, and though the term was coined in 1944, the concept of flesh-avoidance can be traced back to ancient Indian and eastern Mediterranean societies. Vegetarianism is first mentioned by the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras of Samos around 500 BCE. In addition to his theorem about right triangles, Pythagoras promoted benevolence among all species, including humans. Followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism also advocated vegetarianism, believing that humans should not inflict pain on other animals.
Vegan History
Vegetarianism can be traced to Indus Valley Civilization in 3300–1300 BCE in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in northern and western ancient India. Early vegetarians included Indian philosophers such as Mahavira and Acharya Kundakunda, the Tamil poet Valluvar, the Indian emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka; Greek philosophers such as Empedocles, Theophrastus, Plutarch, Plotinus, and Porphyry; and the Roman poet Ovid and the playwright Seneca the Younger.
The Greek sage Pythagoras may have advocated an early form of strict vegetarianism,but his life is so obscure that it is disputed whether he ever advocated any form of vegetarianism at all. He almost certainly prohibited his followers from eating beans and from wearing woolen garments.Eudoxus of Cnidus, a student of Archytas and Plato, writes that "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters".
One of the earliest known vegans was the Arab poet al-Maʿarri (c. 973 – c. 1057).
Their arguments were based on health, the transmigration of souls, animal welfare, and the view—espoused by Porphyry in De Abstinentia ab Esu Animalium ("On Abstinence from Animal Food", c. 268 – c. 270)—that if humans deserve justice, then so do animals.
Vegetarianism established itself as a significant movement in 19th-century Britain and the United States. A minority of vegetarians avoided animal food entirely. In 1813, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley published A Vindication of Natural Diet, advocating "abstinence from animal food and spirituous liquors", and in 1815, William Lambe, a London physician, stated that his "water and vegetable diet" could cure anything from tuberculosis to acne.
Lambe called animal food a "habitual irritation", and argued that "milk eating and flesh-eating are but branches of a common system and they must stand or fall together".Sylvester Graham's meatless Graham diet—mostly fruit, vegetables, water, and bread made at home with stoneground flour—became popular as a health remedy in the 1830s in the United States.
Several vegan communities were established around this time. In Massachusetts, Amos Bronson Alcott, father of the novelist Louisa May Alcott, opened the Temple School in 1834 and Fruitlands in 1844,and in England, James Pierrepont Greaves founded the Concordium, a vegan community at Alcott House on Ham Common, in 1838.
World Vegan Day:
Why we celebrate this day, history and significance
World Vegan Day was first celebrated in the year 1994.
World Vegan Day is celebrated annually on 1st November. It was first celebrated in the year 1994 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK Vegan Society and the term ‘Vegan’. World Vegan Day was created by Louise Wallis, a British animal rights activist and the chair of The Vegan Society, to raise awareness about animal rights.
History and significance of World Vegan Day:
The term Vegan was coined by Donald Watson, an English animal rights advocate who founded the Vegan Society, derived from the word Vegetarian. In the early 1940s, vegans were known to be vegetarians who did not consume dairy products. This later extended to different foods and by-products derived from animals. Today, vegans are known as people who do not consume foods like meat, fish, poultry and do not use animal products or even by-products such as eggs, dairy products, honey, leather, fur, silk, cosmetics.
World Vegan Day coincides with Halloween. According to Louise Wallis, there was no information about the day the World Vegan Society was founded.
“We knew the Society had been founded in November 1944 but didn’t know the exact date, so I decided to go for 1 November, partly because I liked the idea of this date coinciding with Samhain/Halloween and the Day of the Dead – traditional times for feasting and celebration, both apt and auspicious,” he said.
The lost ways of life and survive
Vegan is not just a diet but a way of life. So as economical as possible and with respect for our food and nature, that's why I found this a very good book to learn to survive in a way of the past that no longer exists.
One of the most important things that you'll master is the lost skill of wild plants. With the development of agriculture and medicine, man became less dependent on wild plants and this crucial knowledge was no longer taught. Native Americans ate over one thousand plants, yet most people nowadays know fewer than 20 different species. This is by far the biggest chapter because it contains almost all the edible and medicinal plants in North America, and it has colored pictures so you can easily identify them. Each one has comprehensive instructions on how to eat it or use it as a remedy.
Since you might find yourself in this situation of not knowing for sure and because you might not always have The Lost Ways 2 with you, I'll also teach you how the Native Americans easily tested any plant with 100% confidence to see if it was edible or not before eating it. You'll regain this lost method and be able to use it whenever you go out foraging, whenever a new plant makes its way into your backyard, or in tough times.
With fewer and fewer people knowing this lost skill, you'll be one of the few who never runs out of food or medicines.
History of The Vegan Society
The Vegan Society was founded in November 1944 and have made tremendous progress since.
Early vegans
The Vegan Society may have been established 75 years ago but veganism has been around much longer. Evidence of people choosing to avoid animal products can be traced back over 2,000 years. As early as 500 BCE, Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras promoted benevolence among all species and followed what could be described as a vegetarian diet. Around the same time, Siddhārtha Gautama (better known as the Buddha) was discussing vegetarian diets with his followers.
Fast forward to 1806 CE and the earliest concepts of veganism are just starting to take shape, with Dr William Lambe and Percy Bysshe Shelley amongst the first Europeans to publicly object to eggs and dairy on ethical grounds.
The first modern-day vegans
In November 1944, Donald Watson (left) called a meeting with five other non-dairy vegetarians, including Elsie Shrigley, to discuss non-dairy vegetarian diets and lifestyles. Though many held similar views at the time, these six pioneers were the first to actively found a new movement - despite opposition. The group felt a new word was required to describe them; something more concise than ‘non-dairy vegetarians’. Rejected words included ‘dairyban’, ‘vitan’, and ‘benevore’. They settled on ‘vegan’, a word that Donald Watson later described as containing the first three and last two letters of ‘vegetarian’. In the words of Donald Watson, it marked “the beginning and end of vegetarian”. The word vegan was coined by Donald Watson from a suggestion by early members Mr George A. Henderson and his wife Fay K. Henderson that the society should be called Allvega and the magazine Allvegan.
Although the vegan diet was defined early on it was as late as 1949 before Leslie J Cross pointed out that the society lacked a definition of veganism and he suggested
“The principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man”. This is later clarified as “to seek an end to the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection, and by all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man”.
The society was first registered as a charity in August 1964 but its assets were later transferred to a new charity when it also became limited company in December 1979. The definition of veganism and the charitable objects of the society were amended and refined over the years. By winter 1988 this definition was in use - although the phrasing has changed slightly over the years - and remains so today:
[…] 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.
Left above : Donald Watson (02/09/1910 – 16/11/2005)
10 historical Vegan figures
1. Pythagoras
They probably didn’t teach you in math class that, in addition to being a brilliant mathematician, Pythagoras was one of the most famous and influential ancient Greek philosophers. He and his followers were also famous for being vegetarians. In fact, the term “Pythagorean diet” was used instead of “vegetarian” for many years.
2. Plato
Many Greek philosophers were vegetarian, including the famous thinker Plato. He believed that a society that eats meat requires more doctors. Of course, we now know this to be true. He also said, "The gods created certain kinds of beings to replenish our bodies. ... They are the trees and the plants and the seeds."
3. Leonardo da Vinci
Like Pythagoras and Plato, Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian for ethical reasons. The lifelong inventor and artist famously said, “My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.”
4. Nikola Tesla
Another brainy vegetarian was Nikola Tesla. While he’s known for creating hundreds of electrical devices, he also spoke against animal cruelty: “Every effort should be made to stop the wanton, cruel slaughter of animals, which must be destructive to our morals.”
5. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Frankenstein author Mary Shelley was a vegetarian and a strong advocate for animal rights. In fact, in her novel Frankenstein’s monster is vegetarian. He explains his food choices: "My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid, to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. … The picture I present to you is peaceful and human."
6. Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein, one of the most highly regarded scientists of all time, once said, "Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
7. Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist known for refusing to give up her bus seat, was a vegetarian for over 40 years. In the book Positive Energy, doctor and author Judith Orloff includes an interview with Rosa Parks in which she says: “For over forty years, I’ve been vegetarian. Growing up, my family had little money—I had health problems early in life because of poor nutrition. Eating healthy is a priority for me.”
8. Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was a champion for women, people of color, and the gay community, but she also spent the last 10 years of her life as a vegan because she knew that animal rights was a social justice issue too.
9. Mohandas Gandhi
OK, so maybe this one is well-known, but not including Mohandas Gandhi on our list would seem wrong. Gandhi wrote extensively about compassion for animals. He once said, "I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants."
10. Cesar Chavez
An influential labor leader and vegetarian, Cesar Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association. In 1992 Chavez said:
We know we cannot defend and be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them—exploiting them in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food.
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Quotes of famous vegans in history
- As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love ~ Pythagoras (Greek polymath, c. 570-c. 495BC)
- But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy ~ Plutarch (Greek historian, c. AD46- AD120)
- King of the animals–– as thou hast described him–– I should rather say king of the beasts, thou being the greatest––because thou doest only help them, in order that they give thee their children for the benefit of the gullet, of which thou hast attempted to make a sepulchre for all animals; and I would say still more, if I were allowed to speak the entire truth…now does not nature produce enough simple (vegetarian) food for thee to satisfy thyself? ~ Leonardo Da Vinci (Italian polymath, 1452-1519)
- It is true that the reluctance to abstain from animal food, in those who have been long accustomed to its stimulus, is so great in some persons of weak minds, as to be scarcely overcome; but this is far from bringing any argument in its favour ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley (English romantic poet, 1792-1822)
- There is no disease, bodily or mental, which adoption of vegetable diet and pure water has not infallibly mitigated, wherever the experiment has been fairly tried. Debility is gradually converted into strength, disease into healthfulness: madness, in all its hideous variety, from the ravings of the fettered maniac, to the unaccountable irrationalities of ill-temper, that make a hell of domestic life, into a calm and considerable evenness of temper, that alone might offer a certain pledge of the future moral reformation of society. On a natural system of diet, old age would be our last and our only malady ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace ~ Albert Schweitzer (French/German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician and missionary, 1875-1965)
- People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing to the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer (Polish/American writer, Nobel prize winner, 1902-1991)
- Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages ~ Thomas Edison (American inventor, 1847-1931).
- So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore ~ Albert Einstein