{"id":106901,"date":"2021-10-25T13:47:04","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T12:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/politicscouk.wpengine.com\/?post_type=opinion-former&p=106901"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:07:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:07:11","slug":"the-vegan-society","status":"publish","type":"opinion-former","link":"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/opinion-former\/the-vegan-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vegan Society makes veganism more accessible and an easily adopted approach by supporting individuals, policy and decision makers, caterers, manufacturers, health care professionals and the media.<\/p>\n

The Vegan Society was founded in November 1944 and we\u2019ve made tremendous progress since.<\/p>\n

Early vegans<\/h3>\n

The Vegan Society may have been established 75\u00a0years ago but veganism has been around much longer.\u00a0Evidence of people choosing to avoid animal products can be traced back over 2,000 years.\u00a0As early as 500 BCE, Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras promoted benevolence among all species and followed what could be described as a vegetarian diet. \u00a0Around the same time,\u00a0Siddh\u0101rtha Gautama (better known as the Buddha) was discussing vegetarian diets with his\u00a0followers.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The first modern-day vegans<\/h3>\n

In November 1944, Donald Watson (right and below) 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.\u00a0The group felt a new word was required to describe them; something more concise than \u2018non-dairy vegetarians\u2019. Rejected words included \u2018dairyban\u2019, \u2018vitan\u2019, and \u2018benevore\u2019. They settled on \u2018vegan\u2019, a word that Donald Watson later described as containing the first three and last two letters of \u2018vegetarian\u2019. In the words of Donald Watson, it marked\u00a0\u201cthe beginning and end of vegetarian\u201d.\u00a0<\/em>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.<\/p>\n

Although the vegan diet was defined early\u00a0on it was as late as 1949 before Leslie J Cross\u00a0pointed out that the society lacked a definition\u00a0of veganism and he suggested \u201c[t]he principle of\u00a0the emancipation of animals from exploitation by\u00a0man\u201d. This is later clarified as \u201cto seek an end to\u00a0the use of animals by man for food, commodities,\u00a0work, hunting, vivisection, and by all other uses\u00a0involving exploitation of animal life by man\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 The definition of veganism and the charitable objects of the society were amended and refined over the years.\u00a0 By winter 1988 this definition was in use – although the phrasing has changed slightly over the years – and remains so today:<\/p>\n

[\u2026] a philosophy and way of living which\u00a0seeks to exclude\u2014as far as is possible and\u00a0practicable\u2014all forms of exploitation of, and\u00a0cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any\u00a0other purpose; and by extension, promotes\u00a0the development and use of animal-free\u00a0alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals\u00a0and the environment.\u00a0In dietary terms it denotes the practice of\u00a0dispensing with all products derived wholly or\u00a0partly from animals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/sPvgHCzTPlg<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/vVkohMJBZeE<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vegan Society makes veganism more accessible and an easily adopted approach by supporting individuals, policy and decision makers, caterers, manufacturers, health care professionals and the media. The Vegan Society was founded in November 1944 and we\u2019ve made tremendous progress since. Early vegans The Vegan Society may have been established 75\u00a0years ago but veganism has… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":106902,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"letter":[5617],"campaign-type":[5936,5937,5938],"class_list":["post-106901","opinion-former","type-opinion-former","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","letter-v","campaign-type-environment","campaign-type-ethics-equalities","campaign-type-health-wellbeing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVegan Society - Politics.co.uk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politics.co.uk\/opinion-former\/the-vegan-society\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vegan Society - Politics.co.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Vegan Society makes veganism more accessible and an easily adopted approach by supporting individuals, policy and decision makers, caterers, manufacturers, health care professionals and the media. 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