Plant Based Vs Vegan: How A Term Can Change A Narrative And A Culture
How the plant based market has changed the way we see veganism.
Jamie Mah @grahammah
“I taught cooking classes for the national non-profit, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and during that time, the phrase “plant-based diet” came to be used as a euphemism for vegan eating, or “the ‘v’ word.” It was developed to take the emphasis off the word vegan, because some associated it with being too extreme a position, sometimes based exclusively in animal rights versus a health rationale.” — Vegan author Ellen Jaffe Jones
I have a friend who’s a vegan. I make fun of him all the time for being so. I’m not alone in this. For many vegan’s this bit of teasing has become the standard for years, even decades. When you go against a societal norm, push back by those who struggle with your decision is bound to cause some tension, even if some of it’s meant to be harmless.
Teasing my friend because of his decision to follow a plant-based diet is meant to be the sort of harmless, good-natured ribbing between pals. I respect his decision. He’s told me it’s based on several factors, chiefly being that he’s against the slaughter of animals for human consumption and believes eating a plant-based diet is better for his health, not to mention the environment. I tend to agree with his morals in this assessment. However, I still choose to eat a conventional omnivore diet. This is in part because I can’t help it. I enjoy pork chops too much.
Nevertheless, like me, he respects my decision when it comes to my dietary choices. Our mutual admiration and respect for each other’s food choices has started to become common practice for those who straddle a division of ethics, which for a long time was polarized in how one side saw the other.
For the longest time, veganism was cast as a criticism on how most people ate, at least those who consumed meat. This was because vegans tended to be against many of the societal traditions we so often take for granted, such as BBQs and turkey dinner. And as Tani Khara explains in her piece for The Conversation, this stereotype came about in large part due to “…their sometimes overtly moral behaviour, in the same way that a “goody two shoes” might annoy us.”
But, as with many of our past sins, our culture has evolved and led to a more understanding and tolerant attitude, thus mitigating the negative connotation of the word ‘vegan’. No longer seen as just eating salads and avocados, plant-based diets have grown into a somewhat mainstream bridge between what a vegan wants to eat and what an omnivore could eat. You can thank the Beyond Meat Burger for this.
This evolution has led many to change how they view plant-based food. As per Janet Forgrieve from Forbes:
Others in the industry, including JUST Inc. founder Josh Tetrick, agree that things are changing, and the pace of change is accelerating.
“Plant-based foods used to be for folks eating breakfast at vegan cafes in Northern California, but today plant-based foods are increasingly for folks I was raised with, eating breakfast in diners or at their kitchen tables in Birmingham, Alabama,” he said. “The change is happening in cities, suburbs and in rural areas. It’s happening in red states and in blue states. It’s not a niche food movement.”
The number of U.S. consumers identifying as vegan grew from 1% to 6% between 2014 and 2017, a 600% increase, according to GlobalData.
These numbers are encouraging to see and they should continue to tick up.
But it wasn’t always this way.
The provenance of vegetarianism can be traced back to 1847 when the first vegetarian society was formed in England. It wouldn’t be until 1944 when a British woodworker name Donald Watson would announce “that because vegetarians ate dairy and eggs, he was going to create a new term called “vegan,” to describe people who did not. Tuberculosis had been found in 40% of Britain’s dairy cows the year before, and Watson used this to his advantage, claiming that it proved the vegan lifestyle protected people from tainted food. Three months after coining the term, he issued a formal explanation of the way the word should be pronounced: “Veegan, not Veejan,” he wrote in his new Vegan Society newsletter, which had 25 subscribers. By the time Watson died at age 95 in 2005, there were 250,000 self-identifying vegans in Britain and 2 million in the U.S.
This evolution of the word vegetarian symbolized the advancement of a new possibility for many as the idea of turning away from animals entirely seemed antithetical to how the rest of the mainstream population ate. But as I first mentioned at the top with reference to my friend and his choices for going vegan, most eventually did and do so for three reasons — animal welfare, environmental concerns and personal health. If looked at separately, each of these topics can give a clearer picture of the issues vegans have come to endure and champion:
Animal welfare and the basic premise of protecting all living animals, specifically those used for consumption. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) would become the flag bearer of this cause, and their organization would take shape in 1980 as a forceful agency looking to upend many of the animal abuses they knew took place throughout the world.
Environmental concerns stem from the growing amount of evidence that animal agriculture was fast becoming a big player within the global greenhouse gas pandemic, with particular reference to the raising of livestock, specifically cattle, as these animals release large amounts of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere each year.
Personal health and how the Western omnivore diet (which consists of large amounts of meat and dairy) affects our bodies, which is coming under increasing scrutiny as the rise in obesity, diabetes and heart attacks continues to grow. For anyone who realized the nature of this growing problem, a vegetarian or vegan diet posed a possible solution for one’s ability to maintain and optimize strong overall health.
In addition to these issues, veganism dealt with the dilemma of perception, specifically how society reacted to their new way of living. Famed behavioural economist and author Daniel Kahneman wrote about perception and how we process information in his acclaimed 2012 book “Thinking Fast and Slow.” In it he describes the two modes of thinking we use to make choices and decisions.
System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.
System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.
In its early stages, society saw veganism as an automatic opposition to how everyone ate. Think of this as you seeing two men kiss for the first time 50 years ago. For most, it seemed strange or unnatural. This was our system 1 reacting quickly and automatically.
Applying system 2 to the vegan discourse can be viewed as a reckoning and critique of how the majority of society lived their lives, at least in terms of food consumption. It instigated a discourse among those vegan advocates who strongly believed their new way of life was the right way. Eating meat caused one to have to justify killing an animal. Some did, while many chose not to. Eventually this stereotyped, high horse attitude which vegans often exhibited gave them the worst kind of reputation. Two men kissing 50 years ago shouldn’t have been an issue. Eating a plant-based diet shouldn’t have been either. One dealt with the perception of sex and marriage while the other created a discourse of what the conventional diet could or should be.
In both instances, push back was bound to occur.
Furthermore, when I think of this issue I’m often reminded of the perils of organized religion, as it to falls under a similar purview as veganism. Those who believe often try to force others into accepting their worldview. This forcefulness, as one would expect, often has the opposite affect on how the person receives the overall message. Those on the receiving end tend to rebel and push back and thus lose sight of the value of the intended information. It’s no longer about religion but about the fact that you’re trying to coerce me into doing or become something against my values or beliefs. You can see this polarization of thoughts when “us vs them” attitudes crop up all over the globe as groups clamour together and fight for what they believe in, often so strongly that resolving or even understanding the other side’s issues eventually becomes a lost point. It’s no longer a discussion but a battle of wills.
Omnivores like eating meat, and it’s annoying to have someone tell you you’re wrong for doing so all the time, which is why what has now been accepted with regards to plant-based diets is so encouraging. Vegans are no longer seen as a threat to the mainstream diet, and their way of living is slowly becoming a more accepted way to eat. Some of the latest figures prove as much. Even here in Canada, our national food guide has gone through a radical shift in focus the past few years as recommendations for more whole food eating has gained traction. Meat and Dairy products still exist on the guide, but their prominence has been reduced significantly, which ultimately is a good sign.
Canadian Food Guide 2019
Nevertheless, a majority of this advancement and shift in thinking around diet is due in large part to the fact that plant-based eating hasn’t been exposed to the type of forceful rebellion which veganism has endured. The term ‘plant-based’ is widely accepted, which has in turn helped shepherd in a new view of the once hated vegan. This can in part be attributed to the availability of online information that has caused vegan perceptions and attitudes to be more prominently and thoughtfully described and understood. It’s easier to comprehend most things when videos and books make gaining knowledge that much easier to attain. I’ve discussed as much in the past with reference to the works by Michael Pollan, Dan Barber and Jonathan Safran Foer, all of whom have written extensively on how eating less of an omnivore’s diet, one that subsists on consuming large amounts of meat and dairy, isn’t in the best interest of your health or our environment.
Again, change in perception is often a slow process for many. But it does happen, as evidenced here with this excellent report by Lindsay Oberst for The Food Revolution Network. She points out some key facts to consider:
First of all, according to a forecast report by restaurant consultancy group Baum + Whiteman in New York, “plant-based” will be the food trend of 2018. The report also anticipates that plant-based foods will become the new organic.
Veganism was a top search trend in Canada in 2017.
Search data from Google Trends shows an impressive worldwide increase in the interest in veganism from 2004 to 2018. Top regions include Israel, Australia, Canada, Austria, and New Zealand.
All this says is that by changing the way we see something, coupled with advancements in technology and a widespread information campaign, plant-based eating has forged a new path for vegetarian culture. Will it continue to grow exponentially? It’s hard to say. As someone who still enjoys the delights of cheese and meat, some may never cross the divide. I probably won’t. But, overall, it really doesn’t matter if I do either. Being a vegan has come to be an accepted form of dietary practice. Similar to how some prefer milk in their coffee while others do not. It’s no longer a big deal, which is great.
Plant-based products have given new life and possibilities to those who may wish to straddle the line of where and what they may or may not eat. The stigma is gone. It may have taken awhile, but at least we’re here.