Brief History of Veganism and Plant Based Diets
Plant based diets have been around for millennia across multiple cultures and can be traced back almost all over the world. The rise of veganism and vegan philosophy likewise can be traced back over generations, with the tradition of ahimsa, shared by Buddhists, Jains and Hindus several thousand years ago often considered as the emergence of vegan philosophy – based on non-violence and respect for living beings, key values and tenets of vegan philosophy. Rastafari culture and Ital living embodies the essence of wholefood plant-based diets and a reverence for all life forms, whilst the ancient Egyptians revered animals, seeing them as sacred, and aligning their lifestyle choices accordingly. Vegan philosophy is again apparent in ancient Greece with the works of Pythagoras articulating an early understanding of animal rights and reverence for all beings & Hippocrates recognising the health benefits of wholefood plant-based diets, whilst Plato was among those in ancient Rome who likewise discussed the morality of using & consuming animals
Around 1000 years ago, a poet by the name of Al Ma’aari who lived in Syria, wrote the most beautiful poetry around the theme of not using animals and his words are as relevant today as they were a thousand years ago, and similar traits of plant based diets and respect for living beings can be seen in some Native American cultures, until around 500 years ago we started seeing the rise of vegetarianism in the UK before the formation of the Vegetarian Society in 1847. Vegetarianism continued to grow in popularity as well as being aligned with other politically motivated movements including the early anti-vivisection groups and the emergence of the suffragettes, many of whom were vegetarian.
And then in November 1944, the birth of The Vegan Society in the UK saw the beginnings of the vegan social movement – a movement that began with just a handful of members over 80 years ago at a time of great deprivation and global violence, and has now grown to an estimated one million vegans in the UK, several million ‘pretty much plant based’, many millions more ‘flexitarians’ and an estimated 80 millions vegans worldwide.
Veganism and plant-based diets have their roots across the globe and across many different cultures, with a number of key dates and developments marking that fascinating history. And the emergence of the vegan social movement in 1944 plays a special part in that history as it marks the time that individuals came together to form a movement and try to accelerate the progress of attracting more people to the cause, thereby laying the foundations for the modern day vegan movement as we now know it.
”My grandmother and 5 great aunts, all born in the 1890’s or thereabouts, were all vegetarian from birth, my father was vegetarian for the first ten years of his life from 1925 to 1935, and I’ve been veggie since 1980 aged 17 and vegan since 1984 aged 21. My great aunt especially I recall from childhood was vegetarian when we visited her in the late 60’s – ‘vegetarian’ being an exciting new word for a 6-year-old to discover.” – Tim Barford, presenter & host, Why Go Vegan 30 day challenge.
Further Reading
