:Veganism

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{{Cleanup rewrite|2=section|1=it is long, unfocused, and contains a lot of tangential information and trivia|date=January 2025}}

{{further|History of vegetarianism|Vegetarianism and religion}}

Vegetarianism can be traced back to the Indus Valley civilization in 3300–1300 BCE in the Indian subcontinent,{{cite book |last1=Bajpai |first1=Shiva |title=The History of India – From Ancient to Modern Times |date=2011 |publisher=Himalayan Academy Publications |location=Hawaii, US |isbn=978-1-934145-38-8 |oclc=1076542872}}{{cite book |last=Spencer |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Spencer |title=The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism |publisher=Fourth Estate Classic House |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-87451-760-6 |oclc=31934191 |pages=33–68, 69–84}}{{cite book |last=Tähtinen |first=Unto |title=Ahiṃsā: Non-violence in Indian tradition |date=1976 |publisher=Rider |location=London |isbn=978-0-09-123340-2 |oclc=2637827}} particularly in northern and western ancient India.{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC |title=A History of Ancient and Early medieval India: from the Stone Age to the 12th century |publisher=Pearson Education |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-317-1120-0 |oclc=818846242 |location=New Delhi |page=137}} Early vegetarians included Indian philosophers such as Parshavnatha, Mahavira, Acharya Kundakunda, Umaswati, Samantabhadra, and Valluvar, as well as the Indian emperors Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka.For Valluvar, see Kamil Zvelebil, [https://books.google.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA155 The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India] {{ISBN|978-90-04-03591-1}}, E. J. Brill, 1973, pp. 156–171.{{pb}}P. S. Sundaram, Tiruvalluvar Kural, Penguin, 1990, p. 13. {{ISBN|978-0-14-400009-8}}{{pb}}A. A. Manavalan, Essays and Tributes on Tirukkural (1886–1986 AD) (1 ed.). Chennai: International Institute of Tamil Studies, 2009, pp. 127–129.

The term 素 (sù) is the most commonly used word for "vegetarian" or "vegan" in China. This character is first seen in bronze inscriptions from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1027–771 BCE), though it is likely older. It originally meant "undyed silk", but evolved to refer to simplicity more generally, and then to the humble diet of the poor, and then to Buddhist diet which requires abstinence from meat and animal products.{{Cite web |title=How do you say "vegan" in Chinese? |url=https://www.chinavegans.org/news/how-do-you-say-vegan-in-chinese| author=China Vegan Society}} The Buddha stated that monks could eat meat so long as they had no reason to believe the animal was killed in order to feed them.{{Cite book |last=Welch |first=Holmes |url=https://archive.org/details/practiceofchines0000welc/page/112/mode/2up |title=The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950 |date=1967 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-69700-3 |page=112 |oclc=39088631}} In Theravada countries, monks given meat while begging were permitted to eat it; however in China monks did not beg, and dietary restrictions on meat eating predated Buddhism. By itself, the term does not distinguish between vegetarian and vegan diets, and has many other meanings.{{Cite web |title=Chinese character translation |url=https://www.zihuzhe.com/index.php?m=content&c=content_s&a=view&id=2466&isen=1}} In modern chinese the terms 纯素 (chún sù, "pure vegetarian/vegan") or 全素 (quán sù, “totally vegetarian/vegan”) are used to mean 'vegan', especially when referring to non-food vegan goods, and 纯净素 (chún jìng sù, "pure Buddhist vegetarian/vegan") is used to refer to the Buddhist diet, which is more restrictive than the vegan diet.{{cite web | title=Why do many Chinese vegans and vegetarians also abstain from garlic and onions? |url=https://www.chinavegans.org/news/ask-mang-why-do-many-chinese-vegans-and-vegetarians-also-abstain-from-garlic-and-onions| author=China Vegan Society}} Initially centered on abstaining from meat, this concept evolved to include the exclusion of all animal by-products, such as clothing, household items, and medicinal remedies, and extends to doing no harm in thought or action towards all sentient beings, natural habitats or ecosystems.{{Cite book |last=Greenwood |first=Gesshin Claire |title=Just Enough Vegan Recipes and Stories from Japan's Buddhist Temples |publisher=New World Library |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-60868-583-7 |oclc=1078971986}}

Greek philosophers associated with the practice include Empedocles, Theophrastus, Plutarch, Plotinus, and Porphyry, along with the Roman poet Ovid and the playwright Seneca the Younger.{{cite journal |last1=Dombrowski |first1=Daniel A. |date=January 1984 |title=Vegetarianism and the Argument from Marginal Cases in Porphyry |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=141–143 |doi=10.2307/2709335 |issn=0022-5037 |jstor=2709335 |pmid=11611354}}{{pb}}

Daniel A. Dombrowski, The Philosophy of Vegetarianism, University of Massachusetts Press, 1984, 2. The Greek sage Pythagoras may have advocated an early form of strict vegetarianism,{{cite book |last=Kahn |first=Charles H. |author-link=Charles H. Kahn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKUtAwAAQBAJ&q=Pythagoreanism&pg=PA72 |title=Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History |date=2001 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-87220-575-8 |oclc=46394974 |location=Indianapolis, Indiana and Cambridge, England |page=9}}{{cite book |last1=Cornelli |first1=Gabriele |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p0ihjZufKncC&q=Pythagoreanism&pg=PA50 |title=In Search of Pythagoreanism: Pythagoreanism as an Historiographical Category |last2=McKirahan |first2=Richard |date=2013 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-030650-7 |oclc=851970297 |location=Berlin, Germany |page=168}} but his life is so obscure that it is disputed whether he ever advocated any form of vegetarianism.{{cite book |last=Zhmud |first=Leonid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=of-ghBD9q1QC&q=Pythagoras |title=Pythagoras and the Early Pythagoreans |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-928931-8 |oclc=764348689 |location=Oxford, England |pages=200, 235 |translator1-last=Windle |translator1-first=Kevin |translator2-last=Ireland |translator2-first=Rosh}} He almost certainly prohibited his followers from eating beans and wearing woolen garments. Eudoxus of Cnidus, a student of Archytas and Plato, writes, "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-Ma'arri, famous for his poem "I No Longer Steal From Nature". ({{c.|973|1057|lk=yes}}).{{cite journal |last1=Margoliouth |first1=D. S. |date=15 March 2011 |title=Art. XI.—Abu'l-'Alā al- Ma'arrī's Correspondence on Vegetarianism |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1428642 |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=289–332 |doi=10.1017/s0035869x0002921x |jstor=25208409 |s2cid=163229071}}{{efn|name=Gelder2016|"[Al-Maʿarri's] diet was extremely frugal, consisting chiefly of lentils, with figs for sweet; and, very unusually for a Muslim, he was not only a vegetarian, but a vegan who abstained from meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, and honey, because he did not want to kill or hurt animals, or deprive them of their food."Geert Jan van Gelder, Gregor Schoeler, "Introduction", in Abu l-Ala al-Maarri, The Epistle of Forgiveness Or A Pardon to Enter the Garden, Volume 2, New York and London: New York University Press, 2016, xxvii. {{ISBN|978-1-4798-3494-5}}}} Their arguments were based on health, the transmigration of souls, animal welfare, and the view—espoused by Porphyry in {{lang|la|De Abstinentia ab Esu Animalium}} ("On Abstinence from Animal Food", {{c.|268|270|}})—that if humans deserve justice, then so do animals.

File:Fruit lands Alcott house, 2015 2.jpg; a short-lived vegan community established in 1844 by Amos Bronson Alcott in Harvard, Massachusetts|left]]

Vegetarianism established itself as a significant movement in 19th-century Britain and the United States.James Gregory, Of Victorians and Vegetarians, I. B. Tauris, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-84511-379-7}} 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, said that his "water and vegetable diet" could cure anything from tuberculosis to acne.James C. Whorton, Crusaders for Fitness: The History of American Health Reformers, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014, 69–70: "Word of these cures of pimples, consumption, and virtually all ailments in between was widely distributed by his several publications ..."{{pb}}

Percy Bysshe Shelley, [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38727 A Vindication of Natural Diet], London: F. Pitman, 1884 [1813]; William Lambe, Joel Shew, [https://books.google.com/books?id=E9anzEClAaYC Water and Vegetable Diet], New York: Fowler's and Wells, 1854 [London, 1815]. 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".Lambe 1854, 55, 94. 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.Andrew F. Smith, Eating History, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, 29–35 (33 for popularity); Whorton 2014, 38ff. The first known vegan cookbook was Asenath Nicholson's Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians, published in 1849.[https://www.vegansociety.com/about-us/further-information/key-facts "Key facts"]. The Vegan Society. Retrieved 12 July 2023.

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,Hart 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hvmfshZxPf0C&pg=PA14 14]; Francis, Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and their Search for Utopia, 2010.{{efn|In 1838 William Alcott, Amos's cousin, published Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages (1838).William A. Alcott, [https://archive.org/details/vegetabledietas01alcogoog Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men and By Experience in All Ages], Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, 1838; [https://archive.org/stream/vegetabledietass00alco#page/n5/mode/2up Vegetable Diet], New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1851. The word vegetarian appears in the second edition but not the first.}} and in England, James Pierrepont Greaves founded the Concordium, a vegan community at Alcott House on Ham Common, in 1838.J. E. M. Latham, Search for a New Eden, Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999, 168.Gregory 2007, 22.

The term "vegetarian" has been in use since around 1839 to refer to what was previously called a vegetable regimen or diet.Rod Preece, Sins of the Flesh: A History of Ethical Vegetarian Thought, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uMnubkF5HjAC&pg=PA12 12] {{ISBN|978-0-7748-1510-9}} Its origin is an irregular compound of vegetable and the suffix -arian (in the sense of "supporter, believer" as in humanitarian).{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Definition of Vegetable |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vegetable |access-date=4 May 2024 |website=Merriam-Webster}}{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=John |date=1 June 2011 |title=The Vegetus Myth |url=https://www.vegsource.com/john-davis/the-vegetus-myth.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318213259/https://www.vegsource.com/john-davis/the-vegetus-myth.html |archive-date=18 March 2018 |access-date=18 March 2018 |website=VegSource |quote=Vegetarian can equally be seen as derived from the late Latin '{{lang|la|vegetabile}}' – meaning plant – as in {{lang|la|Regnum Vegetabile}} / Plant Kingdom. Hence vegetable, vegetation – and vegetarian. Though others suggest that 'vegetable' itself is derived from 'vegetus'. But it's very unlikely that the originators went through all that either – they really did just join 'vegetable+arian', as the dictionaries have said all along.}} The earliest known written use is attributed to actress, writer and abolitionist Fanny Kemble, in her Journal of a Residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838–1839.{{efn|Fanny Kemble (Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839, 1839): "The sight and smell of raw meat are especially odious to me, and I have often thought that if I had had to be my own cook, I should inevitably become a vegetarian, probably, indeed, return entirely to my green and salad days."Fanny Kemble, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1863, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WaFiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA197 197–198].{{pb}}

Another early use was by the editor of The Healthian, a journal published by Alcott House, in April 1842: "To tell a man, who is in the stocks for a given fault, that he cannot be so confined for such an offence, is ridiculous enough; but not more so than to tell a healthy vegetarian that his diet is very uncongenial with the wants of his nature, and contrary to reason."[https://web.archive.org/web/20100709210135/http://www.ivu.org/history/england19a/healthian.pdf The Healthian], 1(5), April 1842, 34–35.{{pb}}

{{Cite web|url=https://ivu.org/history/vegetarian.html|title=History of Vegetarianism: Extracts from some journals 1842–48 – the earliest known uses of the word 'vegetarian'|last=Davis|first=John|publisher=International Vegetarian Union|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318223303/https://ivu.org/history/vegetarian.html|archive-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=18 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://ivu.org/history/kemble.html|title=History of Vegetarianism: Extracts from some journals 1842–48 – the earliest known uses of the word 'vegetarian' (Appendix 2 – The 1839 journal of Fanny Kemble)|last=Davis|first=John|publisher=International Vegetarian Union|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318222547/https://ivu.org/history/kemble.html|archive-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=18 March 2018}}{{pb}}

John Davis, "Prototype Vegans", [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-winter-2010/24 The Vegan], Winter 2010, 22–23 (also [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928044045/http://www.vegansociety.com/feature-articles/prototype%20vegans.pdf here]).}}

{{further|Vegetarian Society#History}}

File:Northwood_Villa,_Ramsgate.pngIn 1843, members of Alcott House created the British and Foreign Society for the Promotion of Humanity and Abstinence from Animal Food,{{Cite magazine|last=Axon|first=William E. A.|author-link=William Axon|date=December 1893|title=A Forerunner of the Vegetarian Society|url=https://ivu.org/history/societies/britfor.html|url-status=live|magazine=Vegetarian Messenger|location=Manchester, England|publisher=Vegetarian Society|publication-date=December 1893|pages=453–55|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224100639/https://ivu.org/history/societies/britfor.html|archive-date=24 February 2018|access-date=24 February 2018|via=International Vegetarian Union}} led by Sophia Chichester, a wealthy benefactor of Alcott House.{{cite journal |last1=Latham |first1=Jackie |title=The political and the personal: the radicalism of Sophia Chichester and Georgiana Fletcher Welch |journal=Women's History Review |date=September 1999 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=469–487 |doi=10.1080/09612029900200216 |pmid=22619793 |doi-access=free }} Alcott House also helped to establish the British Vegetarian Society, which held its first meeting in 1847 in Ramsgate, Kent.{{cite book |last1=Grumett |first1=David |last2=Muers |first2=Rachel |title=Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-18832-0 |page=64 }} The Medical Times and Gazette in London reported in 1884:

{{blockquote|There are two kinds of Vegetarians—one an extreme form, the members of which eat no animal food products what-so-ever; and a less extreme sect, who do not object to eggs, milk, or fish. The Vegetarian Society ... belongs to the latter more moderate division."International Health Exhibition", The Medical Times and Gazette, 24 May 1884, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2rdXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA712 712].}}

An article in the Society's magazine, the Vegetarian Messenger, in 1851 discussed alternatives to shoe leather, which suggests the presence of vegans within the membership who rejected animal use entirely, not only in diet.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080630114643/http://www.ivu.org/history/renaissance/words.html "History of Vegetarianism: The Origin of Some Words"], International Vegetarian Union, 6 April 2010. Henry S. Salt's 1886 A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays asserts, "It is quite true that most—not all—Food Reformers admit into their diet such animal food as milk, butter, cheese, and eggs..."{{Cite book|title=A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays |last=Stephens |first=Henry Salt |author-link=Henry S. Salt |date=1886 |page=57 |chapter=5: Sir Henry Thompson on "Diet."|title-link=s:A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays }} Salt also argued that the primary objective of the vegetarian movement should be to eliminate meat, while contending that dairy and eggs are also unnecessary and could be phased out over time.{{Cite web |title=History of Vegetarianism - Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) |url=https://ivu.org/history/salt/dairy.html |access-date=2024-07-22 |publisher=International Vegetarian Union}}

File:Gandhi LVS 1931.jpg, London Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931, with Henry S. Salt on his right{{efn|Mahatma Gandhi, address to the Vegetarian Society, 20 November 1931: "I feel especially honoured to find on my right, Mr. Henry Salt. It was Mr. Salt's book 'A Plea for Vegetarianism', which showed me why apart from a hereditary habit, and apart from my adherence to a vow administered to me by my mother, it was right to be a vegetarian. He showed me why it was a moral duty incumbent on vegetarians not to live upon fellow-animals. It is, therefore, a matter of additional pleasure to me that I find Mr. Salt in our midst."}}]]

C. W. Daniel published an early vegan cookbook, Rupert H. Wheldon's No Animal Food: Two Essays and 100 Recipes, in 1910.{{cite journal |last1=Leneman |first1=Leah |title=No Animal Food: The Road to Veganism in Britain, 1909–1944 |journal=Society & Animals |date=1999 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=219–228 |doi=10.1163/156853099X00095 }} The consumption of milk and eggs became a battleground over the following decades. There were regular discussions about it in the Vegetarian Messenger; it appears from the correspondence pages that many opponents of veganism were vegetarians.

During a visit to London in 1931, Mahatma Gandhi—who had joined the London Vegetarian Society's executive committee when he lived in London from 1888 to 1891—gave a speech to the Society arguing that it ought to promote a meat-free diet as a matter of morality, not health.{{Cite magazine|last=Gandhi|first=Mahatma|author-link=Mahatma Gandhi|date=20 November 1931|title=The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism|url=https://ivu.org/news/evu/other/gandhi2.html|url-status=live|magazine=EVU News|type=Speech|location=London, England|publication-date=1998|volume=1998|issue=1|pages=11–14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310000343/https://ivu.org/news/evu/other/gandhi2.html|archive-date=10 March 2018|access-date=9 March 2018|via=International Vegetarian Union and London Vegetarian Society}}{{cite book |last1=Wolpert |first1=Stanley |title=Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-515634-8 |pages=21–22, 161 }} Lacto-vegetarians acknowledged the ethical consistency of the vegan position but regarded a vegan diet as impracticable and were concerned that it might be an impediment to spreading vegetarianism if vegans found themselves unable to participate in social circles where no non-animal food was available. This became the predominant view of the Vegetarian Society, which in 1935 stated: "The lacto-vegetarians, on the whole, do not defend the practice of consuming the dairy products except on the ground of expediency."

{{external media

| image1 = [https://web.archive.org/web/20190528030736/http://www.ukveggie.com/vegan_news/vegan_news_1.pdf The Vegan News], first edition, 1944

| image2 = [https://www.ivu.org/congress/wvc47/delegates3.jpg Donald Watson], front row, fourth left, 1947[https://www.ivu.org/congress/wvc47/card.html "11th IVU World Vegetarian Congress 1947"], Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, International Vegetarian Union.

}}

In August 1944, several members of the Vegetarian Society asked that a section of its newsletter be devoted to non-dairy vegetarianism. When the request was denied, Donald Watson, secretary of the Leicester branch, set up a new quarterly newsletter, The Vegan News, in November 1944.{{Cite interview|last=Watson|first=Donald|subject-link=Donald Watson|interviewer=George D. Rodger|title=Interview with Donald Watson|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/DW_Interview_2002_Unabridged_Transcript.pdf|format=PDF|type=Transcript|publisher=The Vegan Society|date=15 December 2002|access-date=13 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314041736/https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/DW_Interview_2002_Unabridged_Transcript.pdf|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live}}{{pb}}{{Cite interview|last=Watson|first=Donald|interviewer=George D. Rodger|title=24 Carrot Award: Donald Watson|type=e-Zine|url=https://www.vegparadise.com/24carrot610.html|magazine=Vegetarians in Paradise|volume=6|issue=10|date=11 August 2004|access-date=13 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314034642/https://www.vegparadise.com/24carrot610.html|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=dead|quote=I invited my early readers to suggest a more concise word to replace 'non-dairy vegetarian.' Some bizarre suggestions were made like 'dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivore, beaumangeur', et cetera. I settled for my own word, 'vegan', containing the first three and last two letters of 'vegetarian'—'the beginning and end of vegetarian.' The word was accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary and no one has tried to improve it.}} The word vegan was invented by Watson and Dorothy Morgan, a schoolteacher he later married.{{Cite web |title=Ripened by human determination. 70 years of The Vegan Society |url=https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/uploads/Ripened%20by%20human%20determination.pdf#page=5 |access-date=14 February 2021 |website=Vegan Society |page=3 |quote=Watson and his wife Dorothy came up with the word 'vegan'}} The word is based on "the first three and last two letters of 'vegetarian{{'-}}" because it marked, in Watson's words, "the beginning and end of vegetarian".{{cite news|last=Lowbridge|first=Caroline|date=30 December 2017|title=Veganism: How a maligned movement went mainstream|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-40722965|url-status=live|work=BBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314050438/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-40722965|archive-date=14 March 2018|access-date=14 March 2018}} The Vegan News asked its readers if they could think of anything better than vegan to stand for "non-dairy vegetarian". They suggested allvega, neo-vegetarian, dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivores, and beaumangeur.Donald Watson, [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-news-no.-2-february-1945 Vegan News], February 1945, 2–3.

According to Joanne Stepaniak, the word vegan was first published independently in 1962 by the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary, defined as "a vegetarian who eats no butter, eggs, cheese, or milk".Stepaniak 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA3 3].

The first edition of The Vegan News attracted more than 100 letters, including from George Bernard Shaw, who resolved to give up eggs and dairy.Donald Watson, "The Early History of the Vegan Movement", [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-autumn-1965---21st-anniversary-issue The Vegan], Autumn 1965, 5–7; Donald Watson, [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the_vegan_news_1944 Vegan News], first issue, November 1944. The Vegan Society held its first meeting in early November at the Attic Club, 144 High Holborn, London. In attendance were Donald Watson, Elsie B. Shrigley, Fay K. Henderson, Alfred Hy Haffenden, Paul Spencer and Bernard Drake, with Mme Pataleewa (Barbara Moore, a Russian-British engineer) observing.Richard Farhall, [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-autumn-1994---50th-anniversary "The First Fifty Years: 1944–1994"], iii (full names of members on following pages), published with The Vegan, 10(3), Autumn 1994, between pp. 12 and 13. World Vegan Day is held every 1 November to mark the founding of the Society, and the Society considers November World Vegan Month.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/take-action/campaigns/world-vegan-month|title=World Vegan Month|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314051539/https://www.vegansociety.com/take-action/campaigns/world-vegan-month|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018|quote=Every November we celebrate World Vegan Day and World Vegan Month, as well as the formation of The Vegan Society.}}{{cite web| url = https://vegconomist.com/fairs-and-events/sponsored-post-plant-based-alternatives-take-centre-stage-at-fffhi-returning-to-amsterdam-nov-23-24/| title = advertising framework for featured article, cites all of November as World Vegan Month. The Vegconomist. Accessed 11/1/2021.| date = 29 October 2021}}

File:Barbara Moore (1961).jpg attended the first meeting of The Vegan Society as an observer.]]

The Vegan News changed its name to The Vegan in November 1945, by which time it had 500 subscribers.[https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-no.-5-november-1945 The Vegan], 1(5), November 1945; for 500, [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-autumn-1994---50th-anniversary The Vegan], 10(3), Autumn 1994, iv. It published recipes and a "vegan trade list" of animal-free products, such as toothpastes, shoe polishes, stationery and glue.For an example of the vegan trade list, [https://issuu.com/vegan_society/docs/the-vegan-summer-1946 The Vegan], 2(2), Summer 1946, 6–7. Vegan books appeared, including Vegan Recipes by Fay K. Henderson (1946){{Cite web|title=Vegan Recipes by Fay K. Henderson|url=https://www.happycow.net/blog/vegan-recipes/ |access-date=2021-05-01|website=Ernest Bell Library|date=July 2016 }}{{Cite book|last=HENDERSON|first=Fay Keeling|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/559462905|title=Vegan Recipes, etc.|date=1946|publisher=London|location=H.H. Greaves|language=English|oclc=559462905}} and Aids to a Vegan Diet for Children by Kathleen V. Mayo (1948).Joanne Stepaniak, The Vegan Sourcebook, McGraw Hill Professional, 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA5 5]; The Vegan, Autumn 1949, 22.{{cite book |last=Mayo |first=Kathleen |title=Aids to a Vegan Diet for Children |oclc=14663134}}

The Vegan Society soon made clear that it rejected the use of animals for any purpose, not only in diet. In 1947, Watson wrote: "The vegan renounces it as superstitious that human life depends upon the exploitation of these creatures whose feelings are much the same as our own". From 1948, The Vegan{{'}}s front page read: "Advocating living without exploitation", and in 1951, the Society published its definition of veganism as "the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals".{{cite book |first1=Matthew |last1=Cole |chapter={{-'}}The greatest cause on earth': The historical formation of veganism as an ethical practice |pages=203–224 |chapter-url={{Google books|vQNgAwAAQBAJ|page=203|plainurl=yes}} |editor1-last=Taylor |editor1-first=Nik |editor2-last=Twine |editor2-link=Richard Twine (sociologist)|editor2-first=Richard |title=The Rise of Critical Animal Studies: From the Margins to the Centre |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-10087-2 }}{{cite journal |first1=Leslie |last1=Cross |url=https://www.ivu.org/history/world-forum/1951vegan.html |title=Veganism Defined |journal=The Vegetarian World Forum |volume=5 |issue=1 |year=1951 |pages=6–7 }} In 1956, its vice-president, Leslie Cross, founded the Plantmilk Society and in 1965, as Plantmilk Ltd and later Plamil Foods, it began production of one of the first widely distributed soy milks in the Western world.{{Cite interview|last=Ling|first=Arthur|interviewer=Harry Mather|title=The Milk of Human Kindness|url=https://www.veganviews.org.uk/vv37/vv37arthurling.html|work=Vegan Views|volume=37|issue=Autumn 1986|date=Autumn 1986|access-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314052519/https://www.veganviews.org.uk/vv37/vv37arthurling.html|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/news/arthurling|title=Arthur Ling, Plamil|publisher=Plamil Foods|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314053315/https://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/news/arthurling|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}}{{pb}}"The Plantmilk Society", The Vegan, X(3), Winter 1956, 14–16.

The first vegan society in the U.S. was founded in 1948 by Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz in California, who distributed Watson's newsletter.Stepaniak 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA6 6–7]; Linda Austin and Norm Hammond, Oceano, Arcadia Publishing, 2010, [https://books.google.com/books?id=B51SjziDRGQC&pg=PA39 39].{{Cite magazine|last=Dinshah|first=Freya|year=2010|title=American Vegan Society: 50 Years|url=http://www.americanvegan.org/AV1001.pdf|url-status=dead|magazine=American Vegan|series=2|publisher=American Vegan Society|location=Vineland, NJ|volume=10|issue=1 (Summer 2010)|page=31|issn=1536-3767|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722213651/http://www.americanvegan.org/AV1001.pdf#page=31|archive-date=22 July 2011|access-date=14 March 2018}} In 1960, H. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society (AVS), linking veganism to the concept of ahimsa, "non-harming" in Sanskrit.Stepaniak 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA6 6–7]; Preece 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uMnubkF5HjAC&pg=PA323 323].{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanvegan.org/history.htm|title=History|publisher=American Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827105211/http://www.americanvegan.org/history.htm|archive-date=27 August 2014|url-status=dead|access-date=14 March 2018}}

Distinctions may be made between several categories of veganism. Dietary vegans, also known as "strict vegetarians", refrain from consuming meat, eggs, dairy products, and any other animal-derived substances.{{efn|name=ethicaldietary|Laura Wright (The Vegan Studies Project, 2015): "[The Vegan Society] definition simplifies the concept of veganism in that it assumes that all vegans choose to be vegan for ethical reasons, which may be the case for the majority, but there are other reasons, including health and religious mandates, people choose to be vegan. Veganism exists as a dietary and lifestyle choice with regard to what one consumes, but making this choice also constitutes participation in the identity category of 'vegan'."Laura Wright, The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror, University of Georgia Press, 2015, 2. {{ISBN|978-0-8203-4856-8}}{{pb}}

Brenda Davis, Vesanto Melina (Becoming Vegan, 2013): "There are degrees of veganism. A pure vegetarian or dietary vegan is someone who consumes a vegan diet but doesn't lead a vegan lifestyle. Pure vegetarians may use animal products, support the use of animals in research, wear leather clothing, or have no objection to the exploitation of animals for entertainment. They are mostly motivated by personal health concerns rather than by ethical objections. Some may adopt a more vegan lifestyle as they are exposed to vegan philosophy."Brenda Davis, Vesanto Melina, Becoming Vegan: Express Edition, Summertown: Book Publishing Company, 2013, 3. {{ISBN|978-1-4596-9625-9}}{{pb}}

Laura H. Kahn, Michael S. Bruner ("Politics on Your Plate", 2012): "A vegetarian is a person who abstains from eating NHA [non-human animal] flesh of any kind. A vegan goes further, abstaining from eating anything made from NHA. Thus, a vegan does not consume eggs and dairy foods. Going beyond dietary veganism, 'lifestyle' vegans also refrain from using leather, wool or any NHA-derived ingredient."Laura H. Kahn, Michael S. Bruner, "Politics on Your Plate: Building and Burning Bridges across Organics, Vegetarian, and Vegan Discourse", in Joshua Frye (ed.), The Rhetoric of Food: Discourse, Materiality, and Power, Routledge, 2012, 46. {{ISBN|978-0-203-11345-5}}{{pb}}

Vegetarian and vegan diets may be referred to as plant-based and vegan diets as entirely plant-based.{{cite journal|pmc=3662288|year=2013|last1=Tuso|first1=P. J.|title=Nutritional Update for Physicians: Plant-Based Diets|journal=The Permanente Journal|volume=17|issue=2|pages=61–66|last2=Ismail|first2=M. H.|last3=Ha|first3=B. P.|last4=Bartolotto|first4=C|doi=10.7812/TPP/12-085|pmid=23704846}}}} An "ethical vegan" is someone who not only excludes animal products from their diet but also tries to avoid using animals,{{cite web |url=https://ethicalveganeducation.com/ethical-veganism/|title=Ethical Veganism|author=|date=2020-01-27|website=Ethical Vegan Education|publisher=Generate Press|access-date=2023-03-30|quote=Therefore, Ethical Veganism, the Animal Rights position, is based on these two simple ideas: Using animals is not acceptable. How we treat them is irrelevant.}} animal products,{{efn|Gary Francione (The Animal Rights Debate, 2010): "Although veganism may represent a matter of diet or lifestyle for some, ethical veganism is a profound moral and political commitment to abolition on the individual level and extends not only to matters of food but also to the wearing or using of animal products."{{Cite book|last1=Francione|first1=Gary Lawrence|author-link1=Gary Francione|last2=Garner|first2=Robert|author-link2=Robert Garner|chapter=The Abolition of Animal Exploitation|title=The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition Or Regulation?|chapter-url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-animal-rights-debate/9780231149556|url-status=dead|type=Paperback|series=Critical Perspectives on Animals: Theory, Culture, Science, and Law|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|publication-date=26 October 2010|isbn=978-0-231-14955-6|oclc=705765194|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420174910/https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-animal-rights-debate/9780231149556|archive-date=20 April 2018|access-date=20 April 2018|year=2010}}{{rp|62}}{{pb}} This terminology is controversial within the vegan community. While some vegan leaders, such as Karen Dawn, endorse efforts to avoid animal consumption for any reason; others, including Francione, believe that veganism must be part of a holistic ethical and political movement in order to support animal liberation. Accordingly, the latter group rejects the label "dietary vegan", referring instead to "strict vegetarians", "pure vegetarians", or followers of a plant-based diet.{{cite journal |last1=Greenebaum |first1=Jessica |title=Veganism, Identity and the Quest for Authenticity |journal=Food, Culture & Society |date=29 April 2015 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=129–144 |doi=10.2752/175174412x13190510222101 |s2cid=145011543 }}}} and animal-tested products,{{cite web |url=https://canveganseat.com/is-impossible-burger-vegan/ |title=Is Impossible Burger Vegan? Can Vegans Eat Impossible Burger?|author=B., Daniel |date=2022-03-21 |website=Can Vegans Eat |access-date=2023-03-25 |quote=Soy leghemoglobin does sound like good news because it is as vegan as a meat-flavored plant-based ingredient can get. Unfortunately, this same ingredient will strip Impossible Burger of its vegan status. It appears that Impossible Foods performed tests on rats to make sure that the Impossible Burger is safe for human consumption.}} when practical.{{Cite web|last=Jenni|date=May 2022 |title=Can Vegans Drive Cars?

|url=https://www.chooseveganism.org/vegan-cars/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207145831/https://www.chooseveganism.org/vegan-cars/ |archive-date=7 February 2023 |access-date=7 February 2023 |publisher=Choose Veganism |quote=Sorry to break it to you, but it's impossible to buy a car that is 100% vegan. However, as it's often not practical for many people to avoid having a car in today's society, vegans who need to drive a car should look for the most vegan-friendly car options.}} Another term is "environmental veganism", which refers to the avoidance of animal products on the grounds that the industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable.{{Cite interview|last=Watson|first=Paul|subject-link=Paul Watson|interviewer=Michael Shapiro|title=Sea Shepherd's Paul Watson: 'You don't watch whales die and hold signs and do nothing'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/21/sea-shepherd-paul-watson-whales|work=The Guardian|date=21 September 2010|access-date=1 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301181850/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/21/sea-shepherd-paul-watson-whales|archive-date=1 March 2018|url-status=live|quote=Stop eating the ocean. Don't eat anything out of the ocean – there is no such thing as a sustainable fishery. If people eat meat, make sure it's organic and isn't contributing to the destruction of the ocean because 40 percent of all the fish that's caught out of the ocean is fed to livestock – chickens on factory farms are fed fish meal. And be cognizant of the fact that if the oceans die, we die. Therefore our ultimate responsibility is to protect biodiversity in our world's oceans.}}{{pb}}

Matthew Cole, "Veganism", in Margaret Puskar-Pasewicz (ed.), Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism, ABC-Clio, 2010 (239–241), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3-braqoek0AC&pg=PA241 241]. Another motivation for veganism is concern about animal welfare.

Since 1988, The Vegan Society gives two definitions of veganism:

{{Blockquote|text=Veganism is 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 animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.|author=The Vegan Society|title=Definition of veganism|source=https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism}}

The first definition by The Vegan Society is accepted among ethical and environmental vegans and the second definition by The Vegan Society is accepted among dietary vegans.{{Cite journal |last1=North |first1=Madelon |last2=Kothe |first2=Emily |last3=Klas |first3=Anna |last4=Ling |first4=Mathew |date=2021-10-01 |title=How to define 'Vegan': An exploratory study of definition preferences among omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950329321001294 |journal=Food Quality and Preference |volume=93 |pages=104246 |doi=10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104246 |issn=0950-3293}}

The European Commission was granted the power to adopt an implementing act on food information related to suitability of a food for vegans by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011.{{cite web |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1169/oj |title=Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers |author= |date=2011-11-22 |website=EUR-Lex |publisher=Official Journal of the European Union |access-date=2021-04-08}} The German consumer protection minister conference approved a definition for food suitable for vegans on 22 April 2016.{{cite web |url=https://www.verbraucherschutzministerkonferenz.de/VSMK-Dokumente.html |title=Definitionen sowie Gründe und Ziele der Definitionen 'vegan' und 'vegetarisch{{'-}} |trans-title=Definitions as well as reasons and objectives of the definitions 'vegan' and 'vegetarian' |author= |date=2016-04-22 |publisher=Thüringer Ministerium für Migration, Justiz und Verbraucherschutz |language=de |access-date=2022-03-20}} The European Vegetarian Union adopted this text for a proposal for a legally binding definition based on Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 in July 2019.{{cite web |url=https://www.euroveg.eu/vegan-and-vegetarian-definitions/ |title=Vegan and Vegetarian Definitions |author= |date=July 2019 |publisher=European Vegetarian Union e.V. |access-date=2022-03-20}}

In 2021, the International Organization for Standardization published standard ISO 23662 on "definitions and technical criteria for foods and food ingredients suitable for vegetarians or vegans and for labelling and claims".{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/76574.html |title=ISO 23662:2021 |author= |date=2021-03-09 |publisher=ISO |access-date=2022-03-20}} ISO 23662 was rejected by Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme who found the standard inconsistent with their vision.{{Cite web |date=7 June 2020 |title=Vegan World Alliance rejects ISO-23662 |url=https://www.veganworldalliance.org/news/article/2020/06/07/vwa-iso-23662-rejection.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001191445/https://www.veganworldalliance.org/news/article/2020/06/07/vwa-iso-23662-rejection.html |archive-date=1 October 2020 |access-date=10 February 2023 |website=Vegan World Alliance}}

Wheat gluten, originally called miànjīn (麵筋), is a preparation of wheat that has been documented in China since the 6th century and continues to be used today. It is widely used as a meat substitute by both monastic and lay Chinese Buddhists. The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in the Qimin Yaoshu, a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in 535.{{Cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |title=Science and civilisation in China |last2=Huang |first2=Hsing-Tsung |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge university press |isbn=978-0-521-65270-4 |location=Cambridge}} This encyclopedia mentions noodles prepared from wheat gluten called bótuō (餺飥). Wheat gluten was known as miànjīn (麵筋) by the Song dynasty (960–1279).{{Cite book |title=Food in time and place: the American Historical Association companion to food history |date=2014 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-27745-8 |editor-last=Freedman |editor-first=Paul |location=Oakland, California |editor-last2=Chaplin |editor-first2=Joyce E. |editor-last3=Albala |editor-first3=Ken}}{{cite book |last1=Shurtleff |first1=William |last2=Huang |first2=H.T. |editor-last=Aoyagi |editor-first=Akiko |title=History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in China and Taiwan, and in Chinese Cookbooks, Restaurants, and Chinese Work with Soyfoods Outside China (1024 BCE to 2014): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook, Including Manchuria, Hong Kong and Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTHfAwAAQBAJ |date=2014 |publisher=Soyinfo Center |isbn=978-1-928914-68-6 |oclc=965823124}}

In the 1960s and 1970s, a vegetarian food movement emerged as part of the counterculture in the United States that focused on concerns about diet, the environment, and a distrust of food producers, leading to increasing interest in organic gardening.Iacobbo, Karen and Michael Iacobbo. "Chapter 9: Peace, Love, and Vegetarianism: The Counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s", In Vegetarian America: A History. Westport: Praeger, 2004.Andrew F. Smith, Eating History, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IH6KFJ4Om0oC&pg=PA197 197]; Wright 2015, 34. One of the most influential vegetarian books of that time was Frances Moore Lappé's 1971 Diet for a Small Planet.{{cite news |last1=Aubrey |first1=Allison |title=If You Think Eating Is A Political Act, Say Thanks To Frances Moore Lappe |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/22/494984095/70s-food-movement-promoted-benefits-of-plant-based-diet |work=NPR |date=22 September 2016 }} It sold more than three million copies and suggested "getting off the top of the food chain".Frances Moore Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet: How to Enjoy a Rich Protein Harvest by Getting Off the Top of the Food Chain, Friends of the Earth/Ballantine, 1971; Smith 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=IH6KFJ4Om0oC&pg=PA197 197].

The following decades saw research by a group of scientists and doctors in the U.S., including Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, Neal D. Barnard, John A. McDougall, Michael Greger, and biochemist T. Colin Campbell, who argued that diets based on animal fat and animal protein, such as the Western pattern diet, were unhealthy.For health professionals' interest in vegetarian diets in the last quarter of the 20th century: Donna Maurer, Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment?, Temple University Press, 2002, 23; for Ornish and Barnard, 99–101.{{pb}}

For McDougall: Karen Iacobbo, Michael Iacobbo, Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, 75.{{pb}}

For Ornish, Campbell, Esselstyn, Barnard, and Greger: Kathy Freston, Veganist, Weinstein Publishing, 2011. Ornish, from [https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XpM5fFBrYC&pg=PA21 21]; Campbell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XpM5fFBrYC&pg=PA41 41]; Esselstyn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XpM5fFBrYC&pg=PA57 57]; Barnard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XpM5fFBrYC&pg=PA73 73]; Greger, [https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XpM5fFBrYC&pg=PA109 109]. They produced a series of books that recommend vegan or vegetarian diets, including McDougall's The McDougall Plan (1983), John Robbins's Diet for a New America (1987), which associated meat eating with environmental damage, and Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease (1990).For McDougall Plan: Iacobbo and Iacobbo 2006, 75; for Robbins: Wright 2015, 35, and

Preece 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uMnubkF5HjAC&pg=PA327 327]; for Ornish: Maurer 2002, 99–101. In 2003 two major North American dietitians' associations indicated that well-planned vegan diets were suitable for all life stages.{{cite journal |last1=Sabaté |first1=Joan |title=The contribution of vegetarian diets to health and disease: a paradigm shift? |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |date=September 2003 |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=502S–507S |doi=10.1093/ajcn/78.3.502S |pmid=12936940 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |author1=American Dietetic Association |author2=Dietitians of Canada |title=Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets |journal=Journal of the American Dietetic Association |date=June 2003 |volume=103 |issue=6 |pages=748–765 |doi=10.1053/jada.2003.50142 |pmid=12778049 |citeseerx=10.1.1.739.2592 }} This was followed by the film Earthlings (2005), Campbell's The China Study (2005), Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin's Skinny Bitch (2005), Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals (2009), and the film Forks over Knives (2011).For Freedman and Barnouin: Wright 2015, 104; for Earthlings: Wright 2015, 149.{{pb}}

For Campbell and Esselstyn: {{Cite web|url=http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/becoming-heart-attack-proof/|title=Gupta: Becoming heart attack proof|last=Gupta|first=Sanjay|author-link=Sanjay Gupta|date=25 August 2011|publisher=CNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312220402/http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/becoming-heart-attack-proof/|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=12 March 2018}}{{pb}}

For Eating Animals: {{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112001684.html|title=Book Review: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer|last=Yonan|first=Joe|date=22 November 2009|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312220800/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112001684.html|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 March 2018}}{{pb}}

For Esselystyn and Forks over Knives: {{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/19/heart.attack.proof.diet/|title=The 'heart attack proof' diet?|last=Martin|first=David S.|date=25 November 2011|work=CNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312221202/http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/19/heart.attack.proof.diet/|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 March 2018}}

In the 1980s, veganism became associated with punk subculture and ideologies, particularly straight edge hardcore punk in the U.S.{{cite book|last=Haenfler|first=Ross|title=Straight Edge: Hardcore Punk, Clean Living Youth, and Social Change|url=https://archive.org/details/straightedgeclea00haen_179|url-access=limited|year=2006|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3851-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/straightedgeclea00haen_179/page/n65 53], 427–8}} and anarcho-punk in the United Kingdom.{{Cite book|last1=Tilbürger|first1=Len|last2=Kale|first2=Chris P.|year=2014|title='Nailing Descartes to the Wall': animal rights, veganism and punk culture|url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/len-tilburger-and-chris-p-kale-nailing-descartes-to-the-wall-animal-rights-veganism-and-punk-cu|url-status=live|type=Zine|publisher=Active Distribution|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312223555/https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/len-tilburger-and-chris-p-kale-nailing-descartes-to-the-wall-animal-rights-veganism-and-punk-cu|archive-date=12 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|via=The Anarchist Library}} This association continues into the 21st century, as evidenced by the prominence of vegan punk events such as Fluff Fest in Europe.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YWb7BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726044944/https://books.google.com/books?id=YWb7BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 July 2020|title=Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics|page=137|last=Kuhn|first=Gabriel|publisher=PM Press|date=2010|isbn=978-1-60486-051-1|author-link=Gabriel Kuhn|access-date=7 October 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/09/20/czech-diy-list/|title=The Sincere and Vibrant World of the Czech DIY Scene|last=Sanna|first=Jacopo|date=20 September 2017|publisher=Bandcamp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312223729/https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/09/20/czech-diy-list/|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=Every year, at the end of July, the small and grassy airport of Rokycany, a small Czech town a few miles east of Plzeň, fills with people for a gathering called Fluff Fest. Attendance is a summer ritual for many European fans of punk, hardcore, crust, and screamo. Featuring more than a hundred bands, tons of vegan food, a fanzine library, and various workshops, Fluff Fest has established itself as the main DIY hardcore punk event in Europe, growing every year since its inaugural edition in 2000.}}

{{see also|2010s in food|List of vegans}}

The vegan diet became increasingly mainstream in the 2010s,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vegan-diets-become-more-popular-more-mainstream/|title=Vegan Diets Become More Popular, More Mainstream|date=5 January 2011|publisher=CBS News|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301171201/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vegan-diets-become-more-popular-more-mainstream/|archive-date=1 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=1 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-pro-athletes-to-ceos-and-doughnut-cravers-the-rise-of-the-vegan-diet-1.1049116|title=From pro athletes to CEOs and doughnut cravers, the rise of the vegan diet|last=Nijjar|first=Raman|date=4 June 2011|publisher=CBC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301170652/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/from-pro-athletes-to-ceos-and-doughnut-cravers-the-rise-of-the-vegan-diet-1.1049116|archive-date=1 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=1 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/no-meat-no-dairy-no-problem-is-2014-the-year-vegans-become-mainstream-9032064.html|title=No meat, no dairy, no problem: is 2014 the year vegans become mainstream?|last=Molloy|first=Antonia|date=31 December 2013|website=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322231210/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/no-meat-no-dairy-no-problem-is-2014-the-year-vegans-become-mainstream-9032064.html|archive-date=22 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=22 March 2018}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/vegan-cuisine-moves-into-the-mainstream/article22430440/|title=Vegan cuisine moves into the mainstream – and it's actually delicious|last=Tancock|first=Kat|date=13 January 2015|website=The Globe and Mail|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301165409/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/vegan-cuisine-moves-into-the-mainstream/article22430440/|archive-date=1 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=1 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Crawford|first=Elizabeth|date=17 March 2015|title=Vegan is going mainstream, trend data suggests|url=https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2015/03/17/Vegan-is-going-mainstream-trend-data-suggests|url-status=live|website=FoodNavigator-USA|publisher=William Reed Business Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414003926/https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2015/03/17/Vegan-is-going-mainstream-trend-data-suggests|archive-date=14 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Oberst|first=Lindsay|date=18 January 2018|title=Why the Global Rise in Vegan and Plant-Based Eating Isn't A Fad (600% Increase in U.S. Vegans + Other Astounding Stats)|url=https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/|url-status=live|department=Future of Food|website=Food Revolution Network|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414003918/https://foodrevolution.org/blog/vegan-statistics-global/|archive-date=14 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Jones-Evans|first=Dylan|date=24 January 2018|title=The rise and rise of veganism and a global market worth billions|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-opinion/rise-rise-veganism-global-market-14199168|url-status=live|website=WalesOnline|publisher=Media Wales|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414005141/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-opinion/rise-rise-veganism-global-market-14199168|archive-date=14 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}}Nick Pendergrast, "Environmental Concerns and the Mainstreaming of Veganism", in T. Raphaely (ed.), Impact of Meat Consumption on Health and Environmental Sustainability, IGI Global, 2015, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gkz-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 106]. especially in the latter half.{{Cite news|last=Hancox|first=Dan|date=1 April 2018|title=The unstoppable rise of veganism: how a fringe movement went mainstream|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/01/vegans-are-coming-millennials-health-climate-change-animal-welfare|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402155807/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/01/vegans-are-coming-millennials-health-climate-change-animal-welfare|archive-date=2 April 2018|access-date=2 April 2018}} The Economist declared 2019 "the year of the vegan".{{cite news |last1=Parker |first1=John |title=The year of the vegan|url=https://worldin2019.economist.com/theyearofthevegan|newspaper=The Economist |access-date=19 February 2019}} Chain restaurants began marking vegan items on their menus and supermarkets improved their selection of vegan-processed food.Rynn Berry, "Veganism", The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, Oxford University Press, 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AoWlCmNDA3QC&pg=PA604 604–605]

The global mock-meat market increased by 18 percent between 2005 and 2010,{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/is-this-the-end-of-meat-7765871.html|title=Is this the end of meat?|last=Burt|first=Kate|date=18 May 2012|website=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312235936/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/is-this-the-end-of-meat-7765871.html|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 March 2018}} and in the U.S. by eight percent between 2012 and 2015, to $553 million a year.{{Cite news|last=Shah|first=Allie|date=8 January 2016|title=Nation's first vegan butcher shop to open in Minneapolis January 23|url=http://www.startribune.com/nation-s-first-vegan-butcher-shop-to-open-in-minneapolis-jan-23/364641531/|url-status=live|work=Star Tribune|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313000004/http://www.startribune.com/nation-s-first-vegan-butcher-shop-to-open-in-minneapolis-jan-23/364641531/|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=The Herbivorous Butcher is scheduled to open on January 23 [2016] in northeast Minneapolis. [...] The opening of a vegan butcher shop is yet another sign of the rise of fake meat in American diets. Since 2012, sales of plant-based meat alternatives have grown 8 percent, to $553 million annually, according to the market research firm, Mintel.}} The Vegetarian Butcher ({{lang|nl|De Vegetarische Slager}}), the first known vegetarian butcher shop, selling mock meats, opened in the Netherlands in 2010,{{Cite news|last=Walraven|first=Michel|date=14 September 2011|title=Vegetarian butchers make a killing|url=https://www.rnw.nl/english/article/vegetarian-butchers-make-a-killing|url-status=dead|publisher=Radio Netherlands Worldwide|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404112944/https://www.rnw.nl/english/article/vegetarian-butchers-make-a-killing|archive-date=4 April 2014|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=The first Vegetarian Butcher shop opened its doors in October 2010 in The Hague. Now, less than a year later, there are 30 spread all over the country. The display counter of these shops challenges even a staunchly carnivorous stomach not to rumble; the fake meat products are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.}} while America's first vegan butcher, the Herbivorous Butcher, opened in Minneapolis in 2016.{{Cite news|last=Locker|first=Melissa|date=7 January 2016|title=A Vegan 'Butcher Shop' Is Opening in Minnesota|url=https://time.com/4171727/a-vegan-butcher-shop-is-opening-in-minnesota/|url-status=live|magazine=TIME|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313002730/http://time.com/4171727/a-vegan-butcher-shop-is-opening-in-minnesota/|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Gajanan|first=Mahita|date=29 January 2016|title=The Herbivorous Butcher: sausage and steak – but hold the slaughter|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/29/the-herbivorous-butcher-minneapolis-minnesota-vegan-meats|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313002813/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/29/the-herbivorous-butcher-minneapolis-minnesota-vegan-meats|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=The Walches soon took their products on the road, selling them at farmers' markets and breweries across the midwest, before returning to Minneapolis and opening the Herbivorous Butcher on 23 January [2016]. More than 5,000 patrons visited the shop on its opening weekend.}} Since 2017, more than 12,500 chain restaurant locations have begun offering Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods products, including Carl's Jr. outlets offering Beyond Burgers and Burger King outlets serving Impossible Whoppers. Plant-based meat sales in the U.S. grew 37% between 2017 and 2019.{{cite web |author1=Adele Peters |title=Think fake burgers are just for vegetarians? 95% of Impossible Foods' customers are meat eaters |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90396177/think-fake-burgers-are-just-for-vegetarians-95-of-impossible-foods-customers-are-meat-eaters |website=Fast Company |access-date=25 November 2019 |date=18 September 2019 |quote=Since 2017, more than 12,500 chain restaurant locations have begun offering Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods products. Carl's Jr. outlets offer Beyond Burgers. Burger King outlets begin serving Impossible Whoppers. 37% The amount plant-based meat sales in the U.S. grew in the past two years.}}

File:Patrik Baboumian für PETA.jpg Patrik Baboumian, who starred in the 2018 documentary The Game Changers to demonstrate that athletes can thrive on a vegan diet]]

In 2011, Europe's first vegan supermarkets appeared in Germany: Veganz in Berlin and Vegilicious in Dortmund.{{Cite news|last=Wandel|first=Hannah|editor-last=Witkop|editor-first=Nathan|date=10 March 2011|title=Europe's first vegan supermarket opens in Dortmund|url=http://www.dw.com/en/europes-first-vegan-supermarket-opens-in-dortmund/a-14903137|url-status=dead|publisher=Deutsche Welle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127090327/http://www.dw.com/en/europes-first-vegan-supermarket-opens-in-dortmund/a-14903137|archive-date=27 January 2018|access-date=12 March 2018}}{{Cite news|last=Mesure|first=Susie|date=8 December 2013|title=Veganism 2.0: Let them eat kale|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/veganism-20-let-them-eat-kale-8990874.html|url-status=live|work=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313002821/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/veganism-20-let-them-eat-kale-8990874.html|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=One further example of how plant-based diets are becoming mainstream will arrive in Britain next year, when a German-owned chain of vegan supermarkets opens its first outlet in London. Veganz, which is a European first in offering a full range of vegan grocery products, opened its first store in Berlin in 2011. It is expanding fast and aims to have 21 outlets across Europe by the end of 2015.}} In 2013, the Oktoberfest in Munich (traditionally a meat-heavy event) offered vegan dishes for the first time in its 200-year history.{{Cite news|last=Guttman|first=Amy|date=4 October 2013|title=Meat-Drenched Oktoberfest Warms To Vegans|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/04/229181556/meat-drenched-oktoberfest-warms-to-vegans|url-status=live|department=The Salt|publisher=NPR|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313070451/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/04/229181556/meat-drenched-oktoberfest-warms-to-vegans|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=13 March 2018|quote=The culinary cornerstones of the Munich festival, which runs this year from Sept. 21 to Oct. 6, include roast pork, ham hock, and weisswurst—a white sausage that complements the 40 different types of local beer. But this year, breaking with a 200-year-old tradition, Oktoberfest is catering to vegans. Claudia Bauer of the Munich City Council, which organizes the festival, says the move is a sign of the times.}}

By 2016, 49% of Americans were drinking plant milk, and 91% still drank dairy milk.{{Cite news|date=April 2016|title=US sales of dairy milk turn sour as non-dairy milk sales grow 9% in 2015|url=https://www.mintel.com/press-centre/food-and-drink/us-sales-of-dairy-milk-turn-sour-as-non-dairy-milk-sales-grow-9-in-2015|url-status=dead|publisher=Mintel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126012935/https://www.mintel.com/press-centre/food-and-drink/us-sales-of-dairy-milk-turn-sour-as-non-dairy-milk-sales-grow-9-in-2015|archive-date=26 January 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=The continued popularity of non-dairy milk is troubling for the dairy milk category with Mintel research revealing that half (49 percent) of Americans consume non-dairy milk, including 68 percent of parents and 54 percent of children under age 18. What's more, seven in 10 (69 percent) consumers agree that non-dairy milk is healthy for kids compared to 62 percent who agree that dairy milk is healthy for kids. [...] While an overwhelming majority of Americans consume dairy milk (91 percent), it is most commonly used as an addition to other food (69 percent), such as cereal, or as an ingredient (61 percent). Just 57 percent of consumers drink dairy milk by itself.}} In the U.K., the plant milk market increased by 155 percent in two years, from 36 million litres (63 million imperial pints) in 2011 to 92 million (162 million imperial pints) in 2013.{{Cite news|last=Khomami|first=Nadia|date=8 February 2015|title=From Beyoncé to the Baftas, vegan culture gets star status|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/08/veganism-celebrities-baftas-beyonce-health-animal-welfare|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313002807/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/08/veganism-celebrities-baftas-beyonce-health-animal-welfare|archive-date=13 March 2018|access-date=12 March 2018|quote=In 2012 there were an estimated 150,000 vegans in the UK, a number thought to have increased dramatically. Mintel's 2014 report on the market for dairy drinks, milk and cream, showed the non-dairy market jumping from 36m litres in 2011 to 92m litres in 2013, an increase of 155%. Plant-based, non-dairy foods are worth £150.6m a year and sales of soya-based alternatives to yoghurt are rising by 8% year on year.}} There was a 185% increase in new vegan products between 2012 and 2016 in the U.K. In 2017, the United States School Nutrition Association found 14% of school districts across the country were serving vegan school meals compared to 11.5% of schools offering vegan lunch in 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://pew.org/2nUhsvx|title=Vegan School Lunches Expand Despite Opposition From Meat Industry|last=Povich|first=Elaine S.|date=30 September 2019|website=Stateline|access-date=18 February 2020}}

In total, {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, the largest share of vegan consumers globally currently reside in Asia Pacific with nine percent of people following a vegan diet. In 2017, veganism rose in popularity in Hong Kong and China, particularly among millennials.{{Cite news|last=Moon|first=Louise|date=28 October 2017|title=Inside Hong Kong's growing appetite for veganism|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2117326/inside-hong-kongs-growing-appetite-veganism|url-status=live|department=Hong Kong (Health & Environment)|work=South China Morning Post|publisher=Alibaba Group|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410210738/http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2117326/inside-hong-kongs-growing-appetite-veganism|archive-date=10 April 2018|access-date=10 April 2018|quote=In contrast, Hong Kong residents in 2015 consumed the highest amount of meat and seafood in the world, at 140 kg per capita, a study by global market research company Euromonitor found. Yet in the five years from 2015 to 2020, China's vegan market is expected to rise by more than 17 per cent – marking the fastest growth rate internationally in that period and offering proof the trend has filtered into the region in recent years.}} China's vegan market was estimated to rise by more than 17% between 2015 and 2020,{{Cite news|last=White|first=Victoria|date=24 May 2016|title=Euromonitor launches new Ethical Labels database|url=https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/24639/euromonitor-ethical-labels-database/|url-status=live|work=New Food|publisher=Russell Publishing|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412070322/https://www.newfoodmagazine.com/news/24639/euromonitor-ethical-labels-database/|archive-date=12 April 2018|access-date=12 April 2018|quote=The top three fastest growing vegan markets between 2015 and 2020 are China at 17.2 percent, United Arab Emirates at 10.6 percent, and Australia at 9.6 percent.}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/562911/global-sales-growth-of-the-vegan-market-by-country/|url-access=subscription|title=Sales growth of the vegan market between 2015 and 2020 worldwide, by country|publisher=Euromonitor International|date=May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412060358/https://www.statista.com/statistics/562911/global-sales-growth-of-the-vegan-market-by-country/|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018|via=Statista|quote=According to the report, China was projected to be the fastest growing market for vegan products between 2015 and 2020, with a growth rate of 17.2 percent. As of 2016, Asia Pacific held the largest share of vegan consumers globally, with approximately nine percent of people following a vegan diet in this area. [...] China, the United Arab Emirates and Australia were forecast to be the fastest growing markets for vegan products between 2015 and 2020. Australia's vegan market was projected to have a growth rate of 9.6 percent during the period considered.}} which is expected to be "the fastest growth rate internationally in that period". This exceeds the projected growth in the second and third fastest-growing vegan markets internationally in the same period, the United Arab Emirates (10.6%) and Australia (9.6%) respectively.{{Cite news|last=Cormack|first=Lucy|date=4 June 2016|title=Australia is the third-fastest growing vegan market in the world|url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/australia-is-the-thirdfastest-growing-vegan-market-in-the-world-20160601-gp972u.html|url-status=live|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412060449/https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/australia-is-the-thirdfastest-growing-vegan-market-in-the-world-20160601-gp972u.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|access-date=12 April 2018|quote=The Brewers are an example of the increasing move towards veganism in Australia, now the third-fastest growing vegan market in the world, after the United Arab Emirates and China. Data from market researcher Euromonitor International has shown Australia's packaged vegan food market is currently worth almost $136 million, set to reach $215 million by 2020.}}

In 2018, Jacy Reese Anthis's book The End of Animal Farming argued that veganism will completely replace animal-based food by 2100.{{cite book |last=Reese |first=Jacy |author-link=Jacy Reese Anthis |date=6 November 2018 |title=The End of Animal Farming: How Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and Activists are Building an Animal-Free Food System |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567165/the-end-of-animal-farming-by-jacy-reese/ |location=Boston |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-3987-8}} The book was featured in The Guardian,{{cite web|last=Reese |first=Jacy |date=16 November 2018 |title=There's no such thing as humane meat or eggs. Stop kidding yourself |url=https://www.theguardian.com/food/2018/nov/16/theres-no-such-thing-as-humane-meat-or-eggs-stop-kidding-yourself |work=The Guardian |access-date=17 May 2020}} The New Republic,{{cite magazine|last=Riederer |first=Rachel |date=13 February 2019 |title=The Future of Meat Is Vegan |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/153048/vegan-future-meat-end-animal-farming-book-review |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=17 May 2020}} and Forbes, among other newspapers and magazines.{{cite web|last=Banis |first=Davide |date=27 November 2018 |title=New Book Draws Detailed Roadmap Of How We Can End Animal Farming |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidebanis/2018/11/27/new-book-draws-detailed-roadmap-of-how-we-can-end-animal-farming/ |work=Forbes |access-date=17 May 2020}}

The growth of schools serving vegan school meals has increased in recent years with the lunches added by Los Angeles, California in 2018, Portland, Maine in 2019, and New York City in 2022.{{cite web |last=Fu |first=Jessica |date=2022-02-09 |title=New York City's 'Vegan Fridays' school-food program is as vegan as its mayor—that is, not entirely |url=https://thecounter.org/new-york-city-vegan-fridays-school-lunch-food-program-eric-adams/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=The Counter}}

In January 2021, 582,538 people from 209 countries and territories signed up for Veganuary, breaking the previous year's record of 400,000.{{cite web |last1=Vernelli |first1=Toni |title=Veganuary's Rise is Unstoppable as 2021 Becomes Biggest Year Yet |url=https://veganuary.com/veganuary-2021-becomes-biggest-year-yet/ |website=Veganuary |access-date=11 February 2021 |date=1 February 2021}} That month, ONA in France became the first vegan restaurant in the country to receive a Michelin star.{{Cite news|date=2021-01-19|title=ONA: Vegan restaurant becomes first in France to get Michelin star|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55717253|access-date=2021-05-09}} That year, 79 more plant-based restaurants around the world received Michelin stars.{{Cite web|url=https://thebeet.com/80-vegan-and-vegetarian-restaurants-have-received-michelin-stars-in-2021/|title=80 Plant-Based Restaurants Have Received Michelin Stars in 2021|date=September 2021 }} At the end of the year, a poll conducted by The Guardian showed that a new high of 36% of the British public were interested in veganism.{{Cite web|date=2021-12-25|title=No meat please, we're British: now a third of us approve of vegan diet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/25/no-meat-please-were-british-now-a-third-of-us-approve-of-vegan-diet|access-date=2022-01-06|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

{{see also|Vegetarianism by country#Demographics}}

• {{flag|Australia}}: Australians topped Google's worldwide searches for the word "vegan" between mid-2015 and mid-2016.{{Cite news|date=12 April 2016|title=Why 'Vegan' Is THE Word of 2016|url=https://www.peta.org.au/news/vegan-google-searches-australia-2016/|url-status=live|publisher=PETA Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224103722/https://www.peta.org.au/news/vegan-google-searches-australia-2016/|archive-date=24 February 2018|access-date=24 February 2018}} A Euromonitor International study concluded the market for packaged vegan food in Australia would rise 9.6% per year between 2015 and 2020, making Australia the third-fastest growing vegan market behind China and the United Arab Emirates.
• {{flag|Austria}}: {{As of|2013|alt=In 2013|post=,}} Kurier estimated that 0.5 percent of Austrians practised veganism, and in the capital, Vienna, 0.7 percent.Barbara Reiter, Anita Kattinger, [https://kurier.at/genuss/total-vegan/13.893.351 "Total Vegan"], Kurier, 28 May 2013.
• {{flag|Belgium}}: A 2016 iVOX online study found that out of 1000 Dutch-speaking residents of Flanders and Brussels of 18 years and over, 0.3 percent were vegan.{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.vilt.be/minder-vlees-eten-steeds-meer-ingeburgerd "Minder vlees eten steeds meer ingeburgerd"], Vilt, 16 February 2016.
• {{flag|Brazil}}: According to research by IBOPE Inteligência published in April 2018, 14% of Brazilians, or about 30 million people, considered themselves vegetarians, 7 million of them vegans.{{Cite news | url=https://www.svb.org.br/vegetarianismo1/mercado-vegetariano | title=Vegan and Vegetarian Market in Brazil | access-date=7 December 2020 | archive-date=4 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204084151/https://www.svb.org.br/vegetarianismo1/mercado-vegetariano | url-status=dead }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.anutecbrazil.com.br/en/2019/07/18/veganos-um-mercado-de-futuro-no-brasil/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20previous%20study,study%20published%20by%20Harris%20Interactive | title=2018 Study | access-date=7 December 2020 | archive-date=29 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229072440/https://www.anutecbrazil.com.br/en/2019/07/18/veganos-um-mercado-de-futuro-no-brasil/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20previous%20study,study%20published%20by%20Harris%20Interactive | url-status=dead }}
• {{flag|Canada}}: In 2018, one survey estimated that 2.1 percent of adult Canadians considered themselves as vegans.{{Cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-most-vegans-vegetarians-in-canada-are-under-35-survey/ | title=Most vegans, vegetarians in Canada are under 35: Survey}}
• {{flag|Germany}}: A government-commissioned survey indicates that {{As of|2021|lc=y}}, 2% of German residents follow a vegan diet.{{Efn|The small size of the study means these conclusions should be treated with some caution.}}{{Cite web|title=Ernährungsreport 2021: Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Bevölkerungsbefragung |url=https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/_Ernaehrung/forsa-ernaehrungsreport-2021-tabellen.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 |access-date=2021-05-22|website=BMEL / Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Germany)|page=24|language=de}}
• {{cite web |date=19 May 2021 |title=Deutschland, wie es isst – der BMEL-Ernährungsreport 2021 |website=Bundesministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft |url=https://www.bmel.de/DE/themen/ernaehrung/ernaehrungsreport2021.html |language=de}}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is trustworthy, but the study was small (N=1000) and better data are needed.|date=April 2023}}
• {{flag|India}}: In the 2005–06 National Health Survey, 1.6% of the surveyed population reported never consuming animal products. Veganism was most common in the states of Gujarat (4.9%) and Maharashtra (4.0%).{{cite journal|last1=Agrawal|first1=Sutapa|last2=Millett|first2=Christopher J|last3=Dhillon|first3=Preet K|last4=Subramanian|first4=SV|last5=Ebrahim|first5=Shah|title=Type of vegetarian diet, obesity and diabetes in adult Indian population|journal=Nutrition Journal|volume=13|issue=1|pages=89|date=2014|doi=10.1186/1475-2891-13-89|pmid=25192735|pmc=4168165 |doi-access=free }}
• {{flag|Israel}}: Five percent (approx. 300,000) in Israel said they were vegan in 2014, making it the highest per capita vegan population in the world.{{Cite news|last=Sales|first=Ben|date=17 October 2014|title=Israelis growing hungry for vegan diet|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-growing-hungry-for-vegan-diet/|url-status=live|publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|location=Tel Aviv|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303151620/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israelis-growing-hungry-for-vegan-diet/|archive-date=3 March 2018|access-date=3 March 2018|via=The Times of Israel}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Avivi|first=Yuval|date=6 March 2014|title=Is Tel Aviv's vegan craze here to stay?|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/vegetarians-vegans-israel-trend-tel-aviv-meat-violence.html|url-status=dead|publisher=Al-Monitor|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901154926/https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/vegetarians-vegans-israel-trend-tel-aviv-meat-violence.html|archive-date=1 September 2017|access-date=15 April 2018|quote=Another poll, published by the Panels Institute in advance of the new season of the reality cooking show 'Master Chef' in January 2014 found that 8% of Israelis define themselves as vegetarians and 5% as vegans. In that same poll, 13% of the respondents said that they are considering adopting a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle in the near future, while almost 25% said that they had reduced their meat consumption in the last year.}}{{pb}}

{{cite news|last=Cohen|first=Tova|date=21 July 2015|title=In the land of milk and honey, Israelis turn vegan|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-food-vegan-idUSKCN0PV1H020150721|url-status=live|location=Tel Aviv|work=Reuters|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180305012048/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-food-vegan-idUSKCN0PV1H020150721|archive-date=5 March 2018|access-date=4 March 2018|quote=A study prepared for the Globes newspaper and Israel's Channel Two found 5 percent of Israelis identify as vegan and 8 percent as vegetarian while 13 percent are weighing going vegan or vegetarian. In 2010 just 2.6 percent were vegetarian or vegan.}} A 2015 survey by Globes and Israel's Channel 2 News similarly found 5% of Israelis were vegan.{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Jewish Virtual Library|title=Veganism in Israel (Society & Culture: Veganism)|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/veganism-in-israel|access-date=4 March 2018|date=February 2016|publisher=AICE|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305012943/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/veganism-in-israel|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=live|quote=Israel is home to the largest percentage of vegans per capita in the world. Approximately 5 percent of Israelis (approximately 300,000) are vegans according to a 2015 survey by Globes and Israel's Channel 2 News, compared to 2 percent of U.S. and U.K. citizens and only 1 percent of Germans. Hence, it's not surprising that more than 400 certified vegan restaurants can be found in Tel Aviv alone.}} Veganism increased among Israeli Arabs.{{Cite news|last=Shpigel|first=Noa|date=13 September 2015|title=Veganism on the Rise Among Israeli Arabs|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-veganism-on-the-rise-among-israeli-arabs-1.5397532|url-status=live|work=Haaretz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305014456/https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-veganism-on-the-rise-among-israeli-arabs-1.5397532|archive-date=5 March 2018|access-date=4 March 2018|url-access=subscription}} The Israeli army made special provision for vegan soldiers in 2015, which included providing non-leather boots and wool-free berets.{{Cite magazine|last=Kamin|first=Debra|title=Big in Israel: Vegan Soldiers|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/big-in-israel-vegan-warriors/413149/|url-status=live|magazine=The Atlantic|date=December 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180305015346/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/big-in-israel-vegan-warriors/413149/|archive-date=5 March 2018|access-date=4 March 2018|quote=The IDF is also issuing leather-free combat boots and wool-free berets to soldiers who register as vegan, so they can march into battle knowing that no living creature has been harmed in their provisioning. (What happens during battle is, of course, harder to control.)}}{{pb}}

{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/10/459212839/why-so-many-israeli-soldiers-are-going-vegan|title=As More Israelis Go Vegan, Their Military Adjusts Its Menu|last=Cheslow|first=Daniella|date=10 December 2015|department=The Salt|publisher=NPR|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305020644/https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/12/10/459212839/why-so-many-israeli-soldiers-are-going-vegan|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=4 March 2018|quote=The Israeli military, it turns out, was surprisingly eager to help. A military spokesman tells The Salt that vegans serve in all capacities, including as combat soldiers. Vegan soldiers wear wool-free berets and leather-free boots, and they get an additional stipend to supplement their food, the military says.}} Veganism also simplifies adherence to the Judaic prohibition on combining meat and milk in meals.

• {{flag|Italy}}: Between 0.6 and 3 percent of Italians were reported to be vegan {{as of|2015|lc=y}}.{{in lang|it}} Vera Schiavazzi, [http://www.repubblica.it/salute/2015/10/02/news/e_tu_quanto_sei_vegano_-124177488/ "Addio carne e pesce: in aumento il popolo dei vegetariani e vegani in Italia"], La Repubblica, 2 October 2015.
• {{flag|Netherlands}}: In 2018, the Dutch Society for Veganism ({{lang|nl|Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme, NVV}}) estimated there were more than 100,000 Dutch vegans (0.59 percent), based on their membership growth.{{in lang|nl}} NVV, [https://www.veganisme.org/2017/12/27/vegan-jaaroverzicht-2017/ "Vegan jaaroverzicht 2017"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141756/https://www.veganisme.org/2017/12/27/vegan-jaaroverzicht-2017/ |date=12 June 2018 }}, 2018. In July 2020 the NVV estimated the number of vegans in the Netherlands at 150,000. That is approximately 0.9% of the Dutch population.[https://www.veganisme.org/faq-items/hoeveel-veganisten-zijn-er-op-de-wereld Hoeveel veganisten zijn er (in Dutch)], Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme
• {{flag|Romania}}: Followers of the Romanian Orthodox Church keep fast during several periods throughout the ecclesiastical calendar amounting to a majority of the year. In the Romanian Orthodox tradition, devotees abstain from eating any animal products during these times. As a result, vegan foods are abundant in stores and restaurants; however, Romanians may not be familiar with a vegan diet as a full-time lifestyle choice.{{cite news |title=What Vegan Travelers Need to Know about Dining in Romania |work=Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-vegan-travelers-need-to-know-about-dining-in-romania_us_58a368c2e4b0e172783aa180?guccounter=1 |date=14 February 2017 |access-date=30 July 2018 }}
• {{flag|Sweden}}: Four percent said they were vegan in a 2014 Demoskop poll.{{Cite news|last=Molloy|first=Antonia|date=24 March 2014|title=One in ten Swedes is vegetarian or vegan, according to study|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-in-ten-swedes-is-vegetarian-or-vegan-according-to-study-9212176.html|url-status=live|work=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322232126/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-in-ten-swedes-is-vegetarian-or-vegan-according-to-study-9212176.html|archive-date=22 March 2018|access-date=22 March 2018|quote=In the poll conducted by Demoskop, six per cent of respondents said they were vegetarians, while four per cent said they were vegans. The highest prevalence was seen among 15–34 year-olds, with 17 per cent describing themselves as vegetarian or vegan.}}
• {{flag|Switzerland}}: Market research company DemoSCOPE estimated in 2017 that three percent of the population was vegan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.swissveg.ch/veg-umfrage|title=Veg-Umfrage 2017|publisher=swissveg|language=de|access-date=17 October 2019}}
• {{flag|United Kingdom}}: A 2016 Ipsos MORI study commissioned by the Vegan Society, surveying almost 10,000 people aged 15 or over across England, Scotland, and Wales, found that 1.05 percent were vegan; the Vegan Society estimates that 542,000 in the UK follow a vegan diet.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/news/find-out-how-many-vegans-are-great-britain|title=Find out how many vegans are in Great Britain|date=17 May 2016|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305022033/https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/news/find-out-how-many-vegans-are-great-britain|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=4 March 2018|quote=There are over half a million vegans in Britain—at least 1.05% of the 15 and over population*—new research commissioned by The Vegan Society in partnership with Vegan Life magazine, has found. At least 542,000 people in Britain are now following a vegan diet and never consume any animal products including meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs and honey. This is a whopping increase since the last estimate of 150,000 ten years ago, making veganism one of Britain's fastest growing lifestyle movements. [...] *There are 51 million people in England, Scotland and Wales aged 15 and over.}} According to a 2018 survey by Comparethemarket.com, the number of people who identify as vegans in the United Kingdom has risen to over 3.5 million, which is approximately seven percent of the population, and environmental concerns were a major factor in this development.{{Cite news|last=Petter|first=Olivia|date=3 April 2018|title=Number of vegans in UK soars to 3.5 million, survey finds|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/vegans-uk-rise-popularity-plant-based-diets-veganism-figures-survey-compare-the-market-a8286471.html|url-status=live|department=Indy/Eats|work=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403173810/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/vegans-uk-rise-popularity-plant-based-diets-veganism-figures-survey-compare-the-market-a8286471.html|archive-date=3 April 2018|access-date=3 April 2018|quote=[A]ccording to a new survey by comparethemarket.com, there has been a significant spike in the number of people going vegan in the UK since 2016, with more than 3.5 million Brits now identifying as such. The research means that seven per cent of Great Britain's population are now shunning animal products altogether for life less meaty—and cheesy. [...] Supported by Gresham College professor Carolyn Roberts, the research suggests that environmental concerns are largely responsible for edging people towards a vegan diet, as Brits strive to reduce their carbon footprint.}} However, doubt was cast on this inflated figure by the UK-based Vegan Society, who perform their own regular survey: the Vegan Society themselves found in 2018 that there were 600,000 vegans in Great Britain (1.16%), which was seen as a dramatic increase on previous figures.{{Cite news |date=29 March 2018 |title=80% of Brits Would Give Up Meat Over Their Car to Help the Environment |url=https://sustainablebrands.com/read/behavior-change/80-of-brits-would-give-up-meat-over-their-car-to-help-the-environment |website=Sustainable Brands |access-date=20 February 2024}}{{cite web | url=https://www.vegansociety.com/news/media/statistics | title=Statistics |website=The Vegan Society |access-date=3 September 2022}} YouGov reported 3% vegans in 2021.{{Cite web |title=Dietary choices of Brits (e.g. vegeterian, flexitarian, meat-eater etc)? |url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/food/trackers/dietery-choices-of-brits-eg-vegeterian-flexitarian-meat-eater-etc |access-date=2021-12-27 |website=yougov.co.uk |language=en-gb}}
• {{flag|United States}}: Past estimates of vegans in the U.S. varied from 2% (Gallup, 2012){{Cite news|last=Newport|first=Frank|date=26 July 2012|title=In U.S., 5% Consider Themselves Vegetarians|url=http://news.gallup.com/poll/156215/consider-themselves-vegetarians.aspx|url-status=live|publisher=Gallup|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305022730/http://news.gallup.com/poll/156215/consider-themselves-vegetarians.aspx|archive-date=5 March 2018|access-date=4 March 2018|quote=Vegetarianism in the U.S. remains quite uncommon and a lifestyle that is neither growing nor waning in popularity. The 5% of the adult population who consider themselves to be vegetarians is no larger than it was in previous Gallup surveys conducted in 1999 and 2001. The incidence of veganism is even smaller, at a scant 2% of the adult population.}} to 0.5% (Faunalytics, 2014). According to the latter, 70% of those who adopted a vegan diet abandoned it.[https://faunalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Faunalytics_Current-Former-Vegetarians_Full-Report.pdf "Study of Current and Former Vegetarians and Vegans"], Faunalytics, December 2014, 4; [https://faunalytics.org/how-many-former-vegetarians-and-vegans-are-there/ "How Many Former Vegetarians and Vegans Are There?"], Faunalytics, 2 December 2014. But Top Trends in Prepared Foods 2017, a report by GlobalData, estimated that "6% of US consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1% in 2014."{{Cite news|last=Neff|first=Michelle|date=27 June 2017|title=6 Percent of Americans Now Identify as Vegan – Why This Is a Huge Deal for the Planet|url=https://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/six-percent-of-americans-identify-as-vegan/|url-status=live|publisher=One Green Planet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403202947/https://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/six-percent-of-americans-identify-as-vegan/|archive-date=3 April 2018|access-date=3 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4959853/top-trends-in-prepared-foods-2017-exploring-trends-in-meat-fish-and-seafood-pasta-noodles-and-rice-prepared-meals-savory-deli-food-soup-and-meat-substitutes.html|title=Top Trends in Prepared Foods 2017: Exploring trends in meat, fish and seafood; pasta, noodles and rice; prepared meals; savory deli food; soup; and meat substitutes|date=June 2017|publisher=Research and Markets|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403203437/https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4959853/top-trends-in-prepared-foods-2017-exploring-trends-in-meat-fish-and-seafood-pasta-noodles-and-rice-prepared-meals-savory-deli-food-soup-and-meat-substitutes.html|archive-date=3 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=3 April 2018|via=Report Buyer|quote=Consumers' diets are diverse, and while most claim not to follow a specific diet, there is a gradual shift occurring in response to health trends. Interestingly, 44% of consumers in Germany follow a low-meat diet, which is a significant increase from 2014 (26%). Similarly, 6% of US consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1% in 2014.}} {{closed access}} In 2020, YouGov published results of 2019 research that showed that 2.26% reported being vegan, including 2% of men and 2.5% of women.{{Cite web|last=Frankovic|first=Kathy|date=January 21, 2020|title=Interactive Data Visualization|url=https://app.crunch.io/api/public/crunchbox/share/?data=%2F%2Fs.crunch.io%2Fwidget%2Findex.html%23%2Fds%2F6c56c201c71b41f2978e49e0d757987a%2Frow%2F1BeGMCuZkvbMkLdtGXaUog000054%3Fviz%3Ddonut%26cp%3Dpercent%26dp%3D2%26grp%3Dstack |access-date=2021-02-06|website=Crunch}} According to Gallup, black Americans are three times as likely to be vegan and vegetarian as whites as of July 2018 (9% compared to 3%).{{Cite news|date=2019-09-27|title=What Percentage of Americans Are Vegetarian?|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/267074/percentage-americans-vegetarian.aspx |access-date=2021-05-25|website=Gallup|language=en}}

The city with the most vegan restaurants per resident in 2021 according to data collected from HappyCow was Chiang Mai (Thailand), followed by Ubud (Bali, Indonesia), Phuket (Thailand), Tel Aviv (Israel), and Lisbon (Portugal).{{Cite web |date=2021-12-17 |title=Most Vegan Friendly Cities in the World in 2022 |url=https://theveganword.com/vegan-friendly-cities/ |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=The Vegan Word |language=en-US}}

Vegan diets are based on grains and other seeds, legumes (particularly beans), fruits, vegetables, edible mushrooms, and nuts.Reed Mangels, Virginia Messina and Mark Messina, The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ10HoYQ2woC&pg=PA7 7]. The main difference between a vegan and vegetarian diet is that vegans exclude dairy products, eggs, and honey.{{cite web |last1=Henderson |first1=Lily |title=Plant-based, vegetarian and vegan diets |url=https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/wellbeing/healthy-eating/nutrition-facts/plant-based-vegetarian-vegan-diets |website=Heart Foundation |publisher=National Heart Foundation of New Zealand |access-date=28 May 2024}}

File:002-soymilk.jpg

Vegan meat alternatives are commonly sold in forms like vegetarian sausage, mince, or veggie burgers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food/article/fake-meat-gets-real|title=Fake Meat Gets Real|author=Berkeley Wellness|date=2 December 2014|website=Berkeley Wellness|publisher=Berkeley University of California|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180225112004/http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food/article/fake-meat-gets-real|archive-date=25 February 2018|url-status=live|access-date=25 February 2018|quote=Made from such ingredients as soy, beans, lentils, wheat gluten, rolled oats, brown rice, nuts, sunflower seeds, and vegetables (like mushrooms, onions, peas, peppers, and carrots), fake meats are also being embraced by some hard-core meat eaters. And you won't find just faux burgers, sausages, hot dogs, and breakfast patties anymore. Now there is everything from chicken-less strips and beef-less tips to pulled 'pork' and 'fish' fillets, all ready to heat and eat. Faux prawns are not only vegetarian, but kosher to boot.}} They are often made from soybeans, seitan (wheat gluten), beans, lentils, rice, mushrooms or vegetables.{{Cite web|last1=Nayak|first1=Anika|last2=Proctor|first2=Kailey|title=Why plant-based meats are healthier than regular meats, according to dietitians|url=https://www.insider.com/plant-based-meat|date=25 March 2021|access-date=2021-10-06|website=Insider|language=en-US}} Meat substitutes have been made in China since at least the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 common era), including mock duck made from seitan. They are much newer to Western countries.{{Cite web|title=The Origins of Fake Meat Are Rooted in Chinese Cooking|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xyqqz/the-origins-of-fake-meat-are-rooted-in-chinese-cooking|access-date=2021-10-07|website=Vice News|date=5 February 2019 |language=en}} Some famous Western producers of vegan meat alternatives include Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. But in the late 2010s many meat producers and supermarkets also started making their own brands of vegan meat substitutes.{{Cite news|last=Yaffe-Bellany|first=David|date=2019-10-14|title=The New Makers of Plant-Based Meat? Big Meat Companies|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/business/the-new-makers-of-plant-based-meat-big-meat-companies.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014203003/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/14/business/the-new-makers-of-plant-based-meat-big-meat-companies.html |archive-date=2019-10-14 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-06|issn=0362-4331}}

Plant milks—such as soy milk, almond milk, cashew milk, grain milks (oat milk, flax milk and rice milk), hemp milk, and coconut milk—are used in place of cow or goat milk.{{efn|Plant-milk brands include Dean Foods' Silk soy milk and almond milk; Blue Diamond's Almond Breeze, Taste the Dream's Almond Dream, and Rice Dream; and Plamil Foods' Organic Soya and Alpro's Soya. Vegan ice-creams include Swedish Glace, Food Heaven, Tofutti, Turtle Mountain's So Delicious and Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss.{{Cite magazine |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/08/whats-the-best-vegan-ice-cream-we-taste-tested-six-dairy-free-brands.html |title=Two Scoops, Hold the Dairy: What's the best vegan ice cream? We taste-tested six dairy-free brands |last=Krule |first=Miriam |date=15 August 2012 |magazine=Slate |eissn=1091-2339 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232501/https://slate.com/human-interest/2012/08/whats-the-best-vegan-ice-cream-we-taste-tested-six-dairy-free-brands.html |archive-date=26 December 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=13 March 2024}}}} Soy milk provides around 7 g ({{frac|1|4}}oz) of protein per cup (240 mL or 8 fl oz), compared with 8 g (2/7oz) of protein per cup of cow's milk. Almond milk is lower in dietary energy, carbohydrates, and protein.Monica Reinagel, Nutrition Diva's Secrets for a Healthy Diet, Macmillan 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cvJ4-qB0hOUC&pg=PA20 20–21]. Soy milk should not be used as a replacement for breast milk for babies. Babies who are not breastfed may be fed commercial infant formula, normally based on cow milk or soy. The latter is known as soy-based infant formula or SBIF.{{cite book |last=Mangels |first=Reed |author-link=Reed Mangels |title=The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book |publisher=Adams Media |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fzLrDQAAQBAJ&q=soy-based%20infant%20formula |page=174 |isbn=978-1-4405-2607-7}}{{cite journal |last1=Merritt |first1=Russell J. |last2=Jenks |first2=Belinda H. |title=Safety of Soy-Based Infant Formulas Containing Isoflavones: The Clinical Evidence |journal=The Journal of Nutrition |date=May 2004 |volume=134 |issue=5 |pages=1220S–1224S |doi=10.1093/jn/134.5.1220S |pmid=15113975 |doi-access=free }}

Butter and margarine can be replaced with alternate vegan products.{{cite book|author=Coscarelli, Chloe|title=Chloe's Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way|year=2012|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-3675-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=grRQZ7yHvq4C&pg=PA12}} Vegan cheeses are made from seeds, such as sesame and sunflower; nuts, such as cashew,{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2013/01/16/vegan-cheese-replaces-lingering-brie-craving/|title=Vegan cheese replaces lingering brie craving: Vegan brie takes just minutes of actual work|last=Stepkin|first=Kay|date=16 January 2013|website=Chicago Tribune|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303133322/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-16/features/sc-food-0111-veggie-cheese-20130116_1_coconut-oil-brie-vegetarian|archive-date=3 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=3 March 2018}} pine nut, and almond;{{Cite news|last=Buren|first=Alex Van|date=29 March 2018|title=What Is Vegan Cheese Exactly—and Should You Be Eating It?|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/vegan-cheese-exactly-eating-220539964.html|url-status=live|department=Health|publisher=Yahoo!|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403151415/https://www.yahoo.com/news/vegan-cheese-exactly-eating-220539964.html|archive-date=3 April 2018|access-date=3 April 2018|quote=Those looking to emulate the creamy texture and saltiness of real cheese tend to find themselves reaching for cashews, both at restaurants and at home. [...] But several other nuts can be transformed into vegan 'cheese'—what Keenan calls 'nutcheese'—such as almonds and pine nuts, among others.}} and soybeans, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, tapioca,{{Cite news|url=https://www.organicauthority.com/foodie-buzz/what-is-vegan-cheese-made-of.html|title=What in the World is Vegan Cheese, Anyway? Can it Actually Replace 'Real' Cheese?|last=Moreau|first=Elise|date=23 December 2015|department=Foodie Buzz|newspaper=Organic Authority|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403145914/https://www.organicauthority.com/foodie-buzz/what-is-vegan-cheese-made-of.html|archive-date=3 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=3 April 2018|quote=Depending on the brand and recipe that's used, vegan cheese can be made from soy protein (used in shiny, slick, rubbery varieties), solidified vegetable oil (like coconut, palm, or safflower) nutritional yeast, thickening agar flakes, nuts (including cashews, macadamias, and almonds), tapioca flour, natural enzymes, vegetable glycerin, assorted bacterial cultures, arrowroot, and even pea protein.}} and rice, among other ingredients; and can replicate the meltability of dairy cheese.{{Cite web|title=Which Vegan Cheeses Melts The Best |url=https://www.vegancheese.co/discover/article/which-vegan-cheeses-melts-best|access-date=2021-04-03|website= VeganCheese.co}} Nutritional yeast is a common substitute for the taste of cheese in vegan recipes. Cheese substitutes can be made at home, including from nuts, such as cashews. Yoghurt and cream products can be replaced with plant-based products such as soy yoghurt.{{Cite news|date=2012-07-02|title=How to Substitute Yogurt: For Dairy-Free and Vegans|url=https://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-substitutes/how-to-substitute-yogurt|access-date=2021-04-03|website=Go Dairy Free|language=en-US|last1=Fleming |first1=Alisa }}{{Cite web|date=2012-07-02|title=How to Substitute Cream for Dairy-Free and Vegan|url=https://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-substitutes/how-to-substitute-cream|access-date=2021-04-03|website=Go Dairy Free|language=en-US}}

Various types of plant cream have been created to replace dairy cream, and some types of imitation whipped cream are non-dairy.

In the 2010s and 2020s, a number of companies have genetically engineered yeast to produce cow milk proteins, whey, or fat, without the use of cows. These include Perfect Day, Novacca, Motif FoodWorks, Remilk, Final Foods, Imagindairy, Nourish Ingredients, and Circe.{{cite news |magazine=C&E News |page=29 |date=5 October 2020 |title=Can Start-Ups Make Us Love Animal-Free Dairy? |author=Melody Bomgardner}}

{{further|Egg substitutes}}

As of 2019 in the U.S., many vegan egg substitutes were available, including products used for "scrambled" eggs, cakes, cookies, and doughnuts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-egg-replacement-20190517-story.html|title=There's a multibillion-dollar race on to replace the egg. Good luck with that|last=Zimberoff|first=Larissa|date=17 May 2019|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=3 July 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vegan-egg-baking-substitutes_n_59356b56e4b02478cb9d5d0c|title=8 Genius Egg Substitutes For Baking|last=Thomson|first=Julie|date=12 June 2017|website=HuffPost|access-date=2 July 2019|archive-date=3 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703033859/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vegan-egg-baking-substitutes_n_59356b56e4b02478cb9d5d0c|url-status=dead}} Baking powder, silken (soft) tofu, mashed potato, bananas, flaxseeds, and aquafaba from chickpeas can also be used as egg substitutes. Which one of these works depends on the egg property the replacement is meant to emulate. Scrambled tofu, for instance, replaces scrambled eggs, but tofu does not act as a binding agent for cakes like raw eggs, flaxseeds or bananas do.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/20-amazing-things-you-can-do-aquafaba|title=20 amazing things you can do with aquafaba|last=Ryland|first=Ali|date=22 May 2015|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305002913/https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/20-amazing-things-you-can-do-aquafaba|archive-date=5 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=4 March 2018}}{{Cite news |title=16 Egg Substitutes You Won't Believe! How to Cook Without Eggs |url=https://www.organicauthority.com/organic-food-recipes/egg-substitutes-vegan-baking |access-date=2021-05-24 |newspaper=Organic Authority |date=2 November 2018}}

{{Main|Raw veganism}}

Raw veganism, combining veganism and raw foodism, excludes all animal products and food cooked above {{Convert|48|C}}. A raw vegan diet includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, grain and legume sprouts, seeds, and sea vegetables. There are many variations of the diet, including fruitarianism.Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina, Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets, Summertown: Book Publishing Company, 2010, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hm9F4j8NojYC&pg=PA4 4].

File:Pflanzlicher Fleischersatz.jpg in a supermarket in Vienna|right]]

Like vegetarians, vegans do not eat meat (including beef, pork, poultry, fowl, and game). There is some disasgreement over whether it is vegan to eat bivalves.{{cite web |author= Michael La Corte|title=No brain, no pain? Unpacking the murky ethics of whether or not vegans should eat oysters

|url=https://www.salon.com/2023/09/06/no-brain-no-pain-unpacking-the-murky-ethics-of-whether-or-not-vegans-should-eat-oysters/|work=Salon|access-date=23 December 2023|date=6 September 2023}}

{{quote box

|title=Logos

|quote=[https://www.vegansociety.com//sites/default/files/uploads/VeganTM-Palette1-PLUM.png Vegan Society sunflower]:
certified vegan, no animal testing

[https://www.peta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/New-BWB-Logos.png PETA bunny]:
certified vegan, no animal testing

[https://web.archive.org/web/20170628093653/https://www.onegreenplanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10//2014/02/leapingbunny.gif Leaping bunny]:
no animal testing, might not be vegan

|source=

|align=right

|width=300px

|border=1px

|fontsize=98%

|bgcolor=#F9F9F9

|title_fnt=#555555

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}}

While vegans broadly abstain from animal products, there are many ways in which animal products are used, and different individuals and organizations that identify with the practice of veganism may use some limited animal products based on philosophy, means or other concerns. Philosopher Gary Steiner argues that it is not possible to be entirely vegan, because animal use and products are "deeply and imperceptibly woven into the fabric of human society".Gary Steiner, Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, 127–128.

Animal Ingredients A to Z (2004) and Veganissimo A to Z (2013) list which ingredients might be animal-derived. The British Vegan Society's sunflower logo and PETA's bunny logo mean the product is certified vegan, which includes no animal testing. The Leaping Bunny logo signals no animal testing, but it might not be vegan.{{Cite web|url=https://vegan.org/certification/|title=Certification|publisher=Vegan Awareness Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315022456/https://vegan.org/certification/|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/how-to-read-a-cruelty-free-cosmetics-label/|title=How to Read a Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Label|last=Croswell|first=Alexis|date=5 February 2014|publisher=One Green Planet|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315021008/https://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/how-to-read-a-cruelty-free-cosmetics-label/|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.leapingbunny.org/about/faq#answer-7|title=FAQ: Are all Leaping Bunny companies vegan (i.e., manufactured without animal by-products)?|publisher=Leaping Bunny|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315023941/http://www.leapingbunny.org/about/faq#answer-7|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018|quote=The Leaping Bunny list does not provide information about the composition of ingredients. Because ingredient information is available—and required by law—we know that conscientious consumers can read labels to discover whether products are vegan or not. For this reason, Leaping Bunny chooses to focus its resources on validating information that is not readily available to consumers, such as animal testing claims. Many Leaping Bunny companies are committed to manufacturing natural and vegan products; however, the Leaping Bunny Program can only certify the animal testing component of this process.|date=27 February 2014}} The Vegan Society criteria for vegan certification are that the product contain no animal products, and that neither the finished item nor its ingredients have been tested on animals by, or on behalf of, the manufacturer or by anyone over whom the manufacturer has control. Its website contains a list of certified products,{{Cite web|url=https://vegansociety.com/resources/lifestyle/shopping/trademark-search|title=Trademark search|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315025809/https://vegansociety.com/resources/lifestyle/shopping/trademark-search|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}} as does Australia's Choose Cruelty Free (CCF).{{Cite web|url=https://choosecrueltyfree.org.au/lists/vegan/|title=Choose Cruelty Free list (vegan) Archives|publisher=Choose Cruelty Free|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315024633/https://choosecrueltyfree.org.au/lists/vegan/|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}} The British Vegan Society will certify a product only if it is free of animal involvement as far as possible and practical, including animal testing,{{Cite web|url=https://vegansociety.com/your-business/vegan-trademark-standards|title=Vegan Trademark standards|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314010829/https://vegansociety.com/your-business/vegan-trademark-standards|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=13 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://vegansociety.com/Lifestyle-And-Nutrition/Food/Criteria-for-Vegan-Food.aspx|title=Criteria for Vegan Food|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100207022227/http://vegansociety.com/Lifestyle-And-Nutrition/Food/Criteria-for-Vegan-Food.aspx|archive-date=7 February 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=13 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.americanvegan.org/vegan.htm|title=What is Vegan?|publisher=American Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317065205/http://www.americanvegan.org/vegan.htm|archive-date=17 March 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=17 March 2018}} but "recognises that it is not always possible to make a choice that avoids the use of animals",{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/medications|title=Medications|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314011249/https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/medications|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=13 March 2018|quote=Vegans avoid using animals 'as far as is practicable and possible'. This definition recognises that it is not always possible to make a choice that avoids the use of animals. Sometimes, you may have no alternative to taking prescribed medication.}} an issue that was highlighted in 2016 when it became known that the UK's newly introduced £5 note contained tallow.{{cite news |last= Kollewe |first= Julia | title= Bank of England urged to make new £5 note vegan-friendly |url= https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/29/bank-of-england-urged-to-make-new-5-note-vegan-friendly | date= 29 November 2016|newspaper= The Guardian |location=London| access-date= 7 January 2019 }}{{cite web | title= How difficult is it to avoid animal products in everyday life? |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38205600 | last= Halford | first= Jodie| date= 8 December 2016| website= BBC News Online | access-date= 7 January 2019 }}

File:Animal Abuse Battery Cage 02.jpg

Many clothing products may be made of animal products such as silk, wool (including lambswool, shearling, cashmere, angora, mohair, and a number of other fine wools), fur, feathers, pearls, animal-derived dyes, leather, snakeskin, or other kinds of skin or animal product. Most leather clothing is made from cow skins. Vegans discourage the use of leather but may continue to wear leather they bought before adopting the diet on the grounds that they are not financially supporting the meat industry.{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/veguide|url-status=live|title=Can you be a 'real' vegan if you still own leather products?|website=The Vegan Society|date=1 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416000000/https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/veguide|archive-date=16 April 2024|access-date=21 May 2024}} [https://archive.org/details/258-f-9646-4208-4658-8-ca-3-29593-cc-50-e-07/258F9646-4208-4658-8CA3-29593CC50E07.png Alt URL] However, vegans try to work towards a point where they no longer own animal products.{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|url-status=live|title=Answers to common questions about us and the vegan lifestyle|website=The Vegan Society|date=2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221074914/https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|archive-date=21 February 2023|access-date=21 May 2024|quote=Continuing to use products that are not vegan – such as wool clothing and leather footwear or accessories – can make it seem that these items are acceptable or even desirable. For example, why not wear a fur coat that is inherited if the animal died 50 years ago? The problem is that doing so suggests that fur coats are attractive, glamorous, desirable and that the fur of animals should be worn on the backs of humans rather than animals. Veganism is an ethical belief, and many of those who decide to go vegan, particularly for animal rights issues, would not be comfortable wearing leather or wool items anymore. Many feel that it is best to work towards a point where they no longer own animal products, replacing them with vegan alternatives as and when they can afford to do so.}} Ethical vegans may wear clothing items and accessories made of non-animal-derived materials such as hemp, linen, cotton, canvas, polyester, artificial leather (pleather), rubber, and vinyl.{{cite book |author=Joanne Stepaniak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA115 |title=The Vegan Sourcebook |date=2000 | publisher=McGraw Hill Professional |isbn=978-0-07-139221-1}}{{rp|16}} Leather alternatives can come from materials such as cork, piña (from pineapples), cactus, and mushroom leather.{{Cite news|author=Phloem|date=29 June 2017|title=These are the five most innovative materials being used in vegan fashion|url=https://www.theflamingvegan.com/view-post/These-are-the-five-most-innovative-materials-being-used-in-vegan-fashion-1|url-status=live|publisher=The Flaming Vegan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315032300/https://www.theflamingvegan.com/view-post/These-are-the-five-most-innovative-materials-being-used-in-vegan-fashion-1|archive-date=15 March 2018|access-date=14 March 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Hickey |first1=Shane |title=Wearable pineapple fibres could prove sustainable alternative to leather |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/21/wearable-pineapple-leather-alternative |work=The Guardian |date=21 December 2014 }}{{Cite news|author=Sophie Hirsh|title=Cactus Leather Is the Newest Eco-Friendly Fabric|url=https://www.greenmatters.com/p/vegan-cactus-leather-desserto|url-status=live|publisher=Green Matters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200512161149/https://www.greenmatters.com/p/vegan-cactus-leather-desserto|archive-date=12 May 2020|access-date=15 June 2020}} Some vegan clothes, in particular leather alternatives, are made of petroleum-based products, which has triggered criticism because of the environmental damage involved in their production.Stepaniak 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA20 20], [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA115 115–118], [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Ia5eZIlgLUC&pg=PA154 154].

{{further|Testing cosmetics on animals}}

File:Oliiviöljysaippua.JPGs can be made from olive oil. Other soap is sometimes made from tallow (animal fat).]]

While dietary vegans might use animal products in toiletries, ethical veganism extends not only to matters of food but also to the use of animal products, and rejects the commodification of animals altogether.{{rp|62|quote=[Gary L. Francione:] Although veganism may represent a matter of diet or lifestyle for some, ethical veganism is a profound moral and political commitment to abolition on the individual level and extends not only to matters of food but also to the wearing or using of animal products. Ethical veganism is the personal rejection of the commodity status of nonhuman animals, of the notion that animals have only external value, and of the notion that animals have less moral value than do humans.}} Ethical vegans replace personal care products and household cleaners containing animal products with vegan products. Animal ingredients are ubiquitous because they are relatively inexpensive. After animals are slaughtered for meat, the leftovers are put through a rendering process and some of that material, particularly the fat, is used in toiletries. Vegans also avoid using sea sponges.{{cite web|url=https://www.sustainablejungle.com/sustainable-living/are-sea-sponges-sustainable-ethicals|url-status=live|title=Are Sea Sponges Sustainable And Ethical?|website=Sustainable Jungle|date=6 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523085742/https://www.sustainablejungle.com/sustainable-living/are-sea-sponges-sustainable-ethical/|archive-date=23 May 2022|access-date=28 May 2022|quote=Are Sea Sponges Vegan? Technically no, they're not vegan. They're classed as an animal and therefore those who staunchly avoid animal products may want to avoid sponges, too.}}

Common animal-derived ingredients include tallow in soap; collagen-derived glycerine, which used as a lubricant and humectant in many haircare products, moisturizers, shaving foams, soaps and toothpastes; lanolin from sheep's wool, often found in lip balm and moisturizers; stearic acid, a common ingredient in face creams, shaving foam and shampoos (like glycerine, it can be plant-based, but is usually animal-derived); lactic acid, an alpha-hydroxy acid derived from animal milk, used in moisturizers; allantoin—from the comfrey plant or cow urine—found in shampoos, moisturizers and toothpaste;Animal Ingredients A to Z, E. G. Smith Collective, 2004, 3rd edition; Lars Thomsen and Reuben Proctor, Veganissimo A to Z, The Experiment, 2013 (first published in Germany, 1996).{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.peta.org/living/food/animal-ingredients-list/|title=Animal-Derived Ingredients Resource|date=18 April 2012|publisher=PETA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315020126/https://www.peta.org/living/food/animal-ingredients-list/|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}} and carmine from scale insects, such as the female cochineal, used in food and cosmetics to produce red and pink shades;{{Cite news|last=Mestel|first=Rosie|date=20 April 2012|title=Cochineal and Starbucks: Actually, this dye is everywhere|url=https://www.latimes.com/health/la-xpm-2012-apr-20-la-heb-cochineal-starbucks-20120420-story.html|url-status=live|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206021847/https://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/20/news/la-heb-cochineal-starbucks-20120420|archive-date=6 December 2016|access-date=14 March 2018}}Raymond Eller Kirk, Donald Frederick Othmer, Kirk-Othmer Chemical Technology of Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons, 2012, 535.

Beauty Without Cruelty, founded as a charity in 1959, was one of the earliest manufacturers and certifiers of animal-free personal care products.Linzey, Andrew. "Dowding, Lady Muriel", Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Greenwood, 1998, 139{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.beautywithoutcruelty.com/about-us|title=About Beauty Without Cruelty (The History of Beauty Without Cruelty)|publisher=Beauty Without Cruelty|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315030116/https://www.beautywithoutcruelty.com/about-us|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=14 March 2018}}

Hair extensions are generally avoided by ethical vegans since they are made from human hair, but ethical vegans may use synthetic alternatives. Environmental vegans avoid synthetic hair extensions due to their biodegradability.{{cite web |author1=Dan Charles |title=Are HUMAN Hair Extensions Vegan? Here's What Seasoned Vegans Have to Say

|url=https://craftyhairhacks.com/are-hair-extensions-vegan/|publisher=Crafy Hair Hacks |access-date=28 November 2023 |date=March 2020}}

Vegans disagree about insect products.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2008/07/the_great_vegan_honey_debate.html|title=The Great Vegan Honey Debate: Is honey the dairy of the insect world?|last=Engber|first=Daniel|date=30 July 2008|journal=Slate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309213633/https://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2008/07/the_great_vegan_honey_debate.html|archive-date=9 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=9 March 2018}} Neither the Vegan Society nor the American Vegan Society considers honey, silk, and other insect products suitable for vegans.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/honey-industry|title=The honey industry|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309212116/https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/honey-industry|archive-date=9 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=9 March 2018}} Some vegans believe that exploiting the labor of bees and harvesting their energy source is immoral, and that commercial beekeeping operations can harm and even kill bees.{{cite news

| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/10/17/sorry-vegans-if-you-dont-eat-honey-avocados-might-be-off-limits-too/

| title =Sorry, vegans. If you don't eat honey, avocados might be off-limits, too.

| newspaper =Washington Post

| access-date =2 September 2019

}} Insect products can be defined much more widely, as commercial bees are used to pollinate about 100 different food crops.

{{Further|Vegetarian and vegan dog diet|Dog food#Vegetarian and vegan dog diet|Cat food#Vegetarian and vegan diet|Cat health#Diet and nutrition}}

File:Number and years of publication of studies involving dogs and cats fed vegan diets.png

Some environmental vegans do not use meat-based pet food to feed their pets due to its environmental impact,{{Cite news|last=Heinze|first=Cailin|date=15 March 2017|title=A big pawprint: The environmental impact of pet food|url=https://theconversation.com/a-big-pawprint-the-environmental-impact-of-pet-food-74004|url-status=live|department=Environment+Energy|work=The Conversation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413223017/https://theconversation.com/a-big-pawprint-the-environmental-impact-of-pet-food-74004|archive-date=13 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Hewitt|first=Alison|date=4 August 2017|title=The truth about cats' and dogs' environmental impact|url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-truth-about-cats-and-dogs-environmental-impact|url-status=live|department=UCLA Newsroom|publisher=University of California, Los Angeles|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412030628/https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-truth-about-cats-and-dogs-environmental-impact|archive-date=12 April 2018|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2010/02/the_trouble_with_kibbles.html|title=The Trouble With Kibbles|last=Rastogi|first=Nina|date=23 February 2010|department=Health and Science (The Green Lantern)|magazine=Slate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412083930/https://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2010/02/the_trouble_with_kibbles.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}} and ethical vegans do not use meat-based pet food.{{refn|{{cite journal |last1=Wakefield |first1=Lorelei A. |last2=Shofer |first2=Frances S. |last3=Michel |first3=Kathryn E. |title=Evaluation of cats fed vegetarian diets and attitudes of their caregivers |journal=Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association |date=July 2006 |volume=229 |issue=1 |pages=70–73 |doi=10.2460/javma.229.1.70 |pmid=16817716 |s2cid=30948193 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Rothgerber |first1=Hank |title=A meaty matter. Pet diet and the vegetarian's dilemma |journal=Appetite |date=September 2013 |volume=68 |pages=76–82 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2013.04.012 |pmid=23619313 |s2cid=9531001 }}{{cite news |last1=Welch |first1=Dan |last2=Brown |first2=Katy |title=The ethics of veggie cats and dogs |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2010/may/24/vegetarianism-pets-national-vegetarian-week-cats-dogs |work=The Guardian |date=24 May 2010 }}{{Cite web|url=https://freefromharm.org/common-justifications-for-eating-animals/vegan-dogs-and-cats/|title=Should Vegans Have Vegan Dogs and Cats?|last=Capps|first=Ashley|date=15 June 2015|publisher=Free From Harm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412111246/https://freefromharm.org/common-justifications-for-eating-animals/vegan-dogs-and-cats/|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}}}{{refn|{{Cite web|url=https://eluxemagazine.com/magazine/cats-eat-a-vegan-diet/|title=Can Dogs & Cats Eat a Vegan Diet?|last=Gabardi|first=Chiara Spagnoli|website=Eluxe Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412025057/https://eluxemagazine.com/magazine/cats-eat-a-vegan-diet/|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=12 April 2018|date=7 April 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/vegan-animal-diets-facts-and-myths|title=Vegan animal diets: facts and myths|last=Knight|first=Andrew|date=20 March 2015|publisher=The Vegan Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412024538/https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/vegan-animal-diets-facts-and-myths|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{Cite news|last=James|first=Lauren|date=7 October 2017|title=Vegan dogs and cats in Hong Kong – how diet lowers pets' carbon footprint and improves their health, according to owners|url=http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2114234/vegan-pets-hong-kong-how-diet-lowers-carbon-footprint-dogs|url-status=live|department=Lifestyle (Health & Wellness)|work=South China Morning Post|publisher=Alibaba Group|publication-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413222327/http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2114234/vegan-pets-hong-kong-how-diet-lowers-carbon-footprint-dogs|archive-date=13 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/02/the-owners-putting-pets-on-vegan-diets-we-feed-our-animals-without-exploiting-others|title=The owners putting pets on vegan diets: 'We feed our animals without exploiting others'|last=Solon|first=Olivia|date=2 February 2018|department=Life and Style|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412110754/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/feb/02/the-owners-putting-pets-on-vegan-diets-we-feed-our-animals-without-exploiting-others|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}}} This is particularly true for domesticated cats{{cite magazine|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/veggie-cat-food/|title=Veggie Cat Food? Why Not All Cats Need Meat|date=12 March 2009|department=EarthTalk|magazine=Scientific American|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412103032/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/veggie-cat-food/|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018|via=E–The Environmental Magazine}} and dogs,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/well/family/the-vegan-dog.html|title=The Vegan Dog|last=McDermott|first=Marie Tae|date=6 June 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412115437/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/well/family/the-vegan-dog.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}} for which vegan pet food is available.

This practice has been met with caution and criticism,{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7154396|title=Can My Pet Be a Vegan Like Me?|last1=Heussner|first1=Ki Mae|last2=Berman|first2=John|author-link2=John Berman|date=8 April 2009|department=Technology|publisher=ABC News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412085809/https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=7154396|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{cite web|url=https://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats|title=Should Your Pet Go on a Vegetarian Diet?|last=Hawn|first=Roxanne|others=Reviewed by Audrey Cook|date=19 May 2011|department=Healthy Pets|website=WebMD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412024435/https://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/vegan-pet-food-triggers-meaty-debate-20120501-1xx3l.html|title=Vegan pet food triggers meaty debate|last=Nancarrow|first=Dan|date=2 May 2012|newspaper=Brisbane Times|publisher=Fairfax Digital|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412024948/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/vegan-pet-food-triggers-meaty-debate-20120501-1xx3l.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-diet-nutrition/it-possible-or-safe-make-your-pet-a-vegetarian|title=Is It Possible (Or Safe) to Make Your Pet a Vegetarian?|last=Lee|first=Justine A.|date=25 September 2013|website=Pet Health Network|publisher=IDEXX Laboratories|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412091953/https://www.pethealthnetwork.com/cat-health/cat-diet-nutrition/it-possible-or-safe-make-your-pet-a-vegetarian|archive-date=12 April 2018|url-status=live|access-date=12 April 2018}}{{pb}}{{Cite news|last=Whigham|first=Nick|date=10 April 2018|title=Is it a terrible idea to make your pet a vegan?|url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/is-it-a-terrible-idea-to-make-your-pet-a-vegan/news-story/cfe7f7bd4015b946c73d4e9071d7ccb8|url-status=live|department=Technology & Science (Animals)|website=news.com.au|publisher=News Corp Australia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413222322/http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/is-it-a-terrible-idea-to-make-your-pet-a-vegan/news-story/cfe7f7bd4015b946c73d4e9071d7ccb8|archive-date=13 April 2018|access-date=13 April 2018}} especially regarding vegan cat diets because, unlike omnivorous dogs, felids are obligate carnivores. A 2015 study found that 6 out of 24 commercial vegan pet food brands do not meet the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) labeling regulations for amino acid adequacy.{{cite journal |last1=Kanakubo |first1=Kayo |last2=Fascetti |first2=Andrea J. |last3=Larsen |first3=Jennifer A. |title=Assessment of protein and amino acid concentrations and labeling adequacy of commercial vegetarian diets formulated for dogs and cats |journal=Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association |date=15 August 2015 |volume=247 |issue=4 |pages=385–392 |doi=10.2460/javma.247.4.385 |pmid=26225610 }}{{update inline|date=March 2023}} A 2023 systematic review found no evidence of considerable effects on health; however, it was pointed out that there were issues with selection bias, studies not being long term, and low sample sizes and recommended larger scale studies.{{cite journal |last1=Domínguez-Oliva |first1=Adriana |last2=Mota-Rojas |first2=Daniel |last3=Semendric |first3=Ines |last4=Whittaker |first4=Alexandra L. |title=The Impact of Vegan Diets on Indicators of Health in Dogs and Cats: A Systematic Review |journal=Veterinary Sciences |date=January 2023 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=52 |doi=10.3390/vetsci10010052 |pmid=36669053 |pmc=9860667 |language=en |issn=2306-7381|doi-access=free}}

{{See also|Vegan organic agriculture}}

A concern is the case of medications, which are routinely tested on animals to ensure they are effective and safe,{{Cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm143534.htm|title=The FDA's Drug Review Process: Ensuring Drugs Are Safe and Effective|date=24 November 2017|publisher=Food and Drug Administration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314011521/https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm143534.htm|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=13 March 2018}} and may also contain animal ingredients, such as lactose, gelatine, or stearates. There may be no alternatives to prescribed medication or these alternatives may be unsuitable, less effective, or have more adverse side effects. Experimentation with laboratory animals is also used for evaluating the safety of vaccines, food additives, cosmetics, household products, workplace chemicals, and many other substances.{{cite book |date= 2004|title= Science, Medicine, and Animals. Safety Testing |chapter= Safety Testing |url= https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK24645/ |location= Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US) |publisher= National Research Council (US) Committee to Update Science, Medicine, and Animals}} Vegans may avoid certain vaccines, such as the flu vaccine, which is commonly produced in chicken eggs. An effective alternative, Flublok, is widely available in the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/qa_flublok-vaccine.htm|title=Flublok Seasonal Influenza (Flu) Vaccine|date=14 December 2017|publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314013058/https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/qa_flublok-vaccine.htm|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=13 March 2018}}

Farming of fruits and vegetables may include fertilizing the soil with animal manure {{ndash}} even on organic farms,{{cite web |author1=Dan Charles |title=Organic farmers bash FDA restrictions on manure use |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/11/21/246386290/organic-farmers-bash-fda-restrictions-on-manure-use |publisher=NPR |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=21 November 2013}} possibly causing a concern to vegans for ethical or environmental reasons.{{cite news |last=Barkham |first=Patrick |title={{-'}}We're humus sapiens': the farmers who shun animal manure |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/12/were-humus-sapiens-the-farmers-who-shun-animal-manure |access-date=14 January 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=12 January 2019}} "Vegan" (or "animal-free") farming uses plant compost only.

{{Comparison of special diets}}

{{clear}}

Vegans oppose the use of animals for any purpose, including food, clothing, toiletries, testing, and places that use animals for entertainment.{{cite document |last=Hudson |first=Vanessa |date=2014 |title=Animal Welfare Party Response|type=Word Doc |publisher=The Vegan Society}}

Vegans oppose horseback riding on the basis that it is unnecessary and exploitative. While The Vegan Society acknowledges that there are ways to minimize cruelty in "breaking" a horse, they believe that the fact that horses need to be broken at all shows that horses do not naturally expect to be ridden. The Vegan Society also points out that in the modern age, horseback riding is a hobby rather than a legitimate means of transportation.{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|url-status=live|title=Answers to common questions about us and the vegan lifestyle|website=The Vegan Society|date=2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221074914/https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|archive-date=21 February 2023|access-date=27 May 2024|quote=Our definition of veganism is "a 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." Horses must be 'broken' before they can be ridden. There are various ways of minimizing the cruelty involved in that process but certainly horses do not naturally expect to carry humans. Riding can cause suffering even to a broken horse, particularly if there is not adequate care taken or if someone lacks knowledge of how to care for a horse. Many people who have become vegan give up horse riding, as they do not feel that it is a suitable activity for vegans. While we recognise that there are far worse cruelties happening in the animal farming world than a lot of what horses experience, ultimately horse riding is unnecessary and exploitative. Most people involved in riding in the UK do so only as a hobby, meaning it is both possible and practicable for them to give it up.}}

Vegans avoid visiting zoos and aquariums on the belief that they exploit animals for entertainment. Some vegans may visit animal sanctuaries as an alternative.{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|url-status=live|title=Definition of veganism

|website=The Vegan Society|date=2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101150325/https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism|archive-date=1 January 2016|access-date=27 May 2024|quote=Vegans choose not to support animal exploitation in any form and so avoid visiting zoos or aquariums, or taking part in dog or horse racing. A great alternative is visiting and supporting animal sanctuaries that provide safe and loving homes for rescued animals.}}

Vegans do not purchase pets but may adopt or rescue a domestic animal that cannot live independently.{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|url-status=live|title=Answers to common questions about us and the vegan lifestyle|website=The Vegan Society|date=2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221074914/https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/general-faqs|archive-date=21 February 2023|access-date=27 May 2024|quote=Many vegans share their homes with domesticated animals who cannot live independently. If you are looking for a non-human companion, why not welcome a rescued animal from your local animal sanctuary into your home?}} Vegans do not keep exotic pets, such as birds, tortoises, and fish, believing that because they have not been domesticated, they do not belong in captivity.{{cite web|url=https://veganfta.com/2023/12/15/why-vegans-dont-keep-exotic-pets/|title=Why Vegans Don't Keep Exotic Pets|website=Vegan FTA|date=15 December 2023|access-date=27 May 2024}}

File:Vegan dish (42019058960).jpg

Conclusions in scientific review articles range from stating benefits, to concluding that evidence is not yet sufficient, to identifying possible health problems. One review reported moderate evidence that adhering to a vegan diet for at least 12 weeks may be effective in individuals with overweight or type 2 diabetes to induce a meaningful decrease in body weight and improve glycemia.{{Cite journal |last1=Termannsen |first1=AD |last2=Clemmensen |first2=KK |last3=Thomsen |first3=JM |last4=Nørgaard |first4=O |last5=Díaz |first5=LJ |last6=Torekov |first6=SS |last7=Quist |first7=JS |last8=Faerch |first8=K |date=June 2022 |title=Effects of vegan diets on cardiometabolic health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials |journal=Obesity Reviews|volume=23 |issue=9 |pages=e13462 |doi=10.1111/obr.13462 |issn=1467-789X |pmid=35672940|pmc=9540559 |s2cid=249465763 }} A second reported that vegetarian diets, including vegan diets, are associated with lower risk for vascular disease, obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.{{Cite journal |last1=Agnoli |first1=C |last2=Baroni |first2=L |last3=Bertini |first3=I |last4=Ciappellano |first4=S |last5=Fabbri |first5=A |last6=Goggi |first6=S |last7=Metro |first7=D |last8=Papa |first8=M |last9=Sbarbati |first9=R |last10=Scarino |first10=ML |last11=Pellegrini |first11=N |last12=Sieri |first12=S |date=July 2023 |title=A comprehensive review of healthy effects of vegetarian diets |journal=Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases |volume=33 |issue=7 |pages=1308–15 |doi=10.1016/j.numecd.2023.04.005 |issn=1590-3729 |pmid=37217433|s2cid=258842930 |doi-access=free }} A third indicated that a vegan diet may be effective for reducing body weight, lowering the risk of cancer, and providing a lower risk of all-cause mortality. People on a vegan diet with diabetes or cardiovascular diseases may have lower levels of disease biomarkers.{{Cite journal |last1=Selinger |first1=E |last2=Neuenschwander |first2=M |last3=Koller |first3=A |last4=Gojda |first4=J |last5=Kühn |first5=T |last6=Schwingshackl |first6=L |last7=Barbaresko |first7=J |last8=Schlesinger |first8=S |date=May 2022 |title=Evidence of a vegan diet for health benefits and risks – an umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational and clinical studies |journal=Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition |volume=63 |issue=29 |pages=9926–36 |doi=10.1080/10408398.2022.2075311 |pmid=37962057 |issn=1040-8398 |s2cid=248851078|doi-access=free }}

A Cochrane review of randomized controlled trials found that there is "currently insufficient information to draw conclusions about the effects of vegan dietary interventions on cardiovascular disease risk factors".{{Cite journal|last1=Rees|first1=K|last2=Al-Khudairy|first2=L|last3=Takeda |first3=A |last4=Stranges|first4=S |date=February 2021|title=Vegan dietary pattern for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases|journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews|volume=2021|issue=2|pages=CD013501|doi=10.1002/14651858.CD013501.pub2|issn=1469-493X|pmc=8092640|pmid=33629376}} There is inconsistent evidence for vegan diets providing an effect on metabolic syndrome.{{cite journal |last1=Turner-McGrievy |first1=G |last2=Harris |first2=M |date=August 2014 |title=Key Elements of Plant-Based Diets Associated with Reduced Risk of Metabolic Syndrome |journal=Current Diabetes Reports |volume=14 |issue=9 |pages=524 |doi=10.1007/s11892-014-0524-y |pmid=25084991 |s2cid=27455153}} A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies concluded that vegan diets are associated with reduced risk of ischemic heart disease, but no clear association was found for cardiovascular disease and stroke.{{Cite journal |last1=Dybvik |first1=JS |last2=Svendsen |first2=M |last3=Aune |first3=D |date=August 2022 |title=Vegetarian and vegan diets and the risk of cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies |journal=European Journal of Nutrition |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=51–69 |doi=10.1007/s00394-022-02942-8 |issn=1436-6215 |pmid=36030329|pmc=9899747 |s2cid=251866952 |doi-access=free }} There is tentative evidence of an association between vegan diets and reduced risk of cancer.{{cite journal |vauthors=Dinu M, Abbate R, Gensini GF, Casini A, Sofi F |title=Vegetarian, vegan diets and multiple health outcomes: A systematic review with meta-analysis of observational studies |journal=Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr |volume=57 |issue=17 |pages=3640–3649 |date=November 2017 |pmid=26853923 |doi=10.1080/10408398.2016.1138447 |hdl=2158/1079985 |s2cid=10073754 |hdl-access=free |quote=vegan diet seems to be associated with a lower rate of cancer incidence, but this result must be interpreted with caution, because of the very small sample size and the low number of studies evaluating this aspect. }} Vegans may be at risk of low bone mineral density.{{cite journal |last1=Iguacel |first1=I |last2=Miguel-Berges |first2=ML |last3=Gómez-Bruton |first3=A |last4=Moreno |first4=LA |last5=Julián |first5=C |date=January 2019 |title=Veganism, vegetarianism, bone mineral density, and fracture risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis |url=http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/84310 |journal=Nutrition Reviews |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1093/nutrit/nuy045 |pmid=30376075 |doi-access=free |s2cid=53111636}}

File:Vegan Plate.svg

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dietitians of Canada say that properly planned vegetarian or vegan diets are appropriate for all life stages, including pregnancy and lactation.{{cite journal|author1=American Dietetic Association|year=2003|title=Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets|url=http://www.andjrnl.org/article/S0002-8223%2803%2900294-3/fulltext|journal=Journal of the American Dietetic Association|volume=103|issue=6|pages=748–765|citeseerx=10.1.1.739.2592|doi=10.1053/jada.2003.50142|pmid=12778049}} The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council similarly recognizes a well-planned vegan diet as viable for any age,{{cite press release|url=http://www.international.to/index.php?option=com_content&id=8942%3Agovernment-recognises-vegan-diet-as-viable-option-for-all-australians&Itemid=307|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922033910/http://www.international.to/index.php?option=com_content&id=8942%3Agovernment-recognises-vegan-diet-as-viable-option-for-all-australians&Itemid=307|archive-date=22 September 2013|title=Government recognises vegan diet as viable option for all Australians|publisher=Vegan Australia|via=News International|date=12 July 2013}} as does the British Dietetic Association,[https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/british-dietetic-association-confirms-well-planned-vegan-diets-can-support-healthy-living-in-people-of-all-ages.html "British Dietetic Association confirms well-planned vegan diets can support healthy living in people of all ages"]. bda.uk.com. Retrieved 22 November 2021. British National Health Service{{cite web|date=3 September 2018|title=The vegan diet|url=https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-vegan-diet/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519182001/https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/the-vegan-diet/|archive-date=19 May 2019|publisher=The British National Health Service}} and the Canadian Pediatric Society.{{cite journal|last1=Amit|first1=M|date=May 2010|title=Vegetarian diets in children and adolescents|journal=Paediatrics & Child Health|volume=15|issue=5|pages=303–14|pmc=2912628|pmid=21532796}}

As of 2024 the {{ill|German Society for Nutrition|de|Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung}} (DGE) holds that for healthy adults a vegan diet can be healthful, when B₁₂ is supplemented and the diet is well-planned so that critical nutrients are provided. Because data is lacking the DGE does not recommend for or against vegan diets for vulnerable groups like children, young people, elderly and pregnant or breastfeeding women. If individuals in these groups decide for a vegan diet, they are suggested to seek professional advice, as planning the diet in these cases is complex and irreversible consequences cannot be ruled out, when the diet is not well planned. The DGE highlights that a vegan diet is exceptionally environmental friendly and can reduce greenhouse cases by about 70-80%, while having other environmental benefits, too.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Neubewertung der DGE-Position zu veganer Ernährung |url=https://www.dge.de//fileadmin/dok/wissenschaft/positionen/DGE_Position_Neubewertung_Vegane_Ern%C3%A4hrung_EU_2024_60-84.pdf |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung |quote=Für die gesunde erwachsene Allgemeinbevölkerung kann neben anderen Ernährungsweisen auch eine vegane Ernährung, unter der Voraussetzung der Einnahme eines Vitamin-B12-Präparats, einer ausgewogenen, gut geplanten Lebensmittelauswahl sowie einer bedarfsdeckenden Zufuhr der potenziell kritischen Nährstoffe (ggf. auch durch weitere Nährstoffpräparate), eine gesundheitsfördernde Ernährung darstellen. Für die vulnerablen Gruppen Kinder, Jugendliche, Schwangere, Stillende und Senior*innen kann die DGE aufgrund der weiterhin eingeschränkten Datenlage weder eine eindeutige Empfehlung für noch gegen eine vegane Ernährung aussprechen. Aufgrund des Risikos für potenzielle, teilweise irreversible Konsequenzen bei inadäquater Durchführung müssen für eine vegane Ernährung in vulnerablen Gruppen besonders fundierte Ernährungskompetenzen vorliegen. Eine Ernährungsberatung durch qualifizierte Fachkräfte ist daher für diese Gruppen dringend angeraten.}} As of 2022, 45% of government nutritional guidelines discuss vegan meat or milk alternatives, or both.{{Cite web |title=Neue Analyse: Fast jede zweite Ernährungsfachgesellschaft erwähnt Milch- & Fleischalternativen in ihren Richtlinien – Vegan News |url=https://vegan-news.de/neue-analyse-fast-jede-zweite-ernaehrungsfachgesellschaft-erwaehnt-milch-fleischalternativen-in-ihren-richtlinien/ |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=vegan-news.de |date=9 November 2022 |language=de-DE}}{{Cite journal |last1=Klapp |first1=Anna-Lena |last2=Feil |first2=Nico |last3=Risius |first3=Antje |date=2022 |title=A Global Analysis of National Dietary Guidelines On Plant-Based Diets and Substitutions for Animal-Based Foods |journal=Current Developments in Nutrition |volume=6 |issue=11 |pages=nzac144 |doi=10.1093/cdn/nzac144|pmid=36467286 |pmc=9708321 }}

{{further|Vegan nutrition#Pregnancy, infants and children|Nutrition and pregnancy}}

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics consider well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets "appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. The German Society for Nutrition cautioned against a vegan diet for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, babies, children, and adolescents.{{cite journal|author1=Richter M |author2=Boeing H |author3=Grünewald-Funk D |author4=Heseker H |author5=Kroke A |author6=Leschik-Bonnet E |author7=Oberritter H |author8=Strohm D |author9=Watzl B|date=12 April 2016|title=Vegan diet. Position of the German Nutrition Society (DGE)|url=https://www.ernaehrungs-umschau.de/fileadmin/Ernaehrungs-Umschau/pdfs/pdf_2016/04_16/EU04_2016_Special_DGE_eng_final.pdf|journal=Ernahrungs Umschau|volume=63|issue=4|pages=92–102. Erratum in: 63(05): M262|doi=10.4455/eu.2016.021|doi-access=free}} The position of the Canadian Pediatric Society is that "well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets with appropriate attention to specific nutrient components can provide a healthy alternative lifestyle at all stages of fetal, infant, child and adolescent growth. It is recommended that attention should be given to nutrient intake, particularly protein, vitamins B₁₂ and D, essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, and calcium.

{{main|Vegan nutrition}}

File:Granola oatmeal with soymilk flickr user daisybush.jpg is a rich source of manganese and a moderate source of protein, fiber, phosphorus, and zinc.]]

Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals, and lower in dietary energy, saturated fat, cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acid, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B₁₂.{{efn|name=Craigvegandiets|Winston J. Craig (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2009): "Vegan diets are usually higher in dietary fiber, magnesium, folic acid, vitamins C and E, iron, and phytochemicals, and they tend to be lower in calories, saturated fat and cholesterol, long-chain n–3 (omega-3) fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B-12. ... A vegan diet appears to be useful for increasing the intake of protective nutrients and phytochemicals and for minimizing the intake of dietary factors implicated in several chronic diseases."{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=Winston J |title=Health effects of vegan diets |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |date=May 2009 |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=1627S–1633S |doi=10.3945/ajcn.2009.26736N |pmid=19279075 |doi-access=free|quote="However, eliminating all animal products from the diet increases the risk of certain nutritional deficiencies. " }}}} As a result of the elimination of all animal products, a poorly planned vegan diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies that counteract its beneficial effects and cause serious health issues,{{cite journal |last1=Di Genova |first1=Tanya |last2=Guyda |first2=Harvey |date=March 2007 |title=Infants and children consuming atypical diets: Vegetarianism and macrobiotics |journal=Paediatrics & Child Health |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=185–188 |doi=10.1093/pch/12.3.185 |pmc=2528709 |pmid=19030357}}{{cite journal| vauthors=Rizzo G, Laganà AS, Rapisarda AM, La Ferrera GM, Buscema M, Rossetti P et al.| title=Vitamin B12 among Vegetarians: Status, Assessment and Supplementation|journal=Nutrients|year= 2016|volume= 8|issue= 12|pages=767|pmid=27916823|doi=10.3390/nu8120767|pmc=5188422|type=Review | doi-access=free}} some of which can only be prevented with fortified foods or dietary supplements.{{cite journal|last1=Melina|first1=Vesanto|last2=Craig|first2=Winston|last3=Levin|first3=Susan|date=December 2016|title=Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets|url=https://www.eatrightpro.org/~/media/eatrightpro%20files/practice/position%20and%20practice%20papers/position%20papers/vegetarian-diet.ashx|journal=Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics|volume=116|issue=12|pages=1970–1980|doi=10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025|pmid=27886704|s2cid=4984228 |access-date=29 July 2019|archive-date=8 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708160222/https://www.eatrightpro.org/~/media/eatrightpro%20files/practice/position%20and%20practice%20papers/position%20papers/vegetarian-diet.ashx|url-status=dead}} Vitamin B₁₂ supplementation is important because its deficiency can cause blood disorders and potentially irreversible neurological damage; this danger is also one of the most common in poorly planned non-vegan diets.{{cite journal|pmc=4921487|year=2016|last1=Hannibal|first1=L|title=Biomarkers and Algorithms for the Diagnosis of Vitamin B₁₂ Deficiency|journal=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences|volume=3|pages=27|last2=Lysne|first2=V|last3=Bjørke-Monsen|first3=A. L.|last4=Behringer|first4=S|last5=Grünert|first5=S. C.|last6=Spiekerkoetter|first6=U|last7=Jacobsen|first7=D. W.|last8=Blom|first8=H. J.|doi=10.3389/fmolb.2016.00027|pmid=27446930|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last1=Gille|first1=D|last2=Schmid|first2=A|date=February 2015|title=Vitamin B₁₂ in meat and dairy products|journal=Nutrition Reviews|type=Review|volume=73|issue=2|pages=106–15|doi=10.1093/nutrit/nuu011|pmid=26024497|doi-access=free}} The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states that special attention may be necessary to ensure that a vegan diet provides adequate amounts of vitamin B₁₂, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, and zinc. It also states that concern that vegans and vegan athletes may not consume an adequate amount and quality of protein is unsubstantiated.{{cite journal|last1=Melina|first1=Vesanto|last2=Craig|first2=Winston|last3=Levin|first3=Susan|date=1 May 2015|title=Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets |url=https://vegstudies.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/inst_ethik_wiss_dialog/JAND_2015.05_Position_of_the_academy_of_nutrition_and_dietetics_vegetarian_diets..pdf|journal=Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics|volume=115|issue=5|pages=1970–1980|doi=10.1016/j.jand.2016.09.025|issn=2212-2672|pmid=27886704|s2cid=4984228 |access-date=26 January 2019}}

These nutrients are available in plant foods, with the exception of vitamin B₁₂, which can be obtained only from B₁₂-fortified vegan foods or supplements. Vitamin B₁₂ deficiency occurs in up to 80% of all vegans in some Asian countries.{{cite journal|last1=Woo|first1=K|last2=Kwok|first2=T|last3=Celermajer |first3=D |date= August 2014|title=Vegan Diet, Subnormal Vitamin B-12 Status and Cardiovascular Health|journal=Nutrients|volume=6|issue=8|pages=3259–73 |doi=10.3390/nu6083259 |pmc=4145307|pmid=25195560|doi-access=free}} Iodine may also require supplementation, such as using iodized salt.{{Cite journal |last1=Eveleigh |first1=ER |last2=Coneyworth |first2=LJ |last3=Avery |first3=A |last4=Welham |first4=SJ |date=May 2020 |title=Vegans, Vegetarians, and Omnivores: How Does Dietary Choice Influence Iodine Intake? A Systematic Review |journal=Nutrients |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=E1606 |doi=10.3390/nu12061606 |issn=2072-6643 |pmc=7352501 |pmid=32486114 |doi-access=free}}

{{Animal rights sidebar}}

{{Further|Animal rights|Carnism|Cruelty to animals#Welfare concerns of farm animals|Ethics of eating meat}}

File:Hog confinement barn interior.jpg

Ethical veganism is based on opposition to speciesism, the assignment of value to individuals based on (animal) species membership alone. Divisions within animal rights theory include the utilitarian, protectionist approach, which pursues improved conditions for animals. It also pertains to the rights-based abolitionism, which seeks to end human ownership of non-humans. Abolitionists argue that protectionism serves only to make the public feel that animal use can be morally unproblematic (the "happy meat" position).{{rp|62–63}} A common argument used while advocating for ethical veganism is the argument from marginal cases. The argument presents the idea that if negative rights are prescribed to human infants, cognitively and/or physically disabled humans, then by logical extension, animals should also be granted the same negative rights as no morally relevant characteristics exist between animals and marginal-case human beings.

Donald Watson, co-founder of The Vegan Society, asked why he was an ethical vegan, replied, "If an open-minded, honest person pursues a course long enough, and listens to all the criticisms, and in one's own mind can satisfactorily meet all the criticisms against that idea, sooner or later one's resistance against what one sees as evil tradition has to be discarded."{{Cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/DW_Interview_2002_Unabridged_Transcript.pdf|title=Donald Watson 2002 Unabridged Interview|last=George|first=Roger|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027031624/https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/DW_Interview_2002_Unabridged_Transcript.pdf|archive-date=27 October 2019}} Of bloodsports, he has said that "to kill creatures for fun must be the very dregs" and that vivisection and animal experimentation "is probably the cruelest of all Man's attack on the rest of Creation." He has also said, "vegetarianism, whilst being a necessary stepping-stone between meat eating and veganism, is only a stepping stone."

Alex Hershaft, co-founder of the Farm Animal Rights Movement and Holocaust survivor, says he "was always bothered by the idea of hitting a beautiful, living, innocent animal over the head, cutting him up into pieces, then shoving the pieces into [his] mouth" and that his experiences in the Nazi Holocaust allowed him "to empathize with the conditions of animals in factory farms, auction yards, and slaughterhouses" because he "knows firsthand what it's like to be treated like a worthless object."{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIgAi6k69IQC&pg=PA145|title=People Promoting and People Opposing Animal Rights: In Their Own Words|last=Kistler|first=John M.|date=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31322-6|pages=145–146|language=en}} Several animal rights activists, including Isaac Bashevis Singer, Gary Yourofsky and Karen Davis, have compared the cruel treatment of animals in CAFOs and slaughterhouses to the Holocaust.Patterson, Charles. Eternal Treblinka, Lantern Books, 2002.{{cite web|last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |author-link= Yuval Noah Harari|url=https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-animal-holocaust-goes-on-says-vegan-guru-1.5278995|title=Gary Yourofsky to Haaretz: 'Animal Holocaust' Isn't Over|publisher=Haaretz|date=October 25, 2013|access-date=November 23, 2021}}{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Karen |date=2005 |title=The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities |url= |location= |publisher=Lantern Publishing & Media |pages=1–5 |isbn=978-1-59056-091-4}}

Law professor Gary Francione, an abolitionist, argues that all sentient beings should have the right not to be treated as property, and that veganism must be the baseline for anyone who believes that non-humans have intrinsic moral value.{{efn|Gary Francione (2009): "We all believe it's wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death on animals. ... So now the next question becomes 'what do we mean by necessity?' Well, whatever it means, whatever abstract meaning it has, if it has any meaning whatsoever, its minimal meaning has to be that it's wrong to inflict suffering and death on animals for reasons of pleasure, amusement or convenience ... Problem is 99.9999999 percent of our animal use can only be justified by reasons of pleasure, amusement or convenience."Eric Prescott, [http://vimeo.com/23001319 "I'm Vegan: Gary Francione], Vimeo, 2009, from 00:13:53.}}{{rp|62|quote=[Gary L. Francione:] Ethical veganism must be the unequivocal moral baseline of any social and political movement that recognizes that nonhuman animals have inherent or intrinsic moral value and are not resources for human use.}} Philosopher Tom Regan, also a rights theorist, argues that animals possess value as "subjects-of-a-life", because they have beliefs, desires, memory and the ability to initiate action in pursuit of goals. The right of subjects-of-a-life not to be harmed can be overridden by other moral principles, but Regan argues that pleasure, convenience and the economic interests of farmers are not weighty enough.Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights, University of California Press, 1983, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0tWjRmxFE4C&pg=PA243 243], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0tWjRmxFE4C&pg=PA333 333–339]. Philosopher Peter Singer, a protectionist and utilitarian, argues that there is no moral or logical justification for failing to count animal suffering as a consequence when making decisions, and that killing animals should be rejected unless necessary for survival.Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lNgnV0eDtM0C&pg=PA50 50]; Singer 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lNgnV0eDtM0C&pg=PA60 60–61]. Despite this, he writes that "ethical thinking can be sensitive to circumstances" and that he is "not too concerned about trivial infractions".Peter Singer and Jim Mason, The Way We Eat, Rodale, 2006, 281–282.

An argument by Bruce Friedrich, also a protectionist, holds that strict veganism harms animals because it focuses on personal purity rather than encouraging people to give up whatever animal products they can.Bruce Friedrich, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080611232631/http://www.goveg.com/effectiveAdvocacy_personal.asp "Personal Purity vs. Effective Advocacy"], PETA, 2006. For Francione, this is similar to arguing that, because human-rights abuses can never be eliminated, we should not defend human rights in situations we control. By failing to ask a server whether something contains animal products, we reinforce that the moral rights of animals are a matter of convenience, he argues. He concludes from this that the protectionist position fails on its own consequentialist terms.{{rp|72–73|quote=[Gary L. Francione:] The PETA/Singer position is problematic on its own consequentialist terms because it assumes that not observing veganism will make it easier to persuade others to go vegan. But it is as likely that the opposite is true. [...] It is just as likely as a matter of consequence alone that such an event may serve as an opportunity for the animal advocate to educate her companions about why she views the moral issue as she does and thereby influence their thinking about the issue.}}

Philosopher Val Plumwood maintained that ethical veganism is "subtly human-centred", an example of what she called "human/nature dualism", because it views humanity as separate from the rest of nature. Ethical vegans want to admit non-humans into the category that deserves special protection rather than recognize the "ecological embeddedness" of all.Val Plumwood, "Gender, Eco-Feminism and the Environment", in Robert White (ed.), Controversies in Environmental Sociology, Cambridge University Press, 2004, 52–53. Plumwood wrote that animal food may be an "unnecessary evil" from the perspective of the consumer who "draws on the whole planet for nutritional needs"—and she strongly opposed factory farming—but for anyone relying on a much smaller ecosystem, it is very difficult or impossible to be vegan.Val Plumwood, [http://epress.anu.edu.au/titles/the-eye-of-the-crocodile The Eye of the Crocodile], edited by Lorraine Shannon, Canberra: Australian National University E Press, 2012, 87.

Bioethicist Ben Mepham,{{Cite web|url=https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/about-us/whoweare/professor-ben-mepham-founder-director-of-the-food-ethics-council.html|title=Professor Ben Mepham – Founder Director of the Food Ethics Council|publisher=Food Ethics Council|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308032339/https://www.foodethicscouncil.org/about-us/whoweare/professor-ben-mepham-founder-director-of-the-food-ethics-council.html|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=7 March 2018}} in his review of Francione and Garner's book The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation?, concludes, "if the aim of ethics is to choose the right, or best, course of action in specific circumstances 'all things considered', it is arguable that adherence to such an absolutist agenda is simplistic and open to serious self-contradictions. Or, as Farlie puts it, with characteristic panache: 'to conclude that veganism is the "only ethical response" is to take a big leap into a very muddy pond'."{{cite journal|author=Mepham, B|title=The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation?|journal=Animals|volume=1|issue=4|pages=200–204|date=Mar 2011|pmc=4552207|doi=10.3390/ani1010200|type=Book Review|doi-access=free}} He cites as examples the adverse effects on animal wildlife derived from the agricultural practices necessary to sustain most vegan diets and the ethical contradiction of favoring the welfare of domesticated animals but not that of wild animals; the imbalance between the resources that are used to promote the welfare of animals as opposed to those destined to alleviate the suffering of the approximately one billion human beings who undergo malnutrition, abuse and exploitation; the focus on attitudes and conditions in Western developed countries, leaving out the rights and interests of societies whose economy, culture and, in some cases, survival rely on a symbiotic relationship with animals.

David Pearce, a transhumanist philosopher, has argued that humanity has a "hedonistic imperative" not merely to avoid cruelty to animals caused by humans but also to redesign the global ecosystem such that wild animal suffering in nature ceases to exist.Thweatt-Bates, Jeanine (2016). Cyborg Selves: A Theological Anthropology of the Posthuman. London: Routledge, 100–101 (first published 2012). In pursuit of abolishing suffering, Pearce promotes predation elimination among animals and the "cross-species global analogue of the welfare state". Fertility regulation could maintain herbivore populations at sustainable levels, "a more civilised and compassionate policy option than famine, predation, and disease".{{Cite interview|last=Pearce|first=David|interviewer=George Dvorsky|title=The Radical Plan to Phase Out Earth's Predatory Species|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-radical-plan-to-eliminate-earths-predatory-species-1613342963|publisher=io9|date=30 July 2014|access-date=4 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304195650/https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-radical-plan-to-eliminate-earths-predatory-species-1613342963|archive-date=4 March 2018|url-status=live|quote=Carnivorous predators keep populations of herbivores in check. Plasmodium-carrying species of the Anopheles mosquito keep human populations in check. In each case, a valuable ecological role is achieved at the price of immense suffering and the loss of hundreds of millions of lives. What's in question isn't the value of the parasite or predator's ecological role, but whether intelligent moral agents can perform that role better. On some fairly modest assumptions, fertility regulation via family planning or cross-species immunocontraception is a more civilised and compassionate policy option than famine, predation and disease. The biggest obstacle to a future of compassionate ecosystems is the ideology of traditional conservation biology—and unreflective status quo bias.}} The increasing number of vegans and vegetarians in the transhumanism movement has been attributed in part to Pearce's influence.{{cite book|last=Fairlie|first=Simon|title=Meat: A Benign Extravagance|publisher=Chelsea Green Publishing|year=2010|at=230–231|isbn=978-1-60358-325-1}}

A growing political philosophy that incorporates veganism as part of its revolutionary praxis is veganarchism, which seeks "total abolition" or "total liberation" for all animals, including humans. Veganarchists identify the state as unnecessary and harmful to animals, both human and non-human, and advocate for the adoption of veganism in a stateless society. The term was popularized in 1995 by Brian A. Dominick's pamphlet Animal Liberation and Social Revolution, described as "a vegan perspective on anarchism or an anarchist perspective on veganism".Dominick, Brian. Animal Liberation and Social Revolution: A vegan perspective on anarchism or an anarchist perspective on veganism, third edition, Firestarter Press, 1997, pp. 5–6.

Direct action is a common practice among veganarchists (and anarchists generally) with groups like the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the Animal Rights Militia (ARM), the Justice Department (JD) and Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade (RCALB) often engaging in such activities, sometimes criminally, to further their goals.{{cite book |editor1-last=Best|editor1-first=Steven |editor2-last=Nocella II|editor2-first= Anthony J. |date=2004 |title=Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals |url= |location= |publisher=Lantern Books |page=301 |isbn=978-1-59056-054-9}} Steven Best, animal rights activist and professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso, advocates this approach, and has been critical of vegan activists like Francione for supporting animal liberation but not total liberation, which would include not only opposition to "the property status of animals" but also "a serious critique of capitalism, the state, property relations, and commodification dynamics in general." In particular, he criticizes the focus on the simplistic and apolitical "Go Vegan" message directed mainly at wealthy Western audiences, while ignoring people of color, the working class and the poor, especially in the developing world, noting that "for every person who becomes vegan, a thousand flesh eaters arise in China, India and Indonesia." The "faith in the singular efficacy of conjectural education and moral persuasion," Best writes, is no substitute for "direct action, mass confrontation, civil disobedience, alliance politics, and struggle for radical change."{{cite book|last=Best|first=Steven|title=The Politics of Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century|chapter=The New Abolitionism: Capitalism, Slavery, and Animal Liberation|date=2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-47111-6|doi=10.1057/9781137440723_2|pages=21–49}} Donald Watson has said he "respects the people enormously who do it, believing that it's the most direct and quick way to achieve their ends." Sociologist David Nibert of Wittenberg University posits that any movement towards global justice would necessitate not only the abolition of animal exploitation, particularly as a food source for humans, but also transitioning towards a socioeconomic alternative to the capitalist system, both of which dovetail into what he calls the animal–industrial complex.{{cite book |last= Nibert |first=David |editor1=Steven Best|editor2=Richard Kahn|editor3=Anthony J. Nocella II|editor4=Peter McLaren|editor4-link=Peter McLaren |date=2011|title=The Global Industrial Complex: Systems of Domination|chapter=Origins and Consequences of the Animal Industrial Complex |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |pages=208–209|url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739136973/The-Global-Industrial-Complex-Systems-of-Domination|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZM3gTCIWb0C&pg=PA197|isbn=978-0-7391-3698-0}}{{cite book | editor-last = Nibert | editor-first = David | date = 2017 | title = Animal Oppression and Capitalism | page = 306| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F6UxDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA306 | publisher = Praeger Publishing | isbn = 978-1-4408-5073-8}}

Some vegans also embrace the philosophy of anti-natalism, as they see the two as complementary in terms of "harm reduction" to animals and the environment.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a14751412/antinatalism/|title=This Extreme Sect of Vegans Thinks Your Baby Will Destroy the Planet|last=Pelley |first=Virginia |date=29 January 2018 |magazine= Marie Claire|access-date=30 July 2018 }}

Vegan social psychologist Melanie Joy described the ideology in which people support the use and consumption of animal products as carnism,{{Cite book|last=Joy|first=Melanie|title=Why we love dogs, eat pigs, and wear cows : an introduction to carnism: the belief system that enables us to eat some animals and not others|date=2010|publisher=Conari Press|isbn=978-1-57324-461-9|location=San Francisco|pages=9|oclc=316832932}} as a sort of opposite to veganism.{{Citation|last1=Gibert|first1=Martin|title=Carnism|date=2014|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-007-0929-4_83|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics|pages=292–298|editor-last=Thompson|editor-first=Paul B.|place=Dordrecht|publisher=Springer Netherlands|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-94-007-0929-4_83|isbn=978-94-007-0928-7|quote=Carnism refers to the ideology conditioning people to consume certain animal products. It is essentially the opposite of veganism|access-date=2021-04-03|last2=Desaulniers|first2=Élise|editor2-last=Kaplan|editor2-first=David M.}}

{{Further|Animal slaughter#Effects on livestock workers}}

The Vegan Society has written, "by extension, [veganism] promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans."{{cite web|url=https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism|title=Definition of veganism|website=vegansociety.com}} Many ethical vegans and vegan organizations cite the poor working conditions of slaughterhouse workers as a reason to reject animal products.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vegan-lifestyle_n_1771404 |title=Why Don't Vegans Care About People?|newspaper=The Huffington Post |last=Sareen |first=Anjaji |date=15 August 2012 |access-date=27 May 2019}} The first vegan activist, Donald Watson, has asked, "If these butchers and vivisectors weren't there, could we perform the acts that they are doing? And, if we couldn't, we have no right to expect them to do it on our behalf. Full stop! That simply compounds the issue. It means that we're not just exploiting animals; we're exploiting human beings."

Some people follow a vegan diet but not other aspects of veganism. Dietary veganism is limited to following a plant-based diet.[https://web.archive.org/web/20231207161903/https://www.herrington-carmichael.com/can-employers-force-veganism-on-employees/ "Can employers force veganism on employees?"]. herrington-carmichael.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.[https://web.archive.org/web/20231207162430/https://www.hrsolutions-uk.com/ethical-veganism-is-a-protected-belief/ "Ethical veganism is a Protected Belief"]. hrsolutions-uk.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.[https://web.archive.org/web/20231207162354/https://parissmith.co.uk/blog/what-is-ethical-veganism/ "What is ethical veganism?"]. parissmith.co.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2023. "Dietary vegans eat a plant-based diet but ethical vegans will try to exclude all forms of animal exploitation as far as possible. Dietary veganism is therefore incorporated into ethical veganism but not vice-versa." Dietary veganism is in contrast to ethical veganism which is defined as a philosophical belief that is a protected characteristic under the UK's Equality Act 2010.[https://web.archive.org/web/20231207164722/https://www.hcrlaw.com/web/20231207164722/https://www.hcrlaw.com/blog/veganism-is-a-philosophical-belief/ "Veganism is a philosophical belief"]. hcrlaw.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023. Authors like Richard Twine and Breeze Harper argue that dietary veganism cannot be called veganism, as veganism is more than a diet.{{Cite journal |last=Twine |first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Twine (sociologist) |date=2012 |title=Revealing the 'animal-industrial complex' — A concept and method for critical animal studies. |url=https://www.academia.edu/1364155 |format=PDF |journal=Journal for Critical Animal Studies |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=12–39 |issn=1948-352X |quote=…veganism is more than 'just a diet' and is better seen and practised as a systemic and intersectional mode of critical analysis and a useful lived philosophy counter to anthropocentrism, hierarchy and violence}}{{Cite journal |last=Harper |first=Amie Breeze |date=2010 |title=Race as a 'Feeble Matter' in Veganism: Interrogating whiteness, geopolitical priviledge, and consumption philosophy of 'cruelty-free' products |url=https://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/JCAS-Special-Issue-Women-of-Color-November-3-FINAL-2010.pdf#page=6 |journal=Journal for Critical Animal Studies |volume=III |issue=3 |pages=5–27 |issn=1948-352X}} Gary L. Francione has argued that the promotion of "dietary veganism" lacks the moral imperative expressed by Leslie J. Cross, an early and influential vice-president of The Vegan Society, who said in 1949 that veganism was "the abolition of the exploitation of animals by man".{{Cite web |last=Francione |first=Gary L. |title=Veganism: History, Contemporary Views, and Common Objections – Animal Rights The Abolitionist Approach |date=29 October 2017 |url=https://www.abolitionistapproach.com/veganism-history-contemporary-views-and-common-objections/ |access-date=2023-02-10 |language=en-US}}

The Vegan Society of Canada have criticized dietary veganism stating, "since veganism is not a list of ingredients there is also no such thing as a dietary vegan. Veganism cannot be split into sub-components; this is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts".[https://web.archive.org/web/20231207163400/https://www.vegancanada.org/news/article/2021/10/15/veganism-reflection.html "Veganism"]. vegancanada.org. Retrieved 6 December 2023. Others have suggested that the arguments for dietary veganism can be extended to support ethical veganism.Hooley, Daniel; Nobis, Nathan. (2015). [https://web.archive.org/web/20231014124440/https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=acwp_aafhh A Moral Argument for Veganism]. In Andrew Chignell, Matthew Halteman, Terence Cuneo. Philosophy Comes to Dinner: Arguments about the Ethics of Eating. Routledge. pp. 92-108. {{ISBN|978-0415806831}}

{{further|Environmental vegetarianism|Environmental impact of meat production|Vegan organic gardening}}

File:Land-use-of-different-diets-Poore-Nemecek.png|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth|access-date=12 March 2019|quote=A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car}}]]Environmental vegans focus on conservation, rejecting the use of animal products on the premise that fishing, hunting, trapping and farming, particularly factory farming, are environmentally unsustainable. According to a 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, Livestock's Long Shadow, around 26% of the planet's terrestrial surface is devoted to livestock grazing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet-11308007/|title=Is the Livestock Industry Destroying the Planet?|last=Bland|first=Alastair|date=1 August 2012|website=Smithsonian|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180303135407/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/is-the-livestock-industry-destroying-the-planet-11308007/|archive-date=3 March 2018|url-status=live|access-date=3 March 2018|quote=The global scope of the livestock issue is huge. A 212-page online report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says 26 percent of the earth's terrestrial surface is used for livestock grazing.}} The report also concluded that livestock farming (mostly of cows, chickens and pigs) affects the air, land, soil, water, biodiversity and climate change.[http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm Steinfeld et al. 2006], 3, 74. Livestock consumed 1,174 million tonnes of food in 2002—including 7.6 million tonnes of fishmeal and 670 million tonnes of cereals, one-third of the global cereal harvest.[http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm Steinfeld et al. 2006], 12, 42. The roots, vegetables and pulses are mostly cassava, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, plantain, peas, and beans. Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society called pigs and chicken "major aquatic predators", because livestock eat 40 percent of the fish that are caught.

A 2010 UN report, Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production, argued that animal products "in general require more resources and cause higher emissions than plant-based alternatives".[https://web.archive.org/web/20120616221700/http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/Portals/24102/PDFs/PriorityProductsAndMaterials_Report.pdf Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production], International Panel for Resource Management, United Nations Environment Programme, June 2010.{{rp|80}} It proposed a move away from animal products to reduce environmental damage.{{efn|United Nations Environment Programme (2010): "Impacts from agriculture are expected to increase substantially due to population growth, increasing consumption of animal products. Unlike fossil fuels, it is difficult to look for alternatives: people have to eat. A substantial reduction of impacts would only be possible with a substantial worldwide diet change, away from animal products."{{rp|82}}}}{{Cite news|last=Carus|first=Felicity|date=2 June 2010|title=UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet|url-status=live|access-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303145344/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet|archive-date=3 March 2018}}{{pb}}[http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=628&ArticleID=6595&l=en&t=long "Energy and Agriculture Top Resource Panel's Priority List for Sustainable 21st Century"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019230121/http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=628&ArticleID=6595&l=en&t=long|date=19 October 2016}}, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Brussels, 2 June 2010.{{pb}}For an opposing position, Simon Fairlie, Meat: A Benign Extravagance, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2010.File:Wynes Nicholas CO2 emissions savings.svg

A 2015 study determined that significant biodiversity loss can be attributed to the growing demand for meat, a significant driver of deforestation and habitat destruction, with species-rich habitats converted to agriculture for livestock production.{{cite journal |last1=Machovina |first1=Brian |last2=Feeley |first2=Kenneth J. |last3=Ripple |first3=William J. |title=Biodiversity conservation: The key is reducing meat consumption |journal=Science of the Total Environment |date=December 2015 |volume=536 |pages=419–431 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.022 |pmid=26231772 |bibcode=2015ScTEn.536..419M }}{{cite journal |last1=Morell |first1=Virginia |title=Meat-eaters may speed worldwide species extinction, study warns|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/meat-eaters-may-speed-worldwide-species-extinction-study-warns |journal=Science |date=11 August 2015 |doi=10.1126/science.aad1607 }}{{cite news |last= Woodyatt |first=Amy |date=26 May 2020 |title=Human activity threatens billions of years of evolutionary history, researchers warn |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/world/species-loss-evolution-climate-scn-intl-scli/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=27 May 2020|quote=Research showed that among the biggest threats to threatened species was eating meat, Gumbs said.}} A 2017 World Wildlife Fund study found that 60% of biodiversity loss can be attributed to the vast scale of feed crop cultivation needed to rear tens of billions of farm animals, which puts enormous strain on natural resources, resulting in extensive loss of lands and species.{{Cite news|last=Smithers|first=Rebecca|date=5 October 2017|title=Vast animal-feed crops to satisfy our meat needs are destroying planet|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/05/vast-animal-feed-crops-meat-needs-destroying-planet|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303143952/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/05/vast-animal-feed-crops-meat-needs-destroying-planet|archive-date=3 March 2018|access-date=3 March 2018}} In 2017, 15,364 world scientists signed a warning to humanity calling for, among other things, "promoting dietary shifts towards mostly plant-based foods".{{cite journal |last1=Ripple |first1=William J. |last2=Wolf |first2=Christopher |last3=Newsome |first3=Thomas M. |last4=Galetti |first4=Mauro |last5=Alamgir |first5=Mohammed |last6=Crist |first6=Eileen |last7=Mahmoud |first7=Mahmoud I. |last8=Laurance |first8=William F. |title=World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice |journal=BioScience |date=December 2017 |volume=67 |issue=12 |pages=1026–1028 |doi=10.1093/biosci/bix125 |doi-access=free |hdl=11336/71342 |hdl-access=free }}

A 2018 study found that global adoption of plant-based diets would reduce agricultural land use by 76% (3.1 billion hectares, an area the size of Africa) and cut total global greenhouse gas emissions by 28%. Half of this emissions reduction came from avoided emissions from animal production including methane and nitrous oxide, and half from trees re-growing on abandoned farmlands that remove carbon dioxide from the air.{{cite journal|last1=Poore|first1=J.|last2=Nemecek|first2=T.|date=1 June 2018|title=Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers|journal=Science|volume=360|issue=6392|pages=987–992|bibcode=2018Sci...360..987P|doi=10.1126/science.aaq0216|pmid=29853680|doi-access=free}} The authors conclude that avoiding meat and dairy is the "single biggest way" to reduce one's impact on Earth.{{Cite web |date=27 November 2014 |title=Indian Vegan Society |url=https://ivu.org/members/IndianVeganSociety.doc |access-date=22 August 2021 |publisher=Indian Vegan Society |quote=A vegan always tries to avoid any cruelty and undue exploitation of all animals including humans and protect the environment.}}

The 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found that industrial agriculture and overfishing are the primary drivers of the extinction crisis, with the meat and dairy industries having a substantial impact.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48169783|title=Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction'|last=McGrath|first=Matt|work=BBC|date=6 May 2019|access-date=3 July 2019|quote=Pushing all this forward, though, are increased demands for food from a growing global population and specifically our growing appetite for meat and fish.}}{{cite news |last= Watts|first=Jonathan|date=6 May 2019 |title=Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/06/human-society-under-urgent-threat-loss-earth-natural-life-un-report|work=The Guardian |access-date=3 July 2019|quote=Agriculture and fishing are the primary causes of the deterioration. Food production has increased dramatically since the 1970s, which has helped feed a growing global population and generated jobs and economic growth. But this has come at a high cost. The meat industry has a particularly heavy impact. Grazing areas for cattle account for about 25% of the world's ice-free land and more than 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions.}} On 8 August 2019, the IPCC released a summary of the 2019 special report which asserted that a shift towards plant-based diets would help to mitigate and adapt to climate change.{{cite journal |last1=Schiermeier |first1=Quirin |title=Eat less meat: UN climate-change report calls for change to human diet |journal=Nature |date=8 August 2019 |volume=572 |issue=7769 |pages=291–292 |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02409-7 |pmid=31409926 |bibcode=2019Natur.572..291S |s2cid=199543066 |doi-access= }}

A 2022 study found that for high-income nations alone 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide could be removed from the air by the end of the century through a shift to plant-based diets and re-wilding of farmlands. The researchers coined the term double climate dividend to describe the effect that re-wilding after a diet shift can have.{{Cite news|date=2022-01-10|title=Veg diet plus re-wilding gives 'double climate dividend'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59941016|access-date=2022-01-21}}{{Cite journal|last1=Sun|first1=Zhongxiao|last2=Scherer|first2=Laura|last3=Tukker|first3=Arnold|last4=Spawn-Lee|first4=Seth A.|last5=Bruckner|first5=Martin|last6=Gibbs|first6=Holly K.|last7=Behrens|first7=Paul|date=January 2022|title=Dietary change in high-income nations alone can lead to substantial double climate dividend|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00431-5|journal=Nature Food|language=en|volume=3|issue=1|pages=29–37|doi=10.1038/s43016-021-00431-5|pmid=37118487 |s2cid=245867412|issn=2662-1355}} But they note: "We don't have to be purist about this, even just cutting animal intake would be helpful. If half of the public in richer regions cut half the animal products in their diets, you're still talking about a massive opportunity in environmental outcomes and public health".{{Cite web|title=How plant-based diets not only reduce our carbon footprint, but also increase carbon capture|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2022/01/how-plant-based-diets-not-only-reduce-our-carbon-footprint-but-also-increase-carbon-capture|access-date=2022-01-21|website=Leiden University|date=10 January 2022 |language=en}}

A 2023 study published in Nature Food found that a vegan diet vastly decreases the impact on the environment from food production, such as reducing emissions, water pollution and land use by 75%, reducing the destruction of wildlife by 66% and the usage of water by 54%.{{cite news |last1=Carrington |first1=Damian |title=Vegan diet massively cuts environmental damage, study shows |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/20/vegan-diet-cuts-environmental-damage-climate-heating-emissions-study |access-date=20 July 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=20 July 2023}}

{{See also|Vegetarian ecofeminism}}

One leading activist and scholar of feminist animal rights is Carol J. Adams. Her premier work, The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory (1990), noted the relationship between feminism and meat consumption. Since its release, Adams has published several other works, including essays, books, and keynote addresses. In one of her speeches, "Why feminist-vegan now?"{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Carol J |title=Why feminist-vegan now? |journal=Feminism & Psychology |date=August 2010 |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=302–317 |doi=10.1177/0959353510368038 |s2cid=146751008 }}—adapted from her original address at the "Minding Animals" conference in Newcastle, Australia (2009)—she said, "the idea that there was a connection between feminism and vegetarianism came to [her] in October 1974". Other authors have echoed Adams's ideas and expanded on them. Feminist scholar Angella Duvnjak wrote in "Joining the Dots: Some Reflections on Feminist-Vegan Political Practice and Choice" (2011) that she was met with opposition when she pointed out the connection between feminist and vegan ideals, even though the connection seemed more than obvious to her and other scholars.{{cite journal |last1=Duvnjak |first1=Angella |title=Joining the dots: some reflections on feminist-Vegan political practice and choice |journal=Outskirts: Feminisms Along the Edge |date=1 May 2011 |volume=24 |id={{Gale|A257766055}} {{ProQuest|885358265}} }}

One of the central concepts that animates feminist veganism is the idea that there is a connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of animals. For example, Marjorie Spiegal compared the consumption or servitude of animals for human gain to slavery. This connection is further mirrored by feminist vegan writers like Carrie Hamilton, who wrote that violent "rapists sometimes exhibit behavior that seems to be patterned on the mutilation of animals", suggesting there is a parallel between rape and animal cruelty.{{Cite journal|last=Hamilton|first=Carrie|title=sex, work, meat: the feminist politics of veganism|journal=Feminist Review|language=en|volume=114|issue=1|pages=112–129|doi=10.1057/s41305-016-0011-1|year=2017|s2cid=152213281}}

Feminist veganism also relates to feminist thought through the common critique of the capitalist means of production. In an interview, Carol J. Adams highlighted "meat eating as the ultimate capitalist product, because it takes so much to make the product, it uses up so many resources".{{cite journal |last1=Steffen |first1=H. |title=Vegan Feminist: An Interview with Carol J. Adams |journal=Minnesota Review |date=1 September 2009 |volume=2010 |issue=73–74 |pages=109–131 |doi=10.1215/00265667-2010-73-74-109 }} This extensive use of resources for meat production is discouraged in favor of using that productive capacity for other food products that have a less detrimental impact on the environment.

{{Further|Religion and vegetarianism}}Streams within a number of religious traditions encourage veganism, sometimes on ethical or environmental grounds. Scholars have especially noted the growth in the 21st century of Jewish veganism,{{Cite book|title=Jewish veganism and vegetarianism: studies and new directions|editor=Labendz, Jacob Ari |editor2=Yanklowitz, Shmuly |isbn=978-1-4384-7362-8|oclc=1097665203|date=25 March 2019 |publisher=State University of New York Press }} as well as Jain veganism.{{Cite book|title=The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics|editor=Linzey, Andrew|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-95312-5|oclc=1057668715}} Some religious interpretations, such as Christian vegetarianism,{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Carol J. |title=The Poetics of Christian Engagement: Living Compassionately in a Sexual Politics of Meat World |journal=Studies in Christian Ethics |date=2 November 2016 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=45–59 |doi=10.1177/0953946816674148 |s2cid=151458099 }} Hindu vegetarianism,{{Cite web|url=https://www.all-creatures.org/murti/art-hindus-teachings-03.html|title=Should Hindus Be Vegan? Case Study: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) – The Hindu Teachings on Nonviolence, Karma, Reincarnation and the Sacred Status of the Cow, All Indicate Veganism is a Realistic Response to Cow-Killing – Articles – The Writings of Vasu S. Murti: Human Rights|website=All-Creatures.org|access-date=2 May 2019}} and Buddhist vegetarianism,{{Cite book|title=Buddhism & veganism: essays connecting spiritual awakening & animal liberation|editor=Tuttle, Will M. |isbn=978-1-940184-49-4 |publisher=Vegan Publishers |location=Danvers, Massachusetts|oclc=1091273483|date=24 February 2019 }} also recommend or mandate a vegan diet. Donald Watson argued, "If Jesus were alive today, he'd be an itinerant vegan propagandist instead of an itinerant preacher of those days, spreading the message of compassion, which, as I see it, is the only useful part of what religion has to offer and, sad as it seems, I doubt if we have to enroll our priest as a member of the Vegan Society."

{{Main|Black veganism}}

In the U.S., Black veganism is a social and political philosophy as well as a diet.{{Cite news|last=Severson|first=Kim|date=2017-11-28|title=Black Vegans Step Out, for Their Health and Other Causes|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/dining/black-vegan-cooking.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128211644/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/dining/black-vegan-cooking.html |archive-date=2017-11-28 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-14|issn=0362-4331}} It connects the use of nonhuman animals with other social justice concerns such as racism, and with the lasting effects of slavery, such as the subsistence diets of enslaved people enduring as familial and cultural food traditions.{{Cite news|date=2020-09-11|title=Why black Americans are more likely to be vegan|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53787329|access-date=2021-06-14}}{{Cite web|last=Mercer|first=Amirah|date=2021-01-14|title=How I Found Empowerment in the History of Black Veganism|url=https://www.eater.com/22229322/black-veganism-history-black-panthers-dick-gregory-nation-of-islam-alvenia-fulton|access-date=2021-06-14|website=Eater|language=en}} Dietary changes caused by the Great Migration also meant former farmers, who had previously been able to grow or forage vegetables, became reliant on processed foods.{{Cite web|last=Shah|first=Khushbu|date=26 January 2018|title=The Secret Vegan War You Didn't Know Existed|url=https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/vegan-race-wars-white-veganism|access-date=2021-06-14|website=Thrillist|language=en}}

According to Oakland activist AshEL Eldridge, the movement is about the Black community reclaiming its food sovereignty and "decolonizing" Black Americans' diet.{{Cite news|last=Reiley|first=Laura|date=24 January 2020|title=The fastest-growing vegan demographic is African Americans. Wu-Tang Clan and other hip-hop acts paved the way.|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/24/fastest-growing-vegan-demographic-is-african-americans-wu-tang-clan-other-hip-hop-acts-paved-way/|access-date=2021-06-14|issn=0190-8286}} According to Shah, the area where most vegans of color feel the greatest rift with mainstream veganism is in its failure to recognize the intersectionality with other social justice issues, such as food access.

{{See also|Plant-based diet#Politics|Animal rights movement}}

File:Marsz_Wyzwolenia_Zwierzat_-_Go_Vegan.jpg

File:Vegan_activism_Madrid.jpg

In 2021, vegan climate activist Greta Thunberg called for more vegan food production and consumption worldwide.{{Cite web|title=Climate activist Greta Thunberg takes on food industry {{!}} DW {{!}} 23.05.2021|url=https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activist-greta-thunberg-takes-on-food-industry/a-57633673 |access-date=2021-05-25|website=Deutsche Welle|language=en-GB}} Parties like Tierschutzpartei in Germany and PACMA in Spain have pro-vegan agendas. They cooperate via Animal Politics EU.{{Cite journal|last=Morini|first=Marco|date=2018-08-08|title='Animals first!' The rise of animal advocacy parties in the EU: a new party family|journal=Contemporary Politics|volume=24|issue=4|pages=418–435|doi=10.1080/13569775.2018.1434450|s2cid=158739675|issn=1356-9775}} In the European Union, meat producers and vegans debate whether vegan food products should be allowed to use terms like "sausages" or "burgers".{{Cite news|last=Kwai|first=Isabella|date=2020-10-23|title=E.U. Says Veggie Burgers Can Keep Their Name|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/world/europe/eu-plant-based-labeling.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023061111/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/world/europe/eu-plant-based-labeling.html |archive-date=2020-10-23 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-05-25|issn=0362-4331}} The EU bans labeling vegan products with dairy-related words like "almond milk", a rule instated in 2017.{{Cite web|date=2020-10-23|title=European farmers lose attempt to ban terms such as veggie burger|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/23/european-farmers-lose-attempt-to-ban-terms-such-veggie-burger|access-date=2021-05-25|website=The Guardian|language=en}} {{As of|2019}}, six countries in Europe apply higher value-added tax (VAT) rates to vegan plant milk than to cow milk, which pro-vegan activists have called discrimination.{{Cite web|last=foodnavigator.com|title=Member States urged to amend milk VAT 'discrimination': 'The tax rate for plant milks should at least be the same for cow's milk – or even lower'|url=https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2019/10/30/ProVeg-urges-Member-States-to-amend-milk-VAT-discrimination|access-date=2021-05-25|website=foodnavigator.com|date=30 October 2019 |language=en-GB}}

One out of 10 Americans over 18 consider themselves vegan or vegetarian as of January 2022.{{Cite web |last1=Bir |first1=Courtney |last2=Norwood |first2=F. Bailey |title=1 in 10 Americans say they don't eat meat – a growing share of the population |url=http://theconversation.com/1-in-10-americans-say-they-dont-eat-meat-a-growing-share-of-the-population-176948 |date= March 1, 2022 |access-date=2022-10-31 |website=The Conversation |language=en}} A study comparing personality traits of vegans, vegetarians and omnivores found that vegans were higher in openness and agreeableness than omnivores.{{Cite journal |last1=Reist |first1=Marina E. |last2=Bleidorn |first2=Wiebke |last3=Milfont |first3=Taciano L. |last4=Hopwood |first4=Christopher J. |date=2023-10-10 |title=Meta-analysis of personality trait differences between omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans |journal=Appetite |volume=191 |pages=107085 |doi=10.1016/j.appet.2023.107085 |issn=1095-8304 |pmid=37827200|doi-access=free }} In the below chart, polls with larger sample sizes are preferred over those with smaller sample size.

{{Excerpt|Vegaphobia|links=no|files=0}}

In some countries, vegans have some rights to meals and legal protections against discrimination.

• The German police sometimes provides on-duty staff with food. After not being provided a vegan option in this context, a vegan employee has been granted an additional food allowance.{{Cite web|date=10 January 2018|title=Vegan bei der Polizei|url=https://veganes-recht.de/vegan-bei-der-polizei|access-date=15 October 2020|website=Veganes Recht|language=de-DE}}
• In Portugal, starting in 2017, public administration canteens and cafeterias such as schools, prisons and social services must offer at least one vegan option at every meal.{{Cite web|date=2017|title=Lei n.º 11/2017 (Law No. 11/2017)|url=https://dre.pt/pesquisa/-/search/106886578/details/maximized|website=Diário da República|at=Note that the law means vegan, not what is commonly understood as vegetarian: Art. 3-2 specifies that "Para efeitos do número anterior, entende-se por «opção vegetariana» a que assenta em refeições que não contenham quaisquer produtos de origem animal." ("For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, 'vegetarian option' is understood to be based on meals that do not contain any products of animal origin.")|language=pt}}
• In Ontario, a province of Canada, there were reports{{Cite web |last=Starostinetskaya |first=Anna |title=Ethical Veganism Now Legally Recognized in Ontario, Canada |url=https://vegnews.com/ethical-veganism-now-legally-recognized-in-ontario-canada |date=18 January 2016 |work=VegNews}} that ethical veganism became protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code, following a 2015 update to legal guidance by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. However, said body later issued a statement that this question is for a judge or tribunal to decide on a case-by-case basis.{{Cite web|date=25 February 2016|title=In response to claims that ethical veganism is now a creed|url=https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/response-claims-ethical-veganism-now-creed|website=OHRC}}
• In the United Kingdom, an employment tribunal ruled in 2020 that the Equality Act 2010 protects "ethical veganism", a belief it defined as veganism that extends beyond diet to all areas of life and is motivated by a concern for animals.{{Cite web|title=Mr J Casamitjana Costa v The League Against Cruel Sports: 3331129/2018|url=https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/mr-j-casamitjana-costa-v-the-league-against-cruel-sports-3331129-2018|access-date=14 November 2020|website=GOV.UK|date=11 March 2020 |language=en|quote=Ethical veganism is a philosophical belief which qualifies as a protected belief within the meaning of Section 10 of the Equal Act 2010}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/01/03/ethical-veganism-is-a-protected-class-akin-to-religion-in-the-u-k-after-a-landmark-ruling/|title='Ethical veganism' is a protected class akin to religion in the U.K. after a landmark ruling|first=Emily|last=Heil|date=3 January 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-access=registration}}
• In the United Kingdom, prisoners who are vegan must be given a vegan meal with enough nutrients to sustain a healthy life. Vegan prisoners should also be given clothing which is made from non-animal materials. This also applies to toiletries, medication and it also means that they should not have to work on prison farms involving animals.The Vegan Society, Guide for vegan prisoners, Catering for Everyone, C4E_Prison_12pp Booklet_V3 https://www.vegansociety.com/sites/default/files/uploads/downloads/C4E_Prison_12pp%20Booklet_FINAL.pdf

File:Anarchist and Ecological Symbols - Graffiti - Lisbon, Portugal (4633434450).jpg in Lisbon, Portugal]]{{Main|Vegetarian and vegan symbolism}}

Multiple symbols have been developed to represent veganism. Several are used on consumer packaging, including the Vegan Society trademark and the Vegan Action logo, to indicate products without animal-derived ingredients.{{cite journal |last1=Yacoubou |first1=Jeanne |title=Vegetarian Certifications on Food Labels: What Do They Mean? |journal=Vegetarian Journal |date=2006 |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=25 |url=http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue3/2006_issue3_labels.php |access-date=6 August 2017 }}{{cite journal |last1=Basas |first1=Carrie Griffin |title='V' is for Vegetarian: FDA-Mandated Vegetarian Food Labeling |journal=Utah Law Review |volume=4 |pages=1275–1307 |date=2010 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1434040 |ssrn=1434040 |s2cid=167037999 }} Various symbols may also be used by members of the vegan community to represent their identity and in the course of animal rights activism,{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} such as a vegan flag.{{cite web |last=Starostinetskaya |first=Anna |date=17 July 2017 |title=New Flag Launches to Unite Vegans Across the Globe |url=https://vegnews.com/new-flag-launches-to-unite-vegans-across-the-globe |work=VegNews}}

Veganism is often misrepresented in media. Some argue that veganism has been dismissed in news media{{cite web |url=https://sentientmedia.org/veganism-in-the-media/ |title=Veganism Gets No Respect in the Media and This is Why |last=Lingel |first=Grant |date=May 9, 2019 |website=Sentient Media |access-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125083624/https://sentientmedia.org/veganism-in-the-media/ |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |url-status=live}} or that clickbait culture often portrays feminists and vegans as "irrational extremists."{{cite news |url=https://epigram.org.uk/2018/10/31/feminists-vegans-unfair-portrayal/ |title=Feminists and vegans are given an unfair portrayal in the media |last=Price-Darbyshire |first=Jack |date=October 31, 2018 |website=Epigram |access-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204035126/https://epigram.org.uk/2018/10/31/feminists-vegans-unfair-portrayal/ |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |url-status=live}} This is because in Western societies, "meat-based diets are the norm" with those who avoid meat still representing "a small minority,"{{cite journal |last1=Sanchez-Sabate |first1=Ruben |last2=Sabaté |first2=Joan |date=April 2019 |title=Consumer Attitudes Towards Environmental Concerns of Meat Consumption: A Systematic Review |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=16 |issue=7 |page=1220 |doi=10.3390/ijerph16071220 |pmid=30959755 |pmc=6479556 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Rothgerber |first1=Hank |date=November 12, 2012 |title=Real Men Don't Eat (Vegetable) Quiche: Masculinity and the Justification of Meat Consumption |url=https://foodethics.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_foodethik/Rothgerber__Hank_2012._Real_Men_Dont_Eat_-Vegetable-__Quiche._Masculinity_and_the_Justification_of_Meat_Consumption.pdf |journal=Psychology of Men & Masculinity |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=363–375 |doi=10.1037/a0030379 |access-date=September 6, 2020}} with more women than men as vegan and vegetarian, with women being "under-represented in the mass media," the latter influencing more to be vegetarians.{{cite thesis |last=Reymond |first=Stephane |date=June 1, 2016 |title=Vegetarianism/Veganism: A Sociological Analysis |type=Masters |publisher=Texas A&M University |url=https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/157868/REYMOND-THESIS-2016.pdf |pages=ii, iii, 2, 22–23, 39, 41, 57 |access-date=September 6, 2020}} Others have noted those who are vegetarian and vegan are met with "acceptance, tolerance, or hostility" after they divulge they are vegetarian or vegan.{{cite thesis |last=Lindquist |first=Anna |date=May 2013 |chapter=Introduction |title=Beyond Hippies and Rabbit Food: The Social Effects of Vegetarianism and Veganism |type=Undergraduate |publisher=University of Puget Sound |chapter-url=https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=csoc_theses |access-date=December 3, 2020 |pages=1, 3, 6 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009005124/https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=csoc_theses |archive-date=October 9, 2020 |url-status=live}} There are a number of vegan stereotypes, including claims they hate meat-eaters, are always hungry, weak, angry, or moralistic.{{cite web |url=https://vegnews.com/5-crazy-vegan-stereotypessmashed |title=5 Crazy Vegan Stereotypes—Smashed! |last=Thomas |first=Mat |date=31 July 2016 |work=VegNews}} The hatred of vegans has been termed as vegaphobia by some individuals. Farhad Manjoo, in 2019, stated that "preachy vegans are something of a myth," and argued that in pop culture, and generally, it is "still widely acceptable to make fun of vegans."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/opinion/vegan-food.html |title=Stop Mocking Vegans |last=Manjoo |first=Farhad |date=August 28, 2019 |work=New York Times |access-date=September 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616225259/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/opinion/vegan-food.html |archive-date=June 16, 2020|url-status=live}}

Often vegan or vegetarian characters are portrayed as fringe characters, although other novels cast them as protagonists or encourage people to become vegetarians or vegans.{{cite web |url=https://ashlandcreekpress.com/books/veglit/ |title=Vegan & Vegetarian Fiction |author= |date=2020 |website=Ashland Creek Press |access-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008023737/https://ashlandcreekpress.com/books/veglit/ |archive-date=October 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/7-books-that-might-make-you-a-vegetarian/ |title=7 Books That Might Make You A Vegetarian |last=Passell |first=Lauren |date=February 21, 2013 |website=Barnes and Noble |access-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108011234/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/7-books-that-might-make-you-a-vegetarian/ |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |url-status=live}} Some have argued that there are more vegan cookbooks than "vegan literature"{{cite web |url=https://tessaaltman.com/2018/06/22/where-is-my-fictional-vegan-heroine/ |title=Where is My Fictional Vegan Heroine? |last=Altman |first=Tessa |date=June 22, 2018 |website=Tessa Altman's official website |access-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923222452/https://tessaaltman.com/2018/06/22/where-is-my-fictional-vegan-heroine/ |archive-date=September 23, 2020 |url-status=live}} There are also books that introduce "vegan identity to children"{{cite journal |last1=Koljonen |first1=Marianna |title=Thinking and Caring Boys Go Vegan: Two European Books That Introduce Vegan Identity to Children |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/731339/pdf |journal=Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature |year=2019 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=13–22 |doi=10.1353/bkb.2019.0052 |s2cid=202254232 |access-date=December 4, 2020}} or encourage people to "write for" animals.{{cite book |last=Yunker |first=Joshua |date=2020 |editor1-last=Yunker |editor1-first=John |chapter=Introduction |title=Writing for Animals: An anthology for writers and instructors to educate and inspire |url=https://www.academia.edu/36864838 |location=London |publisher=Ashland Creek Press |pages=1–8 |isbn=978-1-61822-058-5}} Also, Bruce Banner in Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk{{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/comic-book-superheroes-supervillains-vegetarian-wonder-woman/|title=15 Superheroes (And Villains) You Didn't Know Were Vegetarian|last=Gerber|first=Jamie|website=Screen Rant|access-date=September 6, 2020|date=October 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517020958/https://screenrant.com/comic-book-superheroes-supervillains-vegetarian-wonder-woman/|archive-date=May 17, 2020 |url-status=live}} and Karolina Dean in Runaways, who is also known as Lucy in the Sky or L.S.D., are vegans. The latter is a lesbian, a vegan, and "an ardent animal lover...committed to a life completely free of meat and dairy."{{Cite web|url=https://www.diversetechgeek.com/10-vegetarian-cartoon-characters/|title=10 noteworthy vegetarian cartoon characters|last1=Dean|first1=Anthony|website=Diverse Tech Geek|access-date=September 6, 2020|date=November 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200906204226/https://www.diversetechgeek.com/10-vegetarian-cartoon-characters/|archive-date=September 6, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern, a lead character in the animated series, DC Super Hero Girls is not only pacifist, but also a vegan and environmentalist,{{cite web|url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/teen-girls-to-the-rescue-lauren-faust-powers-up-dc-super-hero-girls/|last=McLean|first=Tom|title=Teen Girls to the Rescue: Lauren Faust Powers Up 'DC Super Hero Girls'|website=Animation Magazine|date=March 8, 2019|access-date=September 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822103716/https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/teen-girls-to-the-rescue-lauren-faust-powers-up-dc-super-hero-girls/|archive-date=August 22, 2020}} Although Faust calls her a vegetarian, Cruz has expressed she is a vegan multiple times. For instance, she says in the episode "#Retreat" that she is vegan and "eats plants for breakfast."{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2019/tv/global/mipcom-dc-super-hero-girls-warner-bros-animation-cartoon-network-1203368691/|last=Barraclough|first=Leo|title='DC Super Hero Girls' Shows Girls As They Really Are, But With Superpowers|website=Variety|date=October 19, 2019|access-date=September 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012212103/https://variety.com/2019/tv/global/mipcom-dc-super-hero-girls-warner-bros-animation-cartoon-network-1203368691/|archive-date=October 12, 2019 |url-status=live}} resulting in her becoming friends with Pam Isley. She often professes her commitment to the environment and plant-based meals.{{Cite tweet|author=DC Super Hero Girls (TV series)|user=dcshg|number=1212750415885938689|date=January 2, 2020|title=Vegetarian Jessica Cruz offers to fill in for Barbara Gordon at the Burrito Bucket|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107211143/https://twitter.com/dcshg/status/1212750415885938689 |archivedate=January 7, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{Cite tweet|author=DC Super Hero Girls (TV series)|user=dcshg|number=1174729106761469953|date=September 19, 2019|title=Jessica Cruz battles against her own smoothie when Poison Ivy wreaks havoc on a vegan restaurant|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919175707/https://twitter.com/DCSHG/status/1174729106761469953 |archivedate=September 19, 2019 |url-status=live}}

The series City of Ghosts featured a chef, Sonya, who runs a vegan cafe in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Tracy|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-03-12/city-of-ghosts-netflix-los-angeles-elizabeth-ito|website=Los Angeles Times|title=The story behind Netflix's quirky, kid-friendly answer to 'whitewashed' L.A.|date=March 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331110048/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-03-12/city-of-ghosts-netflix-los-angeles-elizabeth-ito|archive-date=March 31, 2021|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Rob|url=https://madison.com/ct/ct/writers/rob-thomas/in-netflixs-huggable-city-of-ghosts-these-are-the-spirits-in-your-neighborhood/article_51240bb4-bb09-552b-bef8-86cb08128619.html|website=The Capital Times|title=Netflix's City of Ghosts Maps a Better Way to See LA—and Everywhere Else|date=March 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318213407/https://madison.com/ct/ct/writers/rob-thomas/in-netflixs-huggable-city-of-ghosts-these-are-the-spirits-in-your-neighborhood/article_51240bb4-bb09-552b-bef8-86cb08128619.html|archive-date=March 18, 2021|url-status=live}} Draculaura in Monster High has also been called "one of the very few outspoken vegan cartoon characters out there".{{cite web|last=Bowie|first=Richard|url=https://vegnews.com/vegan-cartoon-characters |title=Top 14 Greatest Vegan Cartoon Characters Ever |work=VegNews |date=2024-06-27}}

By the 2010s, social media sites like Instagram became prominent in the promotion of veganism, more than a fad, with people trying to "change the world by being vegan" as stated by various media outlets.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44488051 |title=Veganism: Why are vegan diets on the rise? |last=Jones |first=Lora |date=June 10, 2018 |website=BBC News |access-date=December 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724131847/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44488051 |archive-date=July 24, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/27/the-rise-of-vegan-teenagers-more-people-are-into-it-because-of-instagram |title=The rise of vegan teenagers: 'More people are into it because of Instagram' |last=Marsh |first=Sarah |date=May 27, 2016 |website=The Guardian |access-date=December 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108093701/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/27/the-rise-of-vegan-teenagers-more-people-are-into-it-because-of-instagram |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |author= |date=September 7, 2018 |title=Veganism is the Most Popular Nutrition Topic on Social Media |url=https://vegconomist.com/society/veganism-is-the-most-popular-nutrition-topic-on-social-media/ |magazine=Vegconomist |location=Germany |publisher=vegconom GmbH |access-date=December 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011060951/https://vegconomist.com/society/veganism-is-the-most-popular-nutrition-topic-on-social-media/ |archive-date=October 11, 2020 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Economic vegetarianism|Food vs. feed}}The U.S. market for vegan food was valued at $3.9 billion in 2017 and at $8.1 billion in 2023.{{Cite web |date=2021-01-19 |title=Plant-based retail market overview |url=https://gfi.org/marketresearch/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |work=The Good Food Institute}}

The vegan veto vote happens when a mixed group of non-vegan and vegans dine out together and the vegans in the group veto restaurants with few vegan options and steer the group to a restaurant with many vegan menu items. Restaurants report that adding more vegan items increases their business. Journalist Avery Yale Kamila reported that Maine restaurants were using the vegan veto vote to fill restaurant seats in the slow winter months.{{Cite web |last=Kamila |first=Avery Yale |date=2024-03-10 |title=Restaurants that pay attention to the 'vegan veto vote' see more diners |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2024/03/10/restaurants-that-pay-attention-to-the-vegan-veto-vote-see-more-diners/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Press Herald}} The vegan veto vote has been recognized by market researchers since 2007.{{Cite web |last=Casamitjana |first=Jordi |date=2024-03-27 |title=Restaurants Are Paying More Attention to the "Vegan Veto Vote" Phenomenon |url=https://veganfta.com/2024/03/27/restaurants-are-paying-more-attention-to-the-vegan-veto-vote-phenomenon/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Vegan FTA}} Industry magazine QSR reported: "As customers demand more complex menus, healthier options, and increased convenience, brands have to work harder to eliminate possible veto votes."{{cite web |last=Pittman |first=Rachel |title=3 Expert Ways to Overrule the Veto Vote |url=https://www.qsrmagazine.com/food/menu-innovations/3-expert-ways-overrule-veto-vote/ |work=QSR Magazine |date=2019-10-25 |access-date=2025-02-14}} The Vegetarian Resource Group reported in 2003 that 50 restaurant owners at that year's National Restaurant Association Show mentioned the vegan veto vote affecting their businesses.{{cite web |last1=Stahler |first1=Charles |last2=Wasserman |first2=Debra |title=Notes From the Coordinators |department=Vegetarian Journal |url=https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2003issue4/2003_issue4_coord.php |access-date=2025-02-14 |work=Vegetarian Resource Group}}

According to a 2016 study, if everyone in the U.S. switched to a vegan diet, the country would save $208.2 billion in direct health-care savings, $40.5 billion in indirect health-care savings, $40.5 billion in environmental savings, and $289.1 billion in total savings by 2050. The study also found that if everybody in the world switched to a vegan diet, the global economy would save $684.4 billion in direct health-care savings, $382.6 billion in indirect health-care savings, $569.5 billion in environmental savings, and $1.63 trillion in total savings by 2050.{{cite journal |last1=Springmann |first1=Marco |last2=Godfray |first2=H. Charles J. |last3=Rayner |first3=Mike |last4=Scarborough |first4=Peter |date=12 April 2016 |title=Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change |journal=PNAS |volume=113 |issue=15 |pages=4146–4151 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.4146S |doi=10.1073/pnas.1523119113 |pmc=4839446 |pmid=27001851 |doi-access=free}}

{{Portal|Food|Drink|Medicine}}

• Ahimsa
• al-Ma'arri
• Buddhist cuisine
• List of diets
• List of vegan media
• Raw veganism
• Sustainable food system
• Vegan nutrition
• Vegan school meal

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• Monbiot, George (2022). Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. London. Penguin Books. {{isbn|978-0143135968}}.
• Williams, Howard (2019). The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh Eating. Czechia. Good Press. {{isbn|978-9389614305}}.

{{sister project links|d=Q181138|c=Category:Veganism|voy=Travel as a vegetarian|m=no|mw=no|wikt=vegan|s=Category:Vegetarianism|species=no|b=Category:Vegan recipes|n=no|v=no}}

• {{official website|https://www.vegansociety.com/}} of The Vegan Society

{{Veganism and vegetarianism|state=expanded}}

{{Animal rights}}

{{Diets}}

{{Simple living}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1944 introductions

Category:Applied ethics