“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.” The Vegan Society
Taking an ethical stance
The word “vegan” is under a century old. Within a few years of its coinage, its founders had decided that what they were describing was a principle about how we treat animals, not a menu.
Roots before the word
Avoiding dairy and eggs as well as flesh did not start in 1944. Ahimsa, the principle of non-harm in Indian religious traditions, is one long-standing ancestor, and later vegan advocates explicitly tied the movement to it. In Britain, the Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847, the first known vegan cookbook appeared in 1849, and accounts of dairy-free practice in Britain reach back decades before the word existed. Lewis Gompertz, an early nineteenth-century animal advocate, is often cited among the forerunners.
Timeline
1943 Leslie Cross, who had become vegan the year before, writes to the Vegetarian Society’s magazine condemning the use of cows’ milk. Donald Watson invites dairy-free vegetarians to get in touch, but the Society declines to create a group for them.
1944 Watson, Elsie Shrigley and others meet at the Attic Club in London in November and found The Vegan Society. The word “vegan” is credited to Watson, built from the first three and last two letters of “vegetarian”; accounts differ on who first suggested it. The group’s newsletter is called The Vegan News.
1945 The first definition is dietary: living on plant foods and no animal products.
1949 Cross points out that the Society has no real definition and proposes one, the “principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man.” This is the pivot from diet to ethics.
1951 The Society’s stated object becomes ending the exploitation of animals, and veganism is defined as the doctrine that people should live without exploiting animals.
1965 A new definition describes a way of living that excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals, and adds reverence and compassion for all life.
1988 The wording still used today is settled.
The definition
The Vegan Society’s definition, in place since 1988, calls veganism a philosophy and way of living that seeks to exclude exploitation of and cruelty to animals for food, clothing or any other purpose, “as far as is possible and practicable.” It adds that, by extension, veganism promotes animal-free alternatives, and only then says that in dietary terms it means avoiding all products derived wholly or partly from animals.
Read the structure, not just the words. The ethical principle comes first and is stated as the core. Diet appears last, as one consequence of the principle. The scope is also wider than food: clothing, entertainment, testing and “any other purpose” are named from the start.
Why it is not simply a diet
| Plant-based diet | Veganism | |
|---|---|---|
| Defined by | What you eat | A commitment about how animals are treated |
| Typical reason | Health, cost, environment, taste | Opposition to exploiting animals |
| Covers | Food | Food, clothing, entertainment, other uses |
| If the reason changes | The diet may change with it | The principle is the reason; diet follows from it |
The clause “possible and practicable” matters too. It makes veganism a principle you act on as far as your circumstances allow, not a purity test. People can fall short in a given situation and still hold the position.
Where this argument needs care
The history cuts both ways, and it is worth being straight about that. The word was coined in 1944 for a non-dairy vegetarian diet, and the first definition was dietary. The ethical definition arrived five years later and was refined over decades. In the 1990s, accounts of the Society’s own membership describe many people using a dietary definition, and everyday usage still treats “vegan” as a diet label. So the claim that veganism is an ethic rests mainly on the definition the founders’ organisation adopted and has kept, rather than on the original word alone. Those who use the term for a plant-based diet are not wrong about common usage, but they are describing something narrower than the movement’s own definition.
Sources
- The Vegan Society, “History” and “Definition of veganism” (vegansociety.com)
- Leslie Cross, “Veganism Defined,” The Vegan, summer 1949
- Overview histories of The Vegan Society and of veganism (Wikipedia; Animal Outlook; Vegan Sustainability)