In November 1944, a British woodworker named Donald Watson announced that because vegetarians ate dairy and eggs, he was going to create a new term called “vegan,” to describe people who did not.Or we can say that Veganism was invented by Donald Watson.
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. There are many ways to embrace vegan living. I simple words, Veganism excludes animal products in the diet.
Some people asks that.. Do vegans eat cheese? The answer is NO, Because most cheese is made from cow’s or goat’s milk, most types are not vegan-friendly. Most vegetarians avoid products that require the slaughter of an animal. Because cheesemaking falls outside of this practice, many vegetarians allow cheese in their diet.
As the discussion is about vegan, vegetarian and non vegetarion, a very common question arises that.. Do vegans drink alcohol? The answer is yes with a good explanation that..Vegan Alcohol Brands (Beers, Wines, and Hard Liquor) Fortunately, virtually every brand of hard liquor—bourbon, whiskey, vodka, gin, and rum—is vegan. Nearly all distilled spirits are vegan except for cream-based liqueurs and products that mention honey on the label.
Everything in context to Vegan as explained by Leslie Cross in 1951 “The Society pledges itself to ‘seek to end the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man.’” (emphasis mine) In other words, contrary to popular belief, vegans do not just subscribe to a plant-based diet or abstain from animal products as a reaction to the treatment of animals in large-scale, industrialized conditions. Vegans object to our use of animals as “resources” in and of itself, whether the individuals in question are being housed in factories, or in small, backyard, family-farm situations.
World Vegan Day is held every 1 November to mark the founding of the Society and the month of November is considered by the Society to be World Vegan Month.
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 …”
The first vegan society in the United States was founded in 1948 by Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz in California, who distributed Watson’s newsletter. In 1960, H. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society (AVS), linking veganism to the concept of ahimsa, “non-harming” in Sanskrit. 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”.
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.
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] such as a vegan flag.