"No meat, no dairy, no problem: is 2014 the year vegans become mainstream?"

[Korn]

Link:
No meat, no dairy, no problem: is 2014 the year vegans become mainstream?
Four of my friends/friends' kids either have gone vegan or moved towards a vegan lifestyle only during the last four weeks. Mainstream or not, veganism is a lot more popular than it ever has been.

[tickled onion]

similar article on the BBC site today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25644903

[Blueberries]

It's great to see veganism become more mainstream, but I am worried that it will go from being an ethical stance to a trendy diet. I fear our message is being downplayed for the sake of mainstream palatability (ie, what happened when Jay-Z and Beyoncé did their vegan cleanse while wearing fur to vegan restaurants)

[Mymblesdaughter]

Yes one of the article I read recently in a newspaper was basically saying the new type of vegans are ok the old type are a bit weird. Which I found very annoying. The new type aren't even vegans!

[Blueberries]

Yes one of the article I read recently in a newspaper was basically saying the new type of vegans are ok the old type are a bit weird. Which I found very annoying. The new type aren't even vegans!

Yeah exactly! Flicking through the articles posted above they seem to be coming from the position that "full-time" veganism isn't necessary, desirable or achievable. Our movement is being co-opted and we need to speak out. Calling us weird and stereotyping us is just their way of not having to listen to us (sigh)

[Korn]

I believe that 'vegetarians' who aren't actually vegetarians, vegans who aren't really vegans etc may exist whether veganism/vegetarianism is mainstream or not. It's just that when there are more vegans, vegetarians etc, we'll also see more examples of 'vegetarians who eat fish' and 'vegans who use fur'. The overall effect of the mainstream-ness of it all will still be that there are fewer people consuming animal products/more people consuming fewer animal products...

one of the article I read recently in a newspaper was basically saying the new type of vegans are ok the old type are a bit weird.

...and that kind of thinking already exists since some people use the terms 'ethical' vs 'dietary' vegans, as if there are two kinds of vegans. But the main side effect of people like Al Gore and Clinton eating a diet which is mainly vegan, and of veganism becoming more of a mainstream phenomenon is that people who are worried about getting involved in something which isn't seen as totally 'normal' will have an easier time going vegan.

I don't know if any of you have seen this Barack Obama clip on YouTube, but I found myself thinking the other day that one of the things Obama could do that would make a significant impact on the environment would be to officially go vegan. Not because one person as such makes such an impact alone (actually, on person going vegan will mean a lot of change, look here), but the effect of well know world leaders going vegan will make it more likely that other go vegan as well.

I had a chat with the mother of a guy in his 20s who have gone vegan recently, and she was somehow worried that he'd get the nutrients he needed on a vegan diet. I had the feeling that what I said about nutrition deficiencies among vegans vs non-vegans didn't make her trust that living on a vegan diet didn't represent a risk of getting more deficiencies than most non-vegans have. But when I mentioned that people like Al Gore and Bill Clinton also are living on a (mainly?) vegan diet, it seemed that she felt that there was no need to try to force him to eat animal products again. It also helped to say that Clinton's doctor (and a lot of other doctors and dieticians) live on a vegan diet as well.

So while one may stumble upon more people who claim to be "vegans who use [insert animal product here]", I'm both sure that ( #1: ) the overall result will be that there will be more vegans out there as well, and (#2: ) ...that the #1 I just mentioned isn't the most important thing.

I currently live in a small city with ca 40,000 people, and there's still at east 7-8 places where I can go in and get a decent vegan meal. That was not the case a few decades ago... not even one decade ago. So things are changing faster than they ever have done.

[vegandingo]

I don't get the angst about new vegans not being pure enough. In my book a partial vegan is a damned sight better than the alternative. People evolve as they go through life, of at least that's the story, and an impure vegan may morph into a certified vegan, or not. That's life.

Don't be too precious, my Precious.

[Clueless Git]

I don't get the angst about new vegans not being pure enough. In my book a partial vegan is a damned sight better than the alternative. People evolve as they go through life, of at least that's the story, and an impure vegan may morph into a certified vegan, or not. That's life.

Don't be too precious, my Precious.

I kinda agree ...

Every reduction in meat consumption is a reduction in meat production.

Every reduction in meat production is a reduction in all the various harms and damage that meat production causes.

For that reason I think that any reduction in meat consumption is to be welcomed and encouraged.

There's also the consideration that reduced consumption raises production costs which raises prices and reduces consumption further.

In business you don't have to reduce demand to zero before production simply shuts itself down as it is impossible to make a profit anymore.

[Blueberries]

I don't get the angst about new vegans not being pure enough. In my book a partial vegan is a damned sight better than the alternative. People evolve as they go through life, of at least that's the story, and an impure vegan may morph into a certified vegan, or not. That's life.

Don't be too precious, my Precious.

It isn't about purity and certification, I think that any steps towards veganism are a good thing. But eating a vegan diet for health reasons and living a vegan life for ethical reasons are two completely different things and the latter is what I want to encourage.

[CurrantCottage]

I kinda agree ...

Every reduction in meat consumption is a reduction in meat production.

Every reduction in meat production is a reduction in all the various harms and damage that meat production causes.

For that reason I think that any reduction in meat consumption is to be welcomed and encouraged.

There's also the consideration that reduced consumption raises production costs which raises prices and reduces consumption further.

In business you don't have to reduce demand to zero before production simply shuts itself down as it is impossible to make a profit anymore.

Its kind of like a journey isnt it, we learn and grow along the way, making changes as we take each step and at last we're heading in the right direction.

[sandra]

If people are becoming vegan (for whatever reason) that's a good thing in my book. It means they are at least thinking about veganism and applying it to their own lives................further along the line they will progress and the thought of going back to being non vegan will be an alien concept to them.

[Clueless Git]

Its kind of like a journey isnt it, we learn and grow along the way, making changes as we take each step and at last we're heading in the right direction.

I'm never sure, CC ..

Gandhi once said something to the effect of; Veg*nism undertaken for any reason other than for compassion will have many benefits but it will not benefit the human mind.

I'm torn to shreds on this one.

Like if veg*nism becomes main stream for non-compassionate reasons then much good will result but the greatest good could be lost for good, as it were.

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... further along the line they will progress and the thought of going back to being non vegan will be an alien concept to them.

This is true.

I once met a woman from India, a lifelong vegetarian who, untill she arrived in the UK, didn't even know what a vegetarian was/is.

Reason being, very simply, that where she came from non-vegetarianism simply did not exist.

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But eating a vegan diet for health reasons and living a vegan life for ethical reasons are two completely different things and the latter is what I want to encourage.

Aye, that's the kind of thing I am thinking too, BB.

[vegandingo]

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This is true.

I once met a woman from India, a lifelong vegetarian who, untill she arrived in the UK, didn't even know what a vegetarian was/is.

Reason being, very simply, that where she came from non-vegetarianism simply did not exist.

I wouldn't mind living in a world like that. Ideology is redundant when sanity is the norm.

[harpy]

If people are becoming vegan (for whatever reason) that's a good thing in my book. It means they are at least thinking about veganism and applying it to their own lives................further along the line they will progress and the thought of going back to being non vegan will be an alien concept to them.

Agreed, and as I think we have discussed here before, when people start eating vegan food they sometimes seem to become more receptive to the ethical arguments and then become properly vegan later - I have come across quite a few vegans on line who said they took the first steps for health reasons. A lot of omnivores may disregard messages about animal cruelty etc because they can't bear to confront the possible implications of their choices, and once they start to make different choices that can change.

I do share the irritation when the media etc don't differentiate between eating vegan food for a month or so and actually being vegan but I suppose anyone who looks into it will discover the difference so probably (almost) any publicity is good!

[Yokel]

If people are becoming vegan (for whatever reason) that's a good thing in my book. It means they are at least thinking about veganism and applying it to their own lives................further along the line they will progress and the thought of going back to being non vegan will be an alien concept to them.

Agree entirely. Cliquish vegans, who think that they are superior to everyone else, are the biggest drawback to others becoming vegan, or heading in that direction.