Vegetarianism

History of the Movement

Vegetarian foods draw on traditional farming and culinary traditions, notably Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African. Ethical vegetarianism is largely traditional in regions with strong Hindu and Buddhist influences, a result of cultural and religious adherence to principles of nonviolence.

In Europe, early vegetarians were called Pythagoreans. According to the Roman poet Ovid, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras taught that as long as humans continued destroying other animals, they would know neither health nor peace.

Members of the Bible Christian Church established 19th-century British and U.S. vegetarian groups as part of the innovative sect's teachings, which included recognition of a kinship of all life. The use of the word vegetarian can be traced at least as far back as 1847, to the inaugural meeting of the Vegetarian Society, hosted at the seaside village of Ramsgate, in the county of Kent, England. The society was overtly political and movement oriented; its founders advocated the adoption of a principle that, they explained, would tend eventually to true civilization. George Bernard Shaw would join the original Vegetarian Society; Mahatma Gandhi would become the secretary of its offshoot, the London Vegetarian Club.

Other well-known vegetarians of that time were Bramwell Booth of the Salvation Army; Anna Kingsford, a doctor and campaigner for women's rights; social activist Annie Besant; and the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Prison reformers Henry Salt and John Howard, as well as John Wesley, cofounder of the Methodist Church, also promoted a plant-based diet.

The American Vegetarian Society held its inaugural meeting in New York in 1850, with Dr. William [Page 1432]Alcott accepting the position of president. In 1908, the International Vegetarian Union was founded to link the worldwide movement.

In 1944, a new group in England coined the term vegan (pronounced VEE-gun) from the first and last letters of vegetarian to represent the idea of bringing the practice to its logical conclusion: challenging the hegemony of one species of conscious beings over all others. This pure form of vegetarianism avoids dependence on animal agribusiness generally by declining to support the sales of dairy products, eggs, honey, wool, silk, leather, down, or fur. The idea's main proponents were Elsie Shrigley and the conscientious objector Donald Watson, who would later be acclaimed as the Vegan Society's founder. By 1987, the former ice cream company heir John Robbins was encouraging the growth of the vegan movement in North America by highlighting the link between a pure vegetarian diet, the environment, and peaceful living.

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