1World Veganism– past, present, and future
By John Davis, former IVU Manager and Historian
A collection of blogs © John Davis 2010-12

Introduction
This PDF e-book is about 8mb, 219 pages A4, (equivalent to 438 page paperback book),
so I strongly recommend that you save a copy to your own disk, then open it in the
Adobe Acrobat Reader. That way, you won’t have to download it all again if you want toread more of it sometime later.
Creating this as a PDF e-book has several advantages, especially if you are reading thison a device connected to the internet. For example:- in the blog about interviews on SMTV, just click on the links to watch the videos- in the bibliography click to read a complete scan of an original very old book.
- on the contents page click a link to go direct to any item, then click ‘back to top’.
- you can also, of course, use other features such as search, zoom etc. etc.
- a great advance on printed books…
It should work on any device, though an ipad/tablet is ideal for this as there are lots ofbig colour photos, or on smart-phones try rotating for best results, on a larger computer
monitor try view/page display/two up, to read it like a book.
The blogs were posted weekly from February 2010 to December 2012 and each is selfcontained, with the assumption that readers might not have seen any of the others. So
feel free to start anywhere, and read them in any order, no need to read from the
beginning.
They were deliberately written in a style that is more journalistic than academic, so
references, and some links, are within the text, and there are no footnotes. However afull and extensive bibliography of about 200 veg-related books is being added for those
who want to do further research.
The blogs are grouped into a few sections:
1 – History: It is impossible to consider a history of veganism without putting it in thewider context, so there is a lot that is ‘nearly vegan’ along the way. The word vegan wasinvented in 1944, but for a long time before that there were many people holding
similar, though not necessarily identical views. The real beginning is from 1806, where
see a movement that could be considered vegan by today’s standards. Before that there
are some thoughts about people moving in the right direction.
2 – Regions and IVU – with histories: Deals with various regions of the world, andincludes brief histories of those areas. Most inevitably start out as ovo- and/or lactovegetarian, but end up vegan, hence the use of veg*ism, or just veg, as a shorthand.
IVU from 1908 and some highlights along the way – that is also all vegan by the end of
the 20th century.
3 – World View: Some recent veg activities and events around the world.
4 – Activism: Ideas for local groups, based on some in the UK which could be adapted.
5 – Directions: A collection of thoughts about where we’re at and where we’re going.

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Contents (2 pages - click a link)
4 - Blog of Blogs – the top 20 most popular blogs
HISTORY _______________________________________________________
6- Fast Food? – it’s just distorted jungle food
8 - Were there Vegans in the Ancient World?
10 - Medieval Mindsets – ‘vegans’ in the middle ages
11 - Veganism from 1806 - a brief timeline summary of most of this section
15 - Dr. William Lambe - father of vegan nutrition, and his vegan biographer
17 - Dr. Lambe's Rural Roots - his childhood and retirement in Herefordshire.
19 - John Frank Newton - and the 'vegan' commune of 1813
21 - Shelley - the first celebrity vegan
23 - Lewis Gompertz – Jewish ‘vegan’ and co-founder of the RSPCA in 1824
25 - Sylvester Graham – the original American Vegan Baker
27 - Taking the Waters - transatlantic pioneer plant-food doctors
30 - The vegan school that invented vegetarians
32 - Vegetarian equals vegan!
34 - Bronson Alcott - American pioneer vegan
36 - Henry David Thoreau and the Roots of Plantism
38 - Dr. John Snow - a vegan of genius
40 - The Truth Tester 1846-48 - a vegan journal
42 - The Curious Affair of The Vegetarian Advocate (1848-50)
44 - London Vegetarian Association, 1850s – the world’s first ‘vegan society’
47 - Prof. Francis W. Newman and the attempted ‘vegan’ revolution of 1871
49 - The First Vegan Cookbook – New York 1874
51 - Gustav Schlickeysen – 1875 German vegan, raw-foodist, fruitarian
53 - Was Vitamin B12 a problem for 19th century ‘vegans’?
55 - The Vegetus Myth - an attempt to pretend that vegetarians didn’t just eat vegetation.
57 - Henry Salt - the father of animal rights
59 - Why Dresden? The Origins of IVU
61 - Gandhi - and the launching of veganism
63 - The Invention of the Vegans - the first Vegan Society
65 - Vegans are Vegetarians too - early years of the Vegan Society
67 - Vegan Goes Global – the first ten years, 1944-54
69 - Hygiene cleans up – naturally of course – the American veg health movement
71 - How the Vegans landed in America
73 - The Veganizing of International Veg Events
REGIONS with histories____________________________________________
75 - Learning from the developing world
77 - Go Veg - and see the World!
79 - Veg*ism in India
82 - Veg*ism in Africa
85 - Veg*ism in China
88 - Veg*ism in the Middle East
91 - Veg*ism in Australia
93 - Latin America leads the Veg World95 - The Vegfest Phenomena
97 - A New Dawn for European Veg*ism?
99 - The Vegan Food in Vegetarian Paradise

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IVU with histories_________________________________________________
100 - IVU Vegfest/Congress - coming near you soon . . – IVU from 1908
102 - East Meets West and West Eats Meat - Veg*ism and Music
104 - The Beatles and IVU – from 1957
107 - IVU and the NAVS Summerfest – from 1973
109 - IVU and the American Animals Rights Movement – from 1975
110 - We're going to San Francisco . . . – from 1968
111 - IVU and Vegsource - together at last! – from 1998
113 - IVU and the Venerable History of Vegism [Videos] – three interviews on SMTV
114 – Vegan Views – the interview – 3 magazine pages on IVU, history, world veg*ism
WORLD VIEW____________________________________________________
115 - 10 days that changed everything (for me) – Singapore, Indonesia and China - 2009
117 - Food as Art in China - 2009
119 - From England to California – 2010
122 - If it’s Thursday it must be Australia…
124 - Jakarta Jamboree – Indonesia 2010
127 - Bali Beautiful
128 – A Visit to Malaysia - 2010
131 - The last leg - India and home – Bangalore 2010
133 - Out of Africa – and the Middle East
136 - To Nairobi and Dubai - 2010
138 - The Global Veg Explosion – 2010
141 - Festival Vegano Español – Spain 2011
143 - The First Ever Veg Congress in China - 2011
146 - The China Congress - with pictures – 2011
149 - The Year of the Veg – 2011
152 - Going Dutch – veg*ism in the Netherlands, 2012
154 - California here we come!
157 - Congress is dead - long live the Vegfest – San Francisco, 2012
159 - . . . and then to something completely different – Los Angeles, 2012
ACTIVISM around the UK ___________________________________________
161 - Brighton - veg capital UK?
164 - Throwing_the_lion_to_the_Christians – Veg*ism and Religion
166 - The Vegetarian Society and me
168 - Living on the Front Line
170 - National Veg Week - does your nation have one? – vegetarian going vegan
171 - Vegan Wolves – free public vegan barbecue in Wolverhampton
172 - Vegan Café 4 the Day - could your group do this?
175 - The Big Veg Weekend
177 - Cruelty Free Christmas - an idea for Christians?
179 - Vegan Camp – 31 years of a simple idea
181 - Wild Food Foraging, and the Veg Cookery School
DIRECTIONS ____________________________________________________
183 - Divided by a common language
186 - Are you a positive or a negative veg*n?
187 - Vegetarianism Re-Defined
188 - Why Vegans Need Total Vegetarians
189 - Flexitarian and Plantatarian - 21st century dimensions
192 - The Plant-food Two-step Shuffle - and Pure Vegetarians
194 - Will there ever be more veg*ns?
197 - Why some restaurants don’t do vegan food – and why they should
199 - The Future of the Movement?
POSTSCRIPT___________________________________________________________
201 – Veg*ism, Wildlife and the Environment – what I see whilst writing these blogs
205 – A Year in the Sky – photos from my office window during 2010.
210 - Read all about it - antiquarian veg*ism – where all this history came from212 - Bibliography

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Blog of blogs
November 7, 2012

I’ve been posting these blogs for almost three years now, putting up one a week on allsorts of things. The stats show some getting ten times more hits than others – but ofcourse that doesn’t tell me how many people actually read them all the way down, or
whether they liked them.
The Facebook link in all the blogs gives a different perspective as it shows how manyfound the blog interesting enough to just click 'like' or to share it with their friends. So I
put together my own quirky way of combining those, to get a better idea of what others
might want to read about in the future. I know I have some regular readers, amongst
those who read them now and then when the topic is of personal interest. So for anyone
who is curious, this is my all-time ‘top 20’ blogs, in order of my combined hits and'likes/shares' count.
1 - Bronson Alcott - American pioneer vegan
Amos Bronson Alcott was an abolitionist vegan in a way that few today are emulating – in the
1830s he was taking a stand against human slavery in the USA.

2 - World Veganism - FREE e-book!
- you’re reading it….

3 - Vegetarian equals vegan!
The first people who called themselves 'vegetarian' werein fact vegan. This has now been establishedconclusively with resources not previously available.
(photo below: Alcott House, where the ‘vegetarians’
began)

4 - Veg*ism in China
Westerners often seem to be surprised to hear that
there are millions of vegetarians, indeed vegans, in
China, but this is nothing new.

5 - Gandhi - and the launching of veganism
Gandhi is not the first name that vegans might think ofas helping to launch the movement, and yet he did, on
November 20, 1931, in London to be precise.

6 - Veganism from 1806
Dr. William Lambe FRCP, in London, England, changed his diet at the age of 40 – and gave us thefirst known unambiguous statement [for plant food only].

7 - Henry David Thoreau and the Roots of Plantism
Well, everyone else is inventing words… by plantism I mean eating only plants – and ideallywearing plants, growing your own plants for food and conserving plant habitats for other species –vegan self-sufficient environmentalism if you like.

8 - Flexitarian and Plantatarian - 21st century dimensions
If I’m right then the number of consistent secular ovo- and/or lacto-vegetarians is not justreducing – more significantly they are getting older, and not being replaced. Which would
inevitably mean it is only a matter of time before they die out.

9 - Dr. John Snow - a vegan of genius
In a poll of British doctors in 2003 John Snow was voted as the greatest physician of all time.
Though probably few of them would have known he was what we now call vegan.

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10 - The Vegetus MythYou’ve all read it somewhere: “The word vegetarian has nothing to do with vegetables, it wasderived from the Latin ‘vegetus’ meaning whole, fresh, lively, vigorous” etc…

11 - Will there ever be more veg*ns?
For those who have been active in the veg movement for any length of time the above title mustseem almost heretical - but it is actually an interesting question…

12 - Were there Vegans in the Ancient World?
We seem to be getting an increase in those silly lists of ‘famous historical vegans’, nearly all justnonsense and wishful thinking.

13 - The Invention of the Vegans
The word 'vegan' was invented in November 1944 by Donald Watson in England. But the origins
are not how many vegans today might imagine.

14 - Medieval Mindsets - 'vegans' in the middle
ages
There were people who didn’t eat meat in Medieval Europe, andin Asia, but mostly for very different reasons to what we
associate with veganism today.

15 - Vegans are Vegetarians too
The man who invented the word ‘vegan’ in 1944 was very clearthat this was a part of the vegetarian movement, and Donald
Watson remained clear about that up to his death in 2005, at
the grand age of 95.

16 - Veg*ism in Africa
I was once asked "Why do Africans go vegetarian?" - it was an
unexpected question but the reply was simple enough: "For thesame reason as everyone else, health, animals, environment or
religion, according to their personal priorities".

17 - Are you a positive or a negative veg*n?
If we ask meat-eaters what they think 'vegetarian' means,most would probably say 'someone who does not eat meat' but that is not at all how I see it (right: positive/negative
images).

18 - Why some restaurants don't do vegan food and why they should
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned encouraging morerestaurants to offer vegan meals, and was asked for someideas about doing that. So here are just a few thoughts.

19 - Divided by a common language“Do you have anything vegetarian?” “Yes, do you eat fish?”20 - Was Vitamin B12 a problem for 19th century 'vegans'?
B12 was discovered 1948, the word ‘vitamin’ having first appeared in the early 20th century. So if
19th century vegans had vitamin deficiencies they had no way of knowing it, and would havediagnosed it as something else.

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Fast Food? – it’s just distorted jungle foodMay 16, 2012

Whether you subscribe to Eve andAdam or Evolution, it is clear that our
distant ancestors lived entirely on
fast-food. It was growing all aroundthem in the jungle/garden – they justreached out, grabbed some fruit, nuts,
berries, leaves, shoots, herbs (and a
few bugs) – and ate it. Even withsome occasional peeling or cracking, it
was about as fast as it gets.
I took the photo on the right on Bali,
Indonesia, 2010.
At some point our ancestors moved
out of the jungle/garden and, with lesseasy food to hand, they dug for roots,
and gradually expanded their bug
eating to bigger prey, though probably
very little of it until they discovered
how to cook it, and even then far lessthan many flesh-eating
anthropologists just assume. The ability to eat anything is valuable when food is scarce,
but humans have never actually needed to eat other animals at times of plant-foodplenty.
So we went through some thousands of years of culinary complications, some of it
designed to make the flesh look a little less erm… fleshy, but most people still ate mostly
plant-foods. Until very recently it was only the rich that could afford to eat much meat,and the symbol of wealth and power became far more important than any nutritional
value. Meat eating became the equivalent of big houses and flash cars, hence the citydwelling Chinese wanting more of it these days, and for the same reasons.
The culinary complications were fine for those with chefs to do the cooking, but it wasalways really too time consuming for most other people, only a minority really enjoy
complicated cookery (beyond watching TV chefs). And modern fast food is taking therest back to the jungle, though in a very unhealthy form.
The modern equivalent of the jungle trees are the supermarket shelves, just reach out
and grab whatever fatty, sugary food you feel like eating. The difference now of courseis that the humans take it back to the nest, then put it in the microwave.
And if even that’s too much hassle, then the fast-food ‘restaurants’ make it easier still.
You can get a beef-burger in a bun in a couple of minutes, and it is similar in size andshape to a large piece of fruit, just minus much of the nutritional value.
So no knives or forks needed, and no table manners, our primeval fruit grabbing hands
are fine. A hot dog is just a junk version of a banana, and a slice of meat pizza is nothing
more than a large leaf with some tasty bugs on it.
All those sugary snack bars fit the banana shape too, simply peel back and eat. This also
reflects something of a return to the continuous grazing pattern of the jungle, but withdangerous health consequences in some of these modern substitutes.

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Some people really are trying to return to the original healthy fast-food – just grab somefruit, nuts and leafy greens and eat them raw, though most of us still prefer a few beans
and whole grains in the mix too, and those do need some basic cooking.
In many countries all branches of Burger Kingand McDonalds do bean-burgers, and they would
be adequate (minus cheese, plus wholewheatbun…) – if they didn’t come from BK and
McDeath. Though personally I’m pleased they dothem anyway, not so much for the existing
vegetarians, more to encourage their meateating customers to at least try something
different – and someone must be buying them…
Right: top - how a healthy bean burger can look,and below a rather sad BK ‘bean burger meal’...
So will humans eventually evolve beyond thisprocessed imitation phase, and return to theoriginal fast food of the jungle?
Back in the 1980s I remember Margaret Thatcher
being asked if she would encourage people to eat
more fresh fruit and vegetables. She was totally
against it, her priority was to reduce
unemployment (hence improve her election
prospects) so she was promoting ‘value-added’(i.e. processed) food, because that created jobs
in the processing factories.
And of course when the customers get ill fromeating all that junk, it creates even more jobs inthe medical and pharmaceutical industries. A winwin for the big businesses and their politicalpuppets (When Thatcher left office she joined theboard of British-American Tobacco . . .).
But yes, we should all get back to more of the original fast food. That’s some of ours
below, all from our own garden, but there is still plenty of it everywhere else.

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Were there Vegans in the AncientWorld?
January 4, 2012

We seem to be getting an increase in those silly lists of ‘famous
historical vegans’, nearly all just nonsense and wishful thinking.
I’ve seen some recently claiming Pythagoras, Plato, and manyothers from ancient Greece and Rome were vegans, blindly
copied around the internet.
For those of us who take history seriously it is worth trying tounderstand what people were really doing, and why they chose
their lifestyle, even if it’s not what we now see as ideal.
Some biologists say that the human body craves fat and sugar
because those things were difficult to obtain in early humantimes, and small amounts of the right sort are beneficial. Perhaps
that’s why in the Jewish/Christian Bible (Exodus 3:8) Moses
promised a land flowing with (full cream) milk and honey.
Of course that promised land of fat and sugar had to wait until
the fast food of cheeseburgers, cheese stuffed pizzas and sugarycola. It seems that Moses didn’t anticipate obesity, diabetes andheart disease…
It is interesting that Moses did not promise endless quantities ofanimal flesh, maybe he knew they didn’t need that, and we dohave a lot of examples of people in the ancient world cutting out
the flesh, but keeping milk and honey. That happened in India ataround the same time the Pythagoreans and Orphic Communities
appeared in ancient Greece, all about 600BCE.
[pictures right, from the top: Pythagoras, Plato, Ovid, St.
Clement, Porphyry]
They were all surprisingly similar, suggesting some contact andexchange of ideas, maybe via the Zoroastrians in Persia, butthere is no clear evidence of how it came about. The basis wasmetempsychosis, the transmigration of souls. In simplistic terms,
if people can come back as animals in the next life, then you
could be eating your grandmother. But that argument didn’t
apply to milk (goats, sheep or cows were all used) and honey, or
wool.
Nothing that Pythagoras wrote or said has survived, so we only
have accounts from hundreds of years later. For example theRoman, Ovid (43BCE - CE17) in his ‘Metamorphoses’ said that
Pythagoras “. . . was the first to forbid animals to be served up at
the table” but also claimed Pythagoras as saying: “Nor is themilky juice denied you; nor honey . . . . there is milk; and cloverhoney. Earth is generous with her provision, and hersustenance.”
Porphyry (233-304 CE/AD) wrote: of Pythagoras: "As for his own
diet, he was satisfied with honey or the honeycomb, or withbread only . . . his principal dish was often kitchen herbs, cookedor uncooked. Fish he ate rarely." – by that last comment he9wasn’t even vegetarian, though other accounts vary, but the milk and honey are always
there.
Plato (c.427-c.347 BC) in his ‘Republic’ seemed to point to an ideal future without flesheating, but there is no evidence that he made any attempt to put it into practice himself.
Several early Christian leaders also abstained from flesh out of desire for simplicity andself denial. One example was Saint Clement of Alexandria, who died around 220AD. In
his second treatise, the Instructor or Tutor, Clement argues against flesh-eating, andadds : “For is there not, within a temperate simplicity a wholesome variety of eatables vegetables, roots, olives, herbs, milk, cheese, fruits, all kinds of dry food? . . . . those
who feed according to the Word are not debarred from dainties - such as honey combs.”
In all these early texts there is no reference to eggs. They just seem to have been
included within ‘flesh’, as in the predominant tradition in India.
We see something different in Porphyry (234-305CE/AD – an anti-Christian Greek
philosopher within the Roman Empire) in his three-volume ‘On Abstinence from Animal
Foods’ – quoting arguments put to him by others:“If, however, someone should think it is unjust to destroy brutes, such a one
should neither use milk, nor wool, nor sheep, nor honey. For as you injure a
man by taking from him his garments, thus also, you injure a sheep byshearing it. . . . Milk, likewise was not produced for you, but for the young of
the animal that has it. The bee also collects honey as food for itself; whichyou, by taking away, administer to your own pleasure.”
But Porphyry then rejected these arguments, stating that the animals and bees
benefitted from humans caring for them, so it was a fair exchange to use their products,
whilst abstaining from their flesh. It is extraordinary to see this level of debate taking
place at all, more than 1,700 years ago, and it had moved on to an ethical discussion
instead of the earlier purely religious matters.
It may have been just the meat-eaters accusing the ‘abstainers from flesh’ of hypocrisy
by continuing to use other animal products. However, we do know that there were quite
a lot of ‘abstainers from flesh’, and in a big enough group it is always likely that a few
would indeed have taken things to the logical conclusion of not using any animal
products at all, and it looks like Porphyry might have been debating with them too.
There is no evidence that any of the people we know about took the ‘vegan’ route ofeliminating milk, honey and wool – but we only know about people who wrote books, orwere important enough to be written about. All the others just vanish and we will neverknow who they were.
Those lists of ‘famous vegans’ from ancient history really are nonsense, they were allwhat we would now call ‘lacto-vegetarians’, but that doesn’t mean there were no‘vegans’ around, just that they weren’t famous enough ...

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Medieval Mindsets – ‘vegans’ in the middle ages
February 1, 2012

There were people who didn’t eat meat in Medieval Europe, and in Asia, but mostly forvery different reasons to what we associate with veganism today.
In the western world the time after the fall of the Roman Empire - ‘the dark ages’, orMiddle Ages or Medieval period, usually defined as about 500-1500CE. - was dominatedby religion in both Europe and Asia, and many of those religions demanded various
levels of abstinence and self-denial, even self-punishment.
For some this meant abstaining from eating flesh, not because they thought it was bad,but because it was good, so they would suffer by denying themselves. Inevitably sometook this further than others, trying to eat almost nothing in order to feel more holy –they abstained from sex for the same reason, and some in the West wore hair-shirts
which were deliberately itchy, while some Asian monks whipped their own backs.
It is difficult to see this as having much to do with what we now call veganism. They
kept their milk and honey and, especially in Europe there was rarely any concern foranimals, or for human health.
Some monasteries demanded inverted thinkingof flesh as a ‘health food’, and ‘mercy’ that didn’t
extend to animals:“[in English monasteries] Meat, once
provided only for the sick, was now
enjoyed by all in the infirmary; and when
this was forbidden by papal statute, a‘misericorde’, ‘the chamber of mercy’,
between the infirmary and the refectory,
where meat was freely allowed on thetable. This, too, was prohibited by papal statute; but in 1339 the pope,
recognizing that the prohibition was unenforceable, conceded that the monks
might continue to relish their meat in the ‘misericorde’ provided that only half
their number did so at a time, the other half maintaining the vegetarian ruleelsewhere. [C. Hibbert, The English, a social history, 1989]
Most of these abstainers continued to eat fish, so Mr.
Hibbert was misusing the term ‘vegetarian’.
We’ve also seen claims that the Japanese Samurai, fromthe 11th century, were ‘vegan’, but again all availablereferences show them as routinely eating fish.
In 1655 Roger Crab published his ‘English Hermit’, an
account of his life in a cottage near London. In the
introduction he specifically mentions not eating butter orcheese leading some to see him as ‘vegan’. But he alsomentions his only clothing as sack cloth, and before long
he is claiming to extend his self-punishment by living
entirely on dock leaves and grass . . . [the picture is fromhis book]
In the USA in the 18th century there were some groups
such as the Ephrata Cloister and Dorrelites, which have also been claimed as ‘vegan’.
But these too were based entirely on self-deprivation to feel holier.

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Howard Williams, The Ethics of Diet, 1883, on Medieval Europe:. . . we look in vain for traces of anything like the humanitarian feeling of
Plutarch or Porphyry [late Greek philosophers].. . . In those terrible[medieval Europe] ages of gross ignorance, of superstition, of violence, andof injustice - in which human rights were seldom regarded - it would havebeen surprising indeed if any sort of regard had been displayed for the nonhuman slaves. . . Chrysostom [347-407CE] seems to have been one of thelast of Christian writers who manifested any sort of consciousness of theinhuman, as well as unspiritual nature of the ordinary gross foods . . . in thedays of expiring Greek philosophy, Olympiodorous [5th century] and six other
Pythagoreans determined, if possible, to maintain their doctrines elsewhere;
and they sought refuge with the Persian Magi . . .
Their refuge didn’t work out and they returned to Greece, but it is in the Middle East that
we find an unexpected example of humanitarian thinking. During the time many call the‘Islamic Golden Age’ (c.750CE-c.1258CE) philosophers, scientists and engineers of theIslamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, and this was all basedin Baghdad where Greek philosophy and science survived. The Europeans re‘discovered’ it from the Arabs centuries later.
An unusual poet, Al-Ma’arri (973-1057CE) arrived in Baghdad from Syria. He wrote:
Thou art diseased in understanding and religion. Come to me, that thou
mayst hear the tidings of sound truth.
Do not unjustly eat what the water has given up, [i.e. fish] and do not desire
as food the flesh of slaughtered animals,
Or the white (milk) of mothers who intended its pure draught for their young,not noble ladies.
And do not grieve the unsuspecting birds by taking their eggs; for injustice isthe worst of crimes.
And spare the honey which the bees get betimes by their industry from theflowers of fragrant plants;
For they did not store it that it might belong to others, nor did they gather itfor bounty and gifts.
I washed my hands of all this; and would that I had perceived my way ere
my temples grew hoar! [i.e. hair became grey – the poem continues on
injustice…]
From: ‘Studies in Islamic Poetry’ by R.A. Nicholson, 1921 (on archive.org). Mr. Nicholson
says there are ‘many passages’ of a similar nature, and discusses how Al-Ma’arri says headopted what we now call veganism at the age of 30 (early grey hair…).
We have books about Al-Ma’arri, but there is some debate about where he got theseideas, and whether there were more like him. Various religious sources are suggested,
but he objected to all organised religion, and left us guessing. A few more of his lines,
converted into poetic English in 1904, but written almost 1,000 years ago:
Hunt not the beast; O, be thou more humane,
Since hunter here nor hunted long remain;
The smallest grub a life has in it which
Thou canst not take without inflicting pain.
The wooden shoes I do like best because
That skin did once live, aye, and even think.
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Veganism from 1806
May 25, 2011 (updated November 2011)

This is a brief summary of a talk I gave at theInternational Vegan Festival in Malaga, Spain, June
4-12, 2011, and at the Midlands Vegan Festival,
Wolverhampton UK, October 29, 2011
1806 – Dr. William Lambe FRCP, in London, England,changed his diet at the age of 40 – and gave us anunambiguous statement: “My reason for objecting toevery species of matter to be used as food, except
the direct produce of the earth, is founded on the
broad ground that no other matter is suited to theorgans of man. This applies then with the sameforce to eggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh
meat.”
1811 – John Frank Newton, a patient of Dr. Lambe,
in his book 'Return to Nature' expanded Lambe’s medical ideas
to include ethical values towards all animals.
1813 – Percy Bysshe Shelley (right), poet,joined a ‘vegan commune’ which alternatedbetween Newton family homes in London
and Bracknell.
1830s – Sylvester Graham (left), in
Boston USA, had been promoting the‘vegetable diet’ – generally ‘with orwithout’ eggs/dairy. In 1837 he exchanged letters with Dr. Lambe,
and his 1839 book clearly claimed that‘without’ was more effective for health.
1830s – Dr John Snow (right), was ‘vegan’ since reading
Newton’s book when he was 17. Moved to London in 1838 andeventually achieved fame for discovering the way in cholera was
spread. In 2003 British doctors voted him the greatest physician
of all time.
1838 – James Pierrepont Greaves opened‘Alcott House Academy’, a school near
London run entirely consistent with theideas proposed by Lambe and Newton. It ran for the next ten
years.
1842, April – the first confirmed use of the word ‘vegetarian’ in
the Alcott House journal. All other early uses were by people close
to Alcott House, and all using it for what we now call ‘vegan’.
1842 June – Bronson Alcott (left), from Boston USA, alreadyveg*n thanks to Sylvester Graham, visited Alcott House, named
in honor of him and his earlier school in Boston. In 1843,with new
English friends, he ran the short-lived ‘Fruitlands’ near Harvard,
MA – again run on totally ethical ‘vegan’ principles.

13
1845-6 – Henry David Thoreau (right) lived by Walden Pond,
near Concord MA, living solely on plant foods plus somefishing – but wrote about how much he regretted the fish…
1846 – William Horsell (left) moved
the hydrotherapy institute from
Alcott House to Northwood Villa, in
Ramsgate, Kent, England. This again
followed Dr. Lambe’s principles ofplant food plus purified water.
1847 – The Vegetarian Society was
founded at a meeting in Ramsgate,
launched jointly by Alcott House andthe (ovo-lacto) Bible Christian
Church from Salford near
Manchester. The compromise was to set the objective as
merely ‘abstaining from the flesh of animals’ – and theconfusion over everything else has continued ever since.
1874 – Dr. Russell Trall (left) had beenrunning a hydrotherapy institute in New
York City since 1850. This changed to
exclusively plant food plus water in 1862
– and in 1874 produced the first known‘vegan’ cookbook.
1887 – John Harvey Kellogg (right)
privately removed eggs/dairy from his
diet, though his books and sanitarium, in
Battle Creek, Michigan, continued to use
them. 40 years later he returned to using
yogurt – but then discovered soy milk…
1910 – Rupert Wheldon in England, published ‘No Animal
Food’, the first British ‘vegan’ cookbook. This was reprinted by
Dr. Elmer Lee in New York. A 1910 article about Lee in the NY
Times included the first known use of the phrase ‘plant foods’.
1909-14 – The Vegetarian Messenger, journal of The
Vegetarian Society, carried much discussion about the use of eggs/dairy. There seemed
to be a possibility of significant change, but all
momentum was destroyed by the First World War.
1931 – Mahatma Gandhi spoke at a meeting of the
London Vegetarian Society (left), making it clear that heobjected to the use of milk and milk products. Such highprofile support must have emboldened the minority whocalled themselves ‘non-dairy vegetarians’.
1944 – Donald Watson and friends coined the word
‘vegan’ and founded The Vegan Society – the first issueof their journal was subtitled ‘the journal of the non-dairy
vegetarians’ – and made it clear that they had notwanted to separate from The Vegetarian Society, they
just wanted a distinct section within it. Most retained
their memberships of both societies, as many do today.

141947 – Watson was a speaker at the IVU World Veg
Congress (he is front-middle right) – The Vegan Society
had joined IVU soon after being founded, and has been amember ever since.
1957 – The first Indian Vegan Society joined IVU. We
don’t know how long it lasted, but the new society is also
prominent member.
1960 The American Vegan Society was founded, joining
IVU from the outset. This included a smaller group
started in California as far back as 1948.
1960-90s – many new vegan organizations wereformed, and the word gradually spread.
1995 – records of printed media show a significant increase in the use of the word
‘vegan’ – this appears to have come from the rapid expansion of vegan websites, leading
to a market for vegan books, especially recipes.
1997 – The IVU website started a recipe collection – agreed to be entirely vegan fromthe outset. We now have over 3,000 in English with more in other languages.
1998 – IVU agreed that all food at IVU Congresses would in future be completely vegan.
21st Century – most veg organizations around the world now promote veganism as theideal, regardless of whether they are called ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’.
- by 2009 more books had ‘vegan’ in the title than ‘vegetarian’.
- 2009/10 surveys in the USA showed that 66% of vegetarians exclude eggs/dairy- by 2011 there were as many Google searches for ‘vegan’ as for ‘vegetarian’- 22 organizations with 'vegan' in their title are now members of IVU
Will all vegetarians eventually be vegan? We have no way of knowing, but the continuing
trend seems inevitable.

Footnotes, added a couple of days after the blog was posted:- it will be seen from above that there has been a significant change towards veganism
within IVU over the last 15 years. This is mostly due to the work of The Vegan Society(the original one in the UK). Such changes inevitably take time, and TVS deserves credit
and respect for the manner in which they have promoted their cause - and they won't
give up...
- the day after the blog was posted, I went back to the 'Truth Tester' journals edited byWilliam Horsell at the Ramsgate Hydrotherapy Institute. The winter 1846/47 issues
contain a recipe for 'Sago Pudding' - normally made with some animal products - thisone ended by proudly proclaiming what can be done 'without milk, eggs or butter'. So
far this is the earliest deliberately vegan recipe that I've found, and in a vegan journal.
There were plenty of earlier recipes that didn't happen to need animal products, but
none I've seen that deliberately substituted them.
- the question of the lack of women above was raised. There must have been some, but
the men of the time didn't bother to write about them, so we don't have any details. Ifanything comes to light another update will be posted.
- alongside the vegan Dr. Lambe above, the founder of the ovo-lacto Bible Christian
Church in 1809 was the Rev. William Cowherd... honest! Hollywood couldn't have named
them better :-)back to top

15

Dr. William Lambe - father of vegan nutrition, andhis vegan biographer
September 20, 2011

Our understanding of vegan nutrition has
come a long way in the last 200 years, but
it had to start somewhere, and William
Lambe (1765-1848), Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians, was the first to be
specific about it way back in 1809.
In 1806, age 41, Lambe was concerned
about his own state of health, and changed
his diet to exclusively plant foods anddistilled water. The word ‘vegetable’ inthose days included all types of vegetation(as in ‘animal, vegetable or mineral’), so
the ‘vegetable diet’ as it was commonly
known, included fruits, grains, nuts, beans
etc.
Most people following this diet included
cow’s milk, but Dr. Lambe did not – and hekept to his strictly vegetable / vegan dietfor the rest of life, still looking good near
the end 41 years later - the photo right
was taken not long before he died.
Amongst his many writings, Lambe left us
two books of particular interest: “Reportson the Effects of a Peculiar Regimen in
Scirrhous Tumours, and Cancerous Ulcers” (1809), followed by his ‘Additional Reports’,more fully titled “Water and Vegetable Diet in Consumption, Scrofula, Cancer, Asthma,
and Other Chronic Diseases” (1815) – both of these were primarily reports on his own
condition and self-treatment, but included case studies from some patients.
In his now famous (since I found it last year) quote on p.89-90 of the 2nd book he said:“My reason for objecting to every species of matter to be used as food, except the direct
produce of the earth – as maybe seen in my last publication - is founded on the broad
ground that no other matter is suited to the organs of man. This applies then with thesame force to eggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat.” [emphasis added]
On the IVU website we now have the full text of the only known biography of
Dr. Lambe (see bibliography). This was written in 1873 by Edward Hare (1812-1897),
who was a former Director-General of Hospitals in Bengal, India. There is currently little
further known about Mr. Hare, except that in 1881 he was living in the City of Bath, andby 1891 he had become a Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society. However, fromexpressions of his own views in the book, it becomes clear that he too shared Dr.
Lambe’s view of what we now call a ‘vegan’ diet.
William Lambe was strongly promoting the use of distilled water as the only healthy
drink for humans – partly due to the awful condition of the public water supply in early
19th century England. His biographer went to some lengths to support this idea, stating
at one point: “Dr. Lambe also shows that the beneficial effects of drinking milk, andespecially whey, acknowledged by all the old physicians, and called ‘The Whey Cure,’16
were not due to the use of these animal fluids, but to the abstinence from impure water
for which these drinks were substitutes.”
Mr. Hare also says that Dr. Lambe only used small quantities even of distilled water: “Hesaid that man was not a drinking animal, his erect form showed it. In a state of nature
man could not conveniently stoop to drink out of streams, etc. – and if we lived upon
fruit and vegetables we should not have thirst.” This argument against the need for any
drink at all appears from time to time among 19th century vegetarians, and was usedagainst milk drinking in particular (note the change to ‘fruit and vegetables’ as themeaning of ‘vegetable’ was changing in the late 19th century).
Lambe’s books were widely read on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1850 the second of his
books mentioned above was published in New York, with ‘notes and additions’ by Joel
Shew M.D., who was a Vice-President of the new American Vegetarian Society founded
the same year. The bibliography includes a link to a complete copy of that edition on
Google Books.
In 1883 Howard Williams wrote his ‘Ethics of Diet’ – the first book on the history ofvegetarianism, which was hugely influential and which included substantial quotes from
Mr. Hare’s biography of William Lambe. However, Williams, like all vegetarian historians,
simply avoided any mention of the eggs/dairy issue. It is only now that we are beginning
to re-discover the significant minority within the vegetarian movement who kept to thestricter version of the ‘vegetable diet’.

back to top

17

Dr. Lambe's Rural Roots
September 28, 2011

Dr. William Lambe did his groundbreaking work on the vegan diet
200 years ago, whilst living in London, but his roots were in the
countryside, where he grew up and eventually retired.
The biography I put online last week mentioned that his family’s
estate was near the village of Dilwyn in Herefordshire, and withsome more research I found that the estate was Henwood, quite
close to the village. That is only about an hour from where I live
today, so last week Hazel and I took a ride down there to lookaround.
There is some confusion about where William was born, but weknow his father was an attorney, and that his parents married in1762 in St. Peter’s church in the nearby city of Hereford. Their firsttwo children were also christened there. Right is St. Peter’s today.
William was their third child, born 26th of February, 1765. One record says he was alsoborn in St. Peter’s parish, but another says he born in the town of Warwick, somedistance away. The latter is quite plausible if his father was working there at the time,
and we do have later connections with the town.
Either way, we know that by 1768, when
William was three years old, the family had
moved to the Henwood estate near Dilwyn,
presumably on his father inheriting it. Soon
after they moved there Mr. Lambe snr.
rebuilt the house, probably on the samesite as the earlier house which had been in
the family for at least a hundred years. The
photo right is the same house as it is today,
little changed.
Right is a photo I took last week from thedriveway, showing the setting of the housesurrounded by extensive farmland:
As a child William would have been familiar
with the nearby village of Dilwyn, at leastfrom his weekly visits to the church. Below
is my photo of the village green (there is
still some green off-camera to the right ofthe modern tarmac), on a rather dull day,with a row of cottages and the Crown Inn
at the end:
Below is the village school seen from thechurchyard. The cottage would have been
there in William’s time, but the schoolhouse
was built by the church in mid-19th century.
Before that the land-owners’ children, like
William, would have been educated athome, and the others were not educated at
all.

18
William moved on to the Hereford Grammar
School, now known as the Cathedral School
and dating back to the 13th century. From
there, in 1782, age 17, he went to St.
John’s College, Cambridge and stayed on a
few years for further medical studies.
In 1790 he moved to Warwick to take over a
medical practice from a doctor who wasretiring. This was almost certainly throughfamily connections, and would be consistent
with William having been born in Warwick.
Whilst in Warwick he became interested in
the spring water from the nearby village ofLeamington. His promotion of the medicinal
qualities of this water led to a huge
expansion of the village, and to it eventually
being dubbed ‘Royal Leamington Spa’ by
Queen Victoria.
A few years later Dr. Lambe added his ideas
about a pure plant-food diet to the purewater, and what we now call the vegan diet
got its first write up in his books. In 1828
Dr. Lambe inherited the Henwood estate on
the death of his older brother. He continued
to live and work in London, with his son’sfamily living on the estate.
Around 1840 he retired from his medical
work, at age 75, and returned to thecountryside for his last few years, eventually
passing away in 1847. He was buried in thefamily vault inside Dilwyn village church.R
Right is the interior of the church, datingfrom the 12th or 13th centuries, which has
many memorials to the Lambe family,
including all of those in the photo. One ofthem reads: The remains of WILLIAM
LAMBE. M.D. born in ST PETER'S PARISH,
HEREFORD. He died in this Parish at
HENWOOD June II [2]. MDCCCXLVII [1847].
Aged LXXXII [82].
I took a couple more photos of the churchinterior – first towards to the altar, with theorgan on the left. Then looking back fromthe altar, across the choir stalls and along
the nave:back to top19John Frank Newton - and the 'vegan' commune of1813
January 25, 2012

John Frank Newton was a pivotal character in an extraordinary group of people whochallenged almost every social convention of the rigid-minded early 19th century
England.
He was born about 1770 and was educated at Harrow, one of two leading schools in the
country. From there he went on to Christchurch College, Oxford, where he was friendly
with the future Prime Minister, George Canning.
During one his college vacations, in the late 1780s, he went to the West Indies(Caribbean), where he said he met his parents for the first time since starting school asa child. They were running a sugar plantation, and Newton was shocked to be confronted
by human slavery. He wrote to Canning urging him to oppose the slave trade when hewent into politics, and there is indeed a later record of George Canning supporting
abolition. (The Atlantic slave trade was banned by the British Parliament in 1807, but
existing slaves in the Caribbean remained legal until abolition in 1833. The USA followedin 1865.)
By 1807, John Frank Newton
had become a patient of Dr.
William Lambe in London.
There seems to have beensome earlier connection as
Netwon’s daughter waschristened in 1804 in a small
village just five miles from
Lambe’s home village, in thewest of England.
Lambe had been promoting his
new diet consisting entirely ofplant foods plus distilled water,
and the whole Newton family
adopted a version of this attheir home in Grosvenor
Square, London. In 1811
Newton published his book :‘Return to Nature, or a defenceof the vegetable regimen’,which was dedicated to Dr.
Lambe, and attracted
considerable interest acrossthe country.
Newton also promoted the dietof plant food and distilledwater, but took matters further
in raising ethical issues about
the use and treatment ofanimals, along withdescriptions of his family life.
In these pre-Darwinian times,
the ‘nature’ of the title was the20
Garden of Eden, and the family took this to the extent of leaving off their clothes, as wellas the meat. Visitors reported being taken aback to see naked children disappearing as
they arrived.
In 1812 Newton was holding a bonfire night party (old English tradition on November5th), when he received a young visitor - Percy Bysshe Shelley, age 20, was a budding
poet. He was sent round to Newton’s house by William Godwin, a writer on social justice,and supporter of the French revolution. Godwin’s wife, Mary Wollstencraft, was theauthor of ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ in 1792 (yes, seventeen ninety two…).
She died in childbirth in 1797 and their daughter, Mary, eventually eloped with Shelley,
and went on the write Frankenstein. This was not an average family . . .
Shelley and his first wife, Harriet, had adopted the vegetable diet the previous year,
whilst in Dublin, possibly from Newton’s book, or perhaps from reading the original
Greek and Roman writers, or both. He soon became a regular visitor to the Newtons’
household in London.
Meanwhile, Newton’s widowed sister-in-law, Harriet de Boinville, was running a similarhousehold in what was then the village of Bracknell, near London. For a few months in1813 Shelley moved into that large country house, along with a few others who werepassing through, and established an early attempt at a ‘vegan’ commune. Most of what
we know about it came from Shelley’s friends who wrote biographies after he died young
in 1822. Thomas Jefferson Hogg, his old university friend, recalled the events of 1813
(slighly edited for brevity):“I conformed, not through faith, but for good fellowship. Certainly theirvegetable dinners were delightful. Flesh never appeared; nor eggs bodily intheir individual capacity, nor butter in the gross: the two latter were admitted
into cookery, but as sparingly as possible, under protest, as culinary aids not
approved of, and soon to be dispensed with. Cheese was under the ban. Milkand cream might not be taken unreservedly; however, they were allowed inpuddings, and to be poured sparingly into tea, as an indulgence to theweakness of neophytes.”
We have to remember that this was decades before the invention of margarine, and long
before anyone in the West ever heard of tofu or soya milk, so the change cannot havebeen easy for them. But it was not just about health matters as Shelley’s writings show
us his concern for animals.
The group remained close for several years, William Lambe’s daughter eventually
marrying Mrs de Boinville’s son, her daughter married William Godwin’s young friend,and Godwin’s daughter was Shelley’s second wife, but they gradually scattered.
John Frank Newton moved to Weymouth, on the south coast of England, and died therein 1837. His book had been re-published in 1822, and exerted a considerable influenceduring the first half of the 19th century. We have no pictures of him or his family.

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21

Shelley - the first celebrity vegan
January 5, 2011

Percy Bysshe Shelley, known as Bysshe to his
friends, was the rock star of his day - glamorous,
controversial, fought over by teenage girls, loathedby their parents, and died dramatically before he
was thirty.
At times he was also vegan, lived in a hippy-stylecommune, wrote about 'free love', had friends who
were nudists, probably joining in that too, and wasthrown out of Oxford University soon after hearrived.
All of that was 200 years ago, and during the lastten years of his short life he wrote what wasarguably some of the finest poetry in the English
language.
In 1811, when he was 19, Shelley married 16 year
old Harriet Westbrook. They moved around for awhile and were in Dublin in March 1812 when
Harriet wrote to some friends that they had adopted the 'Pythagorean system'. Shelley
was a classics scholar and had probably read the original texts in ancient Greek and
Latin suggesting that Pythagoras had been lacto-vegetarian.
Later that year they returned to London where Shelley met John Frank Newton, authorof 'Return to Nature' and a patient of Dr. William Lambe, Fellow of the Royal College ofPhysicians, and author of the 'Water and Vegetable Diet' - both of them advocating what
we now call veganism, in ethics as well as in diet. Shelley soon joined them, as testified
by his friend William Hogg in his later biography.
This was decades before any dairy or egg substitutes were commonly available, so it
must have been hard for them to adapt, but the accounts show they were serious in
their attempts. Shelley's first major poem 'Queen Mab' published 1813, included as apreface his essay on 'A Vindication of Natural Diet', and in the poem the lines:. . . No longer now
He slays the lamb that looks him in the face,
And horribly devours his mangled flesh;
In 1814 Shelley left Harriet, now 19 and expecting their second child, and eloped with 16
year old Mary Godwin who later became the 2nd Mrs Shelley after Harriet committed
suicide. Not surprisingly all this didn't go down too well in respectable society of the day
and they had to spend most of their time living overseas.
During the summer of 1816 Shelley and Mary met up with fellow poet Lord Byron and adoctor friend on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. They shared a cottage for awhile but the weather turned bad, and as there wasn't much on TV in 1816 they decided
that each of the four should think of a story to tell the following night.
With two of the four being Shelley and Byron, something special might have been
expected - but it didn't come from them. It was Mary, a few days before her 19thbirthday, who told a story a man who created life - and she called him Dr. Frankenstein.

22
In 1818 the full story was published as anovel, and the rest is history, with it being
generally credited today as the first of a new
genre - science fiction. But what is not so wellknown is that the nameless 'monster' (agentle giant until provoked) that Dr.
Frankenstein created was also vegan.
At one point in the story he says: "My food is
not that of man; I do not destroy the lamband the kid to glut my appetite; acorns andberries afford me sufficient nourishment." Theillustration of the monster, above, is from the1831 edition of the book, rather different to
the Hollywood version 100 years later.
Shelley and Mary ended up living in Italy,
where he drowned at sea in 1822 – below left
is a later imagined painting of his funeral pyre
lit by Byron on the beach, and right a portraitof Mary in later life.

During the rest of the 19th century Shelley's reputation was somewhat whitewashed by
the Victorians who liked some of his poetry but not his lifestyle. In 1886 George Bernard
Shaw became secretary of the Shelley Society in London, and used his first meeting toannounce: "I am, like Shelley, an atheist, a socialist, and a vegetarian." Shaw's closefriend, Henry Salt, then wrote a series of articles on Shelley over the next few years,
putting the record straight.
For full details of the Shelleys, with links to all original sources, see
www.ivu.org/history/shelleyback to top

23

Lewis Gompertz – Jewish ‘vegan’ and co-founderof the RSPCA in 1824
December 20,2011

Lewis Gompertz (1783/4–1861) appearson the scene in 1824, at the age of 40, as
the author of a significant book promoting
an early prototype of what we now callanimal rights and veganism; and in thesame year he was a co-founder of theworld’s first Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (SPCA, later RSPCA).
His 1824 book 'Moral Inquiries: on thesituation of man and of brutes' was quite
unlike anything before it, and there wasvery little of a similar nature after it until
Henry Salt’s ‘Animal Rights’ of 1892.
His first principle was a fundamental
objection to killing or harming any animal,
or any living being, for any purpose
whatsoever including food, clothing,labour, research or entertainment.
Oddly however, he considered humanhealth to benefit from eating meat, and if an animal died of natural or accidental causes,
he had no objection (at least in principle) to eating it, and using its skin for clothing. We
see something of that in modern ‘roadkill’ debates. But Gompertz argued that any
benefits could still never justify deliberate killing. He also acknowledged his own
imperfections, particularly in clothing, due to social pressures and the lack of suitable
alternatives. And we have to keep in mind that many modern vegan foods (e.g. soy andmargarine) were completely unknown in London in 1824.
Gompertz also devoted a complete chapter to the use of eggs and dairy products. He
stated that cows’ milk was for calves, and it was wrong to take a calf away from its
mother. However, if a calf died naturally or accidentally then he saw no objection tohumans using the surplus milk (in 1824 most people still lived on the land, not in cities).
He had a particular concern for horses, easily the most abused animal in London at thattime as they were the primary means of transport, hauling all manner of wheeledvehicles. He very directly equated their use to human slavery, and argued for theirfreedom. He considered whether some land in England should be set aside for theirnatural use, or whether they could be transported back to ‘Arabia’ where he imagined
they could live in the wild. But he was realistic enough to know that this ‘abolitionist’approach was not going to happen, and devoted much of his life to improving thewelfare conditions of the animals.
The rest of Gompertz’ time was spent as an inventor, producing a wide variety ofdevices, many of them aimed at improving animal welfare. One was an attempt toimprove a very basic bicycle which was just beginning to appear – it had no pedals or
brakes, just pushed along by feet on the ground. Gompertz added the gear mechanismon the front wheel in the picture. For him this was an attempt at an alternative to using
horses (see below right).

24
All of this was many years before
Darwin, but Gompertz argued that
there was no significant difference
between “humans and otheranimals”. He didn’t use the word‘rights’ but he clearly wanted animals
to be given a similar legal status tohumans - apart from the oddity ofskinning and eating them after they
died... (would he still accept thattoday, with all the alternatives now
available?)His book also considered humanissues, as summed up by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (1917): “Gompertz
lauded the reforming influence of education, decried the evils of capitalism and of female
subjugation, praised Owenite [socialist] co-operation, and speculated boldly upon afuture state shared by man and other animals.”
The legal rights of animals became an issue in 1822, when the British Parliament passed
a law against the abuse of ‘cattle’ (which included any large quadruped, particularly
horses). But the police and magistrates largely ignored it, much as they do today withthe anti-foxhunting law.
Two years later, 1824, the same year that Gompertz’ book appeared, a meeting wasconvened on June 16 at Old Slaughter’s Coffee House in London (named from theowner). The 12 men present became the founding members of the world’s first Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), with the initial object of recruiting theirown inspectors to enforce the new law. One of the 12 was Lewis Gompertz but, as far as
we know, he was the only one who objected to slaughtering and eating some of theanimals they were trying to protect.
The others included two members of parliament, and two Church of England ministers.
After two years of the new society struggling, Lewis Gompertz took over as the
Secretary and developed it successfully for the next six years.
However, there were tensions with the Christian meat-eaters and Gompertz was accusedof ‘Pythagoreanism’, effectively being a member of heretical religious sect, which hedenied. The rest of the committee decided that the society must be run on ‘Christian
principles’ (ie meat-eating) – apparently pretending not to notice that Gompertz was
Jewish… he left and founded a new group, The Animals’ Friend Society, which for a few
years outstripped the SPCA in recruitment and effectiveness.
In 1835 the SPCA attracted royal patronage from Princess Victoria, and when she
became Queen two years later, they became the RSPCA. They have ever since continued
to enjoy the patronage of one of the most animal abusing families in the UK.
Gompertz ran his alternative animal welfare society and journal until 1846. In the 1850s
his books were re-published by William Horsell, first Secretary of the Vegetarian Society(1847-50) and subsequently leader of the (vegan) London Vegetarian Association.
He died, aged seventy-seven, from bronchitis on 2 December 1861 at his home in
Kennington, London.
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25

Sylvester Graham – the original American Vegan
Baker
February 29, 2012

In 1850 a British vegetarian, living in India,
wrote to a journal in England mentioning that
his diet included ‘Graham bread’. Such was
the worldwide fame that the American
Sylvester Graham had achieved in his
promotion of whole-wheat brown flour, toreplace the refined white flour that had
become common by the early 19th century.
Most Americans today are familiar with
‘Graham crackers’, though Graham himself
never mentioned them in any of his books.
They seem to have been a later invention bycommercial bakers, originally using what had
become popularly known as ‘Graham flour’.
But there was much more to Sylvester
Graham than just his baking skills.
He had a difficult early life, a sickly childgrowing up on a Connecticut farm and largely
self-educated. But by 1826 he became a Presbyterian minister and, as Rev. Graham,joined the temperance (anti-alcohol) campaign. This took him down thru Rhode Island
and New Jersey, then in 1830 to Philadelphia.
At that time the only organization in North America promoting the ‘vegetable diet’ was
the Bible Christian Church in Philadelphia, where members of the BCC from England, led
by William Metcalfe, had migrated in 1817. Graham didn’t join their church, but he did
adopt their diet, with reservations about their use of eggs and dairy products.
We know he was also studying the 1815 book by Dr. William Lambe, from London, on
the ‘Water and Vegetable Diet’. Lambe’s biographer claimed in 1873: “A People’s Edition
has been published in America, and it forms the basis of Graham’s Journal, and of
Graham’s Lectures.”
Dr. Lambe promoted a diet entirely of plant food plus distilled water, to which Graham
added more ideas of his own, especially on bread. In his 1835 book ‘A Defense of theGraham System of Living’, he refers to Dr. Lambe briefly (limited by the anti-British
feelings at that time), but took a more flexible approach by acknowledging that mostpeople would continue to use eggs and dairy products, even when they stopped eating
animal flesh. He insisted that milk, if used at all, should very fresh, direct from the cow not very practical for city-dwellers. But he made his own views quite clear:p.125: “It has been customary from time immemorial to speak loudly in praise of
milk . . . nevertheless, I am firmly convinced that it is by no means a wholesome
article of diet.”
p.128: “As an article of diet, butter is decidedly pernicious, even when fresh…”
p.131: “As a general rule, all kinds of cheese are difficult of solution in thestomach.”p.133: “Honey . . . like other concentrated forms of aliment, is improperly used
as food.”
He makes similar objections to any animal food, including eggs, along with tea, coffee,
chocolate, tobacco, opium, salt, sugar, pepper, mustard, ginger, salad oil and alcohol,

26
insisting that the only acceptable drink is pure water. He also promoted the importanceof exercise, sound sleep and cleanliness – all way ahead of his time for 1835.
Sylvester Graham’s next book was the one that perhaps brought him the most attention:‘A Treatise on Bread and Bread-making’, 1837. He went into great detail about thehistory of bread and how refined white bread was unhealthy. Whilst insisting on the useof whole-wheat flour he again accepted that most people liked their bread made with amixture of milk and water, but still made his personal views quite clear:
pp.88/89: “… the very best and most wholesome bread is that which is mixed with pure
soft water.”This was another reference to the distilled water promoted by Dr. Lambe and his
followers in England. We have details of some correspondence between Lambe (now in
his 70s) and Graham in 1837, including the full text of Dr. Lambe’s letter of March 20,
repeating his insistence on pure water.
By this time Graham’s fame was spreading from his lecture tours, and ‘Grahamite’boarding houses were being set up in New York and Boston by some his followers.
In 1839 Graham published his major work “Lectures on the Science of Human Life”. This
had a series of numbered paragraphs, and #1291 says: "...though they do better on amilk and vegetable diet than one of flesh and vegetables, yet they do best when they
confine themselves to a diet of pure vegetable food and pure water."This came to the attention of William Horsell, secretary of the first Vegetarian Society,founded in England in 1847. Horsell was also a publisher and in 1849 he brought
Graham’s book to the much larger number British vegetarians, where it made asignificant impact.
Back in the USA the leaders of the (very ovo-lacto) Bible Christian Church in Philadelphia
promoted the idea of an American Vegetarian Society, which was launched in New Yorkin April 1850, with Sylvester Graham one of several Vice Presidents.
In London, Horsell had also been publishing his own journal, the Vegetarian Advocate,
which had not gone down well with the Bible Christian President of the British Society,due to its strong ‘vegan’ leanings. In August 1850 his last issue ended with a lengthy
article by Sylvester Graham entitled ‘Butter and Cheese’, not surprisingly arguing against
the use of these products.
The London ‘vegans’ and the Manchester-based ovo-lacto Bible Christians continued todiffer. In 1854 the Manchester journal derisively suggested this was all caused by
Sylvester Graham:“Mr. Graham, in his Science of Human Life, has been the leading advocate of the
adoption of the Vegetarian system in dependence upon fruits, farinaceous[starchy] substances, and vegetable products alone, without the addition ofanimal substances, such as milk, butter, eggs, or cheese . . .”They don’t seem to have been aware that Graham had died in 1851, or that much of his
original inspiration had come from the highly respected Dr. William Lambe FRCP.

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Taking the Waters - transatlantic pioneer plant-food
doctors
April 5, 2011

Dr. William Lambe FRCP (1765-1847)
Back in 1815, in London, Dr William Lambe, Fellow of theRoyal College of Physicians (FRCP), published his ‘Water
and Vegetable Diet’ in which he stated: “My reason for
objecting to every species of matter to be used as food,except the direct produce of the earth, is founded on the
broad ground that no other matter is suited to the organsof man. This applies then with the same force toeggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat.”
Nothing ambiguous about that! Lambe had adopted thisdiet himself in 1806 as a result of his own medical
condition, when he was 41, and kept to it for the rest of
his life. It must have worked as he lived to be 82 – a ripe
old age by early 19th century standards.
He gained initial fame in 1797 by promoting the mineralwaters that made a town in the English midlands into Royal Leamington Spa. He always
insisted that water should be the only drink for humans.
In his later years he was able to visit the ‘vegan’ school at Alcott House, near London,and see his principles fully put into practice. We know that by September 1837 Dr.
Lambe was exchanging letters with Sylvester Graham in America.
Rev. Sylvester Graham (1795-1851)
Sylvester Graham was promoting health foods in the Boston
area in the 1830s, particularly brown whole-wheat bread,which became known as 'Graham bread'. His name lives ontoday in ‘Graham crackers’, though the modern version,
made with white flour and sugar, is far removed from thehealthy original produced by commercial companies using‘Graham flour’.
His major work was Lectures on the Science of Human Life
(Boston, 1839). This had a series of numbered paragraphs,
and #1291 says: "...though they do better on a milk andvegetable diet than one of flesh and vegetables, yet they do best when they confine
themselves to a diet of pure vegetable food and pure water." Many of his ideas
were developed from Dr. Lambe, but in the anti-British era, following the 1812-15 war,
he knew he would have more success presenting them as ‘all-American’.
Through most of his books, he argues against the use of eggs and dairy products, but
accepts that most people will use them, so merely insists on good quality, with milk
ideally ‘fresh from the cow’. This was a pragmatic approach as he knew he would havelittle impact otherwise.
In 1849 his ‘Science’ was published in London by William Horsell, where it attracted a lotof interest from the larger number of British vegetarians.

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William Horsell (1807-1863)
and Northwood Villa
The modern Hydrotherapy revival began in Germany inthe early 19th century, with the first British
establishment being within Alcott House in 1842, theschool near London based on Dr. Lambe’s dietaryprinciples.
William Horsell moved that to Northwood Villa,
Ramsgate, Kent at the end of 1846 – and this was thevenue of the meeting which founded the world’s first
Vegetarian Society on September 30, 1847.
Meanwhile Horsell published‘Hydropathy for the People’in 1845 – that and thehydrotherapy institute both
followed Dr. Lambe’s
principles, and were bothwhat we now call vegan.
Horsell was also a London
publisher, specialising in
veg-related books, such as
Sylvester Graham’s.
In 1850 Horsell’s book was
published in the USA by
Russell Trall.

Russell Trall M.D.
(1812-1877)
In 1850 Sylvester Graham helped start the American VegetarianSociety, which lasted about 10 years. One of his co-founders, anda Vice-President was Russell Thacher Trall, a naturopathic
physician who ran a hydrotherapy establishment in New York.
His book of 1854
contained a lotof recipes using
eggs and dairy
products, but
this changed in
1862. His 1874 book: ‘The hygeian
home cook-book; or, Healthful andpalatable food without condiments’ stated that ‘for a dozen years’ they had
left these out of the diet.
This is, so far, our first known‘vegan’ cookbook - long before thatword was invented of course.

29

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943)
Kellogg took a much more pragmatic approach on behalf of the Seventh Day Adventist
Church – all his 50 books included the use of eggs and dairy products. The famous Battle
Creek Sanitarium, also making much use of hydrotherapy, used milk products as well,especially yogurt in the later years.
But privately Kellogg had abandoned them, spending about
40 years as a ‘dietary vegan’. However his main biographer
says that by 1917 he had gradually gone back to using milk
products, again yogurt in particular. Then we are told hediscovered soy milk.
Kellogg was in his 70s by then but made good use of it,probably replacing cow’s milk to an increasing extent. Had
he known about soy 50 years earlier our vegetarian history
might have been different as Kellogg was undoubtedly amajor influence – cornflakes with soy milk could have been
the norm from the outset. . .

Rupert Wheldon
In 1910 we have the first British ‘vegan’ cookbook: “No Animal Food and Nutrition andDiet with Vegetable Recipes”, by Rupert Wheldon. The introduction included both medical
and ethical reasons for the diet.
Elmer Lee M.D.
Wheldon’s book was soon re-published in New York by the Health Cutlure organization
which inserted a few quotes, including: "Plant diet with butter, cream, milk, cheese,
eggs, lard, fat, suet, or tallow added to it, is not vegetarian; it is mixed diet; the same ineffect as if meat were used. --Elmer Lee, M.D., Editor, Health Culture Magazine.”
Around the same time, November 6, 1910, the New York Times printed a report
headlined: ‘Dr. Lee pleads for better foods’ which went into greater detail about his
plant diet quoted above.
As well as ‘plant diet’ as above, that NYT report also contains our currently first known
use of the phrase ‘Plant-Foods’ – this appears to be an American view of replacing thenegative British ‘no animal food’ with a more positive view of the diet.
Notes:
There must have been some of this happening in Germany as well – if any German
speaking historians can fill in the gaps it would be most welcome.
Russell Trall’s 1874 vegan cookbook: www.archive.org/details/hygeianhomecookb00tral
The New York edition of Rupert Wheldon’s book: www.ivu.org/history/no-animal-food.pdf
New York Times 1910, on Elmer Lee: www.ivu.org/history/elmer-lee.pdf
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The vegan school that invented vegetarians
March 7, 2012

We now know that the people closely
connected with the Alcott House Academy,near London, were the first to callthemselves ‘vegetarian’. This is how theschool began.
James Pierrepont Greaves (right) was bornin 1777, and for his first 40 years he did
nothing of any great interest to us. He ran
the family drapery business in London, but
in 1815 it was bankrupted by trading
problems during the Napoleonic wars.
In 1817, he read ‘Return to Nature, or adefence of the vegetable regimen’ by John
Frank Newton, published in 1811. The
book was in his library inventory, he usedparts of it in subsequent articles, and it
was consistent with everything he did forthe rest of his life.
The ‘nature’ that Newton wanted to return
to was the Garden of Eden, he quoted the Edenic diet in Genesis 1:29 – “I have given
you every herb yielding seed . . . and every tree, in which is the fruit . . . to you it shallbe for food”. He also wanted non-human animals to share the garden as equals.
Newton wrote about how his four young children adapted to this new Eden at the family
home in Grosvenor Square, London – and this seems to have made a particular impact
on Greaves. Soon after this Greaves says he read about the work of the reforming
educator Pestalozzi, and in 1818 he moved to Yverdun in Switzerland to study with themaster. For Greaves the route to Eden was by educating children from a very early age.
In 1821 Greaves’ sister sent a letter of introduction to a friend in Germany that he wasvisiting, she said: “… he has few needs, eating only soup and potatoes and drinking only
water.” We know he did actually eat other plant foods but ‘only water’ was straight outof Newton’s book (ie no milk), which was dedicated to the highly respected Dr. William
Lambe FRCP who was giving this ‘vegan’ diet some scientific credibility.
Greaves returned to England in 1825 and co-founded the Infant School Society,becoming its secretary. Pestalozzi’s approach eventually became the educational
standard throughout the western world, but Greaves had a hard time persuading 1820s
Londoners to understand it, and gave up after a few years.
During 1832 Greaves was helping his sister with some social work in a deprived village inthe west of England, and became acquainted with Sophia Chichester, the wealthy ownerof the nearby Ebworth Park estate. Her support was later crucial in funding his school.
Back in London, by 1836 Greaves began calling himself a ‘Sacred Socialist’, and held
weekly meetings of his ‘Aesthetic Society’ at his home in Camden. He attracted somevery devoted followers, and we know that some of them adopted his diet as well as his
particular version of religious mysticism (which then seems to have backdated to 1817).
Meanwhile… over in Boston, USA:31
In 1830 a Boston publisher printed a book containing a series of letters from Pestalozzi
to ‘a Mr. Greaves in London’. This was read by Bronson Alcott, one of theTranscendentalist group in nearby Concord. Alcott was sufficiently inspired by this toopen his own Pestalozzi-styleschool in Boston, which ran
successfully for a couple ofyears in 1835-36. The
picture, right, shows theinformal ‘conversational’
arrangement of Alcott’sclassroom – very different to
the traditional rows of desks.
In London, Greaves was also
thinking of opening a school,
when a friend returning from
America in 1837 gave him
two books about Alcott’s
school. Recognising a kindred
spirit he immediately wrote to Alcott at some length – but he had no way of knowingthat by the time he read the books Alcott’s school had already closed due to objections
from local religious groups.
Greaves’ letter (which we have in full) was entirely about educational matters, as he also
seems to have been unaware that Alcott had adopted the ‘vegetable diet’ after attending
a lecture by Sylvester Graham in Boston in 1835. But Alcott had become rather
depressed after his school had closed, and failed to reply.
Despite this initial lack of response, Greaves went ahead and opened his school on Ham
Common near London, naming it the ‘Alcott House Academy’, funded by his wealthy
patron, Sophia Chichester.
The school was in a large building surrounded by four acres of land, and pupils were
expected to help with extensive fruit and vegetable gardens to make it largely selfsufficient in food. Dr. William Lambe, now in his 70s, was still working in a London
hospital, and we have reports that he visited the school to see his ‘vegan’ ideals put into
practice. All animal products were excluded, as well as food.
Greaves remained living London, and was one of several visiting teachers at the school.
The 1841 UK census shows that the only people living at Alcott House were teachers andpupils – 31 people in all, the pupils aged 2-14 with some 15 year olds listed as teachers.
In the early years it was purely a school, only later becoming a ‘community’, though
there were many members of the support network who seem to have stayed occasionalnights without living there.
Contact was eventually established with Bronson Alcott, and in 1842 he was able travel
to England to spend four months at the school named for him. Unfortunately James
Pierrepont Greaves had died a few months earlier, so they were never able to meet.
Alcott House remained open until 1848. For more about how they became the firstpeople to call themselves ‘vegetarian’, and launched the Vegetarian Society, see below.

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Vegetarian equals vegan!
July 7, 2010

The first people who called themselves 'vegetarian' were in fact vegan. This has now
been established conclusively with resources not previously available.
We have now shown that until 1847 *all* uses the word 'vegetarian' came from people
associated with Alcott House School, on Ham Common, south west of London. And theyused it to mean a 100% plant food diet - a 'vegetarian' was simply someone who lived
on vegetation. There were, of course, many other people following variations of the'vegetable diet', most of them adding eggs/dairy products. But we can find no indicationof any of them using the word 'vegetarian' before 1847.
So what was Alcott House?
The Alcott House School was opened in July 1838 by James Pierrepont Greaves, a radical
educator who had discovered that Bronson Alcott had already had a similar school in
Boston, USA. Greaves was sufficiently impressed to open a correspondence with Alcott
and to name his school for him. Greaves had adopted the 'vegetable diet' in 1817, andAlcott in 1835, so the school used it from the outset.
In 1841 the school was re-invented as 'A
Concordium, or Industry Harmony
College', still in Alcott House. The earliest
confirmed use of 'vegetarian' was in the
April 1842 issue of their new journal, andused in a way which showed that it was
already familiar, at least to readers of thatjournal.
In July 1842, Bronson Alcott arrived from
America to stay for four months, andwhen he left at the end of September hetook two members of the Concordium with
him to found a short-lived community
near Harvard - Fruitlands. He was joined
there by his family, including his 10-yearold daughter, Louisa May Alcott, and they
continued to follow a wholly plant-food
diet. [right: Alcott House and garden they were largely self-sufficient in fruitand veg]
So why was this research never done
before?
The difference now is simply down tobeing able to search more than 10 million
online books in a matter of seconds. In the past it required a visit to one of the great
libraries, then searching thru every book to find any mention of the V word anywhere in
the text, and it was rarely in the indexes. It's difficult to imagine a smaller needle in abigger haystack.
We can now easily see who was using the word, and exactly what they meant by it, andwe have found *every* use of the word up to 1847.
So why did the meaning of the word appear to change?

33

We know there were plenty of other people by the early 19th century who were following
a - mostly - plant food diet. But we can now clearly show that NONE of them used theword 'vegetarian', in any surviving printed works, before 1847.
Foremost amongst these others was the Bible Christian Church (BCC), founded in Salford
in the north of England in 1809. In 1817 some members migrated to Philadelphia, USA,and opened another branch - and were all very clearly using eggs/dairy in significant
quantities.
In 1847 Alcott House promoted the idea of a Vegetarian Society, but they were
struggling by then and closed in 1848. Its members continued in the positions ofSecretary and Treasurer in the new society, and ran it from London for the first two or
three years. Meanwhile the Salford BCC had considerable political and financial influence,and one of their members was elected as the first President of the new Society. Without
them the Vegetarian Society would almost certainly have folded by 1850. They soon
took over completely and moved the Society to the Manchester area, where it is stillgoing strong today.
But they imposed their own definition of the new society: "The objects of the Society
are, to induce habits of abstinence from the flesh of animals as food." - whichleft a lot of things that were not 'flesh', such as eggs/dairy. They didn't specifically redefine the word 'vegetarian', but the name of the society combined with that objective,
and soon followed by some strongly ovo-lacto cookbooks, caused endless confusion.
Just 3 years after the Vegetarian Society was founded, in 1850, a serious London
medical journal did a 22 page analysis of a typical meat diet vs the heavily eggs/dairy
recipes in the new VegSoc cookbook - and concluded "...we find that the so calledvegetarian positively consumes, according to his own diet-scale, as muchanimal food as the avowed flesh eater. ... it is not true Vegetarianism, being
nothing else than the substitution of one form of Animal food for another."
The Vegetarian Society debated changing its name for the rest of the 19th century - attimes considering names such as 'VEM Society' - vegetables, eggs and milk - and 'Food
Reform Society', but none of these were adopted.
In the late 19th century there was still much confusion. Anna Kingsford MD, writing in
the Preface to her 'Dreams and Dreams Stories' of 1886, stated: "For the past fifteen
years I have been an abstainer from flesh-meats. Not a vegetarian, because
during the whole of that period I have used such animal produce as butter,cheese, eggs, and milk."
Maybe we are beginning to see a return to the original, and obvious meaning of'vegetarian' - as one who lives on vegetation. When I flew with Emirates Airlines lastyear there were a lot of food options, of which the three most relevant were:
1 - ovo-lacto-vegetarian
2 - lacto vegetarian
3 - vegetarian- so if the last one is not 'ovo' or 'lacto' then what is it? It duly arrived with a sticker
saying 'vegan'.
For the much longer and more detailed version of everything above, with links to all
original sources, see: www.ivu.org/history/vegetarian.html

34
Update (Feb 2011): in the above blog I failed to mention that the Alcott House
community also adopted all the same ethical values as modern day vegans. They clearly
wrote that they objected to the use of animals for any purpose, not just food - onereason the Fruitlands community failed was because they refused to use horses for the
hard farm work. They were totally ethical vegetarians.
Google Books appears to show some uses of the word 'vegetarian' before 1842 however checking the original texts, instead of just looking at the scans, shows that*all* of these are scanning errors.
I was invited to expand this into a double page article for the winter 2010/11 issue of
The Vegan magazine, published by The Vegan Society based in the UK. This is a PDF of
the resulting article (623k): www.vegansociety.com/feature-articles/prototype%20vegans.pdf
I've also been giving an even more detailed version of this as a powerpoint lecture available to anyone who wants to pay my expenses... :-)back to top

Bronson Alcott - American pioneer vegan
March 22, 2011

Amos Bronson Alcott was an abolitionist vegan in a waythat few today are emulating – in the 1830s he was taking
a stand against human slavery in the USA. In some partsof the world human slavery is still very much with us ofcourse, and I’d hope that modern day ‘abolitionist vegans’
are just as active in campaigning against that too.
Bronson also argued for women’s rights even, for a whileat least, helping them in the kitchen. We know he had
stopped eating meat by 1836, but it appears to have been
during his visit to England in the summer of 1842 (age 42)that he became an ‘ethical vegan’ and expanded his antislavery views to include all non-human animals.
Soon after his return to the US, with two new English
friends, he started the Fruitlands community on a 90 acresite near Harvard. No animals of course, and even refusing
to use horses for slave-labor – but with tractors not yet invented, that was part of thereason it didn’t last long.
Bronson was no gradualist, he wasn’t going to wait for human equality before
demanding it for the animals as well. He wanted it all and he wanted it now. He didn’t
get it of course, idealists never do, but that doesn’t mean the ideals are wrong. He lived
long enough to see the end of slavery in the USA, though nowhere near long enough for
Civil Rights, or for the women’s movement to make some progress in western countries.
The animals are still waiting.
But Bronson was so far ahead of time in his attitude to non-human animals that we haveto fast-forward at least a hundred years before we can clearly identify other Americans
with the same views. That doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t there, just that we
don’t know about them because in such a big country it was all too easy to simply ignore
the ‘extremists’.

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The main reason we know so much about Bronson is because his daughter, Louisa May
Alcott, age ten at Fruitlands, later wrote a book called Little Women. Naturally everyone
wanted to know about her childhood and she obliged by writing about that too – some ofit distorted by later biographers into accusations of child-abuse by her father for not
feeding her meat.
We know there were many others in 19th century
America who abstained from eating flesh, the first
American Vegetarian Society was formed in New York in
1850. But they were dominated by medical men with only
a secondary interest in animal concerns and, as far as weknow, they were all strongly ovo-lacto-vegetarian.
Dr. William Alcott (Bronson’s 2nd cousin) was elected thefirst President of AVS. Unfortunately two recent veg
historians have hopelessly muddled the two of them, onerolling William and Bronson into one person, and theother citing Bronson as AVS president. These mistakes
seem to be copied by other writers and spread aroundthe internet.
Bronson had no direct involvement with the American
Vegetarian Society, partly because they had adopted theform of ovo-lacto-vegetarianism promoted by the Bible Christian Church, through theirbranch in Philadelphia – looking forward to the ‘promised land flowing with milk andhoney’ (and eggs). Not at all how Bronson saw things.
Some vegans today argue that armed with modern nutritional knowledge and faced withthe horrors of factory farming and climate change - if those ovo-lacto-vegetarian
pioneers could come back today they would be vegan. Maybe so, we’ll never know ofcourse, but by the late 19th century in both England and America we do have people
clearly writing that the acceptance eggs/dairy was merely a ‘first step’ in dietary reform,
but it’s never easy to clearly identify any who actually took the next step.
I have seen claims that there were some American cookbooks in the late 19th and early
20th century that were entirely plant food. On the IVU website we have links to morethan a dozen American ovo-lacto-vegetarian cookbooks from that period – and we have
now found a couple that were ‘vegan’ (see bibliography).
There probably were Americans eating only plants, and going further with ethical values
towards animals. But most of the vegetarian histories were written by ovo-lactovegetarians who just ignored that minority, at times even deliberately writing them outof history. Later vegans have just assumed this wasn’t their history so they didn’t
investigate it – but scratch below the surface and it is just possible to find some.
But be warned – most of the early ‘vegans’ that are claimed on the internet turn out tobe not any sort of vegetarian after all – but always worth investigating as they musthave been around, we just need clear evidence.
I’ve avoided giving much of a biography of Bronson Alcott as we already have an
excellent summary on the IVU website, from Karen Iacobbo in 1999, as part of the
preparation for the equally excellent ‘Vegetarian America, a history’ (2004). The page
below has a link to that book, and several older books by and about Bronson. Less than
1,000 words and well worth reading: www.ivu.org/history/usa19/bronson-alcott.html
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Henry David Thoreau and the Roots of Plantism
March 30, 2011

Oh no, not another –ism…
Well, everyone else is inventing words… by plantism I mean eating only plants – andideally wearing plants, growing your own plants for food and conserving plant habitats
for other species – vegan self-sufficient environmentalism if you like.
And plantists do have roots – in the historical sense that is.
There have probably always been some people doing all this, but the first to give us areally eloquent account of why he was trying to do at least some of it was Henry David
Thoreau (1817-1862). He was a close friend of Bronson Alcott and visited the ’vegan’
Fruitlands commune (see above).
Thoreau’s version was to go solo, living alone for acouple of years, 1845/6, in a small wooden hut by alake in the woods near Concord, Massachusetts. He left
us his remarkable account as ‘Walden- or, Life in the
Woods ’.
Thoreau lamented the felling of so many trees aroundhis pond for the ever expanding railway lines – “Howcan you expect the birds to sing when their groves are
cut down?” He also mourned the reduction of many
species due to the growing number of humans usingguns for ‘sport’. In the mid 19th century few otherpeople ever thought about such things.
He told us about his food too: “Like many of mycontemporaries, I had rarely for many years usedanimal food . . . The repugnance to animal food is not
the effect of experience, but is an instinct.”
And he went further about his time at Walden: “I did not
use tea, nor coffee, nor butter, nor milk, nor flesh
meat”. He grew beans and vegetables near his hut, andgathered wild berries and nuts, but his one weakness
was fishing in Walden pond: “I did not pity the fishes
nor the worms. This was habit.”
But even here he was re-thinking his habits: “I havefound repeatedly, of late years, that I cannot fish
without falling a little in self-respect. I have tried itagain and again. I have skill at it . . . which revives fromtime to time, but always when I have done I feel that it
would have been better if I had not fished.”
His conclusions were dramatic for a mid 19th century writer: “Whatever my own practice
may be, I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradualimprovement, to leave off eating animals.”Throughout this time Thoreau followed Bronson Alcott’s example of refusing to pay taxes
to a government that was condoning human slavery. And like Alcott had been a few
years earlier, he was arrested and spent a night in jail before his tax was paid by a wellmeaning but misguided friend. Neither man wanted to be released - they wanted to stay37
in jail to make their point whilst continuing to refuse to pay their taxes. Thoreau later
wrote his views on all this in an essay: 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience'.
We have suggestions that Thoreau was influenced in this by Percy Bysshe Shelley's
political poem The Mask of Anarchy (1819). In 1813 Shelley had also spent some time aspart of a ‘vegan’ community. Whilst Thoreau never directly mentions Shelley, we doknow that he was very well read in English poetry so could have seen this and there do
appear to be some similarities.
In 1890 another remarkable man, Henry S. Salt (1851-1939), over in England, wrote a
biography of Thoreau, introducing him to people in Britain.
Not the least of those was a young law student in London –Mohandas K. Gandhi, who also then read Thoreau’s essay on
non-violent protest – and told a reporter: "[Thoreau's] ideas
influenced me greatly. I adopted some of them andrecommended the study of Thoreau to all of my friends who
were helping me in the cause of Indian Independence. Why I
actually took the name of my movement from Thoreau's essay'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,' written about 80 years ago."(photo 1931, Henry Salt withGandhi).
Henry Salt had begun apromising career as a master at
Eton College, the mostprestigious school in England,but in 1884 he followed
Thoreau’s example and ‘dropped
out’. For eight years he and hiswife Kate lived in a country
cottage where they grew theirown plant food and he beganwriting on a wide range ofhumanitarian issues, including the first book on Animals’ Rights. Salt’s total of forty
books included several on Shelley, also comparing him to Thoreau.
One of his early articles, A Plea for Vegetarianism, had been picked up by the young
Gandhi in 1890, convincing him to become a vegetarian for its own sake, instead of justfrom religious doctrine. It also led him to get to know more about Salt, Thoreau andShelley, and their ideas about simple living in tune with nature, which in Gandhi’s caseincluded spinning his own cotton for his clothes, and of course spending time in jail forpeaceful civil disobedience.

Footnote: there are claims that Thoreau was pro-hunting, but he was working throughhis ideas on this like everything else - and his ideas were a long way ahead for 1840s
North America where shooting anything that moved was considered normal. This is from
Walden: "As for fowling, during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I
was studying ornithology, and sought only new or rare birds. But I confess I am now
inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this." (that sounds
like the 'science research' whaling today) Thoreau was no saintly perfectionist, as can beseen from everything above, he re-thought about a lot of things, sometimes goingbackwards, but always thinking instead of just following the crowd.
Compare with his friend Bronson Alcott, who was a rigid perfectionist and achieved very
little - without his daughter's fame, and her diaries, he would have been largely

38
forgotten. Thoreau said he was expecting "gradual improvement", and he has beencelebrated in his own right by a wide range of people with very diverse views - though
the things he wanted improved got a lot worse over a long time before many others
even recognised the problems... He certainly does not belong on those simplistic lists of'famous vegetarians', but he should be celebrated by vegetarians for the direction he
was trying to take, and for his broad vision of seeing the environment in a way that few
of the more consistent vegetarians did at that time.
Footnote 2: eight lines from Shelley's long 'The Masque of Anarchy' (1819):'Ye who suffer woes untold,
Or to feel, or to behold
Your lost country bought and soldWith a price of blood and gold 'Let a vast assembly be,
And with great solemnity
Declare with measured words that ye
Are, as God has made ye, free Another section of the same poem was read by Gandhi to a gathering in India. Full text
and details at: www.ivu.org/history/shelley/masque.html
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Dr. John Snow - a vegan of genius
April 20, 2011

In a poll of British doctors in 2003 John Snow was
voted as the greatest physician of all time. Thoughprobably few of them would have known he waswhat we now call vegan.
He grew up in the North-East of England, always atough area of the country, and still not the easiest
place to be vegan today. But Snow was born
almost 200 years ago, and at the age of 17, in
1830, with no apparent support from anyone else
beyond a book he read, he changed his diet toplant foods and pure water (preferably distilledwater, though probably more often just boiled). He
kept close to that diet, and teetotalism, for the restof his life.
His refusal to prescribe alcohol to his patients,
considered routine at the time, brought even moreridicule from fellow doctors than his strange diet.
The book he found was ‘Return to Nature’, by John
Frank Newton, first published in 1811. Newton was a patient of Dr. William Lambe FRCP,
who had adopted a pure plant-food and water diet back in the second week of February
1806 (Lambe was very precise about these things!). In 1828 Lambe published apamphlet which argued that the drinking water taken from the River Thames wascausing illness to the people of London. He was ridiculed then ignored. We have norecord that Snow ever met Newton or Lambe, but their influence was considerable.

39
Requirements for ‘genius’:1 – dare to be different – argue your case even when ‘conventional wisdom’ else says
the opposite.
2 – stick to it whilst being ridiculed or ignored by all the ‘experts’.
3 – eventually be proved right. This last part being rather crucial to the process!
John Snow certainly did all of those.
He moved to London in 1837 to continue his medical studies, and became particularlyinterested in anaesthetics. He started experimenting on himself, promoting new ideasthat others dismissed, eventually succeeding to the extent of administering painreduction to Queen Victoria during the births of two of her children. His book on thesubject became required reading. Not bad for a boy from a humble working family, butthat was just the beginning.
During the 19th century the world was being rocked by cholera epidemics, starting inIndia but spreading across Europe and over to North America. All the top medical brains
were desperately trying to find the cause, but they were getting nowhere because of
their pre-conceived ideas about disease being spread by ‘vapours’ in the air.
Dr. Snow did his own research and in 1849 wrote a pamphlet showing how cholera was
spread by infected drinking water (just as Dr. Lambe had predicted 21 years earlier).
Some other doctors ridiculed him, most just ignored him.
During the next London cholera epidemic in the 1850s he carried out large scale
research into which houses were supplied by the two main water companies – virtually
inventing the science of epidemiology in the process. The companies refused to help
because of their commercial interests, so he walked around all the affected areas,
knocking on doors to find out which houses were supplied by which company. He thenwrote an expanded version of his pamphlet showing that all the houses affected bycholera were being supplied by the same water company.
He also focused on a particular outbreak in Soho, London, and narrowed the source
down to one street-pump. With some difficulty he persuaded the local authorities toremove the handle.
The medical establishment still ignored him, still being convinced that it was something
in the air. A couple of friends corroborated his research from their own investigations,but they were ignored too. In 1868, 10 years after Snow died, another cholera epidemic
hit London – this time his friends were finally able to prove that he (and Lambe) had
been right all along.
Unfortunately Snow’s self-experimentation on anaesthetics damaged his health, resulting
in kidney failure and an early death in 1858. The other doctors around at the time didn’t
understand renal failure either, and naturally blamed all his ill-health on both his strange
diet – and even his refusal to drink alcohol! There are some anecdotes that towards theend he gave in to the demands of other doctors and was persuaded to take some wine,and even a little meat. The real cause of his death was only understood later.

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40

The Truth Tester 1846-48 - a vegan journal
July 27, 2011

The Truth Tester was first published in England in 1845, as a temperance (anti-alcohol)
journal.
In August 1846 a new editor, William Horsell, based near London, took over andincorporated ‘The Healthian’, first published in 1842 by the strictly vegan Alcott House
Academy.
In his first introduction to the combined journal the
new editor stated it would advocate “…entire
abandonment of alcoholic drinks, animal-food, tea
and coffee, drugs, tobacco and snuff, andcondiments”.
Following are some extracts and comments fromthe next two years:
September 1846 - RECIPE FOR A PLAIN BIRD’S
NEST SAGO PUDDING (the earliest known
deliberately vegan recipe)
Soak half-a-pint of sago in three pints of water,
stirring it occasionally until it is uniformly
swelled. Pare and core ten or twelve apples, fill
the holes in the centre with sugar, and put them, without piling them one over
the other, in a nappy or pudding dish, of such size that the sago will just coverthem. The sago, which may be seasoned with spice or sugar to suit the palate,
may then be poured on, and the pudding baked until the apples are quite soft. It
may be made thicker or thinner at pleasure, by using more or less sago. We
sometimes boil the sago before baking, and pour it while hot upon the apples.
We think the pudding no better, except that it may be baked much quicker. It
must be set in a cold pure air when done, and may be eaten cold or hot.
Who ever heard of a pudding without butter, eggs, or milk? Try it – try it; andmay you like it as well, and eat less of it than does A VEGETABLE EPICURE.
May 1847 - A letter from a reader in Hampshire suggested: “. . . has seemed to me
desirable . . . namely the occasional or periodical meeting together of vegetarians - orthe formation of societies for mutual instruction and encouragement.”
This was the first time anyone had proposed forming a Vegetarian Society, and it wasquickly followed up by William Oldham, the business manager of Alcott House Academy(at this time the word ‘vegetarian’ meant what we now call ‘vegan’). In the June 1847
issue the lead article was a letter from Mr. Oldham announcing a ‘Physiological
Conference’ at Alcott House on Thursday the 8th of July. We were told later that about 50
people attended.
By 1847 Alcott House was struggling financially, and eventually closed the following
year. Meanwhile they had made contact with the Bible Christian Church in Salford, near
Manchester, which included some very wealthy and influential people and banned theeating of animal flesh. All very useful to Alcott House at that point – but with the
problem that the Bible Christians did not ban the use of eggs and dairy products, making
things awkward for the cash-strapped, but strictly vegan, Alcott House.

41
August 1847 – THE VEGETARIAN TABLE
This was an article, apparently by Hannah Bond, the matron of Alcott House, giving fulldetails of the food served at the ‘Physiological Conference’. She included a ‘Herb Pie’made with eggs and milk, stating that it: “. . . participates to some degree of the animal
secretions, though not of their substance, it is well qualified to become a popular dish inhelping passengers over the stream from the carnivorous to the herbivorous region.”
We can almost hear Hannah gritting her teeth as she accommodated the preference of
their wealthy new friends. But it didn’t work, the Bible Christians never did get morethan half-way across the stream to veganism.
A second meeting was held on September 30, 1847, at the Hydropathic Hospital inRamsgate, Kent, which was managed by William Horsell. During this the world’s first
Vegetarian Society was formally launched, with its objective being merely to ‘abstain
from the flesh of animals’.
The Truth Tester included occasional viewpoints from eggs/dairy users and even meateaters, but the editorial emphasis was clear, as can be seen in a letter from a British
reader in India, in the November 1847 issue:“Sir, - I am a subscriber to the Truth-Tester, and a vegetarian. I address you fromthis distant part of the world, to enquire whether you know of any such work as atreatise on domestic cookery, for the use of those who
confine themselves strictly to a vegetable regimen? . . .
I have seen a book on ‘Vegetable Cookery, by a Lady,’and suppose it to have been published under thepatronage or countenance of the Society of Bible
Christians. But it recommends the use of eggs, milk,butter, and all manner of injurious spices, all of which
are known by pure vegetable-eaters to be hurtful tohuman health and happiness. What I wish to know is,whether there be any work on the subject for the use of
exclusive vegetarians in the strictest sense? . . . If there
be no such work, I think there should be, and a fitter
person than the editor of the Tester could not be found,perhaps to cause one to be written. . . Calcutta, June
23, 1847.“
The lady who wrote the cookbook was Martha Brotherton,wife of Joseph Brotherton who was the Member ofParliament for Salford, a very prominent Bible Christian,and chairman of the meeting that founded the VegetarianSociety.
No reply to the letter was printed. By the time it was
published, the editor, William Horsell, still in the London
area, was also the Secretary of the new Vegetarian Society– and James Simpson, the wealthiest of the Bible Christians, was the first President.
Within a couple of years the cracks in this uneasy alliance split completely. Simpson
moved all operations of the Vegetarian Society to the Manchester area, where it has
been based ever since.
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42

The Curious Affair of The Vegetarian Advocate(1848-50)
October 5, 2011

In September 1848 the pro-‘vegan’journal previously
known as The Truth Tester was renamed as The
Vegetarian Advocate. The editor and publisher, William
Horsell in London, was also the first Secretary of the
one-year-old Vegetarian Society, but this was a
privately published journal which reflected someuneasy compromises within the new society.
In 1849 the society’s President started publishing The
Vegetarian Messenger from Manchester, and for the
next year the two journals were effectively incompetition. The Advocate ceased in August 1850, andMr. Horsell stepped down as Secretary.
The compromise was the usual one – the idea for the
Vegetarian Society had come from the ‘vegans’ at
Alcott House and Mr. Horsell’s Hydropathic Hospital,
both near London; but the only way it could survive
was with the considerable support of the strongly ‘ovolacto’ Bible Christian Church in Salford, near
Manchester.
William Horsell accepted the compromise on becoming secretary, and the first issue ofthe Advocate dutifully reported the banquet at the first AGM – including full details of theomelets and cheesecakes. But he couldn’t resist slipping in the alternatives.
October 1848 Advocate, p.39, included an article on dietand cookery (probably by his wife, Elizabeth), stating:“. . . Pound cakes and tea-cakes are also extremely
good made with oil (instead of butter and eggs), andcheese-cakes are well imitated by means of mashedpotatoes mixed with oil and sugar put into a crust. .
. . a very good and nutritious diet may be obtained
from them [vegetables] without animal substance ofany kind, or of eggs, milk and butter.”
We have no record of the response from the President, but
nothing like this appeared again in the Advocate for almosta year. However, when the Messenger started appearing from Manchester, Mr. Horsell
seems to have decided to more actively promote his own views, and his otherpublications, in his own journal.
September 1849 Advocate, p.10: review of ‘Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians’
published by W. Horsell, London. Quoting the book: “. . . butter and eggs are excluded .
. .” This appears to be first known ‘vegan’ cookbook.
May 1850 Advocate, p.110:“On Tuesday evening, the 2nd of April, a Vegetarian entertainment was given by
Mr. Horsell . . . The treat was one in its nature purely Vegetarian. The repast
consisted of barley, sago and apple, and carrot puddings, made according to therecipes in the Penny Domestic Assistant, Nos. 54, 55, and 37, without animal
products. “43The ‘Domestic Assistant’ was edited by Mrs. Elizabeth Horsell, who was also active in the
movement in her own right. But they made a small concession to some of their guests:“This was followed by barley pudding made with milk.” (the italics were his).
July 1850, Advocate, p. 140, a letter from a reader:“Sir.- Several of your correspondents appear to be anxious to adopt … a strictvegetarian diet; and, unfortunately for themselves find that their principle of not
destroying animal life for the use of man, is ever and anon being assailed by theshoemaker, the harness-maker, the bookbinder, the furrier, the bed-maker, thebrush-maker, the oilman, the chandler, the druggist, the bone-worker, the bugkiller, the rat-catcher, and fiddler, besides hundreds of others working and using
an immense quantity of animal substances that have depended on animal life for
their growth. I would ask you whether the vegetarians do not renderthemselves ridiculous by asserting a principle as a rule of action, which they
can only maintain by a diet of purely vegetable matter; and not that whichembraces the eggs of fowls largely, in omelets, cakes, and puddings…” [boldadded - continued at some length referring with equal concern to butter, cheeseand milk.]
At this point we get an intervention from another London journal, snappily titled: “TheBritish and foreign medico-chirurgical review or quarterly journal of practical medicine
and surgery”. The July 1850 issue carried a 22 page review of the new cookbook
published by the Vegetarian Society – all very heavily laden with eggs and dairy
produce. They concluded:” ...we find that the so called vegetarian positively consumes, according to his
own diet-scale, as much animal food as the avowed flesh eater . . . it is not true
Vegetarianism, being nothing else than the substitution of one form of Animal
food for another.”William Horsell had a background in the medical industry, and was now a publisher, all in
the London area. It is tempting to wonder how much contact he had with the publishersof this particular London medical journal. They certainly expressed his own views veryclearly . . .
The next issue of The Vegetarian Advocate, August 1850, was a mere four pages, andwas the last available to us. The editorial said it would change to fortnightly, andappealed for more advertisers. There is a record of some ‘supplements’ over the next
few months, but we do not have copies of them.
But Horsell went out with a flourish, printing a rather long and convoluted article by theAmerican, Sylvester Graham, entitled ‘Butter and Cheese’. Not surprisingly arguing
against the use of these products. The last issue also included a brief report from the
Vegetarian Society for 1849-50, signed by the officers including William Horsell,secretary, still running the Society from his office in London up to July 1850. It appears
that he was no longer secretary after that, and the Society’s office was moved to the
Manchester area, where it has remained ever since.
We know that William Horsell continued publishing books on veg-related topics up to1859, some written by his wife, Elizabeth. In 1856 he was apparently at the RSPCA AGM
in London, arguing that the society should embrace vegetarianism, 150 years later they
still have not. Mr. Horsell died in 1863 and his widow apparently went on to open avegetarian girls’ boarding school. Further research on exactly what she fed them would
be of interest…
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London Vegetarian Association, 1850s – theworld’s first ‘vegan society’
October 26, 2011

There are always two main problems in researching vegan history in the 19 th century –the word ‘vegan’ did not exist, and most of the records were published by ovo-lactovegetarians who avoided the contentious issueof eggs/dairy. So we have to do a lot of carefulreading, especially between the lines…
The first secretary of the Vegetarian Society in1847 was William Horsell who was a prominent‘vegan’ running the Society from his London
office. He came into inevitable conflict with thestrongly ‘ovo-lacto’ president, James Simpson
in Manchester.
In September 1849 Simpson began publishing
the Vegetarian Messenger, in directcompetition with Horsell’s Vegetarian
Advocate, and in the summer of 1850 Simpson
won. Horsell stepped down as secretary andhis journal ceased.
But wasn’t the end of Mr. Horsell… the newSociety had been encouraging members in towns and cities across the UK to form local
committees, and London duly responded. The extract below is from Fifty Years of Food
Reform, by Charles Forward in 1897, p.32:“On November 6th, 1849, a meeting of London Vegetarians was convened at
Aldine Chambers . . . . The meeting was adjourned to November 12 th, at Aurora
Villa, Hampstead, when Mr. Turley occupied the chair, and it was resolved that a
local committee should be formed in the Metropolis, consisting of Messrs.
Viettinghoff, Wiles, Hodgson, G. Dornbusch, Turley, Edwards, Umpleby, King,
Evans, Pratt, Reed, Viessieux, and James Salsbury ; Mr. Horsell beingtreasurer, and Mr. J. Shirley Hibberd, secretary.
“. . . Mr. Dornbusch had adopted Vegetarianism about 1843, and was an
abstainer from tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs of every kind. Mr.
Dornbusch’s daughter was married to Mr. W. L. Beurle, an active Vegetarian, andone of the prominent workers in the movement against compulsory vaccination.”
Getting precise details is never easy, but we do know that several of the committee, andother leading members, had been connected with the Alcott House Academy which ran
from 1838 to 1848 close to London, and which had been responsible for all known usesof the word ‘vegetarian’ before 1847. And in Alcott House ‘vegetarian’ was in all respects
what we now call ‘vegan’. The above references to abstention from tea and coffee weretypical of Alcott House (anti-vaccination was partly because of the egg whites used in thevaccine).
With the local committees underway the national Vegetarian Society began encouraging
local groups to use the term ‘Association’ to avoid confusion. So in 1852 the London
group announced that they were now the ‘London Vegetarian Association’. But thesewere branches of the national society, not independent groups.

45
The Vegetarian Messenger (VM) began printing extensive reports from these
Associations, usually running to many pages of speeches, and often mentioning themeals. At the end of 1854 we have some contrasting accounts, all from VM, Volume 5:
p.81: “The monthly meeting of the [London] Association was held on
Thursday, September 7th, at the Vegetarian Depôt, 492, New Oxford Street.
A crowded assembly of ladies and gentlemen enjoyed a repast of the fruitsof the season, consisting of pears, apples, grapes, etc., and a supply of
wheat-meal bread, oat-cakes, and buns.” [The Vegetarian Depôt was run by
William Horsell and his partner as a book, journal and pamphlet publishingand distribution base.]
p.84: [a further comment about the same meeting] “Indeed the fruits of theearth have something so pleasant in them that they must be acceptable,
and if they were used more, the beauty of the Vegetarian diet would sooner
be appreciated.” [this was a thinly veiled sideswipe at the egg/dairy eaters– if the comment had been too obvious it would
never have been printed in the VM]
p.113 [the meeting of October 5th] : “. . .
almond, currant, and lemon syrups in iced
water, formed very agreeable beverages.”[they never used tea or coffee]
All these reports from London are in stark contrast
with the Associations in the cities of the north ofEngland. This one from the Leeds Vegetarian
Association meeting of October 17 is typical:
p.116 : “…a delightful repast consisting of tea,
milk, brown and white bread, biscuits, plumcake, moulded rice, with preserves, barley,
pudding, apples and pears.” [the limited ‘fruitsof the earth’ seemingly something of anafterthought]
The activities of the London Vegetarian Association
were not going down at all well with the President in Manchester. It has to be taken into
account that the majority of the Vegetarian Society members were in the north ofEngland, and most of the leaders were closely connected with the Bible Christian Church.
They did not merely accept the use of eggs/dairy/honey, they actively promoted it as
God’s given food – as in ‘the promised land flowing with milk and honey’ (Exodus 3:8).
We still see something similar today from some Hindus in India who regard cow’s milk as
sacred, and therefore see vegans as ‘heretics’, treating them with some hostility.
The differences came to a head in early 1856, when William Horsell was elected
secretary of LVA. James Simpson responded by replacing Horsell with a ‘local secretary’of his own choice, more loyal to the Manchester viewpoint.
In a letter dated 5th May 1856, Simpson expressed his concerns that Horsell would bringthe vegetarian movement: “. . . under the imputations and objections which ought
carefully to be avoided.” Referring to his action of replacing Horsell: “. . . any steps
taken by the association at all unfavourable to the general interest of the movement
being thus somewhat modified, as far as our control of the public influence ofVegetarianism in London will permit.” [quoted from ‘Of Victorians and Vegetarians’ by
James Gregory, 2007, p.48]
Exactly what happened after that does not appear to have been recorded by anyone, but
the London Vegetarian (i.e. vegan) Association seems to have soon fizzled out in46
disarray. A few years later a new London group opted out completely, but that’s anotherstory…

Further notes from VM: In its first five volumes, theVegetarian Messenger only twice commented directly on
the eggs/dairy issue. The works of the American Sylvester
Graham (right) were being published in England by William
Horsell from his Vegetarian Depôt in London.
In the very first article of the first issue of VM (Vol.1, p.2,
Sept. 1849) there was a mention of Sylvester Graham withan oblique reference to his ‘simple’ diet. The two-page
article went on to make it clear the VM saw eggs/dairy as
an integral part of vegetarianism.
The following summer saw the final issue of Horsell’s
Vegetarian Advocate, which included a two page article byGraham, arguing against butter and cheese.
VM made no further comment until late 1854 - Vol.V., p.4:
“Mr. Graham, in his Science of Human Life, has been the leading advocateof the adoption of the Vegetarian system in dependence upon fruits,farinaceous [starchy] substances, and vegetable products alone, without theaddition of animal substances, such as milk, butter, eggs, or cheese . . .”[they don't seem to have been aware that Graham was heavily influenced inthis by Dr. William Lambe from London, in his book of 1815.]
The VM claimed the Vegetarian Society took no view either way, leaving it for individuals
to decide, ‘however…’ and they followed with a two page article by John Smith from
Yorkshire (northern England), author of the most popular vegetarian diet book of theday. He warned against eliminating all animal products on various health grounds,
ultimately seeing it as a risk of “ . . . Vegetarian principles brought into disrepute.”
On page 76 of the same volume (later in 1854) the VM printed an article on ‘The
Designation of the Society’. This acknowledged the confusion around the word‘vegetarian’, without being very specific, and threw out the idea of replacing the wordwith ‘Dietetic Reform’, so potentially becoming the ‘Dietetic Reform Society’.
This appears to have received no response at the time, but 20 years later it was London
that took up that idea. But that is also part of the next story….

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47Prof. Francis W. Newman and the attempted‘vegan’ revolution of 1871
February 22, 2012

Francis Newman was President of the VegetarianSociety (the original one in England) for about 12
years in the 1870s and 80s, and almost broughta dramatic change to the course of its history – if
he had succeeded, the word ‘vegan’ would
probably never have been invented all those
years later.
He was well known in his own right, but evenbetter known as one of the Newman Brothers.
They came from a conventional Church of
England family, but elder brother, John Henry,
converted to Catholicism and rose to become afamous Cardinal. Meanwhile Francis W. went the
opposite way becoming a Baptist and then a
Unitarian.
He was also actively involved in many social
causes, including the abolition of slavery; equal
rights, and votes, for women; support for animal
rights including opposition to hunting andvivisection; and he eventually took the step of
becoming vegetarian in 1867, at the age of 62.
Newman joined the Vegetarian Society at thelowest point in its history. The first president, thewealthy James Simpson, had died in 1859 leaving the Society with a lack of funds andleadership, it came close folding during the 1860s.
Some new leaders tried to be more progressive and the magazine had been renamed‘The Dietetic Reformer’, but against opposition they still added the original ‘andVegetarian Messenger’. The idea was to get away from both the exclusivity and theconfusion of the word ‘vegetarian’ – dietetic reform was meant to include everyone
interested in a plant-food diet, even if they weren’t there yet. It also avoided the endlessproblem of whether ‘vegetarian’ included eggs and dairy products, an idea which had
never been fully accepted.
At the Society’s 24th AGM, on October 18, 1871, Francis Newman read a paper
suggesting radical changes. In a later presidential letter to The Times he summed up his
position succinctly:“…our aim is not to found a sect but to influence a nation.”
However, the influential members of the Bible Christian Church, which had played amajor role in founding the Society, were never happy with this – they did indeed want tobe an exclusive sect – perfection in (ovo-lacto) vegetarianism or nothing.
What Newman proposed was firstly to allow the Society to enrol associate members,
based on four categories of pledges:
1.
2.
3.
4.

to feed on the fruits of the earth only [pure vegetarian/dietary vegan]to avoid the flesh of animals killed for food [ovo-lacto-vegetarian]to avoid all flesh of land animals and birds [pescetarian/piscerian – fish eater]
to avoid flesh-meat so far as circumstances permit. [flexitarian or meat-reducer]

48This was a remarkable list as it clearly put the plant-food-only-diet as the ideal, but the
Bible Christians were insistent that their ‘promised land flowing with milk and honey’(and eggs) was the ultimate truth. Newman (deeply but differently religious himself) said
elsewhere that there were ‘a large number’ in the Vegetarian Society who did not use
eggs/dairy, but this was the first time the Society had officially even acknowledged they
existed.
But Newman went even further – he also wanted to change the name of the Society tothe ‘Dietetic Reform Society’. As with the journal, this would have allowed the Society tosupport all those who were moving towards vegetarianism, as well as those who had
arrived. If he had succeeded in that then the word ‘vegetarian’ would have been free toreturn to its original meaning of someone who just eats vegetation, or food derived fromplants. There would then have been no need to invent vegans…
However, there were still enough Bible Christians in prominent positions in the Society toblock these proposals. In 1874 Prof. Newman managed to get an agreement for simple‘associate membership’, but that was all. Even in that he was proved right, there weresoon twice as many associates as full members, and the Society’s income more thandoubled [for more on all above see 50 Years of Food Reform, Charles Forward, 1897].
Francis Newman said that he used some eggs/dairy himself, but kept them to aminimum and looked forward to alternatives which he anticipated might be one day
processed from nuts. In an essay ‘On the Mission of the Vegetarian Society’ he wrote:
But whether we demand more milk or more meat involves the very same results.
We cannot have much more milk unless more calves are born. The cows, I
believe, have long since been kept in a milch state as long as possible. More milk
must mean more cows and calves, more grazing land, more dependence on
foreign corn.
. . . [on the use of eggs/dairy] We are in a state of transition. A future age will
look back on this as barbarism; yet we are moving towards the higher and nobler
development in becoming even thus partial vegetarians.
Just to be quite clear: This was the President of the Vegetarian Society describing
eggs/dairy users as ‘partial vegetarians’, and the Society flourished under his leadership.
Soon after most of his proposals were rejected, a more radical group in London foundeda Dietetic Reform Society, which then ran nationally in direct competition with the
Manchester-based Vegetarian Society. Other ‘Dietetic Reform Societies’ soon followed,
some as far away as in New Zealand and California. After he retired as President,
Newman (a London Professor) took to referring to the ‘Manchester V. E. M. Society’(=vegetable-egg-milk).
There were many changes of names and ideals, but the friction between London andManchester continued for almost another 100 years, before they eventually merged in1969. But by that time the Vegan Society had filled the gap in 1944.

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49

The First Vegan Cookbook – New York 1874
March 14, 2012

We know there were some journals, published in
London in the 1850s, which only included recipes
entirely from plant foods and water, but the first
known ‘vegan’ cookbook came from New York in 1874.
Russel Thacher Trall M.D. (right) was born inConnecticut, 1812, and was taken by his parents towestern New York when he was a child, working forseveral years on a farm. He later studied medicine andsettled in New York city in 1840, where he became ahydropathist.
In 1843 he opened a water-cure establishment, then
expanded it in 1853 to include a medical school forboth sexes, as the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic
College, promoting totally drugless health.
In 1850 the first American Vegetarian Society was launched in New York, with Dr. Trallas the Recording Secretary, alongside his friend and mentor, Sylvester Graham, as aVice President. Their mutual friend Bronson Alcott was a visiting teacher at Trall’s school.
Around the same time he published his ‘Hydropathic Encyclopedia’ in eight volumes – withsome volumes promoting a dietexclusively of plant-foods andpure water, but others including
eggs and dairy products, thoughwith some hesitation.
In 1854 Trall published the ‘New
Hydropathic Cook-Book’, again
with many recipes using
eggs/dairy, even a section onmeat for those demanding it,
but describing the use of any
animal products as a‘compromise‘.
This was eventually resolved in
1862, when Trall came off thefence and changed the food at
his establishment to consist
entirely of plant-food plus
water. He also settled on theterm Hygeian (Hygeia was the
Greek goddess of health), and this became a forerunner of the Natural Hygiene movement.
The change was explained in the Preface to his 1874 book ‘The Hygeian Home Cookbook’ (see below
for a link to the complete book). He wrote:“More than twenty years ago the ‘Hydropathic Cookbook’ was published . . . but for a dozen
years past our table has been prepared without milk, sugar, salt, yeast, acids, alkalies, grease[butter], or condiments of any kind.”

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He also objected to substituting any other animal products for flesh-eating. A few sample recipes:
RHUBARB TOAST.
Peel, and cut the stalks in pieces, put them in a stew pan, add alittle water, some stoned dates, and a few English currants well
picked and washed; let them all cook until done, and then pour themover the toasted bread.
BERRY MUSH.
Pick and wash the berries; stew them in a little water, adding a few
stoned dates, stirring frequently until well cooked; then stir invery evenly a little Graham flour or oat-meal. Blackberries,
raspberries, or whortleberries may be used.
GRAHAM PIE CRUST.
Pour boiling water into wheat-meal and stir to a soft dough; roll out
as thin as possible; sprinkle a little meal over the pie plate, andspread this as the bottom crust. Make the top crust by mixing wheatmeal with ice-cold water; add grated cocoanut if desired; knead as
quickly as possible to a stiff hard dough; roll very thin; coverand bake immediately.
APPLE PIE.
Make a crust according to either of the above recipes except thelast; spread the bottom crust on the plate; on this spread a few
dates, stoned and cut into small pieces; sift a little meal overthis, and lay on the apples in slices or stewed; if the fruit is veryjuicy sift on more meal; cover with the top crust; have the fruit
extend close to the edges of the crust, which should be wet so thatthe top and bottom crust will adhere at their edges; with a kniferoll the edges under so that they will be smooth; bake immediately,
being careful not to have the top crust much browned. As soon as
done, cover tight with a dish about two inches deep, and let it steam
till cold, when the crust will be very tender.
HYGIENIC BROWN BETTY.
Prepare a quantity of apples for stewing, cleanse some raisins andcurrants, and stone some dates; the proportions may be according totaste or fancy; cut some Graham bread into thin slices; put into thestewing kettle a layer of the fruits; then a layer of bread,
repeating and alternating until the kettle is nearly full, or until asufficient quantity is prepared; then pour on cold water until itreaches within two inches of the top of the pudding; set it where it
will simmer slowly without burning; cook until the bread and fruit
are thoroughly soft, when the liquor will be very rich; serve warm or
cold. Grated cocoanut may be added if its flavor is desired.
Trall also published at least 15 other books, and edited several journals on a wide variety
of medical topics. Here’s the link to the complete earliest known vegan cookbook:
The hygeian home cook-book; or, Healthful and palatable food without
condiments – (on archive.org) by Russell Trall, New York, 1874

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Gustav Schlickeysen – 1875 German vegan, rawfoodist, fruitarian
February 15, 2010

In 1875 Gustav Schlickeysen published a bookcalled Obst und Brod - Eine Wissenschaftliche
Diätetik – which was translated and re-published in
New York, 1877, by M.L. Holbrook M.D. as: Fruitand Bread – a scientific diet.
The book (now on archive.org) follows very directlyfrom the discoveries of Charles Darwin, his ‘On theOrigin of Species’ first appeared in 1859; and ‘The
Descent of Man’ in 1871.
Schlickeysen lists only the later volume in his short
bibliography and in his section on ‘Application of the
Theory of Evolution to Dietetics’ – he claims to be
the first to follow through on Darwin’s own
suggestion that the earliest humans appear to havebeen frugivores, like the apes, which means they
preferred to eat fruit, but not quite exclusively.
He gives a very detailed account of comparative
physiology of human and non-human animals –teeth, digestive systems, embryo/placenta etc., butalso goes on to morals/ethics and of course diet.
Schlickeysen concludes that humans are naturally
frugivorous (fruit, grains and nuts in his
interpretation) – some of the details in his own words:
p.113: “Beans and lentils also are an exceedingly concentrated form of food . . . by theuse of both fruits and grains in the right proportion, the body is supplied with all theelements of nutrition.” (this was before the knowledge of vitamins, especially B12…)
p.114: “The present custom of cooking our food seems necessary only because it iscustomary.”p.125: “Among animal products much consumed by vegetarians, milk is one of the mostcommon. This however, is not only entirely unnecessary, but in many cases, positively
injurious.” – he continues by stating that milk is just for the new-born, only humans use
it as adults, and he describes butter and cheese as an ‘excess of fat’.
p.127: “Eggs, also, are unnatural food. They are designed by nature only for the
nourishment of the germ within it.”p.128: [referring to all the above] “… no one who is provided with an abundance ofman’s genuine food, namely, fruits, grains and nuts, will ever need to resort to them…”
p.180: “Of other articles injuriously added to our food, honey and sugar are as
objectionable as they are popular.”- he also argues against pastry, tea, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, tobacco, as well as all
flesh foods.
p.149: “… in a hundred cases of disease, over ninety will be found to originate in the
consumption of improper foods.”
The only exception to the ban on cooking was whole wheat bread made solely withunrefined flour and water, well kneaded, then baked.

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Rather oddly, throughout the entire book, Schlickeysen makes no mention at all ofvegetables. The question of whether to eat roots, greens and other vegetables is justavoided, even though many of them are fine eaten raw – salads were nothing new, eventhen.
Schlickeysen’s book had a considerable impact around the world, the English translation
crops up in veg histories of England, Australia and California. The President of the
Vegetarian Society in the UK, Francis Newman, wrote a scathing review in 1877, saying
it was too extreme. But the real problem for such a deeply religious man was of course
the promotion of Darwin and evolution…
Among his fellow German speakers, some notable individuals adapted his ideas withinmore of their own, including August Engelhardt (1875-1919), Arnold Ehret (1866-1922),
and Edmond Szekely (Hungary, 1905–1979) and many other raw-foodists and fruitarians
soon followed worldwide
One of the most significant was Maximillian Bircher-Benner, who adopted a raw-foodregime at his clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, though he did include raw vegetables andeven small amounts of milk products.
In 1900 he invented a new breakfast of fruits, nuts, and grains – the perfect
Schlickeysen combination - what we now know as muesli. The original had a lot more
fruit and a lot less grains than the supermarket versions we get today, and there aresome claims that it was originally eaten with orange juice, not cow’s milk (though today
there are of course plenty of plantmilks available).
So next time you’re munching yourbreakfast muesli, spare a thought for
Gustav Schlickeysen who started it all
way back in 1875.
--Added later… received from
Vegetarier Bund Deutschland (VEBU):
Schlickeyen was born on the 9th of
September 1843 in Berlin, therefore
he was German. He was born as theseventh child of the family, ofpremature birth, and was always
weak and often ill. Only thanks to hisvegetarian diet he was able tosurvive and lead a rather normal life. He published two books, besides "Obst und Brod"
he wrote "Blut oder Frucht", in English: Blood or Fruit. We have both books in the VEBU
library.
He emigrated to the US, where he hoped to find find a paradise of liberty, but he had towork very hard, 10-12 hours daily, to earn a minumum of money for a rather
miserable/poor life, and in the nights he wrote his books. As philosopher and sensitive
man he felt very unhappy in the materialistic world of North America, and always hoped
to be able to return to Germany, but in vain. In 1893 (no exact date known) he died in
Jersey City, New York.

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Was Vitamin B12 a problem for 19th century‘vegans’?
April 18, 2012
And other questions . . . B12 was discovered 1948, the word ‘vitamin’ having first
appeared in the early 20th century. So if 19th century vegans had vitamin deficiencies
they had no way of knowing it, and would have diagnosed it as something else.
All we know about most people from the 19th century is what has survived in print. The
veg*ns wrote a lot of propaganda about the benefits of their diets, but rarely, if ever,made detailed records of any problems they experienced. Death records were very
limited and, by today’s standards, also often misdiagnosed.
A useful comment on Wikipedia: “Historically, it's been easy to get B12, because until
recently we didn't live in a sanitized environment. Plants pulled from the ground and notwashed scrupulously may contain remnants of B12 acquired from the bacteria present in
the surrounding soil. B12 is also found in lakes, before the water is sanitized.”
I’ve seen that view elsewhere, and it seems reasonable, but I’m not recommending
eating unwashed vegetables or drinking dirty water! Those trying to follow a totallyplant-food diet today should, of course, ensure an adequate source of B12, either
through supplements or fortified foods.
The numbers of ‘vegans’ in the 19th century was probably very small, but if they were
suffering from B12 deficiency they should have had enough contact with each other to atleast realise they were getting similar symptoms, and we have no record of that.
The other likely reason we have no deficiency reports was just a lack of consistency intheir diet. Many people today support the idea of veganism but, for whatever reason, arenot very perfectionist about it, and it doesn’t take much of an occasional animal productto get the very small amount of necessary B12.
But being ‘vegan’ in the 19th century was much harder than it is today, so a lower levelof perfectionist consistency was inevitable, and we can see this in many that we know
about. Some examples:
Dr. William Lambe changed to a diet solely plant-foods and distilled water in
1806, when he was 40. He lived to be 82 and was reported as being in very good
health near the end. However, after he died his daughter told his biographer thatthe women, and presumably servants, in the family, could never manage to makecakes and pastries without any animal products. As Lambe knew nothing about
cookery they just put in as little as possible and told him there was none.
Whether he guessed this we’ll never know, but it might have been enough for thevery small amounts of B12 that were needed.
Percy Bysshe Shelley joined Lambe’s circle of friends in 1812, and in the spring of1813 spent a few months living in a ‘commune’ that was trying very hard to becompletely vegan. They had the same struggle with some foods – margarine was
not invented until decades later, and soy products were unknown – but they
seem to have been determined to do the best they could. After a few months
Shelley moved on and the records are not sufficiently detailed for us to know how
long he kept to his ‘vegan’ diet, though given the endless difficulties it wasprobably not long. The body can store B12 for a long time, and just a few months
without it are unlikely to cause long term damage.
Over in the USA Bronson Alcott also spent maybe a couple of years as what wewould now call a strict abolitionist vegan in the 1840s. He probably never gave up

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on his ideal, but the endless social pressures would have made it extremely
difficult to maintain after his attempted commune failed.
His friend Henry David Thoreau also tried to give up all animal foods, but neverquite managed to drop the fish, saying he felt guilty about eating it.
William Horsell, who did more than anyone to promote ‘veganism’ in London in
the 1840s and 50s, eventually died in West Africa in 1862. He was buried in
Lagos, Nigeria. It’s hard to imagine him maintaining a perfect diet on that trip.
We can see similar patterns in all of our 19th century ‘vegans’ – some managed to keep
close to their diet over a long time, but only rather inconsistently, others were deeplycommitted for a short period, but then drifted back to including some animal products.
So if we try to find a ‘perfect vegan’ in the 19th century, we will be searching in vain.
Their historical value is not in what they were able to do – it is about where they were
trying to go. They knew what they wanted, but struggled to maintain any degree of longterm consistency in getting there.
This is in stark contrast to those whose vision was a promised land “flowing with milk
and honey” (and eggs), and saw that as an essential part of their diet.
Of course we see exactly the same in many people who support the idea of veganism
today. When I attend vegan events I often talk to people, quietly and privately, about
how consistent they are in their veganism. My impression has been that a highproportion of them are not entirely consistent, not through any lack of shared ideals, but
because of all the difficulties, and relentless social pressures.
The 19th century wannabe ‘vegans’ demonstrated that individual perfectionism is not thepriority in the course of history. There are many routes to veganism and many people atdifferent places along the route. Most of us today manage much better than they couldin the 19th century, and future generations will do better again.
So if we want a vegan future it is not so important how perfect any individual manages
to be. What matters is agreement about the ideal of a vegan world - where we arecollectively trying to go is more important than where any of one of us is right now.
Some final notes:
Vegan nutritionists recommend that vegans either consistently eat foods fortified with
B12 or take a B12 supplement. Vitamin B12 deficiency can potentially cause severe andirreversible damage, especially to the brain and nervous system.

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The Vegetus Myth
June 1, 2011You’ve all read it somewhere: “The word vegetarian has nothing to do with vegetables, it
was derived from the Latin ‘vegetus’ meaning whole, fresh, lively, vigorous” etc…
Whilst all the dictionaries simply suggest the derivation as ‘vegetable+arian’. Most of us
never really believed the ‘vegetus’ myth, but it was impossible to disprove it – until lastyear.
The issue arose because by the late 19th century the origins of the V word had alreadybeen lost, even though we now know it was first used by people closely associated with
Alcott House, near London, around 1840 (see the footnote for full details of last year’s
research) – and the originators did indeed see themselves as just vegetable eaters.
In the early 19th century the word ‘vegetable’ simply meant any type of plantfood, including fruits, grains etc.. Over the last 150 years the meaning has reduced
to just certain types of plants.
But the the origins of ‘vegetarian’ had been lost, and in his 1906 book ‘The Logic of
Vegetarianism’, Henry Salt wrote:
No-one has a better right to speak on thismatter than Professor J.E.B. Mayor, thegreat Latin scholar, and he stated that,looking at the word etymologically,“vegetarian” cannot mean “an eater ofvegetables.” It is derived from vegetus,“vigorous,” and means, strictly interpreted,“one who aims at vigour.” Mind I am notsaying that the originators of the term“vegetarian” had this meaning in view . . .
Salt's last line "I am not saying that theoriginators of the term 'vegetarian' had
this meaning in view" shows the oppositeof the claims from some that he supported
the myth.
The first known use in print of 'vegetarian'
was in 1842, and for almost the next forty
years there is no reference whatsoever, in
any of the vegetarian journals or books, to'vegetus'. It first appeared in the
Vegetarian Messenger 1879 in a translationof an article from Germany - the writer
suggested 'vegetus' as the origin, but
admitted he was merely guessing. Prof.
Mayor would have read that and seems to have elaborated on it.
Mayor was a Professor of Latin at Cambridge and, from the mid 1880s, the President of
the Vegetarian Society. In his dual positions he was naturally taken seriously and it
caught on. This was a convenient solution to the problem of eggs/dairy not being
vegetables (plant foods), but it is obvious that even Salt, himself a later Vice-President,
was dubious about it.

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Vegetarian can equally be seen as derived from the late Latin ‘vegetabile’ – meaning
plant – as in Regnum Vegetabile /Plant Kingdom. Hence vegetable, vegetation – andvegetarian. 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.
We also have odd claims that the suffix '-arian' relates to some kind of belief system, sodoes that mean that an octogenarian merely believes in being 80? Or does a librarian
merely have an irrational belief in books? Some people do seem determined to cling totheir irrational belief in the vegetus myth.
Of course words change over time, and dictionaries do not decide the meanings ofwords, they merely reflect common usage.
The classic example of change is the word ‘gay’ – which some younger people today
might not even know used to mean just ‘happy’. Back in the 1970s I did a lot of sailingwith a friend who had restored a 1930s boat, and he refused to change the name fromits original ‘The Gay Lady’ – which brought a few comments from other passing sailors…
So ‘vegetarian’ today means whatever most people use it to mean – and in the west it
has become synonymous with ‘vegetable-egg-and-milk eater’ (at one time called the
VEM diet – vemetarian??), or in India just vegetable-and-milk.
Changing common usage is extremely difficult. And as much as some of us today would
like to change this one back we are now up against all the supermarket products labelleda ‘suitable for vegetarians’ when many (but not all of course) contain eggs and dairy
products. Maybe we’ll get back to the original meaning one day, but it certainly won’t beeasy.
Meanwhile, whatever it now means, it definitely had nothing to do with ‘vegetus’ – thatwas just a myth, and if you see anyone claiming it, send them this blog!

For the short version of the real origins of the word ‘vegetarian’, see ‘Vegetarian equals
Vegan!’ above.
For the much longer version, with full details of the research into the origins of‘vegetarian’ see: www.ivu.org/history/vegetarian.html

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Henry Salt - the father of animal rights
January 11, 2012

Henry Salt died in 1939, age 88, five years before the inventionof the word ‘vegan’, but for his last 55 years he clearly andconsistently promoted animals’ rights, and what we now callethical veganism.
He wrote almost forty books, mostly on veg-related topics which
paved the way for the movement we know today – including his
groundbreaking: Animals’ Rights, considered in Relation to Social
Progress, of 1894.
He was also a significant influence on Mahatma Gandhi, and his biographies of Shelley
and Thoreau raised awareness of aspects of their lives which had been wilfully neglectedby the meat-eating writers of his day.
In 1884, age 33, Salt
was a master at Eton
College, the mostprestigious school in
Britain, at the height of
the British Empire(Princes William andHarry both went there
more recently). Butthat year he and his
wife, Kate, dropped out
and moved to a
country cottage where
they grew their own
vegetables and he started writing.
One of his first articles was an essay ‘A Plea for Vegetarianism’. It is not clear where thiswas initially published, but in 1886 the (ovo-lacto) Vegetarian Society published acollection of Salt’s essays, with that one as the book title. In a much later book hequoted part of his original essay, which he said included: “…even dairy produce is quite
unnecessary, and will doubtless be dispensed with altogether under a more natural
system of diet.” That section was missing from the 1886 edition.
In 1890 the young Mohandas K. Gandhi, then a law student in London, picked up Salt’s
book, and many years later he wrote in his autobiography that he had made a slightly
reluctant vow to his mother not to eat meat whilst away but: “I read Salt's book fromcover to cover and was very much impressed by it. From the date of reading this book, I
may claim to have become a vegetarian by choice.”
Gandhi also read Salt’s biography of Henry David Thoreau, which led on to reading
Thoreau essay ‘On Civil Disobedience’, which also made a lasting impact. In 1891 theLondon Vegetarian Society held farewell dinner as Gandhi was returning to India. Henry
Salt was there too, but it would be 40 year before they met again.
That same year Salt founded the Humanitarian League, which campaigned for the rightsof underprivileged humans as well as all the animals. This led on to perhaps his mostsignificant work: Animals’ Rights, considered in Relation to Social Progress, published in
1894.

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The book covered every aspect of the use of animals by humans,with chapters on:
The Principle of Animals’ Rights
The Case of Domestic Animals
The Case of Wild Animals
The Slaughter of Animals for FoodSport, or Amateur Butchery
Murderous Millinery [feathered hats were popular then]Experimental TortureLines of Reform
The phrase ‘animal rights’ had existed for many years, but had been used in connection
with animal welfare laws. There had been others, most notably Lewis Gompertz in 1824,
who had argued whether humans should make any use of other animals at all. Henry
Salt brought the two together, using the phrase ‘animal rights’ for an overall view that,whilst incomplete, was distinct from mere welfare reforms.
Many modern vegans are surprised to find that in Salt’s chapter on ‘animals as food’, hemakes no mention at all of eggs or dairy products, restricting himself to slaughter andjust avoiding the wider issue completely. But we do have to remember that this was
1894, most of his potential readers were ovo-lacto-vegetarians, and most of his publicity
would be via the Vegetarian Societies. If he alienated them he would have had almost no
readers at all. The editing of his 1886 essay by the Vegetarian Society had alreadydemonstrated that.
Salt consistently took the pragmatic approach of the acceptance of eggs/dairy as a ‘firststep’. His later book, ‘The Logic of Vegetarianism’ in 1906, consisted of dialogues
between vegetarians and various meat-eating characters. Naturally the vegetarians
easily won all the arguments – until the last section where ‘Mr. Consistency’ debates theuse of eggs/dairy with the Vegetarian.
By this time Salt was a Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society, and gave the standard
arguments of why the word ‘vegetarian’ included those things that were obviously not
vegetation, but added no personal comment of his own. Most readers would be left
thinking that Mr. Consistency got the better of the argument…
He continued actively writing until the first world war intervened, he was 63 in 1914, andthe debate about the use of all animal products had become much more open by thattime. He produced more books after the war, but the conflict had decimated thevegetarian movement in Europe and it would not be until the late 1960s that it began aslow return to the earlier levels of popularity.
Meanwhile, in 1931, the now world famous Gandhi came back to London for talks with
the British Government about Indian independence. Whilst he was there he gave a talkfor the London Vegetarian Society, with Henry Salt, now 80, on his right hand side.
During his talk, on The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism, Gandhi described his use of(goat’s) milk as ‘the tragedy of my life’. A few years later the Vegan Society was
founded.
Henry Salt was a major figure in the vegetarian movement of the late 19 th and early 20th
centuries, but it took many years before a wider animal rights movement emerged in thelate 1960s. In 1975 Peter Singer took up the challenge in his ‘Animal Liberation’, and in
the preface said of Henry Salt: “… a new generation … discovered that it had all been
said before”.
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Why Dresden? The Origins of IVU
December 19, 2012

IVU was founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1908 which is not the most obvious locationthat we might think of today, so this is how it happened.
According to the Vegetarier Bund Deutschland the first Dresden Vegetarian Society was
founded in 1881. There was also a sanitarium in the city at that time as this extract,from The Vegetable Passion by Janet Barkas (New York, 1975), show:“Another influential figure in these early days of the movement was Dr. Heinrich
Lahmann .... One of the first German physicians to use natural healing methods,
Lahmann called animals his brothers and refused to use them for his experiments.
Instead, he used himself as a guinea pig. His regime consisted of fruits and vegetables,and fresh air. Water was endorsed for its strengthening powers, and loose and porous
clothing were recommended so that air might circulate freely. To provide goods that
followed his progressive ideas, he designed shoes, boots, and clothing for all ages. He
also recommended pillows filled with plants, rather than feathers.”
An article for The Vegetarian Messenger (UK) in 1908 refers to four vegetarian
restaurants in Dresden, suggesting quite a lot of local interest. In 1900, Dresden was the
4th largest city in the German empire, and a major centre for cultural activities. We also
know that the Dresden Hygiene Museum was the main national centre for 'nature cure'therapies, and held an exhibition in 1911 which attracted thousands of visitors.
The International Scene
The first Vegetarian Society was founded in England in 1847, followed by the first
German organisation in 1867. In 1888 the German vegetarian leaders suggested an
International Congress of all the British and German groups. This was held in Cologne in
September 1889 and became the first ever international gathering of vegetarians.
Some of the British groups had begun to create a 'Vegetarian Union' of the local British
societies, and following the Cologne event declared that it would cover the whole world
as the Vegetarian Federal Union (VFU). Groups in other English speaking countries,
including the USA, Australia and Ireland soon joined. In 1892 the Deutscher VegetarierBund (DVB) was created, connecting local groups in the German speaking region. The
DVB did have some form of membership of the London-based VFU, but there was never
any significant involvement.
Also during this time the newly formed French and Belgian Vegetarian Societies began
publishing a joint magazine for all Francophiles. They eventually persuaded the British to
hold the annual VFU Congress in Paris in 1900 (the others had all been in London, apartfrom Chicago in 1893). It was then agreed, so some thought, to hold the next one inBrussels in 1901 - but the VFU publicised the next Congress for London as usual. The
arguments that followed saw the original Manchester-based Vegetarian Society support
the Continental Europeans, and that was effectively the end of VFU.
Over the next few years there was some discussion about creating a more genuinely
democratic international vegetarian organisation, with all countries having equal input.
In 1907 the Vegetarian Society in Manchester, UK, celebrated its diamond jubilee (60years) by inviting the leaders of all known vegetarian societies to an international
gathering. At that meeting Dr. Danjou, Deputy President of the French VegetarianSociety, proposed a new International Vegetarian Federation, and that the 'mothersociety' should take the initiative in setting up a meeting.

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So why Dresden?
The easiest option would have been to arrange another meeting in Manchester, but the
British Society had also had some involvement with VFU and would have been very
aware that the Europeans were sceptical about more British domination.
The solution almost certainly came from Mr. J. Arthur Gill, a prominent Esperantist at the
diamond jubilee meetings. Vegetarians and Esperantists had quite a lot in common at atime when Europe was largely divided by linguistic barriers, both groups having aninterest in universal brotherhood. It would have been Mr. Gill who mentioned that theEsperantists were holding their annual conference in Dresden the following year - whichmeant that many vegetarians would be in the city.
This was the ideal political solution, a Vegetarian Congress proposed by the French,organised by the British, and held in Germany. Albert Broadbent, the British secretary,
wrote to all the Vegetarian Societies around the world inviting them to meet in Dresden
on August 18, 1908, during the week of the Esperantist Conference.
Ultimately only the German, British and Dutch Societies were there in person, along withsome locals and Esperantists, but groups from 14 other countries sent messages of
goodwill and support. During the meeting they adopted the title of the International
Vegetarian Union. The photo of the assembly:

The same week saw the creation of the 'International Union of Esperantist Vegetarians' still active today as TEVA (Tutmonda Esperantista Vegetarana Asocio) and still a memberof IVU. For the full reports published at the time see: www.ivu.org/congress/wvc08
This original version of this article appeared in The Vegetarian (UK), Winter 2007, andwas the basis of a Powerpoint presentation at the opening ceremony of the Centenary
IVU Congress, in Dresden, 2008. See below for the eventual veganizing of IVU.
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Gandhi - and the launching of veganism
March 16, 2011

Gandhi is not the first name that vegans might think of as helping to launch the
movement, and yet he did, on November 20, 1931, in London to be precise. He didn’t
call it ‘vegan’ of course, but it wasn’t long before others came up with the word todescribe what he was talking about.
We need to go back a bit – in 1888 the London Vegetarian Society split from the original
UK society, based in Manchester, to form a second national group. In 1891 Gandhi was alaw student in London and joined their committee for a while, later describing this insome detail in his autobiography.
On leaving India the young Gandhi had made a religious vow to his mother not to eat
meat while he was in London, and he kept to it with great difficulty. One day he found avegetarian restaurant and on the way in picked up a booklet by Henry Salt entitled A
Plea for Vegetarianism (1885) which persuaded Gandhi that being vegetarian was
important in its own right – and in which Salt wrote: “…even dairy produce is quite
unnecessary”.
Salt’s next book, in 1892: Animals' Rights, Considered in
Relation to Social Progress is generally recognised today as
groundbreaking.
In 1931 Gandhi, now world-famous for his non-violent
resistance in India, went to London to meet the government,
and while he was there agreed to give a talk for the London
Vegetarian Society, with the title of ‘The Moral Basis of
Vegetarianism’.
The photo on the right is Gandhi at that meeting, next to his
old friend Henry Salt who had founded the Humanitarian
League and written 40 books to promote his ethical ideals.
By 1931 Gandhi wanted something different, after some
opening remarks he said:“Forty years ago I used to mix freely with vegetarians. . . .. . . . I notice also that it isthose persons who became vegetarians because they are suffering from some disease orother - that is from purely the health point of view - it is those persons who largely fallback. I discovered that for remaining staunch to vegetarianism a man requires a moral
basis.”
Whether Gandhi was statistically correct in this claim is still the subject of much debate
today. But he wanted to go further:“I would give up milk if I could, but I cannot. I have made that experiment times without
number. I could not, after a serious illness, regain my strength unless I went back to
milk. That has been the tragedy of my life. But the basis of my vegetarianism is not
physical, but moral. If any said that I should die if I did not take beef-tea or mutton,even under medical advice, I would prefer death. That is the basis of my vegetarianism.”
Milk drinking a ‘tragedy’ - and this to an audience of mostly ovo-lacto-vegetarians. In his
autobiography Gandhi says he gave up milk in 1912 (in South Africa) but six years later
contracted dysentery (back in India) and was reluctantly persuaded to take goat’s milk,
which he then did on and off for life, but he never returned to cow’s milk (a significant
distinction in India) - soy milk was still largely unknown outside of East Asia at that time.

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He also wrote elsewhere: “Milk is an animal product and cannot by any means be
included in a strictly vegetarian diet . . . I am convinced that in the vast vegetable
kingdom there must be some kind, which while supplying those necessary substancesthat we derive from milk and meat is free from their drawbacks, ethical and other.”(source below).
But Gandhi had been just warming up in this talk to the London Vegetarian Society,
finally making his point: “. . . the only basis for having a vegetarian society andproclaiming a vegetarian principle is, and must be a moral one.”
But only a few years earlier in his 1925 autobiography Gandhi described an issue that
arose back in 1891, while he was on the LVS committee. He objected to action against aparticular member because: “. . . it had nothing to do with the declared object of theSociety, which was simply the promotion of vegetarianism and not of any system of
morality.”
He knew very well that all Vegetarian Societies kept the diet itself as their core function,
and would not discriminate against any members just because they had different
reasons for adopting the diet.
And yet he clearly wanted something which would bring together those who were
motivated by morality, and who shared his objection to dairy products (and eggs ofcourse). His talk was published in full in the various vegetarian journals where it was
widely read by the minority of members who had always kept to their ethically-based
plant-only diet. Gandhi certainly didn’t invent that concept, but such outspoken support
from a major world figure, with Henry Salt by his side, must have boosted theirconfidence enormously.
Within a few years they were arguing for a distinct ethics/morality based ‘non-dairy’section within the Vegetarian Society, but with slow communications, and the 2nd World
War intervening, it took until 1944 for that proposal to be rejected. They responded bycreating a new society, on exactly the lines that Gandhi had proposed - inventing theword ‘vegan’ to name it.






See also: ‘The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism’ – a compilation of articles by Gandhi,
including the full text of the talk above, some others originally in Hindi, translated andpublished in 1959 – with the first section very specific about milk and eggs (PDF 144k):
www.ivu.org/history/gandhi/the_moral_basis_of_vegetarianism.pdf
Much more about Gandhi and vegetarianism at: www.ivu.org/history/gandhi
More about Henry Salt at:
www.ivu.org/history/salt
Salt in turn was influenced by, andwrote several books about, thepoet Percy Bysshe Shelley, seeabove.

The photo right shows the1931
meeting coming together, just before
Gandhi spoke (no chairs...) The
December 1931 issue of VegetarianNews (London) printed the full text ofGandhi’s talk, along with a descriptive
article which stated that about 500
were present and that Henry Salt also
spoke.
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63

The Invention of the Vegans
March 31, 2010, updated August 2012

The word 'vegan' was invented in November 1944 by Donald Watson in England. But theorigins are not how many vegans today might imagine.
We know there were definitely groups of people in both Britain and America, as far backas 1806, which avoided the use of any animal products for food, clothing or labor. Theremay have been some earlier but precise details are rarely recorded as they had no
specific word to describe themselves.
By the mid-20th century there were a number of members of the Vegetarian Society in
the UK who wanted to form a distinct section, within the Society, of 'non-dairy
vegetarians'. This was rejected by the Society as being too divisive, but in the end it waseven more divisive as those promoting the idea were left with little choice but to form aseparate society. Watson simply took the beginning and end of 'vegetarian' - and theworld's first Vegan Society was born, initially with just 25 members.
Their journal was called 'The Vegan News (Quarterly Magazine of the Non-Dairy
Vegetarians)' - and the very first edition, November 1944, is on the IVU website at:www.ivu.org/history/europe20b/vegan_news_1.pdf . In it, Watson proposes the word 'Vegan'and says "Should we adopt this, our diet will soon become known as a VEGAN diet."
The idea spread further and sooner than they might have thought - by 1948 we have arecord that Dr. Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz formed a Vegan Society in
California which ran until 1960. During the 1950s there were also vegan societies inGermany and India, but they seem to have been short-lived.
Meanwhile the British group had joined IVU (International Vegetarian Union, of which I'm
now the manager), and Donald Watson spoke on 'Veganism' at the 1947 IVU World
Vegetarian Congress.
Over those first few years there was much discussion about the definition of the newword. Initially it was formally just about diet, but new rules were adopted by the Vegan
Society in 1951. This went much further than mere 'non-dairy': "The object of theSociety shall be to end the exploitation of animals by man;" and "The word veganism
shall mean the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals." They
continued: "The Society pledges itself in pursuance of its object to seek to end the use ofanimals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses
involving exploitation of animal life by man."
But . . . it is not clear whether the group in California agreed to all this, or were eveninitially aware of it. It is possibly a result of this that there has always been a significant
group of 'dietary vegans' in the USA, whilst others regard themselves as 'ethical vegans'.
The British Vegan Society, and many Americans, do not accept the distinction, insistingthat ethics are an integral part of the definition. But it is always difficult to argue against
common usage of any words.
The next major development was the founding of the American Vegan Society in 1960,
and that is still very active today at: www.americanvegan.org . From the outset this group
followed the same definition as the British Vegan Society, and has also been a memberof IVU since it started.
1981 saw the first International Vegan Festival, held in Denmark. These have continued
roughly every two years in many European countries as well as California, Australia,
India and Brazil. For full details see: www.ivu.org/veganfest/history

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The use of the word Vegan has expanded dramatically in the last 30 years, and there are
now Vegan Societies in most parts of the world. To find these and other Vegan resources
just use the database at www.ivu.org
Donald Watson, the man who invented the word,
was vegetarian from 1924, then 'non-dairy' from1940 (inventing 'vegan' in November 1944). He
died in 2005 at the grand age of 95. The photoshows him in later life reading his first issue of'Vegan News' (Picture by Joe Connolly - Veg News)
World Vegan Day is celebrated on November 1each year in recognition of his invention.
More details of the origins of The Vegan Society(the British group has never added 'UK' to its
name) and its membership of IVU can be found
at: www.ivu.org/history/societies/vegansoc.html

IVU now has 27 full voting member organizations with the word 'vegan' in their title,
and many more that are vegan in all but name - and another 112 called vegan in our
public database.
The IVU members are below, all have websites, most have Facebook pages or groups, copy andpaste into Google or FB to find them:
AUSTRIA - Vegane Gesellschaft Österreich
CHINA - Hong Kong Vegan Society
ETHIOPIA - Ethiopian Vegan Association
FINLAND - Vegaaniliitto ry (Finnish Vegan Society)
FRANCE - Société véganeINDIA - Indian Vegan Society
INDONESIA - Vegan Society of Indonesia
ITALY - BioVeganFest
KOREA - Korea Vegan Society & Diet and Climate Institute
NETHERLANDS - Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme
NORWAY - Norwegian Vegan Society
SOUTH AFRICA - South African Vegan Society
SPAIN - Asociación Vegana Española
SWEDEN - Veganföreningen i Sverige
TOGO (West Africa) - Vegan Students Association of TogoURUGUAY - Unión Vegetariana y Vegana del Uruguay
UK
The Vegan Society
Lewes & Hastings Vegetarian and Vegan Group
London Vegans
North Riding Vegetarians & VeganS
North Somerset Vegetarian and Vegan Information centre
Oxveg (Oxfordshire Vegetarians and Vegans)
The Vegan Chef Network
Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation
USA
American Vegan Society
Sacramento Vegan Society
Vegan Outreach(most US groups called 'vegetarian' are in fact vegan, and many now avoid either word in theirtitle)

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65

Vegans are Vegetarians too
March 2, 2011

The man who invented the word ‘vegan’ in 1944 was very clear that this was a part ofthe vegetarian movement, and Donald Watson remained clear about that up to his deathin 2005, at the grand age of 95.
In recent years some vegans have tried to claim that veganism is completely different tovegetarianism, sometimes with considerable hostility to other vegetarians – Watson
would certainly be turning in his grave at that. Some extracts:
Vegan News – subtitled: Quarterly Magazine of the Non-dairy Vegetarians - issue 1,
November 1944, written by Donald Watson: ". . . we shall, of course, say strongly why
we condemn the use of dairy produce and eggs. . . there need be no animosity between
ourselves and the 'lactos'. We all accept that lacto-vegetarianism has a well appointed
place in dietary evolution . . . . though our friends the lacto-vegetarians may reject ourideas if they wish, we hope they will not reject us for stating them."
THE VEGAN WAY OF LIFE – by Fay K. Henderson, Secretary of The Vegan Society, in
The Vegetarian (an independent journal) – issue 1, Spring 1947: "The word Vegan has
been brought into use since the formation of The Vegan Society in November, 1944, andit denotes a person who abstains from using animal products as food. Veganism isactually vegetarianism carried logically to a further stage."
The International Vegetarian Union was re-convened in 1946 after the war years, and
The Vegan Society promptly joined.
VEGANISM – a talk given at the 11th IVU World
Vegetarian Congress, July 1947: "Mr. DONALD
WATSON (Leicester), said that the vegan believedthat if they were to be true emancipators of animals
they must renounce absolutely their traditional andconceited attitude that they had the right to usethem to serve their needs." [beyond just food…]
Photo right: Watson front row middle. His cofounder Elsie Shrigley was in another part of the biggroup photo at the 1947 vegetarian congress.
Immediately behind Watson is the President of the
UK Vegetarian Society.
VEGAN VALUES by Fay K. Henderson, VeganSoc
Secretary, in The Vegetarian, issue 4, Winter 1947: "There has been much conjecture as
to the origin of the word VEGAN and its meaning. . . in the first instance it was an
attempt to get beyond the rather negative phrase "non-dairy vegetarian" . . . being boththe beginning and the end yet implying hopefully that what starts as vegetarian may
finish as vegan."[Ms. Henderson then explained how the group originally wanted to remain within the
Vegetarian Society, as a non-dairy section, but this was not agreed so a separate society
was reluctantly formed.] ". . . The Society has grown steadily in three years to amembership of about five hundred individuals . . . and has recently joined theInternational Vegetarian Union. . . . It is a matter of some concern and regret that themodern tendency among reform groups is to break away from main societies and work
independently for some slightly varying ideal. . . . This condition must be remedied if

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Vegetarianism is to develop the full force of its revolutionary powers. The closest cooperation and unity is therefore essential."
SHOULD THE VEGETARIAN MOVEMENT BE REFORMED? by Donald Watson in The
Vegetarian, Spring 1948: "The movement should grant to the individual the right tojudge how best to meet each personal problem as it arises, and there should be noinferior section reserved for those who cannot live consistently according to the
movement's definition. Loyalty cannot be measured merely by the standard of consistentpractice attained, nor can a person's value to the cause be assessed in this way.
Difficulties are greater for some than for others. . . . The time has come to revise thedefinition of vegetarianism . . . Vegetarianism, should mean the practice of living
without food from animals."
In 1951 The Vegan Society changed its rules to clarify
that veganism was about more than just food,specifically excluding any use of animals in any way
at all. In practice this just codified their existing
ethical values and the vegans remained firmly within
the vegetarian movement.
Photos: top- leaders of The Vegan Society of India at
the IVU World Vegetarian Congress in India, 1957.
In 1975 the first IVU World Vegetarian Congress to beheld in North America, and the biggest outside ofIndia, was masterminded by Jay Dinshah, founderand president of the American Vegan Society.
Photos bottom- Serena Coles, President of The Vegan
Society, flanked by the Presidents of the International
Vegetarian Union and the Vegetarian Society UK –IVU Congress, 1977. In the background is Brian
Gunn-King, General Secretary of IVU and a memberof the Vegan Society.
In 1997 the International Vegetarian Union started
putting recipes on its website – now over 3,000 in English and many more in otherlanguages. These have always been completely vegan, as is everything else on thewebsite. In 1998 it was agreed that in future all food at all IVU Congresses must becompletely vegan. Donald Watson lived long enough to witness that, and naturally
approved of it. In 2010 we finally proved the real origins of the word ‘vegetarian’ – andthat the first people to call themselves that were in fact vegan, in ethics as well as diet.
Sadly Watson had passed away by then, but he would certainly have liked that one.
IVU currently has about 127 full voting member organisations, including 22 with theword ‘vegan’ in their title – and many more vegetarian groups now only promoting foodderived from plants. Another 114 calling themselves ‘vegan’ have requested the freelisting in the IVU public database, along with hundreds more only promoting plant foods.
Donald Watson never wanted to leave the Vegetarian Society, and never did. He neverwanted to invent a new word, or create a new society. Initially he just wanted
vegetarians to stop using animal foods – and the course of history is clearly going hisway.
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Vegan Goes Global – the first ten years, 1944-54
March 28, 2012

The word ‘vegan’ and the Vegan Society first appeared in November 1944 in England,but it wasn’t long before the idea spread to other countries. These notes are mostly fromThe Vegan, the journal of the Vegan Society, all copies of which are now available
online, from 1944, via their website.
For the first couple of years the journal was entirely about the UK, but things werestirring elsewhere and the first glimpse we get was in the Autumn 1946 issue whichstated that there were members “both in this country and abroad”.
In the next issue, we get the first overseas letter from the Bircher-Benner Clinic in
Zurich, Switzerland. There had been some discussion about feeding babies and theclinic said they had been successful making their own infant milk from almonds and fruit.
A few years later the magazine ran a double page report from the clinic, described as‘near-vegan’, with a collection of their vegan menus.
In the summer of 1947 there was a two-page article from the President of the
Vegetarian Union of Germany, Herr W. F. Adolf Briest: ‘Towards Veganism in Germany’.
In 1953 there was a new society - Deutsche Vegan-Gesselschaft – but it faded away
again with a couple of years, certainly gone by 1955.
The major international event of the 1940s was the 11th
IVU World Vegetarian Congress, held in England, and the
new Vegan Society sent several delegates. The lengthy
and enthusiastic report in the The Vegan for Autumn 1947
noted other delegates from Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia,
Eire and America (right: the Congress hall).
They reported: “Special interest was shown in veganism, Mr. Donald Watson [President]
having been invited to speak on the subject”, And a four page summary of his talk wasadded in the magazine. Apparently the talk generated some lively discussion which had
to adjourned until they had all cooled down a bit . . .
The independent Scottish Vegetarian Society was also present, and it was noted thatthey had formed a vegan section, rather than a separate society. The vegans in England
had originally wanted to do the same, but the Vegetarian Society had rejected the idea.
Several of the other speakers were mentioned as being of interest to vegans, especiallythe IVU General Secretary, Mr. Bolt from the Netherlands, who “recommended that, as apractical measure, the I.V.U. should encourage the production of vegetable milk andnon-leather shoes.” The report concluded: “At the Congress, The Vegan Society wasformally accepted as a member of the International Vegetarian Union. It is mostencouraging to realise that, as a result, we can now work in direct co-operation with thevarious vegetarian movements throughout the world.”
The benefits seem to have already begun by the time the report was printed, further onin the same issue were letters from readers in California, New York, Singapore and South
Africa. Including one from a Dr. Liber of New York, who had written a plant-food-onlybook in 1934, suggesting that “the lacto-ovo-vegetarians should have had the trouble offinding another name for themselves, on the ground that we are the true vegetarians.”
In Summer 1948 there was an article showing that in France there had been similar
problems with words. Way back 1920 Dr. Jules Lefevre had invented ‘végétalien’ for68people who ate a plant-food-only diet (distinct from Végétarienne for ovo-lacto) – but
this was purely health-related, not concerned with animal ethics. By 1953 there was amonthly plant-food journal from Paris called ‘La Vie Claire’, and some years later a chainof health food stores with the same name. Many further years on the French added‘Végane’ for an ethical vegan – so at least they have some clarity, whilst English
speakers still argue about ‘dietary’ vs. ‘ethical’ veganism.
Interest from the USA developed further in the Autumn of 1948. There was somediscussion printed between the Vegan Society and Rubin Abramowitz, of Oceano,
California, on the question starting a local vegan group. There are reports elsewhere that
this did happen, but it was never reported further in The Vegan. There were more lettersfrom Mr. Abramovitz, with the Spring 1950 issue referring to him as “acting as ourrepresentative in the USA”, but that was the last time he was mentioned.
The 1947/48 issues reported the Vegan Society Secretary giving talks in Holland andIreland. Not long afterwards they heard that the Netherlands Vegetarian Society was
proposing to form a vegan section.
1950 brought the 12th IVU World Congress in the Netherlands. This was reported as
being very friendly for the vegans, but they also complained that they were given no
opportunities to put their views. The report ended by stating: “Having lost theopportunity offered by the 1950 Congress we must make the most of the next chance inSweden in 1953.” They clearly saw vegetarian gatherings as the best means of
spreading the word about veganism, and they were quite open about wanting to‘veganize’ IVU. That did indeed eventually happen, but it took another 50 years...
Between 1950-53 there were an increasing number of reports about doctors promoting
plant-food-only diets, particularly the hygienists from the USA. This eventually led theeditor to propose three classifications of motivations: health, religion and ethics – with
only those ethically motivated being entitled to call themselves ‘vegan’. In 1951 theSociety had changed its rules to specify that veganism excluded any use of animals or
animal products for any purpose.
In 1953 the vegan delegates to the 13th IVU Congress in Sweden were a lot happier with
their participation, and gave considerable praise to the Swedish Vegetarian Society forlooking after them so well.
A vegan dinner was arranged in London for some people on their way home from
Sweden, including Scott and Helen Nearing from Maine, USA. They were the authors of‘The Good Life’ about their self sufficiency homestead, and they gave a talk at thedinner. They were described as ‘near-vegan’, but of particular interest as they were thefirst Americans encountered who gave their primary motivation as not harming any
living creatures, rather than the usual concern for their own health.
The Winter 1954 issue was a bumper 10th anniversary edition, which included a lengthy
report about the editor’s recent tour of North America. He was given estimates of 3
million vegetarians in the USA, mostly from religious groups such as Seventh Day
Adventists, and about 1,000 ‘vegans’. But this was the same editor who had insisted thatvery few of those 1,000 were really vegan as they were only health-motivated.
There had been more letters and articles from such diverse countries as Australia,
Canada, Costa Rica, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, and even China. The
word ‘vegan’ was spreading rapidly, whatever they meant by it.
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Hygiene cleans up – naturally of course
March 21, 2012

In 1998 the American Natural Hygiene Society, after 50
years, changed its name to the National Health
Association (NHA), on the basis that most people didn’t
understand what ‘Natural Hygiene’ meant.
Quite right too, for me ‘hygiene’ has always been more
about what I do in the bathroom than the dining room.
Hygeia, right, was the Greek goddess of health andcleanliness, While her father was more directly
associated with healing, she was associated with theprevention of sickness. Her name is the source of theword hygiene (note the change of ei/ie spelling).
In the past, medicine men didn’t think that food wasanything to do with prevention of sickness, many still
don’t of course, which might be why most people never
did understand the concept of ‘natural hygiene’ as adiet.
The NHA traces its (American-only) history back to
Sylvester Graham (1794-1851). He does not appear tohave used the word hygiene, though he certainly argued
that a totally plant-food diet was crucial to health.
The first clear use of the word was by Russell Trall MD in the early 1850s, when he wrote
his first book, and opened his ‘Hygeio-Therapeutic College’ in New York city. His 1874
‘Hygeian Home Cookbook’ was the first known ‘vegan’ recipe book.
In 1883 Susanna Way Dodds, cited by NHA, published her ‘Hygienic Cookery’, which had
a long section drawing on the works of Graham and Trall, fully supporting a plant-foodonly diet. But the actual recipes included eggs, dairy and even a section on meat –presumably she thought that was the only way to sell it.
An omission from the NHA records is Dr. Elmer Lee, initially of Chicago, relocated to New
York in 1897. He was the editor of the Health Culture magazine which strongly promoted
a plant-food-only diet, and in 1910 he published an American edition of the first British‘vegan’ cookbook ‘No Animal Food’ by Rupert Wheldon. Lee was reported as both ahydrotherapist and a hygienist.
In 1916 J.H. Tilden MD, then aged 65 and cited by NHA as one of four major founders ofnatural hygiene, published a book on ‘Food’ in which he insisted that some animal foodwas essential for human health . . . There seems to have been little agreement about thediet at that time, though they do all seem to have agreed with the basic principle thatfood and lifestyle, not drugs, were the key to health. Prevention not cure.
The major ‘hygienic’ character of the 20th century was undoubtedly Herbert Shelton, andit was him who first coined the phrase ‘Natural Hygiene’, with fasting central to his ideas.
If he had called it ‘Natural Health’ maybe the rest of us might have understood it moreeasily.
Shelton read the works of Russell Trall and Sylvester Graham in 1911, and had
apparently adopted some form of vegetarianism by 1913, age 18, and by the 1930s he
was clearly writing against the use of eggs or dairy products, along with tea, coffee andother stimulants.

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In 1948/49 Shelton became the first President of the American Natural Hygiene Society(ANHS), probably unaware that a small group in England had also invented their own
new word, and started the Vegan Society in 1944.
By 1948 there was a small vegan group in California, and in 1956 a British NaturalHygiene Society (BNHS) began – apparently still going, but there is also a business in
the UK today called ‘Natural Hygiene’, their tagline: - ‘Providing solutions for all of yourwashroom needs’.
Meanwhile, in 1951, the Vegan Society had clarified that veganism was about avoiding
all uses of non-human animals, for clothing, entertainment etc., not just for food. The
Hygienists were naturally solely concerned with human health.
By the late 1950s Jay Dinshah, a life-vegetarian fromNew Jersey, was a board member of the ANHS and wentvegan in 1957. He remained totally loyal to Shelton and
the ANHS, returning to a leading role 20 years later, but
in 1960 he also wanted to do something for the animals,
and founded the American Vegan Society (AVS).
Jay Dinshah played a major role in promoting veg*ism inNorth America for the rest of the 20th century. In 1974 heco-founded the North American Vegetarian Society, usingthat as a platform to mastermind the hugely successful
first ever IVU Veg Congress in the region, in Maine 1975.
That event has been credited by historians as having
kick-started much of the organized vegetarian/veganmovement in North America. In the early 80s he briefly
returned to ANHS as acting Executive Director. Sadly welost Jay in 2000, but his English-born wife Freyacontinues the work with AVS today (see:www.americanvegan.org )Many of the leading members and supporters of the NHA
today are a significant part of the ‘health wing’ of thevegan movement in the USA.
For more about the (American) National Health Association see: www.healthscience.org– if you come to the IVU Congress/Vegfest in California later this year you’ll get to hear,and meet with, many of the most prominent members of both NHA and AVS:
www.ivu.org/congress/2012
I’m happy that NHA changed the name. I know a lot of people got used to it, but for me,
and I guess for a lot others, ‘natural hygiene’ still sounds like taking a shower under awaterfall . . .

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How the Vegans landed in America
April 4, 2012
They could have come from the planet Vega for all most other Americans might have
known. But they had been around for a long time, living quietly among the flesh-eaters,
before more arrived in the big splash-down of 1975 . . .
How long they were there depends what you call a vegan. The dietary-only types had
been munching their plant foods for 150 years, but the ethical species were very rare,even endangered, and needing outside help.
In 1957, 23 year old Jay Dinshah decided to be an ethical vegan. He was born in New
Jersey to a lacto-vegetarian family of Jains, immigrants from India. By the late ‘50s he
was a board member of the plant-food-only American Natural Hygiene Society, but they
were solely concerned with health, and he wanted to do something more for the animals.
He had been reading the journal of the Vegan Society from England, and in a 1959 issue
he put his name forward as a contact for the ‘Vegan Correspondence Bureau’. The
introductory note in the magazine said he “wishes one day to find a vegan wife!”
He found her in 18 year old Freya Smith from England, whose family were active
members of the Vegan Society. In February 1960 Jay founded the American Vegan
Society (AVS), and married Freya in August of the same year.
There had been some brief attempts to start vegan societies in California, Germany andIndia, but none had amounted to much and were soon gone again. The Vegan magazine
in England recognised the potential of this one and devoted an entire editorial page toannouncing the new AVS. They were right of course, it is still going 53 years later.
The Dinshahs set off across America to give talks and recruit members then, in 1965,
they attended their first IVU World Vegetarian Congress. That one was held in
Derbyshire, England, where they met members of the UK Vegan Society, including
Freya’s mother, Grace Smith,
who was now assistanttreasurer.
The 1967 IVU Congress washeld in India, and theDinshahs were there too, now
in Jay’s parents’ homecountry. The official delegates
for the UK Vegan Society were
Brian Gunn-King and his
fiancée Margaret Patching(they married the followingyear). In the photo right they
were meeting Indira Gandhi,
the Prime Minister of India.
By the end of that Congress,
Brian had become the IVU
General Secretary, the first vegan ever to hold the post, and Jay Dinshah was co-opted
to the Executive Committee. The Vegan noted the potential of having two members insuch influential positions.
In 1971 the Vegan Society held its AGM in London close to the next IVU Congress in the
Netherlands. The Dinshahs and Gunn-Kings were at both, and Jay was elected as a Vice
President of both the Vegan Society and of IVU.

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We don’t know exactly when the idea of an IVU
Congress in America was first discussed between thefour of them, but at the 22nd IVU Congress, 1973 in
Sweden, the delegates formally voted to hold the 23rdin the USA in 1975, with Jay Dinshah as the mainorganizer.
1975 – the vegans have landed – in Maine“Arguably it was the most important gathering ofvegetarians in the United States in the twentiethcentury." - Vegetarian America, a History. Karen andMichael Iacobbo, Praeger, 2004
And, of course, it was all being led by vegans . . .
There were lots of individuals and small, city-based,veg groups across the region, so the North American
Vegetarian Society (NAVS) was launched to bringthem together and promote the Congress. Jay
Dinshah was elected the first President. They hopedfor 1,000 attending, but got 1,500 at the first everWorld Veg Congress in America.
Freya was in charge of catering, and wrote a ‘totalvegetarian’ (i.e. vegan) cookbook for the event(original version top right), a version is still available
today. The food for the Congress was also all-vegan but with separate, clearly marked, small containers ofmilk and cheese for those that insisted on adding
them (we don’t bother with that these days ofcourse).
Margaret Gunn-King (above right with child) was an
official delegate for the UK Vegan Society, along withGrace Smith, Freya’s mother, now their treasurer.
Right: the famous American comedian, Dick Gregory,with Brian Gunn-King and Jay Dinshah, handing overmoney collected for the charity VegFam.
So the women were doing the catering and child-care,whilst the men managed the business – well it was
still 1975, and we have improved on that these days
too . . .
Bottom right: Jay and Freya Dinshah at the ‘IndianNight’ during the Congress – which evolved into theannual NAVS Summerfest.
Full details of the Congress (link to ivu.org) – forsome long term impacts of the 1975 event see theentries below on:
IVU and the NAVS Summerfest and IVU and theAmerican Animal Rights Movement.

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The Veganizing of International Veg Events
April 11, 2012

By the late 1970s the situation for vegans on opposite sides of the North Atlantic wasvery different.
The 1975 IVU World Vegetarian Congress, held in Maine, USA, had been all plant-food,plus some small separate containers of milk and cheese for those that insisted on adding
them. NAVS (North American Vegetarian Society) continued this as an annual event, butthey soon dropped the optional additions and publicized it as ‘total-vegetarian’ – i.e.
‘vegan’, but that word was still very little known in the region. It was eventuallyrenamed as the Summerfest that we know today, with the emphasis very much on
health from plant-foods-only.
In Europe, especially in the North West, there had been many strong ovo-lactovegetarian societies for more than a hundred years, and their events could be
problematic for the vegans. Eggs and dairy were and integral part of the menu, and any
vegan items were often poorly labelled.
So in 1981, Kirsten Jungsberg, in Denmark, decided to organise a separate International
Vegan Festival (IVF). The President of the British Vegan Society only heard about it two
weeks beforehand, but went along and was delighted to find strong vegan groups from
Sweden, and other countries, even France, among the 50 delegates.
That might have started as a one-off, but in 1985 Kirsten arranged a 2nd IVF in
Denmark, then there was a third in Germany in 1987. After that some of the European
vegans began an informal network known as ‘Vegans International’ – there was noformal committee, just a contact for each country who tried to keep the others informedof anything of interest (this was all pre-internet of course).
More IVFs followed - 1989 Sweden; 1990 Holland; 1992 England. By this last one the UK

Vegan Society had finally caught up with the idea from the continent, and put on the
biggest IVF so far, with 150 attending.
The 7th IVF was in Spain 1993, organized by Francisco Martin, using the occasion tolaunch a new society, and coin some new words for his language:– ‘vegano / vegana /veganismo’, hence his Asociación Vegana Española. The Festival was acclaimed as ahuge success, but Francisco came in for some criticism from the more ‘separatist’ vegans
because he was also on the council of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU).
Francisco had spent many years working in Canada, and preferred the NAVS style ofveganizing from within, rather than screaming abuse from without. A few years later hewas proved right, but things got worse in the meantime when the 1994 IVU Congress in
the Netherlands became embroiled in yet more divisive arguments and food problems.
In contrast the 8th IVF, held in San Diego in 1995, was another huge success, attracting
more than 400 visitors for the week. It was jointly supported by the American Vegan
Society and VUNA – Vegetarian Union of North America (both members of IVU) - which
was also completely vegan, just like almost all the ‘vegetarian’ groups in North America(though technically ‘total-vegetarian’ would be more accurate as veganism is an ethicallifestyle, not just a diet, and many American groups are not involved with animal ethics).
This was followed by the 1996 IVU Congress, rescued by NAVS at short notice andcombined with the Summerfest. NAVS insisted on their usual ‘total-vegetarian’ menu,
making it the first IVU Congress to be completely vegan. The result came as a surprise
to some Europeans, and EVU News reported of the chef: “His meals were even better
than announced and probably made some lacto-vegetarians forget that the ‘Vegetarian’Congress actually was a ‘Vegan’ one.”

74
The point was well made, and the IVU Council, with Francisco Martin now as General
Secretary, soon informally agreed that all food at all future Congresses should be‘entirely derived from plants’ (later formalized in the completely new IVU Constitution
and Bylaws of October 1999).
Meanwhile ‘Vegans International’ (VI) ran into its own internal conflicts and effectively
ended in 1997. The IVF planned for that year never happened. The Australians tried tokeep it going with a small IVF in 1999, but that was the last for many years.
The former editor of the VI Newsletter went to the 2000 IVU Congress in Toronto,
possibly expecting the worst, but wrote what can only described as an ecstatic report for
The Vegan back in the UK: “This was really a World Vegan Congress.” He reported all the

speakers promoting a plant-food-only diet, and making his own contribution on animal rights.
Since then the requirement for food ‘entirely derived from plants’ has been extended toregional congresses and any other events supported by IVU.
Meanwhile, back in Denmark, Kirsten decided to re-start the IVFs with the 10th in 2006.
The Vegan reported an attendance of ‘about 50’, half from the UK and most of the rest
from Denmark. But as the IVU Congresses were only held every two years, there wasinterest holding IVFs for the intervening years.
In 2007, Shankar Narayan,
IVU Coordinator for India &SW Asia, held the 11th IVF
in India (Shankar 2nd rightin the photo).
Two years later Marly
Winckler (with yellow starbehind the banner), IVU
Coordinator for Latin
America, staged the 12th inBrazil. The latest was backto our old friend Francisco
Martin, previously IVU
General Secretary, whoarranged the 13th in Spain in 2011.
There was now some confusion around all this as we had alternate years of entirely
plant-food ‘Vegetarian Congress’ and ‘Vegan Festival’, with no difference between thetwo, especially when the 39th ‘congress’, in Indonesia, added a huge food fair making it
more of a festival, and the 13th ‘festival’ in Spain consisted almost entirely of lectures.
In 2011 the IVU Council decided to resolve this by supporting an annual event‘combining features of congresses and vegfests’. 2012 will be in California; 2013 in
Malaysia; 2014 in Africa; 2015 in Latin America, and so on, rotating around the six
regions – and all completely vegan of course.
There is now a huge number and variety of ‘VegFests’ around the world, all vegan withsome attracting visitors from other countries, IVU will be publicizing as many as we can.

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75

Learning from the developing world
August 25, 2010
[A brief summary of the keynote speech I gave at the 39th IVU World Veg Congress in

Jakarta, Indonesia, October 1-6, 2010.]
The International Vegetarian Union is 102 years old, but it has achieved more in the last
6 years than the previous 96. This has been done by people in the developing world where most of the world's population lives.
In its first 50 years, 1908-58, IVU held 16 World Vegetarian Congresses - 15 ofthem in Europe.
During the rest of the 20th century there were another 17 WVCs - with still overhalf of them in Europe.
So far in the 21st century there have only been two WVCs in Europe, and there
are no plans to return there until 2017.

So we have seen a gradual shift away from the Euro-centric view of the world that voted
down a 1915 offer to host a WVC in San Francisco because it was 'too far to go'. The
same objection was raised to India in
1957 but this time it went ahead andbecame the first outside of Europe.
As the graphic right shows, they
initially didn't even cover much ofEurope. The red dots are the locationsof all IVU Congresses between 190855. The countries in green all had
national Vegetarian Societies by 1908,
though several collapsed during theFirst World War.
The 1957 Congress saw the first moveoutside of Europe, with a huge event infour Indian cities thousands of mile apart, and vast crowds at each of them. But thenovelty soon wore off, and during the rest of the 20th century another three IVU forays
into India showed gradually diminishing returns.
The next big leap forward came in 1975 when the first IVU Congress in North America
had a major impact, it has been credited with kick-starting the entire organized veg
movement in the region. There were then three more North America Congresses overthe next 25 years, but again with diminishing results.
The underlying problem was the continuingEuro-centric structure of IVU. It assumed
that the whole world would follow theEuropean hierarchical system which was
reinforced by the creation of EVU (European
Vegetarian Union) in the 1980s (right).
Europeans seem to like that kind of structure
in everything, but the rest of world justdoesn't work that way. It took IVU so long tounderstand it that by the end of the 20th
century an attempt to duplicate thatstructure in North America was alreadyfailing badly, and elsewhere nothing had changed.

76
The very last year of the 20th century saw the first ever congress outside of the big
three (Europe, India, USA) when we went to Chiang Mai in Thailand. But what shouldhave been another major leap forward failed to ignite the region, bogged down by
infighting and personality clashes which had plagued IVU for the previous two decades.
With hindsight, we can see 1999 as the turning point, where the situation was just so
bad that radical change had to happen. That year we re-wrote the entire IVU
constitution, changed how everything would operate, and tried to figure out how tomake it work. The first years of the 21st century saw North Atlantic congresses whichwere not going to set the world alight, but they did give us a crucial opportunity for calm
reflection and time to regroup.
The real new beginning came in 2004, withthe first ever IVU Congress in Latin
America. We had learned the hard waythat people in the developing world are
perfectly capable of doing things
themselves.
They just need support, not interference,from those of us in the richer countries.
IVU provided financial support to launch
the Brazil Vegetarian Society, andunderwrote it in promoting the 2004 WVC,
and it was a huge success, kick-starting
more veg activities all over Latin America.
This time we needed to find ways ofmaintaining the momentum instead ofletting it fizzle out as before, and our new
system of appointing Regional Coordinators(RCs) with the freedom to make their own
decisions began to pay off.
It was also the beginning of IVU doing
something more than just promoting World
Veg Congresses every two years - up tothen it had done little else.
Photos right:
top: International Vegan Festival in India,
2007. That and the next in Brazil 2009were organized by the IVU Regional
Coordinators, Marly and Shankar, standing
behind the banner.
2nd: the unique cruelty-free fashion show
during Marly's World Veg Congress, Brazil,
2004.
3rd: Susianto (from Indonesia), IVU RC for
Asia-Pacific, on the IVU stall at theInternational Vegetarian Food Fair andForum in Xiamen, China, 2009.
bottom: the 1st West Africa Congress inNigeria, 2007 - Emmanuel, IVU RC for
Africa with his hands up.

77
In 2006 we got the opportunity to rethink how we work in Asia, with enormous
improvements - the first involvement in Indonesia, China and the Middle East soon
followed, along with a very different approach in India. Then in 2008 we finally resolved
the old clashes in Europe and EVU has also been rethinking how it operates.
Meanwhile 2007 saw the first ever veg congress held in Africa, in Nigeria, followed byanother in Ghana in 2009. IVU did the global fund-raising for those, but otherwise
everything has been done locally - and the Africans are developing new ideas that havelessons for all of us to follow.
IVU now supports a whole range of events, global, regional and sub-regional, all aimed
at bringing people from different countries together. In the last six years, since 2004, wehave for the first time been directly and actively involved in Brazil, China, Dubai (UAE),
Ghana, Indonesia and Nigeria, soon to be followed by Bolivia and Kenya as well as morein China, India, Indonesia, Spain and the USA.
This has not come from any sort of top-down centralized control system. It has comefrom veg*ns in the developing world devising their own solutions to local problems, andbeing given the support to be able put their own initiatives into practice. It is just the
beginning.
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Go Veg - and see the World!
August 3, 2010, updated September 2012

The main reason for the creation of the International Vegetarian Union, way back in
1908, was simply to help veg*ns in different countries communicate with each other.
This was done mostly by exchanging newsletters, journals and personal letters - butthere was no substitute for real face-to-face meetings with people of diverse cultures,
languages and cuisines. IVU was founded at such a gathering and they have continued
ever since.
For about the last 15 years we have seen a vast communications transformation. Thanks
to the internet we can now have real-time, anytime, talks with anyone, anywhere in theworld - even with live video links. And yet... there is still no substitute for actually
meeting in the flesh. Sitting around a meal table where everyone comes from a different
country is a unique experience, and for veg*ns there is a special significance in sharing
our plant-based food (all congress food is always completely vegan).
However we do, of course, have to be aware of the environmental impact of travelling toother countries, and IVU today is reluctant to encourage large numbers to fly halfway
around the world to attend global gatherings. The alternative is an increase in regionalor sub-regional meetings, so that it
becomes much easier to travel bymore environmentally friendly means,such as rail or ship. There will, ofcourse, always be those who want tovisit far-flung places, and it has to bea matter for each individual to decide
how to balance their own decisions.
The other approach that IVU has now
taken is to hold the major world
gathering every year, instead of every

78
two years as we have for the last 50 years. By rotating it around the regions, as on themap, we can ensure there will be one somewhere near you, sometime soon. It also gives
the developing world a fairer share of the events.
Below - some photos from recent gatherings in Brazil, China, Dubai (UAE), Germany,
Ghana, India and Indonesia (that's me top right, in China with Susianto, see below
for more details):

Photo details: top row: left: a youth group performing at the opening ceremony of the
Asian Congress in Indonesia
center: Shankar (India) Jowly and Susianto (Indonesia) and Prof. Jumsai (Thailand),same eventright: the IVU stall in Xiamen, China. Susianto and myself talking to leaders of an IVU
member society from Mongolia.
2nd row: left: The beach resort venue of the world veg congress in Florianopolis, Brazil
center: musicians at the world veg congress in Goa, India.
right: Sandhya Prakash meets a local visitor the Middle East veg conference in Dubai(UAE) - and Sister Wako Ishikawa from Japan speaking at the IVU centenary congress in
Dresden, Germany.
3rd row: left: some of the fabulous vegan food in Brazil
center: some of the audience at the 2nd West Africa veg congress in Accra, Ghana
right: a fire dancer in Brazil
bottom row: a speaker in the Chinese lecture room in Xiamen, China.
center: a day trip on a bus in Indonesia
right: some of the audience, with headphones, for my talk at the international forum in
China.
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79

Veg*ism in India[updated October 2012]

India can reasonably claim to be the spiritual home of vegetarianism, with an unbroken
line of countless generations over thousands of years. There are currently about 300
million lacto-vegetarians in India, equal to the entire population of the USA, but theissues there are rather different to those facing us in the west.
There is a common misconception in the west that all the Hindus in India are vegetarian.
Various sources suggest that less than half of the Hindus in India actually keep to plantfood plus cow milk products.
In India vegetarianism has always been associated with religion, mainly Hindus,
Buddhists, and Jains. Today many young people enticed away from their religion by the
consumer-driven western lifestyle, including western style junk-food. Attempts to turnthem back to traditional lifestyles have not made muchprogress, but what we have seen over the last few years isa remarkable rise in an Indian adaptation of western-styleveganism, especially among young people.
There have long been Lacto-Vegetarian Societies in India,
and IVU was represented by them for 50 years up to 2006
(right: Jayantilal Mankar, the first IVU Regional Secretaryfor India in 1957). The approach of these groups wastraditionally to work within the Hindu and other smaller veg
communities, offering valuable support to existing
vegetarians and encouraging others Hindus to join them. It
is difficult to get figures, but there are indications that the proportion of lactovegetarians is declining.
With one-third of the population still not eating meat the fast food businesses have had
to adapt, so they do provide a lot more lacto-vegetarian food than we see from them in
the west. But demographic changes could bring huge changes in the future.
Add to that about 150 million Muslims in India, along with many other minorities who are
not likely to be attracted to what is mostly seen as a ‘Hindu diet’. It is becoming clearthat the only way to reach out to all those westernized young people is to use
westernized arguments. And that increasingly means veganism.
As far back as 1889 there were vegetarian societies in India, run by Indians. Mahatma
Gandhi recorded in his autobiography that in 1891, while he wasstudying law in London, he read abook by Henry Salt which persuaded
him that being vegetarian was
important in its own right, not justbecause of the religious vow he madeto his mother when he left India. This
did not negate his religious beliefs, itjust gave his vegetarianism a separate
identity. (photo: a young Gandhi in
1891)
In 1931 Gandhi returned to London, and while there gave
a talk for the London Vegetarian Society (photo left) .
During that talk he made it very clear that he would havepreferred to live without any use of animal products atall. (see: Gandhi - and the launching of veganism )80
During his student days in London Gandhi had
attended an International Vegetarian Congress,
and just before he returned home he said hehoped that such an event would be held in
India. Sadly that did not happen until nine
years after his death. The first IVU World
Vegetarian Congress to be held in India was in1957, and they have been held there several
times since then.
The photo right is a pioneer ‘Vegan Society ofIndia’ at that IVU Congress in 1957. It was
perhaps rather ahead of its time and doesn’t
seem to have lasted long, but it shows that thisis not a new idea in India.
There were more huge IVU Congresses inIndia, in 1967 – opened by the Dalai Lama,below, who was vegetarian at the time – and1977. All of there were organised by the
extraordinary Jayantilal Mankar on the right ofthe photo. He was a leader of the Bombay
Humanitarian League and took each of these
Congresses to what were then Bombay, Delhi,
Calcutta and Madras.
The Indian Vegetarian Congress, founded in
1959 and for most of its existence a very traditional lacto-vegetarian organization, now
states as one of its objectives: “The IVC will spread awareness of the benefits of soybeans and endeavour to distribute soy milk whenever possible.” – and they haverecently gone even further by co-opting Shankar Narayan, founder and President of the
Indian Vegan Society (IVS) onto their board.
Just four years ago this would have been hard to imagine, but things have beenchanging fast. In 2010 The Telegraph of India newspaper finally caught up with what ishappening and ran a story about the increase inveganism: ‘The temple priest was surprised. It's
not often that devotees refuse the curd-based
prasad - but here was Ritika Ramesh turning it
down. "I thought of the documentary on Indian
dairy farms that I had seen, and my resolve
doubled," says Ramesh, a 25-year-old assistantfilm director in Mumbai. Ramesh is a vegan.’
The last IVU World Veg Congress in India washeld in Goa in 2006, organised by the great
Jashu Shah who is sadly no longer with us. This
was at the end of his 18 years as IVU Regional
Coordinator, which included launching the Asian
Vegetarian Union in 1999.
In the top photo, right, Jashu is with Shankar
Narayan (on the right) who had just been
elected to the IVU International Council. The
lower photo is some of the excellent food being
served at the Congress – the first major event
ever held in India where all the food was vegan.

81
Shankar is the president of the Indian Vegan Society, which immediately puts him at
odds with some Hindu and Jain vegetarians who see milk and milk products as anintegral part of their religion. But it also sends a clear signal that future progress for thevegetarian movement cannot be entirely dependent upon religion.
Shankar follows Gandhi's principle of vegetarianism being important in its own right, andseeks to persuade more Indians to follow Gandhi in that decision, whether as lactovegetarian or vegan. Following his election Shankar agreed to take on the role of IVU
Regional Coordinator for India and West Asia (aka the Middle East).
In 2007 Shankar organized the first International Vegan Festival to be held in India, andby October 2010 we were able to meet with a substantial group of vegan activists, andwhat he calls ‘vegan sympathizers’ from all over India. Bangalore has its own local vegansociety and a vegan animal rights group. Perhaps it’s not surprising in a city with somany western computer companies that the young people there are adopting thesewestern ideas.
In October 2010 IVU supported a
Vegetarian Congress in Bangalore –completely vegan of course as it wasorganised by Shankar and IVS. The photoright is Mohan Santhanam and friends
providing some wonderful music duringthat Congress.
One of the older speakers told us that in
his youth his community used milk
products very sparingly, but today he isalarmed at the huge quantities being
consumed by his fellow Hindus. The dairy
industry is now just as industrialized andcommercialized as everywhere else, andthey use the same persuasive advertising.
For a cow to produce milk it must ofcourse become pregnant every year, andthe male 50% of the offspring areslaughtered in vast numbers as they areof no use to the industry – and all of thisin ‘the land of the sacred cow’, and in thename of ‘Ahimsa’ – non-violence – or ‘notconsuming the products of slaughter’.
Above right, outside a vegan organic
shop in Bangalore – myself, Marly
Winckler (IVU Coordinator for Latin
America) and Shankar, trying to spellout I-V-U…
In January 2012 the Indian Vegan
Society celebrated its 7th anniversary
with a gathering at it base in Karnataka.
One recent survey estimated an increase
from 2,000 to 20,000 vegans since
2006.
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82

Veg*ism in Africa[updated June 2012]

I was once asked "Why do Africans go vegetarian?" - it was an unexpected question but
the reply was simple enough: "For the same reason as everyone else, health, animals,
environment or religion, according to their personal priorities".
Though many Africans are also more aware than most of us that vegetarianism, andespecially veganism, can make a real difference to world hunger problems.
Many Africans of course do not have much choice, just finding anything at all to eat istheir priority. But most of us know that far more people could be fed directly on plantfood, than if it is processed through animals to provide meat. Add to that the fact that an
alarming proportion of the food that is grown in Africa is exported to the richer countries,
and we can begin to see the underlying problems.
The IVU Regional Co-ordinator for Africa is Emmanuel Eyoh, president of the Nigeria
Vegetarian Society (NVS), founded in 1993 and a member of IVU since it began.
In December 2007
Emmanuel organized
the first ever vegetariancongress in Africa - aWest African Congressin Lagos, Nigeria,
attended by many
people fromneighbouring countries
in the sub-region. IVU
launched a global
appeal for funds and wewere able to ensure thateveryone attending, andsome more local
homeless people, were
fed on entirely veganfood during the event.
In 2008 IVU launched anotherappeal to buy a computer for IVUAfrica - they are more expensive
there, and incomes are much
lower. Thanks to generous
donations from around the world
we were able to help Emmanuelwork from the small and simple
NVS office instead of having touse a local cybercafe. He sent thephoto right:
Emmanuel is actively involved inprograms to feed local homelesspeople, with veg food of course,
and the 'world hunger' chartbehind him shows his priorities
clearly enough.

83
In October 2009 the Vegetarian Society of Ghana hosted the 2nd West Africa VegetarianCongress in Accra, again with funds from an IVU appeal. As a part of this event theyarranged a march to the government health ministry, and then held their meetings in acity park (apparently very hot hence the umbrellas…), as always in IVU supported
events, all the food was completely vegan:

The next event supported by IVU was the 1st East Africa Congress, held in Nairobi,
Kenya in December 2010, I was able to go and help out a bit. Food distribution is an
important part of African events and the top left-left photo I was helping serve rice andbeans in one of the more deprived city areas, along with a children’s choir, the street
march and a pre-congress press conference:

84
At the end of October 2011 IVU was able to give further financial support to the
Vegetarian Week in Accra, Ghana, along with some help to veg friends fromneighbouring Togo and Nigeria to enable them attend.

The next plan is for a Congress/Vegfest in Lomé, the capital of French speaking Togo,
between Ghana and Nigeria. We hope friends from vegan societies in Ethiopia, South
Africa and veg friends from other countries will be able to join us in what could become
the first ever pan-Africa Veg event.
Then, if all goes well then the next major objective will be the first ever IVU World
Congress/Vegfest in Africa in 2014 – we have two possible countries interested in
hosting it, more details soon on that one.
For more about veg*ism in Africa go to: www.ivu.org/africa - where you can join the ivuafrica email group.

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85

Veg*ism in China
July 6, 2011 [updated May 30, 2012]

Westerners often seem to be surprised to hear that there are millions of vegetarians,
indeed vegans, in China, but this is nothing new. Way back in the 1880s the British andFrench Vegetarian Societies printed reports from Christian missionaries who were notthemselves vegetarian. However found they had to stop eating meat while they were in
China, because the Buddhists they met regarded the Christians as barbaric for eating
animals. They also reported on the habit of eating soy beans, unknown in the west atthat time, and how they made bean-curd which the French report called 'too-foo'.
Not all Buddhists are vegetarian, and both Buddhism and vegetarianism were
suppressed in the more extreme communist era. Today China has become much more
open and tolerant (though not completely so of course), with the result that we are now
able to meet with vegetarians there.
IVU has had contacts for many years with ethnic Chinese vegetarians in Hong Kong andSingapore, due to the British connections. But somehow we missed the significance of
Taiwan until fairly recently - and that country has the second highest concentration ofvegetarians of any country, after India, with more than 1,000 veg restaurants.
That lapse was corrected in 2007 when the Asian Vegetarian Union held its 3 rd Asian Veg
Congress near Kaohsiung, in the south of Taiwan. The event was attended by 7,500
vegetarians, many from across Asia, but most from Taiwan - some of them are in thephoto below.

Vegetarians in mainland China had always been more difficult to contact, but there too
we have made major progress in recent years. Our main contact for many years has
been our IVU Chinese webmaster in Beijing. He has been working on the site for about
12 years whilst local groups have come and gone. We had a group of 20 from China at
the 2006 IVU World Veg Congress, but then lost contact again, however it is now much
more stable and the 2007 veg congress in Taiwan helped with that.

86
Shortly after the Taiwan Congress the much-loved President of the Asian Vegetarian
Union, Jashu Shah from India, passed away, and the resulting re-shuffle saw the electionof Prof. Duo Li from Hangzhou, China, as Deputy-President, more about him below.
After the 4th Asian Veg Congress in Indonesia, November 2009, three of us made thefirst major visit by IVU to mainland China. We were invited to speak at a half-day
International Vegetarian Forum in Xiamen (on the coast opposite Taiwan), part of a hugevegetarian trade fair and Buddhist Craft Fair. We also had an excellent IVU stall in the
trade fair.
I was given the honour of being the first speaker at the first ever international veg event
in China. The photo below is from that event, l-r: Dr. Susianto Tseng, IVU Asia-Pacific
Coordinator, from Indonesia, myself, our local host ‘Sandra’ from Xiamen and SongMau
Lee from the Singapore VegSoc:

Prof. Li offered to host the
5th Asian Veg Congress in
his home city ofHangzhou, for November
2011 – the first Veg
Congress to be held in
China. The photo right isfrom a press conference
held in Malaysia in early2011 to promote thecongress – Prof. Li is 2nd
left, with representatives
from Malaysia, Thailand
and Indonesia:

87

Meanwhile, the 2nd Xiamen Veg Fair was held in November 2010, and I was able to put
the organizers in contact with Prof. Li in Hangzhou. He was the principal speaker alongwith others from Taiwan and Singapore. Below is Prof. Li addressing the 2010 Forum:

On November 8/9, 2011 the first ever Veg Congress in China was organized by Prof. Duo
Li in Hangzhou, and was a huge success. For more detailed reports see the reports below
at: The First Ever Veg Congress in China - and - The China Congress - withpictures
Below left: multi-national IVU breakfast in Hangzhou – l-r: Dr. George Jacobs(Singapore, IVU News editor and former chair of council), myself, Dr. Susianto Tseng(Indonesia, IVU Asia-Pacific Co-ordinator), Marly Winkler (Brazil, IVU Latin America
Coordinator and now Chair of Council); and right, me getting on Chinese TV.

Since that first Xiamen forum we have been in contact with more veg trade fairs,
businesses, forums, and local groups in several of the major cities in China, including theShanghai Veggie Club which became a full member of IVU while we were in Hangzhou.
Wherever possible IVU will be represented at future events in order to continue topromote East-West dialogue and mutual support.
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88

Veg*ism in the Middle East
December 22, 2010

Only a few of years ago the title of this blog would have seemed a contradiction, as we
didn't know any veg*ns in the Middle East other than our friends in Israel. That has allchanged now.
The earliest reference we have in the IVU
records is for a visit by the General Secretary
to Israel in 1953 and over the next decade
there were mentions of at least two veg
groups there that were members of IVU. On
the right of the photo is Mr. Philip Pick, later
founder and first president of theInternational Jewish Vegetarian Society, withthe (Christian) President and General
Secretary of IVU in 1955.
In the 1960s we have a mention of avegetarian group in Iran, and an attempt tohold a veg congress in Israel, but all
inevitably caught up in the political problemsof the region.
By the mid 1970s IVU had a system ofRegional Secretaries for various parts of the world. Philip Pick (in the photo above), wasappointed for the Middle East - despite the fact that both he and IJVS were, at that time,
based in London. Mr. Pick remained in the role until he died, age 83, in 1993.
Meanwhile, in 1990, there was another small Veg Congress in Israel, and another Israeli
regional secretary for the Middle East was appointed, but by 1996 the IVU leaders seemto have finally realised that sadly Israel was never going to be a base for launchingveg*ism across the region and the role lapsed.
The Middle East was merged into the rest of IVU Asia for ten years, thenin 2006 we found a remarkable new coordinator for India & SW Asia
(ISWA) in Shankar Narayan, president of the Indian Vegan Society.
Shankar had worked in Dubai for many years, so he was very familiar
with that part of his region.
Meanwhile Dan Arbel joined the IVU Council
for a few years, as president of theInternational Jewish Vegetarian Society now
based in Jerusalem [right, Dan with a Spanish
friend at the 2006 IVU Congress in Goa,
India]. In 2006 the Vegetarian Union of Iranalso joined IVU though contact has since beensomewhat sporadic. Dan said he managed tokeep in contact with some veg friends in Iran,though inevitably they had to keep theircommunications rather low profile.
Our real breakthrough came in August 2008. Following the IVU Congress in Germany,
Shankar stopped off in Dubai on his way home to India - on this visit he met up with
Sandhya Prakash who had just begun to promote veg*ism there with a Middle East Veg
Festival earlier that year. Sandhya was originally from India, but has been living in Saudi

89
Arabia and Dubai for many years, often travelling to other parts of the region on
business, and very much at home in the Arab/Muslim world.
Shankar initially supported Sandhya by encouraging the IVU Council to agree a definitionof 'Halal Vegetarian' for the IVU website. Halal simply means 'pure' and applies to a lot
more than just the halal meat which attracts attention in the west. Now on the IVU
website as: "a person or product complying with the generally accepted definitions ofboth Halal and Vegetarian."
In 2009 some more of us met Sandhya in Indonesia - and immediately realised that
Shankar had found someone very special. She was soon co-opted to the IVU Council as
our representative in SW Asia (Middle East). Below: Sandhya's talk on 'Arabian Flavor' inmostly-Muslim Indonesia:

Sandhya is the leader of an informal group called MEVEG (Middle East Veg Group - orjust 'me vegetarian') - the group set up a stand in December 2009 at MENOPE (Middle
East Natural Organic Product Expo) in Dubai [photo below left]. Apparently businesses
there are now referring to the 'MENA' region (Middle East & North Africa, having obvious
common cultural links) - the photo below right is Sandhya at the Middle East Network for
Animal Welfare (MENAW) Conference in Cairo, Egypt in March 2010:

In October 2010 the Middle East connection
was strengthened when Arash Rashidi from
Iran gave a talk at the IVU Congress in
Jakarta, Indonesia, and unexpectedly foundfive young men from Afghanistan in his front
row [photo right]. They were all students in
Jakarta, but now planning the first Afghan
VegSoc when they get home.
The culmination of all this came in December
2010 - at the first ever Middle East Veg

90Congress, again within MENOPE, at the Dubai International Convention Centre. This wasa huge success, bringing individuals together from across the region, including Arashfrom Iran again, and generating a lot of publicity across the media.
Below: Sandhya (on left of top left photo) giving an interview at a Dubai radio station
during the congress; the Palestinian Farmers' stand at the adjacent organic expo; andShankar Narayan giving a masterful lecture on the concept of 'Indian Vegan' - manyvegans in the west could learn a lot from this.

Thanks to Sandhya and her team we are now
seeing veg activities in the Middle East thatwere unimaginable only a few of years ago. In
2011 they organised a 2nd Meveg Congress forthe region (photo right), and there will be a 3rd
Meveg Congress in December 2012.
We’re also expecting an important visitor from
Iran to the Health Expo, as part of the IVU
Congress, in Los Angeles in October.
The talk now is about holding the first ever
IVU World Congress/Vegfest in the Middle East, with Dubai being the obvious location –watch this space…. There are Israeli businesses in Dubai, so we hope to have the wholeof the Middle East represented. The Middle East peace process might even be a little
smoother if vegetarians were running it, we just all want to be friends.
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91

Veg*ism in Australia
December 5, 2012

Some of those going to the 41st IVU World Vegfest in Malaysia, 2013, will have family
and friends in Australia, and it’s very easy to get to from Kuala Lumpur, so you might
like to go on down see them afterwards. There are also a lot of veg events there in late
October, or maybe you just want to see some of this great country.
Back in October 2010, I did all of the above, met up with some long lost cousins, andgave a couple of talks to some veg groups (self-funded, not paid for by IVU!)
Before leaving I was looking through some stats for the IVU website, which showed an
unexpectedly high number of visitors from Australia. When I broke it down into the cities
that were sending the most visits to ivu.org it showed that four of the top ten were inAustralia. So there were clearly a lot of people down under finding something useful on
the website, but we needed to improve our contact with them.
My general impression, as an outsider, was of several vegetarian societies around
Australia which had been operating for many years, but some were now just ‘ticking
over’. The more dynamic action seemed to be coming from the vegans, both groups andindividuals, and I wanted to find out more about them.
I had a week of meeting veg groups in Sydney and Canberra, giving talks in each city,
but first I was invited to a vegan party, over a pub in Sydney. I went with Mark
Berriman, President Australian Vegetarian Society (www.veg-soc.org), who had kindly
accommodated me during my stay there, and I met up with a lot of other great people.
These included Greg McFarlane, President, NSW VeganSoc (www.vegansocietynsw.com) –the two societies have frequent joint gatherings which is great to see happening as we’re
all on the same path. Also Katrina Fox, vegan journalist (www.katrinafox.com), Aaron
Scheibner, vegan film-maker (www.adelicatebalance.com.au), and so many more that it’sdifficult to remember them all. One common link was the excellent Vegan Voicemagazine, sadly now gone, but replaced by ‘Living Vegan’ – (www.livingvegan.com.au)
The next evening I gave a talk, followed by some lively discussion, organised by Greg ina yoga centre with most people sitting on the floor. This was the one about how the firstvegetarians were actually completely vegan.

92
At the vegan party I had briefly met Sundara DeSilva, but we met up again a few days
later in Canberra where he was setting up the projector for mytalk on ‘Veg*ism from a World Perspective’ for the ACT(Canberra) vegsoc (www.vegetariansociety.org.au) – this one ina co-operative food store, they do seem to like unusual venues.
That gave us more time to get to know each other, and I
realised that Sundara could be just the guy we needed to help
IVU keep in touch with what was happening in the region. A
couple of days later we met again, with a group of others, at
the AuLac Chinese vegan restaurant in Canberra, and I
persuaded the IVU Council to co-opt him as soon as I got home.
(that’s him on the right, with some friends).
Canberra has something of a track record in helping IVU – ourfirst Facebook group was set up by Edgar Crook, author of theHistory of Vegetarianism in Australia (www.ivu.org/history/australia); and we were put
on Twitter by long-time IVU Patron, Andrew Freeman. I had the pleasure of meetingthem both.
Sundara is, in my experience, unusual among Oz veg*ns in taking an equal interest in
veg events all over the country. It is difficult for others as the big cities are separated byvast expanses of emptiness, and it’s just as easy these days for someone in Melbourne
to communicate with London or New York as it is with Sydney.
But in Sundara we have someone who travels around the country a lot on his IT businessinterests, and has made a point of getting to know veg activists everywhere he goes,and makes a lot of use of the internet to bring people together in many ways. The mostsuccessful recently being his ‘Vegans in Australia’ facebook group:
www.facebook.com/groups/VegansInAustralia . A couple of months back Sundara was
finally able to meet other members of the IVU Council in California, and brought a greatbunch of other Aussies with him.
So if you want to visit Australia after the Vegfest in Malaysia, we’re putting together apage on the website with some travel info, and we’re compiling a list of all the lateOctober veg events (www.worldvegfest.org). You can even have your ‘photo by thebridge’ – just like San Francisco…. Here’s mine from the ferry:back to top

93Latin America leads the Veg World
December 7, 2011

For the first time in its 103 year history, the International Vegetarian Union has a Latin
American Chairperson - or chairman, chairwoman, or just chair, as you prefer: Marly
Winckler from Brazil. In Portuguese these all translate as ‘Presidente’, though IVU
doesn’t actually have a ‘President’ in the English version, not that it really makes muchdifference.
Marly is first known to have attended an IVU World Vegetarian Congress way back in
1994 in the Netherlands, we have some photos, but I won’t embarrass her with those.
Later in the 1990s Marly started an email group – veg-latina –which was the first time vegetarians and vegans in the Spanish
and Portuguese speaking world had been brought together online(that still continues today as ivu-latina with hundreds ofsubscribers). It was around that time that I got know Marly online,
and in 2000 the IVU Council accepted my suggestion to appoint
her as IVU Regional Coordinator for Latin America.
We finally met in person at 2002 IVU Congress in Edinburgh,
Scotland. I took the photo on the right there. The following year
Marly and some friends were in the process of forming Sociedade
Vegetariana Brasileira (SVB) – the Brazil Vegetarian Society. The
2004 IVU Congress had run into problems (as they often do…) andI asked Marly if they could do it in Brazil. It was a huge leap in thedark, there had never been a World Veg Congress in Latin
America, and we had no idea whether they could do it, they didn’t know either, but they
were willing to pull out all the stops and give it a go.
IVU gave SVB a grant to help get the Society up and running, so that they could thenorganise the Congress, and they promptly elected Marly as SVB President and put her incharge of it all. The end result, in November 2004, was arguably the best Congress anyof us had ever been to. It was held on a beach resort with all the usual talks, lectures,workshops, etc., plus some great Brazilian style entertainment, and the added highlightof a huge cruelty-free fashion show, with hundreds more people coming in by bus to join
us for that. Marly got her own touch of fashion when a friend from Japan gave her a
Kimono, and of course insisted she try it on:

94
That first Latin American Congress kick-started a whole range of activities across theregion. Since then we’ve had Regional Congresses, several National Congresses in Brazil
and Argentina, and a variety of other events in Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, and more. We
also got to know Manuel Marti, President of UVA - Unión Vegetariana Argentina, and hehas also now joined the IVU International Council.
In 2009 Marly was the main organiser for the 12th International Vegan Festival, held in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The most noticeable aspect of these Latin American events was
the large numbers of young people turning up - we had seen too many events elsewherein the past that looked like they could literally all die out before too much longer, so thishas been a real
breath of fresh air.
Right is the big group
photo from that 2009vegan festival –considering the hightravel costs for the
rest of the world to
get to Rio, this wasan impressive
attendance:
One of the recent achievements from SVB has been to persuade all the city run schools
in Sao Paulo to adopt ‘Segunda Sem Carne’ (Meat Free
Mondays) – so now all 3,000 schools are serving 2 million
meatless meals every week.
A few weeks ago the Asian Vegetarian Union held their 5th
Congress in Hangzhou, China (completely vegan asalways these days) – that was the first ever veg congressin that country, and Marly was there too. It’s a long way
from Brazil, she had to fly via Frankfurt in Germany, but made the most of her trip byvisiting more veg friends and IVU supporters in Beijing and Tokyo.
George Jacobs, President of the Singapore Vegetarian Society, had been Chair of the IVU
Council for the last three years. He was an excellent chairman who I appreciated working
with very much, but he had always said he only wanted one term in office, and had
already extended that.
Shortly after we all
returned from China,
George proposed Marly as
his successor. The IVU
Council expressed its
strong gratitude toGeorge, then unanimously
supported his proposal byelecting Marly as the newchair.
Right is Marly at theCongress in China, withsome of our great friends
who are making such an
impact in East Asia.
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95

The Vegfest Phenomena
August 9, 2011 (updated June 2012)

Before the 1980s it was all more serious – vegetarians and vegans had congresses andconferences. Then it all began to change:
1981 – International Vegan Festival – started in Denmark. In the smaller European
countries you don’t have to go far to be‘international’.
The idea seems to have arisen from music and otherarts festivals which go back a very long way in Europe. We have a record from 1948 that
the German Vegetarian Union held what was formally called a ‘Vegetarian Week’,featuring a high proportion of music, literature and art – and they informally referred toit as a ‘festival’.
There was a similar tendency in British and American vegetarians, as far back as the 19 th
century, to refer to an event informally as a ‘festival’, though the official title was always
a more formal conference or congress.
1985 – Toronto Vegetarian Food Fair – this seems to have been the first of this kind of
event, more recently renamed as a Festival, joining the trend.
By the mid 1980s – the North American VegetarianSociety had been running an annual North American
Vegetarian Congress for ten years, then they renamed itas the ‘Vegetarian Summerfest’ – subtitled ‘Annual
Conference of the North American Vegetarian Society’. It was almost certainly theAmericans who began the general word shortening process.
In the age of the keyboard, and more recently the mobile phone keypad, it took too longto write all those formal titles. So these vegetarian and vegan festivals became Veg Fest,then VegFest, the just a new single word: Vegfest.
This doesn’t seem to have made it into any ofthe bigger dictionaries yet, though Wikipedia
has a Vegfest page and some online dictionaries
are beginning to absorb that.
We have a definite record of a Washington DC VegFest in 1997, it would interesting toknow about any earlier uses of the name.
I found below some vegetarian/vegan festivals around the world, with a lot of variationsin the official titles, but many of them known
locally as ‘the vegfest’ – how long before that
becomes a standard?
Meanwhile IVU now has a series of World
Vegfests rotating around the world, especially indeveloping countries, partly in the hope that
where we help to launch the idea it might
continue as an annual event in the same place.
This year, 2012, we’re in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; 2013 in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia; 2014 in Africa; 2015 South America; 2016 India or the Middle East;
2017 Europe – often combining with local events.

96
Some current variations of local annual Vegfests – the logos on this page are borrowed
from many of them. No doubt there are a lot more that I’ve missed:
Australia
Adelaide Vegan Festival
Melbourne World Vegan Day Festival
Sydney Cruelty Free Festival
CanadaOttawa Veg FestToronto Vegetarian Food Festival
Veg Fest Vancouver
FranceParis Vegan Day Festival
FinlandTampere Vegfest
Japan

Tokyo Vegefesta
Kyoto Vegetarian Festival
Nagoya Vegefes
ThailandPhuket Vegetarian Festival
UK
Brighton Vegfest
Bristol Vegfest
Cardiff Vegetarian Festival
East Midlands Vegan Festival
London Vegan Festival
Manchester Vegan and Vegetarian Festival
West Midlands Vegan Festival
USA
Asheville Vegfest (NC)
Bethlehem VegFest (PA)Boston Vegetarian Food Festival
Central Florida Veg FestDC VegFest
Denver VegFest
Indy Veg Fest (Indianapolis)Michigan VegFest
New Orleans Vegan Food Festival
North East Florida Veg Fest
Northwest VegFest (OR)NYC VegFest
Richmond Vegetarian Festival (VA)
San Francisco World Veg Festival (CA)
VegFest Houston (TX)
Worcester VegFest (MA)Washington Vegfest (Seattle)
Vegfest (redirects to VegNews magazine)
World : International Vegan Festival (biennial since 1981)
The Chair of the IVU International Council, Marly Winckler, writes: “We have in Brasil
since 2008 a kind of Vegfest - we call it Salao Vegetariano, and we have many smaller
Vegfests in different cities organized by SVB (Brazil VegSoc) Groups and we are planning
now a big annual Vegfest - with this very name. This is the trend.”
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97

A New Dawn for European Veg*ism?
July 25, 2012

The European Vegetarian Union held its AGM last Sunday, and elected a new board
which could bring in major changes on a scale never previously seen in the veg world.
The key is the election of four professional CEOs/Directors of the four biggest Eurovegetarian societies – if they are able to persuade their own boards to contribute someof their staff time, and other resources, to a joint European project then we have thebeginnings of a radically different EVU. The new President, Francesco Maurelli, Italianliving in the UK, is fully behind the ‘big four’ to revolutionize how everything operates.
He is from the Esperantist Vegetarians (TEVA), which helped to found IVU back in 1908.
The big four societies also go back a long way – three of them, from Britain, Germany
and the Netherlands - were co-founders of IVU back in 1908. The fourth, in Belgium, isthe successor to an earlier Belgian Society that joined the other three in promoting all
the early IVU World Veg Congresses, before the First World War interrupted things for awhile: 1908 Dresden, 1909 Manchester, 1910 Brussels, 1913 The Hague.
For its first 50 years IVU remained almost entirely European, then it gradually spread out
to other parts of the world. This resulted in Regional Secretaries for the rest of theworld, assisting the General Secretary who was always in Europe.
It was not until the mid-1970s that a distinct European Regional Secretary wasappointed and this immediately led to discussions about forming a Regional Committee
for Europe, but the first attempts were repeatedly delayed by airline strikes.
In 1979 Christopher Fettes, from Ireland, another leader of the Esperantist Vegetarians,
was appointed as the European Regional Secretary. In 1980 he finally put together the
first meeting of the leaders of the European Vegetarian Societies, held in Luxembourg –though inevitably all from just western Europe at that time.

In 1982 a new IVU constitution promoted the idea of Regional Committees organising
Regional Congresses in the years between the World Congresses. Europe was the first to
take up the idea, but their first attempted Euro Congress, in Italy 1983, didn’t work out.
They did succeed in 1985 with the first European Vegetarian Congress held in Cervia,
Italy. The records show it as coordinated by the ‘European Regional Council of the IVU’ – with

Jaqueline Andre of Belgium now as the Regional Secretary.
The first informal mention of the name ‘European Vegetarian Union’ came in 1986 but it
was still not used for the 2nd Euro Veg Congress in Ostend, Belgium in 1987. During thatevent, Rob Snijders of the Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond became the Regional Secretary.
Then, on April 5, 1988, EVU was legally registered in the Netherlands.
Two more Congresses followed - 1989 3rd Congress in Strasbourg, France and 1991 4th
Congress in Chester, UK. The next would have been in 1993, but that was skipped as the
IVU World Veg Congress was in the Netherlands in 1994.
My personal involvement began in the spring of 1995, when I worked with Rob in
Amsterdam to create the first EVU website. Naturally I didn’t need to go to Amsterdam,by this time email was already becoming routine for a few of us.
At the 5th Euro Veg Congress in Bratislava, Slovakia, 1995, Sigrid De Leo, from
Switzerland, was appointed as EVU General Secretary. She immediately made her markby producing an excellent quarterly magazine, assisted by Renato Pichler who did thelayout. He also sent the whole of each issue to me for converting to the format of theprimitive website.

98
EVU took a major step in 1997, at the 6th Euro Veg Congress in Bussolengo, Italy – byvoting to become a fully independent organization, instead of a sub-group of IVU.
The 7th Euro Congress, in Widnau, Switzerland, turned out to be the last EVU Congress many of us would really like to see them return as they played a valuable role in bringing
people together. The photo below is from that 1999 Swiss Congress:

The other significant development of the late 1990s was the
EVU ‘V-label’ – as in the graphic on the right. This was
registered in 16 European countries, and licensed to foodproducers to show that their products were approved by EVU as
suitable for vegetarians.
The British, of course, did their usual opt-out of European
affairs, and continued using their own V symbol, which had
already been running very successfully for some years. It iseven more successful these days, and it remains to be seen if
any degree of future integration is possible.
The Italians organized an independent Euro Veg Congress in
2005, to celebrate 20 years since their first one.
In 2006 EVU started ‘EVU Talks’ with the first being held inGermany in 2006. These were much smaller than theCongresses, just a couple of days, with primarily group leaders
attending. Further talks followed annually, with subsequent
years in Austria, Switzerland and Croatia.
In 2008, at the IVU Congress in Dresden Germany, we finallyresolved the old IVU/EVU problem left by EVU’s independence
eleven years earlier. During that time European Veg Societies
had to decide whether to join EVU, or IVU, or both – and if both they had to pay twice.
The new agreement simply allowed for free membership of IVU to any group which
joined EVU – buy one get one free!
The new 2012 EVU board now has the potential to transform it into a professionalorganization, capable of launching Europe-wide initiatives, backed up by real resources.
The ‘big four’ societies could lead the way into a vision that their predecessors could only
dream of, way back in 1908. We look forward to more at: www.euroveg.eu

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99

The Vegan Food in Vegetarian Paradise
December 12, 2012

While we were in Los Angeles recently, Hazel and I were privileged to stay at the homeof our friends Zel and Reuben Allen. Zel has been writing great vegan cookbooks formany years, and between them they run the website ‘Vegetarians in Paradise’. The site
is a combination of local LA info, general veg news, and of course Zel’s great food – aswith most vegetarian organizations and websites in North America these days, it only
promotes foods entirely derived from plants (ie suitable for vegans).
Zel and Reuben invited me to contribute an article based on the talk I gave at the
Vegsource Healthy Lifestyle Expo in LA, part of the 40th IVU World Vegfest. That is now
on vegparadise.org – and begins:
This website is called "Vegetarians in
Paradise," and I do hope that Zel andReuben keep it like that, and do notchange it to "Vegans in Paradise" -- but toexplain that I have to go back about 170
years.
To read the full article, go to:www.vegparadise.com/otherbirds.html
Below: at the Vegsource Healthy Lifestyle
Expo - me doing my bit on vegan history Hazel and Zel looking shocked at someone
not wearing yellow - and Reuben keeping
warm against the hotel air-con. LA must be the only place on earth where you have to
wrap up warm to go indoors.... and Zel's latest great cookbook at the bottom.

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100

IVU Vegfest/Congress - coming near you soon . .
August 30, 2011

The formal name will take a while to evolve, but the IVU International Council has justmade an historic decision about our major event.
The International Vegetarian Union began at a Congress in 1908, in Dresden, Germany,and for about the next 50 years held an ‘International Vegetarian Congress’ which
settled into a routine of every three years, apart from the war years as these were
nearly all in Europe. The photo above is that first Congress, all 22 of them, in 1908.
1 - 1908 Dresden, Germany
2 - 1909 Manchester, England3 - 1910 Brussels, Belgium
4 - 1913 The Hague, The Netherlands
5 - 1923 Stockholm, Sweden
6 - 1926 London, England
7 - 1929 Steinschönau, Czechoslovakia
8 - 1932 Berlin/Hamburg, Germany
9 - 1935 Daugaard, Denmark
10 - 1938 Hurdals Verk, Norway
11 - 1947 Stonehouse, England
12 - 1950 Oosterbeck, The Netherlands
13 - 1953 Sigtuna, Sweden
14 - 1955 Paris, France
15 - 1957 Delhi/Bombay/Madras, India
16 - 1960 Hannover/Hamburg, Germany
The Congresses began to spread beyond Europe – so the name changed to ‘World
Vegetarian Congress’ and increased to every two years for about the next 50 years.
The Congress visited more parts of the world, right up to the centenary, back in Dresdenin 2008.
17 - 1963 Barcelona, Spain
18 - 1965 Swanwick, England
19 - 1967 Delhi/Bombay/Madras, India
20 - 1969 Jerusalem, Israel
21 - 1971 The Hague, The Netherlands
22 - 1973 Ronneby Brunn, Sweden
23 - 1975 Maine, USA
24 - 1977 Delhi / Bombay / Calcutta / Madras, India
25 - 1979 Loughborough, England
26 - 1982 Neu-Ulm, Germany
27 - 1984 Baltimore, USA
28 - 1986 Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
29 - 1990 Tel Aviv, Israel
30 - 1993 Madras, India
31 - 1994 The Hague, The Netherlands
32 - 1996 Johnstown, PA, USA
33 - 1999 Chiang Mai, Thailand
34 - 2000 Toronto, Canada
35 - 2002 Edinburgh, Scotland
36 - 2004 Florianópolis, Brazil
37 - 2006 Goa, India
38 - 2008 Dresden, Germany – right:
it was a lot bigger back in Dresden 100
years later . . .

101. . . and the food at all Congresses has been completely vegan since the mid 1990s sothat everyone can eat together in total harmony.
In 2010 we held what was still called the 39th Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia, except it
wasn’t a traditional congress as the formal representative/delegate meetings had been
moved online over the previous two years.
In reality Jakarta was much more like a Vegfest – with a huge food fair as well as lots ofhigh quality speakers, entertainment, and all kinds of other things going on - with about
5,000 people visiting thefood fair, and hundreds
attending the lectures.
Right: some of thecrowds in a small cornerof the Jakarta 2010 allvegan Food Fair:
So . . . the IVU Council
has now taken the
major decision to move ahead into the next 50 years – there will now be an event every
year – and the name will change again. It will combine aspects of Congresses, such as
just gathering everyone together (there are always informal meetings going on) and lotsof great speakers – and aspects of Vegfests, like the food fairs and entertainment. A lotof these things overlap anyway and there is often not much difference between events
called conference, congress, expo, festival or just fest.
The annual event will rotate
around the six IVU regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, India
and SW Asia, Latin America andNorth America. So each region
will host this major event every
six years instead of the previous
twelve years.
. . . and before anyone says‘that’s twice as much toorganize’, there were actuallynine international veg events in2010 alone, eight of them run by IVU member organizations, so we’re already doing far
more than this anyway.
We want to move away from the idea of encouraging people from all around the world tomeet in one place – instead the annual event will move around and now you won’t haveto wait so long before there’s one near you.
The primary focus will be on bringing together people in neighbouring countries, andreaching out to the local community. But of course everyone will be welcome to all ofthem, and it is always great to meet people from the other side of the world – everyone
will just have to balance their own conscience about the carbon emissions of long haul
flights.
Beyond 2012 it could be different depending on the events . . .
More about IVU at : www.ivu.org
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102

East Meets West and West Eats Meat - Veg*ism
and Music
Updated September 19, 2012

As a musician myself, I had often noticed that there seemed to be a lot of other veg
musicians around. So a couple of years ago I did some historical research and put theresults online. I called it 'East Meets West and West Eats Meat' which is borrowed from a1969 Indo-Jazz album featuring Indian sitar-player Ravi Shankar and some American
jazz musicians.
No doubt there have been countless Indian veg musicians for centuries, but it's not easy
for me to find individual names before Ravi Shankar became famous in the west. If any
Indians reading this can help then do get in touch.
Meanwhile our trail begins with European classical music in the
19th century, and the first name that comes up is theinevitably controversial Richard Wagner. Before anyone hits
the comments button with the usual hysteria, please read thearticle about him on ivu.org - just click on his name from thepage linked below. It shows that he was never vegetarianhimself, but a lot of other musicians were because he said
they should be... Whatever conclusions you come to, we can't
just ignore him in this historical survey.
On the website I've tried to look at the connections between
all these people - who knew who, and how they influenced
each other. Later classical composers and musicians were
influenced towards veg*ism by Theosophy and easternreligions, along with all the usual reasons we have today.
(photo top right is American composer Philip Glass)
The second section deals with Jazz musicians - Texas in 1949
seems an unlikely place for a long-haired African-American
vegetarian, but that's where Ornette Coleman came in, age
19. Many more 'modern' jazz veg*ns soon followed, reachinga peak in the 1960s, after which it gets increasingly difficult
to separate all the musical genres, with a lot of fusions goingon. (photo right: Ornette Coleman)
The third group is blues, country, rock, pop etc. - we cantrace veg*ism among those musicians back to 1940s USA as
well, but most of the early veg rock musicians were in
England. Very soon there were huge numbers of them onboth sides of the Atlantic. The biggest problem with thisgroup is their inconsistency, many were veg*n at some point
but didn't always stick to it for long. (photo right: George
Harrison)This is meant to be a historical survey, it doesn't deal muchwith current pop/rock stars as they come and go much too
frequently - you can find plenty of those on many websites.
To read all the details go to:www.ivu.org/history/music.html
More below about one musician below - Cecil Sharp - veg
folk hero:103
One of the biggest problems in researching vegetarian history is that biographies are too
often written by meat-eaters. Probably the worst example in recent years was the movie'Gandhi' which won 8 Oscars in 1983 - in the entire 3 hour epic was there was not eventhe slightest hint of Gandhi's vegetarianism. Despite him stating many times that hisreverence for *all* life was of central importance in everything he did.
Cecil Sharp (1859-1924) is not as famous as Gandhi ofcourse, but still suffered the same treatment. The original
biography, written by his friend of 22 years in 1933, justabout managed to mention his vegetarianism twice. The
revised edition, re-written by his former assistant in 1967, left
out one of those - making it look like his vegetarianism wasmerely an inconvenient necessity for his health. The commentthat was deleted stated quite clearly that he was 'vegetarianby conviction' - which makes far more sense when we see
what else he was involved in.
So who was Cecil Sharp? If you've ever heard folk
music on either side of the Atlantic, then you'll
have heard the results of his work. In the earlyyears of the 20th century he travelled throughmany villages and small communities, in both
England and the American Appalachian
mountains, collecting traditional folk songs anddances, just in time before they died out. (thesign below right is in Hot Springs, North Carolina)
The tunes he collected initially inspired many
classical composers to write pieces based onthem. But they also inspired a generation of folk singers, culminating in the likes of Bob
Dylan and Joan Baez in the folk boom of the 1960s. Without Cecil Sharp that might
never have happened, and today the English Folk Dance and Song Society is still basedat Cecil Sharp House in London.
Sharp was probably vegetarian from his university days, and remained 'vegetarian byconviction' until he died. The earliest influence probably came from Richard Wagner's
promotion of veg*ism, and Sharp later gave two of his children the middle names of
Tristan and Isolde - from one of Wagner's operas.
Then he became friends with George Bernard Shaw, probably the most famousvegetarian of the day, and he was also close to other vegetarian musicians like Percy
Grainger and Gustav Holst. Sharp was involved with Theosophy, the Fabian Society andmany other pro-veg oranizations - it was clearly a central part of his life and influenced
everything he did. Not that you would get any idea of that from reading the biography.
Right (l-r): George Bernard Shaw (Irish dramatist & music critic), Percy Grainger(Australian composer), Gustav Holst(British, Swedish parents, composer) all vegetarian, living in London andpersonal friends of Cecil Sharp.
For a much more detailed account of
Cecil Sharp's vegetarianism see the
newly expanded page at:www.ivu.org/people/music/sharp.html
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104

The Beatles and IVU
October 12, 2011

A story of convergence between a pop group and the International Vegetarian Union . . .
1957
July 6 - the centre of Woolton village has changed little
since the day when John Lennon, 16 going on 17, and Paul
McCartney, 15, met at the church fete. They had probably
never heard of vegetarianism, let alone thought anything
about it.
November 9 – the 15th IVU World Veg Congress was held in
India, organised by a remarkable man named Jay Mankar(more about him below). One of the speakers was the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (photo right from 1973, more about
him below too).
1960
August 17 - the Beatles arrived in Hamburg, Germany, very
early in the morning to begin a few months of clubsessions.
August 26-28 – the 16th IVU World Veg Congress arrived in Hamburg after a few days in
Hanover. It was probably in a rather more upmarket part of town than the infamous redlight district where the Beatles were stillplaying. Jay Mankar was at thisCongress too (more about him below).
1962 – November – Little Richard had
mostly retired from rock and roll in 1957
to become a vegetarian Seventh Day
Adventist Minister. He made one of his
occasional returns at the Star Club in
Hamburg, where the still little known
Beatles were also on the bill. This was
possibly their first encounter withvegetarianism, and from one of theirmusical heroes. (the photo right is from1963 when they were becoming famous)
Little Richard has remained vegetarian.
1965 - April – George Harrison began todevelop an interest in Indian music andculture while they were filming Help! in the
Bahamas. Later that year George first used asitar on Norwegian Wood, on the Rubber Soul
album. Below: with Ravi Shankar in 1967.
1967
August 24 – all four Beatles met the Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi in London. They planned to go to
his ashram at Rishikesh, near Delhi, in
October/November, but Paul wanted to finish
filming the Magical Mystery Tour so their trip
was delayed to the following February.

105
November 18 – the 19th IVU World Veg Congress arrived in New Delhi, India, and was
opened by the Dalai Lama (photo below - he was vegetarian for about 18 months at thattime, but on and off ever since). This was again organised by Jay Mankar (on the right ofthe photo). Not many records from this Congress have survived, so we don’t knowwhether the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was present again, but it is quite possible. It wasexactly the time when the Beatles originally planned to be at nearby Rishikesh – if they
had kept to that plan the IVU Congress might have had even more illustrious visitors . . .

1968
Mid-February - the Beatles arrived
in Rishikesh, via Delhi.
from The British Vegetarian,
May/June 1968: Hard Days Yoga
- Even The Times (19.2.68)
condescended to reporting that the
Beatles had a vegetarian diet while
meditating with their Maharishi in
Rishikesh. (photo right)
Later that year we have reportsthat Paul & Jane Asher were still
veggie back in Scotland but thensplit up and both seem to have drifted back to meat-eating. George remained consistentfor the rest of his life, John seems to have drifted in and out of various diets, and Ringo
eventually returned to veg*ism permanently.
1973 – George donated Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Hertfordshire, to the vegetarian Hare
Krishna movement.
1970s - Paul & Linda became vegetarian together at some point in the 70s, though
there seem to be different accounts of exactly how or when.

106
1977 - Jay Mankar (left) died, age 82, just before yet anotherhuge IVU Congress he was organising in India. The Mankar
Memorial Award was created, to be given for services to the veg
movement.
1989 - Linda's firstvegetarian cookbook,cover right.
1991 - Linda's
vegetarian food range introduced in the UK.
1995 - Paul and Linda became Patrons of the
Vegetarian Society UK, one of the founder
members of IVU way back in 1908.
In an interview, Paul said, ""We all turned out
to be veggie. Ringo's walking around with, like,a bag of seeds, so healthy".
1999 – the Mankar Memorial Award was given
posthumously to Linda, who had died the year
before. In December some IVU leaders met
Paul in London where he accepted the award
on Linda’s behalf:
Left to right:- Sir Paul McCartney- Tina Fox, then CEO of
The Vegetarian Society
UK, IVU membershipsecretary, and later
chair of the IVU council.
- Francisco Martin,
President on the
Spanish Vegan Society,and then IVU General
Secretary.
- the late Maxwell Lee,
Chair of the IVU Council
and President of VSUK.
2002 – the 35th IVU
World Veg Congress was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. Paul made a personal donation tofund delegates from developing countries in attending. It was used to bring some Africanveg group leaders to the Congress.
Paul and Linda’s daughters, Stella and Mary, took their mother’ splace as Patrons of the
Vegetarian Society UK, and in recent years Paul has been actively promoting veg*ism,
especially through his ‘Meat-free Mondays’ campaign.
It would have been hard to imagine all that back in 1957.

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107

IVU and the NAVS Summerfest
June 29, 2011

How the Summerfest was founded by the President of the American Vegan Society, andeventually became completely vegan.
Way back in 1975 IVU played a major role in launching the annual event that eventuallybecame the Summerfest, this is how it started, and how it could be a model for otherparts of the world.
In 1975 the 23rd IVU World Veg Congress was held in North
America - the first time in that region of the world. It was
masterminded by Jay Dinshah, founder of the American
Vegan Society back in 1960, who had been visiting othercongresses, in Latin America and India, as well as Europe.
Some extracts from Vegetarian Voice (NAVS Journal)
Sep/Oct 1975:"Serious planning for the 23rd World VegetarianCongress actually began at the 22nd Congress, held
in Sweden in the summer of 1973. Recognizing thegrowing interest and tremendous potential for
vegetarianism in North America, as well as theconspicuous lack of effective leadership andcoordination above the local levels, five American
vegetarian groups issued an invitation to theInternational Vegetarian Union to have the next Congress in N. America.
"An ad hoc committee was formed on the spot in Sweden, from the Americans
and Canadians at the Congress. [. . . after a brief delay for Jay Dinshah to returnfrom India] . . . the new non-profit organization (North American VegetarianSociety) received its validated Constitution from the State of New Jersey, and wasofficially "in business" as of Jan. 2, 1974.
"Exactly one month later, a joint meeting of the IVU Council and the board ofTrustees of NAVS, was held on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono."
Right - taking supplies to the Congress, the original caption read: “Children'sCommittee Members Anne & Daniel
Dinshah, with Ling-Ling Panda &Melanie Bear (representing thesynthetically stuffed animal kingdom);
Sharon Niblett (Mrs. Brian Graff, as ofJan. 31, '75), Brian Graff, and Freya
Dinshah”. – Jay Dinshah is sadly nolonger with us, but Anne and Freya areboth speakers in 2011, and Brian is stillin there organizing things.
The 1975 Congress was hugely
successful, with over 1,500 in residence
for the two weeks in Maine.
In 1976 NAVS decided to hold a North American Veg Congress in Ithaca NY, continuing
in 1977 in Arcata, CA – from there on it became an annual event.

108
In 1984 NAVS combined their event withthe 27th IVU World Veg Congress in
Baltimore, attended by about 400
delegates from around the world.
From the mid-1980s onwards the annual
event was renamed ‘NAVS Summerfest’,moving to Allentown and Lewisburg, PA,
between 1986-91.
From 1991-95 the Summerfest was held
in Smithfield, Rhode Island.
In 1996 IVU needed help – the IVU World Veg Congress ran into problems and NAVS
came to the rescue by combining it, again, with the Summerfest. This was the first IVU
Congress of the Internet age and the banner below was used to promote it on websites:

This worked so well that the Summerfest has continued at the Johnstown Campus eversince. NAVS insisted on their usual ‘total-vegetarian’ (i.e. vegan) menu, making it thefirst completely vegan IVU Congress, and we’ve kept to that ever since.
One of the many speakers way back at that 1975 IVU
Congress was Dixie Mahy, now president of the San
Francisco Vegetarian Society. That’s her on the right in
Maine, 1975.
Over the years SFVS has developed a different way of
attracting the crowds with its annual VegFest, attracting
4-5,000 visitors to the Golden Gate Park.
For the 2012 IVU World Veg Congress we’ll be back in
North America and we talked to NAVS about combining
with the great Summerfest again. However the IVU
Congress has never been to the West Coast and we felt
it was time to boldly go… so join us in San Francisco in
October 2012. It will be an interesting experiment to try
a very different format for the IVU Congress.
NAVS has kept to the well-established format, and we know it has a very high reputation
with all those who have attended over the years, including great speakers and a highstandard of vegan food.

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109

IVU and the American Animals Rights Movement
July 13, 2011
The USA’s annual Animal Rights National Conference kicks off next
week, coordinated by FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement) andsupported by a host of other AR groups from across the country.
Despite the title there are always people from other countries, thisyear with speakers from Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, France and Vietnam– and several US speakers from groups with activities around theworld, plus at least three sessions about global interests. The
International Vegetarian Union (IVU) is represented by Deputy Chair
Saurabh Dalal, who will be on several panels, as well as leading a workshop.
Many of those attending will be unaware of the role that
IVU played in making all this happen. Way back in 1975
the 23rd IVU World Veg Congress was held in Maine, USA– the first time the event had reached North America
after 67 years in Europe and a couple of visits to India.
One of the visitors to that Congress was a young Dr. Alex
Hershaft, like the other 1,500 spending the two weeks in
Maine this was his first experience of a major vegetarian
event. It was all put together by the newly formed North
American Vegetarian Society (NAVS), which continued the following year with their own
annual conference, eventually becoming the Summerfest.
There were several other spin-offs from that IVU Congress,
including a boost for the newly launched Vegetarian Times –the cover of the post-Congress edition is on the right.
Another was the the ‘Vegetarian Information Service (VIS)
founded in 1976 by Alex Hershaft, which was, like NAVS, amember of IVU. But Alex’s primary passion was for the
animals and, in 1981 he organized an ‘Action for Animals’conference in Allentown, PA, which led to the launch laterthat year of FARM, also a member of IVU from the outset, as
it still is today. That conference is seen today as the
beginning of the organized animal rights movement in the USA.
The FARM-led Animal Rights Conferences continued annually until later that decade, thentook a break for some years as another group was doing somethingsimilar. They restarted in 2000 initially every year in DC, then more
recently alternating with LA, and are now a major fixture in thenational calendar.
Meanwhile, back in 1984, both VIS and NAVS offered to host the IVU
World Veg Congress, with the members deciding to accept the offerfrom NAVS to hold it in Baltimore, MD – and it was during that
Congress that Dr. Alex Hershaft first joined the IVU International
Council. He remained on the council until 1999, and the following year
was elected a Fellow of IVU in recognition if his 15 years of service.
Left: Alex speaking at the IVU World Veg Congress in Johnstown, PA,
USA, 1996 (it was combined with the NAVS Summerfest that year).
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110

We're going to San Francisco . . .
Originally posted May 12, 2012; updated August 8, 2012

The 40th IVU World Congress/Vegfest will be in California, October 2012 - starting in
San Francisco, October 5-8, then on to Los Angeles Oct 12-14.
The first IVU Congress was in Dresden, Germany, in 1908 and they've been held every 2
or 3 years since then. They will now be every year and California 2012 is the first of our
new-style annual events which are as much Vegfest as Congress.
At the 1913 event, in the Netherlands, a visitor from San Francisco invited the delegatesto hold the Congress in conjuction with the SF World's Fair in 1915. But the Europeansthought it was too far to go and voted for Paris, France, in 1916 . . . which of course wascancelled due to the first world war. So almost 100 years later we are finally going to
San Francisco, and as Scott McKenzie sang about the hippies in 1967:
If You're Going... To San Francisco... Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If You're Going... To San Francsico... You're gonna meet some gentle people there
Appropriately enough the 2012 IVU Congress/Vegfest will begin next to the botanicalgardens, at the San Francisco County Fair Building in the Golden Gate
Park.
1968, the year after that song was #1, saw the founding of the San
Francisco Vegetarian Society, which has been a member of IVU fromthe outset. The SFVS president, Dixie Mahy was a speaker at the
1975 IVU Congress in Maine, so they go back a long way with all this.
[photo right is Dixie at the 1975 Congress]
This year we begin with a reception dinner at The Millennium, one of the world's leadingvegan restaurants, on Friday Oct 5. Over the weekend there will be a wide range of
events in the park, with all-vegan catering, including:Children’s Corner ; Green Lifestyle Film
Festival ; Healthy Food Demos with
Recipes & Samples ; International
Speakers & Workshops Live Entertainment; Vegan Cuisine to sample or buy ;Veghealth Awards Ceremony by
Vegetarian Health Institute ; Catered
Vegan Dinners: Saturday & Sunday, 6:30
p.m
We conclude the SF sessions on Monday,
Oct 8, with a rooftop reception at the
VegNews office.
Right: my photo of cable-cars heading outof Union Square, Feb 2010:
More info about the San Francisco events at www.sfvs.org/wvd - see the link to the 'four
day package' for more details. More will be added soon.
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111

IVU and Vegsource - together at last!
January 18, 2012

In October 2012 the 40th IVU World Veg Congress will join with the Vegsource HealthyLifestyle Expo in Los Angeles, California.
We’ll still be in San Francisco as well, the SF Veg Festival is the previous weekend –October 6-7 for that one, then a short flight down to LA for the weekend of Oct. 12-14
for those that want to go to both. We
also expect both events to have someextra days, maybe more talks andworkshops, visits to local animal
sanctuaries, and other sightseeing trips.
Here’s Jeff and Sabrina, who set it all up
in LA, and the 2011 Expo in full swing:
The link between IVU and Vegsource
goes back to 1998, when we werelooking for somewhere to put the IVU
website. Jeff and Sabrina offered us freespace on their Vegsource.com server,
and we’ve been there ever since. Alongthe way we’ve also been able to provide
space for some of the smaller localgroups that are members of IVU, andVegsource has hosted a whole bunch ofother veg groups and individuals.
The International Vegetarian Union was
already 90 years old in 1998, andVegsource was still in its infancy but, as
so often happens, the youth are more up to speed with new technology than us oldies …
A few years later the first Vegsource Health Expo was held in Los Angeles, and as the
IVU Congresses rotate around the world, we soon started talking about combining themfor one year. We even talked about moving both of them over the border to Mexico at
one time, but never quite seemed to be able to tie it down. Until this year.
When we realised the Expo would be the weekend after the San Francisco Festival it wasa no-brainer. We’re on our way!
A couple of years ago Hazel and I
managed to get over to LA to stay with
Jeff and Sabrina for a few days, then took
the short flight up to San Francisco. We
stayed there with Jeff’s parents, anamazing couple, and met up witheveryone from the SF Vegsoc.
That’s Hazel about to walk all over Duke
Ellington on Hollywood Boulevard….
We went over to Santa Barbara for a day,just along the coast, to meet up with our112
friend Gabriel from England.
Below is the Mission, theoldest building in the city,where were did the tour andsat in on part of a Mass:
We also went down to
Venice Beach one day,where we met up with Ericfrom Happycow.net - that’s
Hazel and Eric on the beach
below, looking towards thehills of Malibu:
There are plenty of otherattractions in the Los
Angeles area of course,
anything from Disneyland toa wolf sanctuary – rescued
from being shot in Alaska
apparently. We should havesome visits to all kinds ofplaces.
And don’t forget about San
Francisco the previous weekend – theSF VegSoc’s World Veg Festival is on
the weekend of October 6/7 and we’ll
be there too.
The details for California so far = both
San Francisco and Los Angeles - are
at: www.ivu.org/congress/2012- more to come soon…
And if that’s not enough… the IVU Congress/Vegfest is
now an annual event, and for 2013 we’ll be joining with
the Asian Veg Union for their 6th regional Congress.
This one will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - I stopped
there for a few days in 2010 and took the photo of thefamous twin towers on the right - now the world's 3rdtallest building since Dubai and Shanghai went higher...
And there will be optional extras in Penang (Malaysia),
Phuket (Thailand, for the huge Vegetarian Festival), andBali (Indonesia, for any who didn’t make it in 2010, orjust want to go back again).
Do come and join us!
For the latest details of everything follow the:IVU Facebook page www.facebook.com/InternationalVegUnion
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113International Vegetarian Union and the Venerable
History of Vegetarianism [Videos]April 27, 2011

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a video worth?
Last year a friend sent me a link which she said had some info I was looking for. It
turned out to be a young woman talking to a camera for about 45 minutes, the bit I
wanted was somewhere in the middle . . . I suggested it would have been easier if she
wrote it down, I could read the whole thing much quicker than watching the video, butmore usefully I could skim thru to find the detail I wanted.
My friend said that young people these days don’t like reading, theywould rather watch a video. Apart from making me feel rather old, I
found that an alarming comment – are the next generation reallylosing the ability to read more than a few words?
Well . . . if you’ve had enough of reading my blogs, you can now
watch some instead. The programs below are mostly edited from aninterview I did at the 1st Middle East Veg Congress in Dubai lastDecember – partly about veg history, and going on to what IVU is doing these days.
Photos right:
Top - how Jun, the interviewer, and Sam, thecameraman, looked from where I was sitting – weused a Dubai conference center café which was
fortunately not busy at that time.
Bottom – the whole congress was broadcast live, thenan edited version was re-broadcast in five episodes acouple of months later.
The program title is: OUR NOBLE LINEAGE
International Vegetarian Union and theVenerable History of Vegetarianism
The links below go to YouTube.com:
Part 1: - the early days of veg*ism on the internet;
the earliest vegetarians, thru to the beginnings of veg
organizations in the 19th century, and the launch of
IVU in 1908.
Part 2: - the origins of the words ‘vegetarian’ and‘vegan’; the expansion of media and veg restaurants,
and the impact of environmental awareness.
Part 3: - what IVU has been doing around the world inrecent years, and the Middle East Veg Congress in Dubai.
Each episode is about 16 minutes.
For another veg history interview, from the 2008 IVU centenary in Dresden, Germany:

www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=10150167943639475
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114

Vegan Views – the interview
November 28, 2012

A few months back, the editor of Vegan Views magazine (a member of IVU) asked me if
I’d like to do an interview about my blogs, and the e-book compilation of them: ‘World
Veganism – past, present and future’.
I assumed he meant the usual brief questions, so was a little taken aback when hewanted a total of 3,000 words – but “no problem, we’ve already written the firstthousand words in the questions” - yikes!
The questions were indeed impressive, and a lot of homework had been done on
everything I had written, so I rose to the challenge of answering them. This is all unpaidof course, as Vegan Views is available for free download, or a tiny sub to cover printing
and postage if you want it thatway.
The magazine was started in1975 to offer more in depth
articles and discussions aboutvegan topics – hence ‘views’
not ‘news’. The fact that it isstill going after 37 years says a
lot about the quality of thosearticles, so I was honoured to
be asked to contribute.
Among the other articles in thelatest issue, many ofworldwide interest, is one on
the recent ‘Vegan Café 4 theDay’ in South Wales. I went to
one North Wales last year andthought it was a great idea.
The stunning cover photo of ared squirrel was taken during
the Vegan Camp, in the
English Lake District this year.
I went along to that for acouple of days and would have
loved to see that squirrel –they are increasingly rare now
the greys are taking over.
To read the whole of the latest issue, go to www.veganviews.org.uk – download it for
free or take out a sub for the print version – the full online version is 4.9mb PDF.
If you just want to read my interview, I have been kindly allowed to upload those three
pages at: www.ivu.org/history/John_Davis_interview.pdf (a mere 725k PDF)
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115

10 days that changed everything (for me) –Singapore, Indonesia and China
May 9, 2012

I had been to Asia before, to Thailand and a couple of trips to India, so I didn’t expect
this one to East Asia to be dramatically different, but it was.
In November 2009, the Indonesian Vegetarian Society (IVS) hosted the 4 th Asian Veg
Congress, on Batam Island near Singapore. I had tried to persuade them to combine itwith the World Veg Congress which they were also hosting the following year. It seemed
too much to do two, when they had never done one before – but I was wrong of course.
I wanted to go to Batam, but it was too far from England for just a weekend event. Then
our Chinese webmaster in Beijing told us about a Veg Food Fair being planned in
Xiamen, on the south-east coast of China. This would be the first major veg event on
mainland China and George Jacobs (IVU Chair in Singapore) and Susianto Tseng (IVS
President and IVU Regional Coordinator) were interested in going.
The Xiamen event was just two days after Batam, which would be perfect for me to go toboth and justify the long haul flight. The usual problem was how to pay for it all, when
IVU doesn’t have the funds to help any of us for these things.
The Indonesian VegSoc generously offered to cover my costs on Batam, George would
look after me in Singapore – and to our surprise the Chinese organisers offered to cover
all expenses for three of us to go from Singapore to Xiamen and back. So I just had topay for the return flight to Singapore myself, and the trip was on.
What made this so different was the unexpected scale and quality of what the veg*ns inIndonesia and China were able to do, way beyond anything I had seen in the west.
Thursday Nov 5, 2009 – to Singapore via Dubai. I was met by George
at airport, then to Raffles Hotel for a drink at the historic hub of theeastern British Empire.
Friday Nov 6 – met up with Shankar Narayan, IVU Coordinator for
India & SW Asia. George took us on a whistle-stop tour several of veg
restaurants (they have a lot of them in Singapore), and the city
museum. Right: a sculpture in the museum contrasting old and new…
We took the ferry to Batam Island, checked into the hotel, then a bus
ride to the venue for the opening ceremony. Just
seeing what was happening at that opening made it
obvious that the Indonesians were perfectly capableof handling two huge events in successive years.
Sat/Sun 7/8 – the 4th Asian Veg Congress got
under way in the hotel, and I was given the honourof the opening talk, with an estimated audience ofabout 1,000. For the rest of the weekend we had
single sessions in the big hall in the morning, thenparallel sessions with four speakers in smaller roomsin the afternoons. The food, all vegan of course, wasoutstanding, and there seemed to be no problem
feeding so many people at the same time.
Right: the question session after my talk (with atranslator) and the view from near the back.

116
In between listening to some of the other talks I was drafted into a round media
interviews and endless photo calls. The involvement of local media was impressive, theword about this event went well beyond those lucky enough to be there in person.
Monday 9 – we were taken a bus tour of Batam Island, where I was the only European
on the bus, apart from Katharina who has lived in Thailand for years anyway. I felt
totally at home with a bus full of people from all parts of Asia, there is something about
their temperament that suits my laid back approach to life perfectly.
Tuesday 10 – back to Singapore on the ferry, and a bus tour of the city. In the evening
George had put the word out via the local veg meetup group and we had a great
gathering at yet another veg restaurant.
Wednesday 11 – a four hour flight to Xiamen, my first visit to China. George decided
not go himself and asked Song Mau Lee to represent the Singapore VegSoc, which he did
extremely well. Our Chinese webmaster, Genggeng, was setting up an IVU stall at thehuge veg food fair, but needed some leaflets in Chinese. The Singapore group donated a
big batch which we stuffed into our bags, hoping the security people didn’t see them assuspicious (we were on tourist visas). The guy on the scanner commented on me having‘a lot of books’ in my bag, but didn’t bother to check.
We were met at Xiamen airport by two
young ladies from a professional PR
agency, complete with a driver and apeople carrier, and were taken to anamazing 5-star hotel. As soon as we’dsettled in, it was down to the auditorium
for a full rehearsal of the talks planned forthe following day. We had five speakers
from five different countries, and we ran
thru everything to check the timing, soundand visual equipment, even the lighting.
Thursday 12 – I was on the platform with a group of businessmen for the opening
ceremony of the event. It was a combined Buddhist Craft Fair and Vegetarian Food Fair –with attendances expected in ‘tens of thousands’. We had a tour of the vast exhibition
hall, and found the IVU stall which had been superbly created. Below: the IVU stall infull swing.
Lunch was with the translators, everyone in the audience would have headphones sothey wanted a briefing of what we would besaying. In the afternoon I gave the opening
talk at the forum, as far as I know this was
the first talk ever given at a large
international veg event in mainland China.
Right: my talk at the forum:
Friday 13– we were taken on a tour of the
nearby university, and into the temple nextdoor for an amazing lunch (see next blog
below). Sat 14– more local sightseeing.
Sun 15 – back to Singapore and home via
Dubai.
Those ten days left me with a lot to think about, and changed my views of the way we
do things in the west.
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117

Food as Art in China
January 12, 2011

The photos below are from my visit to Xiamen,
China in November 2009. This was for a Vegetarian
Food Fair which ran for several days, and included
an International Vegetarian Forum on one
afternoon.
For anyone interested in such matters I'll just repeatthat my various travels are NOT funded by IVU(except for IVU World Veg Congresses) - for thisone I paid my own air fare to Singapore, initially toattend the Asian Veg Congress, and our wonderful
Chinese hosts met all the costs for three of us fromthere to and in Xiamen.
The Chinese have a way with food-art which others
might like to see, starting with some that were
exhibits in the food fair, entirely made from plantfood of course. Some of the designs are traditional,
but others are more recent - see the second one
which is based on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with
the Great Wall and the Olympic flame and rings, allin a plate of vegetables.
The day after
the forum wewere taken toa nearby
temple for a
12 course (!)
lunch, andeach course
was a work of art in itself. Above is a side dish ofmushrooms which reminded me of the Terracotta
Army, several dishes like this were placed on the revolving glass table for all to share.
The bigger dishes below were revolved for all to see - and photograph - then taken off tobe cut up and re-served as individual portions:

118
On the right is a Buddhist soup,
based on the poem being held up
by Susianto Tseng, IVU Regional
Coordinator for Asia-Pacific:

The dish rightwas (to me)
the most
astonishing, amountaincovered insnow, withtrees on it,
and 'fish'
swimming inthe sea
below. Then
we ate it...

Even the simpler dishes were created highly artistically:

See below for more about the 2011 Asian Veg Union Congress in Hangzhou, China.
For details of the next Xiamen VegFood Fair, see: www.vffair.com/indexen.asp
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119

From England to California
February 24, 2010

[updated July 2012] A couple years ago Hazel and I went to Los Angeles and San
Francisco. This is an update of the blog I wrote at time as it might provide some ideas
for those heading for the IVU events in California in October.
This was mainly a personal trip for our anniversary (ie not paid for by IVU!), but wealways meet up with lots IVU friends wherever we go - here's what we did....
Thursday February 11, 2010 - left Birmingham in the snow for a short hop to Paris the plane stopped in the middle of the airfield and we had to get off and walk across to abus - it was minus 3C and snowing... then we had to go through the miles of security
checks again. With that and the snow everything was running late so we were able to
make the connection as that was late too.
Arrived in Los Angeles and met the Nelson family - Jeff, Sabrina, Nina, Randa and Willie,
who looked after us amazingly well for the next few days. See Jeff's VegSource blog forlots more about this great vegan family - www.vegsource.com/jeff-nelson. I've beenworking with Jeff for 12 years as the IVU website is hosted by VegSource, but we had
never been able to meet before, so this was a very special occasion.
Friday 12 - Jeff gave me a lift to pick up a rental car in the morning and I tried toremember to drive on the wrong side of the road while following him home again.
Lunch was at the home of Zel and Reuben Allen (of VegParadise: www.vegparadise.com) in
Granada Hills - joined there by Eric and Diana (of HappyCow: www.happycow.net) andDorit & John (of Serenity Foods: www.serenityspaces.org and the Green Lifestyle Film
Festival www.greenlifestylefilmfestival.com) - great food and company for the afternoon,
and in the evening an entertaining trip with the Nelson family to a local vegan
restaurant.
Sat. 13 - to Santa
Barbara to see our old
friend Gabriel Buist(buist.org/gabriel) who
moved there fromEngland last year.
Lunch in a mostly
vegan cafe then down
to the beach to meet
Gabriel's son and his
family who also live in
the area, then to theMission - the oldest building in SB - where we did the tour and sat in on a mass for awhile. Above - the view from Gabriel's balcony.
On the way back we used
HappyCow and the GPS system the Nelsons lent us to find a vegan restaurant in
Ventura, Mary's Secret Garden, which turned out to be a delightful place.
Sunday 14 - to Santa Monica to meet up with Eric of HappyCow again, walked along
Venice Beach and lunch at yet another vegan cafe.

120
Right - a wave on the rocks at
Venice Beach:Took the scenic route back via
Malibu and over the mountains
through Topanga Canyon. In
the evening recorded a videointerview with the Nelsons twin
daughters Nina and Randa.
Below - San Fernando valley
from Topanga Canyon:
Monday 15 - to Hollywood
to see the 'walk of the stars'
etc, - and discovered a newvegan cafe that the locals
hadn't found yet(myveganhouse.com) thenover to Dorit & John in West
Hollywood for a taste ofSerenity Foods, and very
good it was.
Tuesday 16 - to Burbank
airport for the one hour flightto Oakland - picked up
another rental car, withcompletely different
controls.... and drove toMarin County, north of San Francisco, where we stayed with Jim & Mary-Armour Nelson Jeff's parents who are in their 80s and a wonderful couple (Jim is a writer:www.amazon.com/Killing-Henderson-Etc-James-Nelson/... ). A delightful Dinner in the evening
with more of the Nelson family from the bay area.
Wednesday 17 - to the Haight-Ashbury
area of San Francisco for somesightseeing before our meeting at the Red
Victorian where there was a vegan buffet
followed by myself with a presentation on'Vegetarianism from a World Perspective'- a good audience who seemed to be very
interested, mostly from the San Francisco
Vegetarian Society (www.sfvs.org).
Also met Isaac Dikeocha for the first time
- our former IVU Regional Coordinator for
Africa (www.ivu.org/members/council/isaacdikeocha.html), who was in SF for a while.
After the talk I did a radio interview with
Bob Linden who does a vegan radio show (www.goveganradio.com), which went out in SF
on saturday morning, and syndicated in LA on sunday.
Thursday 18 - a visit to the Marin County farmer's market in the morning.

121
Afternoon down to San Francisco for more sightseeing, China Town, Union Square, drove
down one of those absurdly steep streets etc., then to the Millennium vegan restaurant(www.millenniumrestaurant.com),very upmarket and considered bymany to be the best in SF. We
had dinner with Larry and Ann
Wheat, the owners, and Dixie,
Stan and JC from SFVS - Larry
and Ann did a superb 'familystyle' spread of almost everything
on the menu.
Right at the Millennium: l-r - Ann,
Larry, Hazel, JC (Joseph Cadiz,
SFVS treasurer), me behind Stan
(Dixie's husband), and Dixie Mahy
(President of SFVS)
Friday 19, to the (vegan) True
North Health Clinic in Santa Rosa (www.healthpromoting.com), to meet another old friend
and IVU councillor, Gerry Coffey, who was being treated there(www.ivu.org/members/council/gerry-coffey.html).
We were also able to sit in on some therapy sessions, attend a talk by one of thedoctors, and chat to several of the doctors during they day. A great place.
In the evening back to San Francisco for another SFVS meeting at the Maharani Indian
restaurant - a vegan buffet followed by a Bollywood film. I gave a short intro about ourvisit to the Bollywood studios in Mumbai back in 2004.
Saturday 20 - a slower weekend ... took the scenic tour around Marin County: Muir
Woods to see the giant Redwood trees, then to Stinson Beach and back through more
redwoods.
Sunday 21 - to the mostly-rawfood Cafe Gratitude(cafegratitude.com) in San Rafael forlunch, one of their eight locations in
California.
In the evening we had a party for
Mary-Armour's 83rd birthday. Lotsof the extended family were there
and it was a real privilege to share
this time with them all. Right:
Mary-Armour at the farmer's
market:Monday 22 - back to the Cafe
Gratitude in San Rafael for an alltoo-brief meeting with eco-feminist writer Marti Kheel, who sadly passed the following
year.
Then on to San Francisco airport for the long-haul home, via Paris again. We drove thelast hour and a half home from Birmingham in the snow and it was snowing even moreheavily by the time we arrived. Quite a change from sunny California....
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122

If it’s Thursday it must be Australia…
Updated October 2012

… or Indonesia, Malaysia or India… by the time this blog originally appeared I was on my
five-week trek around all these countries, giving talks to many veg groups along theway, and then on to Africa and the Middle East. This is roughly what happened:
1 – to Jakarta, Indonesia, for the 39th IVU World Veg Congress (www.wvc2010.org) –opening ceremony on October 1 (World Vegetarian Day) then four days of talks,
workshops and other activities. I gave a keynote speech and another talk along withmany great speakers. Attendance was around 5,000 including the food fair. [right: The
critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan, edemic to Indonesia.]
NOTE: nothing below here was funded by IVU! Whilst IVU was, for the first time
ever, covering my expenses to go to the World Congress, everything below is at
my own expense - with very much appreciated accommodation from friends.
And in case anyone thinks IVU must be paying me megabucks, I am actually
paid for one and a half days per week, the rest is done in my own time and with
my own rather limited finances.
2 – to Bali, Indonesia, Oct
7-11 – I was grateful to theBali branch of the Indonesian
VegSoc for sponsoring me on
this visit (www.ivs-online.org).
We stayed for few days with a
Veg Seminar and cultural
evening at the Bali Arts
Center. I was one of three
speakers for the seminar.
[left: some Bali wildlife – thespider was the size of myhand….]
3 – to Tumbi Umbi, north of Sydney, Australia, Oct 12-15 for a few days with somelong lost cousins [right: The iconic Koala]
4 –to Sydney , Oct 15 to 18, for a weekend with Mark Berriman, President of theAustralian Vegetarian Society (www.veg-soc.org), and to speak at a joint meeting with
the New South Wales Vegan Society (www.vegansocietynsw.com)
5 - to Canberra, Australian capital, Oct 18-21, to finally meet my long-time history
colleague Edgar Crook, author of ‘Vegetarianism in Australia – a History’(www.ivu.org/history/australia), and to
give a joint talk with
Edgar at the
Canberra VegSoc(www.vegetariansociety.org.au). I also
got a brief chance tokeep up with mywildlife photography
at a nearby nature
reserve – real wild
kangaroos…

123
6 – back via Sydney up to the Gold Coast near Brisbane , Oct 22-25, for a weekend
with lots more long lost cousins.
7 – to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to stay with Mohana Gill (fruitastic.net/home.html),
Oct 25-28, author of some impressive veg cookbooks, her latest two being for children,and to meet more members of the Malaysian VegSoc, giving a talk at the loca Loving Hut
restaurant.
8 –to Bangalore, India, with Mohana, for the
IVU ISWAVeg Congress (= India & South West
Asia - www.vegansociety.in/ivuiswaveg_congress) where I was also a keynote
speaker. From Oct 29 to Nov 2 – including
World Vegan Day, Nov 1, as it was organizedby the amazing Shankar Narayan, IVU
Regional Coordinator, and President of the
Indian Vegan Society (paid nothing, not evenexpenses). My thanks to the manager of the
all-veg e-inn hotel www.e-inn.in for a halfprice room during the congress. Right a heron
in a local park.
IVU India is desperately in need of funds to help people on low Indian incomesto get more of these events. You can make a donation via at www.ivu.org/asiapacific/jashu-shah-fund.html - please help!
9 – go home… on November 4 to see if Hazel still remembered who I was (she wasvisiting her cousins in Spain while I was off on all this). A committee meeting for the
Vegetarian Society UK (www.vegsoc.org) - I had recently been co-opted - but soon off
again…
10 – to Nairobi, Kenya, (via a brief stopover in Dubai) November 30 to December 5, to
help in promoting the first ever East and Central Africa Veg Congress(www.ivu.org/africa/nairobi), run mainly thanks to the huge effort by Emmanuel Eyoh
the IVU Regional Co-ordinator for Africa (in Nigeria, also paid nothing, not evenexpenses).
My first ever visit to Africa - in fact after
102 years, the first ever official IVU visit
to Africa (other than those who live
there of course!) I managed to get out
for half a day for more photography at
the nearby wildlife reserve. [right: myphoto of a corner of the Nairobi National
Park, close to the city.]
IVU Africa your help to make moreof this possible – please donate atwww.ivu.org/africa/donations.html
11 – back to Dubai (UAE), December 5 to 8 – a few days, and another talk, at the veg
congress in MENOPE (Middle East Natural and Organic Products Expo www.naturalproductme.com). A great new area for IVU thanks to the tireless work of
Sandhya Prakash (also paid nothing) and MeVeg (Middle East VegGroup www.meveg.info)
Then finally home for a few months… More details of everything below.
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124

Jakarta Jamboree
October 5, 2010

The main part of the 39th IVU World Veg
Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia, has now
ended. So this is just a personal view of thelast five days.
I've had the privilege of staying at the homeof Susianto, IVU Regional Coordinator for
Asia-Pacific, leader of the Indonesian
Vegetarian and Vegan Societies, and that's
just between holding down a full time job,
studying for a PhD, and raising a family.
Someone asked what he does in his sparetime...
The Congress began on Friday, October 1,
World Vegetarian Day, with a gala dinner,completely vegan as always, sponsored by
the Indonesian Government Ministry of
Tourism - the minister is veg, and several
other high ranking government officials werealso present, even a veg*n from the USA
embassy joined the politicians.
The ceremonies continued with displays ofdancing from local young members of the
IVS. All of this against the Congress
backdrop used in every room:

Everyone present wasthen given a traditional
Indonesian Angklung,tuned to different
pitches, which we were
taught to play as a massorchestra - and we kept
them to take home
Right: UK, India andBrazil keeping in tune.

125
A special feature of this Congress was the activities for children, this is just a corner of aroom where hundreds of amazingly well-behaved very young children had an art
competition. They were followed by a children's parade in the main hall, wearing fruitand veg costumes they had made themselves:

Another unusual feature was the huge vegan Food Fair, much bigger than anything
we've seen at any previous IVU Congress. It attracted equally huge crowds as can beseen below, 8,000 visitors has been estimated. At peak times it took a while getting
through the crowds from one room to another.

At times the crowd was even bigger thanks to visiting parties from two schools, one
Catholic and one Muslim, and a local university sent all their nutrition students for one
day of the lectures. Right is Susianto welcoming pupils from the Muslim school in one of
the side rooms:

126
Indonesia's population is about 86%
Muslim and this gave us a very special
occasion when Arash Rashidi, from Iran,found five young men from Afghanistan in
the front row for his talk about
vegetarianism in Iran (photo right). It's
hard to imagine that happening anywhereother than Indonesia. The guys are
studying in Jakarta for a while but will
hopefully set up the first Afghan
Vegetarian Society when they go home ina few months.
We also had visitors from the Philippines and expect an announcement soon about thelaunch of the first veg society in their country. On the wider Asian level we reached aconstructive agreement about the best way of promoting the first ever vegetariancongress in China, which is inevitably politically sensitive.
The media interest in this congress has been enormous. We had a TV studio on sitewhere I did two interviews myself, as well as joining in a TV chat show with Susianto andGeorge Jacobs, chair of the IVU Council. below is a cookery show:

Tomorrow most of theoverseas visitors have a bus
tour around Jakarta, then on
Thursday we head of to theisland of Bali for a few days.
Meanwhile I couldn't resist
putting in one last photowith a small group of thehuge army of volunteers
who have kept everythingrunning smoothly:back to top

127Bali Beautiful
Updated October 2012

The Jakarta IVU Congress was a huge success, one of thebest ever, then some of us went on to the beautiful islandof Bali.
We flew from Jakarta to Bali on Air Asia, then to theevening seminar, where Susianto - IVU Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific and myself were speakers, alongwith a local speaker, and a cultural event which included
some traditional Balinese dancing on the right.
The next two days were a bus trip visiting temples andother tourist attractions. But we also took in a monkey
sanctuary and a turtle hatchery, where turtle eggs were
rescued from potential predators and the young turtles
returned to the beach.
Right is one of the lunch stops, a view:
Below - some of
the group at
breakfast - by thelast day at theRamada hotel we
finally got ourown vegan buffet.
This little group includes friends
from Australia, UK, Ireland,Brazil, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The two day tour also included
more from India, Germany andIndonesia. I stayed on and gave atalk about IVU at a Maitreya
Buddhist Temple, filmed bySMTV:

On my last day I was taken to a high school to give a talk to about 100 children, all nonveg, and they asked some intelligent questions. After lunch at one of many vegan cafes,
I was taken to a hilltop site in the east of Bali, little known to the tourists. The trek up
the 'jungle' path was great, and the view from the top was amazing, across mountains
and the sea to other islands. Unfortunately we hit heavy rain on the way down and weretotally drenched, but it was still a good end to Bali before heading off to Australia.
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A visit to Malaysia
November 14, 2012

If you are thinking of making the trip to Malaysia next year, for the 41st IVU World
Vegfest, October 3-9, 2013, you might be interested in some views of Kuala Lumpur
from my visit a couple of years ago.
On Monday October 25, 2010 – I was up early to take the eight-and-a-half hours Air Asia
flight from Gold Coast, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I was staying withthe veg writer Mohana Gill and her family. The flight time made me realise just how far
away Australia is from anywhere else.
Below: the eminent Dr. Satwan Gill getting down to some gardening, and one of his
palm trees. This was just on the edge of the city, but for me it sums up how I generally
think of a country like Malaysia.

I met up with some morefriends from the Malaysian
Vegetarian Society, and had abrief visit to the famous Twin
Towers (many people willremember Sean Connery
dangling from the bridge
between them...).

Right: - for some time thetallest building in the world,
now overtaken by Shanghai
and Dubai. Note the size of thepeople at the bottom of thephoto.

- and below, a more humanscale view looking back fromthe base of the towers:

129

The MVS had arranged forme to give a talk in theroom upstairs at the local
Loving Hut restaurant, allvideoed by SMTV. We got
a good audience who
responded well.
Right: the Loving Hut run
by Tracy Wong, the leadorganiser for the combined
41st IVU World Vegfest
and 6th Asian Veg
Congress next year.
Those who were at the40th Vegfest in San
Francisco or Los Angeles,
California, 2012, or the
5th Asian Congress in
Hangzhou, China, 2011,
will have met Tracy - shewill be putting all thatexperience to good use
back in Malaysia.

Right: the SMTV crew
busy with more interviews
after my talk:130
Mohana Gill is the author of 'Fruitastic' and 'Vegemania' cookbooks, and has now added
two books for children on a similar theme - and a 'Fruitastic Express' (below), a
shop/cafe/juice bar inside a local hospital and used mainly by patients, visitors and staff.
Everything in the shop and the small cafe at the far end, are based on fresh fruit andvegetables, with the emphasis on health and nutrition.
What a contrast to hospitals in west, sponsored by McDonalds, KFC and the like, where
patients are likely to come out more ill than they went in after eating all that junk food.
Mohana has set a great example that should be followed by hospitals everywhere.

I was invited to extend my trip by visiting Penang, in the north of Malaysia, but with only
three days available it would have been too much to fit in. However - the IVU World
Vegfest will be going there - and it really is worth the trip.
Apart from being a beautiful part of the country, very popular with tourists, it also had avery active veg scene. A major part of the Malaysian Vegetarian Society is based there,
led by Pishu Murli Hassaram, who also promotes the International Meatless Day, every
November 25th.
The 41st IVU World Vegfest promises to be a great experience - details, as they become
available, are being added to:www.worldvegfest.org/index.php/blogs/congress-vegfest-updates/71-41st-ivu-congessvegfest-malaysia-october-2013
Do come and join us!

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The last leg - India and home
November 21, 2012
Just before the 41

st

IVU World Vegfest, Malaysia, 2013, will be a Vegan Festival in India.
Anyone thinking of making the stopover might like to see the one I went to in 2010:
Thursday, October 28, 2010 - back on AirAsia again, from Malaysia, to Bangalore, India.
Next day a few of us went to a press conference across the city, we were a little early so
we convened an outdoor international meeting. Standing in photo is Shankar Narayan,
President of the Indian Vegan Society, and IVU Regional Representative:

Then we went into the Press Club of Bangalore, on the multi-national panel were Colin(New Zealand), Marly (Brazil), Shankar (India), Sandhya (Dubai,UAE), Mohana(Malaysia) and me (UK).
The Veg Congress itself was for two days, Sat/Sun October 30/31. We had a great rangeof speakers from many countries, on a wide variety of topics, all of it at the superb E-Inn- a completely vegetarian and very high quality hotel. They laid on a special vegan buffet
for the two days, though most of the food in the main dining room is vegan anyway.
I did my talk to start things off, followed by Sandhya Prakash (below left) from Dubai
UAE, a member of the IVU Council looking after the SW Asia (Middle East) part of theCongress. She gave an enlightening talk about the activities in the region. On the rightare Mohan Santhanam and his musicians, who gave a truly inspiring performance at theend of the afternoon, they had me totally engrossed for one and half hours:

132
Monday, November 1 - World Vegan Day – some of us from the congress took a tour in abus. In the morning we went to the Botanic Gardens where we found a new recruit for
the group, along with more wildlife:

Then to the Green Path eco-hotel for lunch, as
most of us were staying there that night. In theafternoon to an organic farm, out in the
countryside an hour to the west of Bangalore.
The plan was to have a vegan day party, withmusic dancing and dinner in a small outdoor
amphitheatre, but it rained... so we got wet
looking around the farm and squeezed into a
covered balcony for the music and dancing.
The highlight was the young lady on the right who
performed several traditional dances, despite thesmall space she had available.
Tuesday November 2 - the end of the five week
trek through Jakarta and Bali, Indonesia; Central
Coast, Sydney, Canberra and Gold Coast;
Australia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and finally
Bangalore, India.
Then the long haul back home for a few weeks
with my ever-patient wife Hazel - it felt like goinghome for a holiday before setting off on the IVU
trail again to Nairobi and Dubai in December.
So if you want to visit India, consider a few daysen route to the 41st IVU World Vegfest in Malaysia.
The Vegan Festival in India will be Fri-Sun,
September 27-29, 2013, plus a local day tour on the Monday. One of theaccommodation options is a great looking beach resort, so you might want to go earlier
and spend a few days there. More details of everything at:www.worldvegfest.org/index.php/blogs/congress-vegfest-updates/71-41st-ivu-congessvegfest-malaysia-october-2013
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133

Out of Africa – and the Middle East
November 28, 2010

The International Vegetarian Union celebrated its centenary in 2008, and if anyone had
said to me then that in a couple years I would be speaking at international veg
congresses in East Africa and the Middle East, I would probably have said that we’d done
nothing in either for the last 100 years, so why should it suddenly change?
But, by the time you read this, I will be on my way to Nairobi and Dubai to do just that.
And this will not only be my first visit to Africa – it will be the first time in 102 years thatany non-African member of the IVU International Council has ever made an official visit
to sub-Saharan Africa.
It was only three years ago, December 2007, with generous help from donors aroundthe world, that we held our first ever African veg congress - in Lagos Nigeria, West
Africa. The photo below shows the IVU Regional Coordinator for Africa, Emmanuel Eyoh,
also President of the Nigerian Vegetarian Society, raising his hands at the end of thatcongress.

My visit will be doubly significant as it will also be the first time that any non-African in
IVU has actually met the man who has done so much for IVU in Africa. It will be an
honour to meet Emmanuel after years of only being able to talk by email. Since thatfirst event we’ve supported another Veg Congress for West Africa, in Accra, Ghana, in2009 – see the photos below:

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In December 2009 our member group MEVEG (Middle East Veg Group) held their firstforum within MENOPE (Middle East Natural Organic Product Expo). Below is Meveg leader
Sandya Prakash, now a member of the IVU International Council, giving a talk andmeeting visitors:

Sandhya overlaps a little with North Africa, and was a delegate at the Middle East Animal
Welfare Conference in Cairo, Egypt, a few months ago. Next week she will be leading thefirst full-scale Middle East Veg Congress, for two days on December 6 & 7, again as apart of MENOPE, and I will have the privilege of speaking at this highly professional
event.
And it’s not just in those regions that we have been making this extraordinary progress.
The first ever international veg congressin Indonesia was the 4th Asian Congress,
November 2009, and that was soon
followed by two more in Indonesia, forSouth East Asia in Medan, March 2010,
then the hugely successful IVU World Veg
Congress in Jakarta in October. Even thatworld congress had much stronger
connections with the Middle East than
we’ve seen before, the photo on theright, in Jakarta, is our good friend
Arash Rashidi from Iran, and the fiveyoung men in his front row are all fromAfghanistan.
And we supported the first everinternational veg forum in China, in
Xiamen, November 2009, to be followedby the first ever international veg
congress in China next year, November
2011. The photo right is the IVU Regional
Coordinator for Asia-Pacific, Susianto
Tseng, at the forum in Xiamen, China –he is also Chief Operations Officer of theIndonesian Vegetarian Society, and theprime motivator for all the congresses
held there.
In the same three years IVU has supported International Vegan Festivals in India andBrazil, along with several other events in Latin America, and most recently the India &SW Asia Congress in Bangalore. All these events have been inspired by Marly Winckler
and Shankar Narayan, our Coordinators for those two regions, and we look forward to
our newest member of the team, Sundara DeSilva, helping us to support similar eventsin Australasia.

135
So why has all this happened just in the last few years?
For IVU’s first 100 years we did very little outside of Europe and North America and what
we did elsewhere mostly not very effective, often hampered by trying to over-control
everything from Europe. This recent progress in the rest of the world has certainly notcome from any sort of top-down command and control from IVU – we really do not havethe money or power for that! We have simply tried to support events that local people
have planned whilst giving them the space to implement their own ideas – and we havebeen very fortunate in finding the right local people who have been willing to put in hugeamounts of effort for the global cause.
But most importantly they have been willing to do all this in close cooperation withothers, they have put aside their own egos to share their efforts. All too often in theveg*n world we find individuals promoting their own rigid views rather than the
movement as a whole, and IVU has had plenty of that in the past, but we have moved
on and the results are becoming clear.
So I’m now setting off to Nairobi, Kenya – unfortunately the first East & Central African
Veg Congress had to be put back slightly to December 18 and I can’t be there for that,
so I’m going to be giving some talks and interviews to help promote the congress during
the few days I will be there.
On the way out I’ll be stopping for a few hours in Dubai, then on the way back I’ll have 2
or 3 days there at the first Middle East Veg Congress.
More about those next week. Meanwhile, as I write this in England, it is snowing – thephoto below is the view from my office window on Saturday, November 27, with long
winter shadows across the snow - quite a difference from Nairobi and Dubai at this timeof year . . .

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To Nairobi and Dubai
December 10, 2010

Monday Nov. 29 - left England in the ice and snow,
the first November snow for 17 years
Tuesday Nov. 30 - arrived Dubai about 1.00am, met
by Sandhya Prakash, IVU Middle East Co-ordinator,
and taken to her home to get some sleep. In themorning met her family over breakfast, then to
downtown Dubai for a press conference to promote
the first ever Middle East Veg Congress the following
week. Below is the view across the road from theentrance to the hotel:- and the press conference, as part of the organic
expo, with me (in rather casual dress as my suitcase
was waiting for me at the airport) next to a senior
official from the UAE Ministry of Health, and Sandhya
2nd right:

After lunch at the hotel, Sandhya took me back to the airport for the 3.00pm flight toNairobi, Kenya. Met there by Satwinder Singh Sian,chair of the Vegetarian Society of Kenya; Liladhar
Bharadiar, VSK secretary - and most importantly
Emmanuel Eyoh from Nigeria, the IVU Regional
Coordinator for Africa, who I had worked with
online for many years but never been able to meetin person - that's him on the left the next day (wewere having lunch at the Hare Krishna Temple).
Wednesday Dec. 1 to Saturday Dec. 4 - in
Nairobi. During these four days I met all theleaders of the VegSoc of Kenya, helped to feed
people in the slums; joined another feeding session for disabled and disadvantaged
people; joined a press conference to promote the first ever East and Central African
Congress to be held on December 17/18; met with many members of the local veg
community in temples and cafes, gave a talk about world veg*ism - and even managed
four hours for some of us to see the wildlife in the Nairobi National Park (a sort of minisafari).

137
Below, some scenes from the first food distribution day in one of the slum areas, withme having a go at serving rice into any containers they brought along, and Emmanuelwith some boys after the beans were added from another vat:

- and four of us at the press conference on the Saturday, not quite as glamorous as theone in Dubai but we got good press coverage from it. l-r: Emmanuel, Satwinder Sing
Sian, VSK chairman, me, and Liladhar Bharadiar, VSK secretary:

After the press conference I gave a talk about IVU and World Veg*ism for the localgroup, then on Sunday Dec. 5 it was back to Dubai.

138
Monday Dec 6 - the Middle East Veg Congress was opened by His Excellency Dr. Hanif
Hassan Ali Al Qassim, Minister of Health for the United Arab Emirates, seen below
lighting the lamp with congress organiser Sandhya (blue scarf) looking on:

The Congress itself was a great success, with many new ideas that the rest of us canlearn from. Over the two days there 16 speakers from many countries around the world,workshops for children, fabulous vegan food provided by sponsors, the organic food expo
taking place alongside, and all of it video'd by SMTV who brought in 14 people from East
Asia to do the job. The grand finale was a live interactive satellite link with Supreme
Master Ching Hai from the climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico:

Wednesday Dec. 8 - back to the ice and snow in England. It was minus 2 degrees C
when I landed.
This is just a brief overview of the activities in both countries, I'll be coming back tomore about them over the next few weeks. Meanwhile some items from the media about
each of these amazing events:
Nairobi: vegsource.com/.../nairobi-to-host-first-ever-veg-congress-in-east-africa.html
Dubai: vegsource.com/.../first-ever-middle-east-veg-congress-held-in-dubai.html
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139

The Global Veg Explosion
May 4, 2011

A few years ago we rarely had more than one international veg event per year, andnearly all in Europe or North America – last year [2010] there were at least nine ofthem, on every continent of the world (well, maybe not Antarctica yet….).
By ‘international veg event’ I mean public events which deliberately encourage
attendance by visitors and speakers from more than one country. There will, of course,
be many other national or local events that happen to have an occasional visitor or
speaker from other countries – I gave several talks to groups in other countries myself
last year, but this is about something bigger.
The first ever international veg event was way back in 1889 when the German societies
invited vegetarians from other countries to a few days in Cologne. They had talks,
lectures and boat trips on the Rhine, and a similar mixture has continued ever since.
The International Vegetarian Union was founded in1908 with the primary aim of bringing together
vegetarians from as many countries as possible. The
cultural exchange and networking opportunities
proved invaluable, and a lot of fun. By the 1970s theidea of regional events had begun to take off,
attracting many more visitors who were unable totravel the longer distances. But nearly all were still inEurope and North America until quite recently.
The IVU Facebook page now has a collection of photo
albums covering every international veg event since1908 – have we missed any? Do you have more
photos? See the link at the bottom of this page.
By 2010 these veg gatherings were being held all over
the world. All the photos on the right were taken
between October and December 2010 – from the top:
Indonesia, India, Kenya, United Arab Emirates andChina.
This is what IVU member organisations did in 2010,
and where the participants came from:Southeast Asia Veg Congress, Medan, Indonesia
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand (March)
EVU ‘summit’ meeting, Switzerland
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Serbia, Spain,
Switzerland, UK (April)Southern South-America Veg Congress,
Asunción, Paraguay
Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Uruguay (July)
NAVS Summerfest, Johnstown PA, USA
USA, Canada (July)140

39th IVU World Veg Congress, Jakarta, Indonesia
Dozens of countries, people from almost every continent (October)
India & SW Asia Veg Congress, Bangalore, India
India, UAE, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, Brazil, Germany, UK (October)2nd International Veg Food Fair and Forum, Xiamen, China
China, Taiwan, Singapore (November)
1st East Africa Veg Congress, Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, UK (December)
1st Middle East Veg Congress, Dubai United Arab Emirates
UAE, Iran, Palestine, Tunisia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, UK, USA (December)
As recently as 2003 there was just one international veg event in the whole year –assuming some Canadians made it to the NAVS Summerfest that year - NAVS has
always set out to be North American not just USA.
So why has this idea suddenly gone global?
Six of the above events were the direct result of work by our amazing team of IVU
Regional Coordinators. Below are the people doing all this work – and all unpaid, they
don’t even get expenses:






Marly Winckler – IVU Latin America, President of the Vegetarian Society of Brazil
Shankar Narayan – IVU India & SW Asia, President of the Indian Vegan Society
Sandhya Prakash – IVU Middle East, based in Dubai, UAE, leader of Meveg,
Middle East Veg Group
Dr. Susianto Tseng – IVU Asia-Pacific, Chief Operations Officer of the Indonesian
Vegetarian Society
Emmanuel Eyoh – IVU Africa, President of the Nigeria Vegetarian Society

Below – our great IVU team in action – in the last few years they have organised at least
16 public international veg events between them:

Top left: Emmanuel in Nairobi, Kenya - - - - Top right: Sandhya in Dubai, UAE
Middle: Marly and friend, Bali, Indonesia
Bottom left: Shankar in Dubai, UAE - - - - Bottom right: Susianto in Xiamen, Chinaback to top

141Festival Vegano Español
June 15, 2011

The 13th International Vegan Festival ended
last Sunday after eight days in sunny Spain.
Everyone attending came away with very
different personal highlights – mine were
giving a couple of talks on the history andgeography of veganism, and having theopportunity to sit in with one of the bands
playing bass (that’s me on the right):
Hazel and I rented a car and took some trips with friends from the festival – north overthe mountains to Granada backed by the snow-capped Sierra Nevada; south down the
Costa del Sol near to Gibraltar; and east along the coast where the mountains and sea
create some spectacular scenery.
Below are some photos from the week:
The Venue

Entertainment

142
Excursions

Food

Lecturesback to top

143

The First Ever Veg Congress in China
November 8, 2011

I'm writing this from the 5th Asian Veg Union Congress in Hangzhou, China. Just a text
summary for now, photos will follow next week as there are too many to sort throughand no time here.
The story so far for me : –Sunday Nov. 6 - drove four hours to London, then usual couple of hours hanging aroundthe airport, ten hours flight to Beijing, another couple of hours changing flights, boarded
the plane to Hangzhou and sat on the tarmac for an hour and half (‘rush hour’ theysaid...), then the two hour flight. Arrived Hangzhou 5.30pm Monday, local time, about
24 hours after leaving home.
The vegan food on the flights was OK as airline food goes, the airlines all seem to get itfrom the same catering contractors. My first experience of Air China was OK too, I’ve
flown with plenty worse.
Met Dr. George Jacobs, chair of the IVU council, arriving from Singapore a few minutes
later and we decided to eat before going to our rooms. If I laid down I might not have
got up again...
The hotel(s) are superb, we have a 5 star and a 4 star next to each other in the sameparkland setting, with most of us, and the Congress, in the 4 star section. The food is
also outstanding – provided you like authentic Chinese food (which I do), very different
to the sort of thing we get in Chinese restaurants in the west. There is a vast variety ofvery high quality – I have no idea what some of it is, but we’re assured it’s all vegan so
I’ll try anything, and looking forward to more.
Having eaten we were then persuaded to attend a meeting of the Asian Veg Union, still
without having seen our rooms, and I was feeling considerably the worse for wear by
then. But they are a great bunch and we had a good meeting. The main topic was thevenue for the next, 6th, Asian Veg Congress, which was agreed to be in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia in 2013. The KL team are showing great enthusiasm and it promises to beanother outstanding event. The plan is to combine this with the annual IVU
Congress/Vegfest, so the whole world will be invited.
Finally to my room and some sleep – but up again at 6.30am to get breakfast, sort out a
few things, and get to the opening ceremony, where the ‘leaders’ had bright red roses
pinned on our jackets by Chinese girls in traditional costume.
The Congress itself inevitably started a little late as opening speeches in Asia are always
taken seriously. The several hundred participants had a choice of two conference rooms
with parallel sessions, George and myself chairing the first sessions, under orders to getthings back on time again.
Many of the speakers were highly academic nutritionists – some with talks where I
struggled to even understand the title... but there were also many other topics, including
one from me on world veg*ism, and there seemed to be something for everyone during
the day.
Dr, Susianto Tseng, from Indonesa, IVU Coordinator for Asia-Pacific, and now Vice
President of AVU, also chaired some sessions and gave a talk. And Marly Winckler, IVU
Coordinator for Latin America, came all the way from Brazil to take an equally active role

144
(IVU does NOT pay for any of this). Most Asian countries were represented, with thelargest delegation naturally from China.
The conference sessions were just for one day, we’re out for all day for day 2, so it was
decided to have the ‘closing ceremony’ at the end of day 1. On the way in we went
through a very large foyer area with a huge, and quite extraordinary, exhibition ofvegetable carvings. What the Chinese chefs can do turning vegetables into works of art
has to be seen to be believed – photos next week...
The ceremony consisted of more speeches, handing the flag over to Malaysia, and a very
grand banquet. I’ve been to many countries around the world but none do banquets likethe Chinese. Photos of that next week too.
After dinner we boarded busses and were taken to see some Chinese music and dancing– which turned out to be in a vast auditorium, with dozens singers, dancers, acrobats,
and an array of technological wizardry. All on a gigantic scale, way beyond anything I’ve
seen before. Photos of that to come...
Today we’re visiting veg businesses in the morning, an interesting innovation for a
Congress, and an afternoon of sightseeing at a temple by the lake (rain is forecast...).
Thursday I’m on the flight back to Beijing for a one night stopover with more veg friends
up there. Then home on Friday to start sorting through all those photos.
This is an historic occasion. Just three years ago at the IVU Congress in Germany, we
discussed how we had so few veg contacts in China, and whether we could find a way to
improve that. Susianto and I went to Xiamen the following year, to speak at the firstinternational veg forum in mainland China. But none of us imagined that we would behere at a full veg congress so soon. The waking of this sleeping dragon will have just as
much impact on the veg*n world as on the rest of the world. This is just a beginning fororganized veg*ism in China.
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The China Congress - with pictures
November 16, 2011

These are some of my photos from thethree days of my second visit to China, thefirst two at the first ever veg congress inthat amazing country, in Hangzhou, then abrief visit to Beijing. There are a lot more(and bigger) photos on the IVU Facebook
page, see the links at the bottom.
The first photo was as we were about tostart the opening ceremony, 9.00am
Tuesday Nov. 8. To my right are twonutrition professors from Austria andAustralia, the chair of IVU Council(Singapore) and the president of AVU(Thailand). Bottom photo: one of the two
lecture rooms in action, where I was given
the honour of chairing the first session,
with the two professors as the first
speakers:

145
Below: a view of the hotel entrance during a tea-break outside the other lecture room,and the all-vegan self-service lunch in an elegant restaurant. For me this was some of
the best-ever food at a veg Congress:

After a day of lectures in both rooms we returned to the main hall for the closing
ceremony – but on the way in we walked through an extraordinary exhibition carved
entirely from vegetables, there must have been a hundred of these works of art on
display (don’t miss the frog, bottom right):

Below – the closing ceremony – 2nd right in the group is Prof. Duo Li, from Hangzhou,
who masterminded the whole event, and was elected President of the Asian Vegetarian
Union during the Congress. On the left is Dr. Susianto Tseng, from Indonesia, now AVU
Vice-President (also IVU Coordinator for Asia-Pacific). Next to him is Marly Winckler,
Brazil, IVU Coordinator for Latin America, and they are joined by some more greatfriends from Indonesia.
On the right – handing over the AVU flag to Malaysia for the 6 th AVU Congress in Kuala
Lumpur, 2013:

The hundreds of delegates then sat down to the vegan banquet, the other meals were all
self-service, but this one was brought to us – a seemingly endless flow of exotic vegandishes placed on the revolving tables.
Below: top right photo – on the left Dr. George Jacobs, President of the Singapore
Vegetarian Society and Chair of the IVU International Council. Middle – Prof. Maitree
Sutajit, Thailand, outgoing President of the Asian Vegetarian Union:

146
Below: the first dish of many. Inside the golden bowls the girls above brought to us,
after opening the lid – a small squash filled with a clear mushroom soup; and right theremains of a plate on the revolving table after we’d eaten almost everything except theexquisite decoration.

After the banquet we were taken on busses to a vast auditorium somewhere inHangzhou, for a spectacular stage show – dancing, singing, acrobats, and amazing
technical effects, all on a stage the size of a football pitch with many thousands in theaudience. Some scenes from it below, these were just the central part of the huge stage:

147
Day 2 – visits to veg food factories and veg Buddhist temples:
Up bright and early for a bus tour – first stop, the tofu factory in Hangzhou:

Then to the famous Pagoda, and up to the top for a view over West Lake – on a very dull
and rainy day, but a great view anyway:

Then to a temple in the mountains, with stunning carvings inside and beautiful gardens
outside – the vegetarian Buddhist monks just happened to be in one of their chanting
sessions while we were there which added to the atmosphere:

Then on to another temple where we had dinner, they explained that all their meals arenormally vegan, except for a few desserts which can have dairy products in them. Thenan after-dinner tea ceremony with rather more traditional music than the extravaganzaof the night before:

148
Day 3 – to Beijing
I flew from Hangzhou to Beijing in the morning, and did the political tourist bit in
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City in the afternoon.

In the evening we had a great meeting with a dozen or so Beijing veg activists in a room
over the excellent ‘Veggie Table’ vegan restaurant, run by Laura, an expat American in
the middle below:

Later in the evening there was an environmental film show in the main part of therestaurant, and I was invited to use the equipment to give my talk of world veg*ism for
all the customers. Laura very kindly offered me a room in her apartment for the night,
and then it was off to the airport early in the morning, and home again. It was a long
way to go for just three days in China, but worth every minute of it.
More photos on IVU Facebook:Day 1 (122 photos):
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.273452652697921.69084.180899291953258&typ
e=3
Day 2 (70 photos):
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.273641039345749.69119.180899291953258&typ
e=1
Day 3 (Beijing – 43 photos):
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.273641039345749.69119.180899291953258&typ
e=1

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149

The Year of the Veg
December 27, 2011

2011 was the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese calendar- but for IVU it was the year of the first ever veg
congress in China. A brief look back at someinternational veg events of the year:
The 5th Asian Veg Congress was held in Hangzhou,
China in November, with hundreds of delegates from atleast a dozen countries.
Right:
1 – breakfast in China, IVU Council members fromSingapore, UK, Indonesia, Brazil.
2- one of the dozens of all-vegetable carved artworks ondisplay at the end of the first day.
3 - musicians in a veg Buddhist temple at the end of
day two.
In June IVU supported the 13th International Vegan
Festival, held near Malaga, Spain, with visitors fromalmost every country in Europe, plus Brazil, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, and the USA. Below, some of the music,
lectures and the beach during the Festival:

There are several major annual events in the USA and one that always attracts overseasinterest is the Vegsource Healthy Lifestyle Expo every October in Los Angeles, which has
had recent visitors from China, UK, Switzerland, Australia, and France.
Also in October this year the Vegetarian Society of Ghana held their 2nd international
event, with visitors from other West African countries, including IVU Council members
Emmanuel and Erick, from Nigeria and Togo.
December saw the 2nd Meveg Congress in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, mostly for
Middle East countries. All led by IVU MidEast Liaison Officer, Sandhya Prakash.
Below: Los Angeles, USA - Accra, Ghana - Dubai, UAE:

150
IVU developments
In February we migrated to a Facebook page instead of the old closed group, andalready have almost 2,500 followers. We look forward to more than doubling that nextyear.
In May all the IVU member organisations around the world voted, by a 95% majority, ona new definition of ‘vegetarian’ – emphasizing the positive of ‘foods derived from plants’.
In August it was decided to update a
century old tradition. For the first 50
years the IVU Congress met every
three years, for the next 50 it was
every two years. Now we’re moving
on again and we’ll be supporting an
event combining elements of a
Congress and a Vegfest every year,
there will be one near you soon!
In November the IVU International
Council elected its first everchairperson from Latin America, after
103 years Marly Winckler from Brazil
is now leading the way.
Right: Marly in China, with Susianto
Tseng, IVU Coordinator for AsiaPacific, Vice-President of the AsianVeg Union, head of the Indonesian
Vegetarian and Vegan Societies,
more about him below…
Back in the UK
I’ve spent a lot of time in far flung places in recent years, so I wanted to get back intune with what’s happening in the UK. Some of it:
Altrincham (near Manchester) – lots of meetings at Parkdale (top photo next page)the HQ of the Vegetarian Society UK as I’m a member of the Council, but I also use thelibrary for historical research as we have all the journals going back to 1847. I took
Susianto on a very useful ‘state visit’ in June as he was staying with us for a few days on
the way to Spain.
Birmingham – to the office of The Vegan Society with Susianto to meet CEO Nigel
Winter who did a great job there for many years, but has now moved on (2nd photo),
replaced by Jasmijn de Boo from the Netherlands (on the right of the bottom photo).
Bristol – to the offices of Viva! and a meeting with co-director Tony Wardle.
Dilwyn, Herefordshire – the birth and final resting place of Dr. William Lambe, as partof my historical research of early 19th century vegans.
Godalming, Surrey - to Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), partly to visit their new
offices, and a chat with an old friend, now CEO, Philip Lymbery. Plus lunch with Josphat
Ngonyo, Executive Director of the Africa Network for Animal Welfare (3rd photo), who
was working there for four months and offering to help IVU in back Nairobi.
Ham Common, Surrey – for historical research on the all-vegan Alcott House Academy(1838-48).

151
Liverpool – to the Viva! ‘Incredible Veggie
Roadshow’ and very good it was, a great
opportunity for me to catch up with a lot of people
I hadn’t seen for a while, including Juliet Gellatley(4th photo) and Justin Kerswell from Viva!
Portsmouth – a very pleasant time with some oldveg friends
Shrewsbury – Cruelty Free Christmas Fair,
organised by the Montgomery Voice for Animals.
Wolverhampton – a vegan barbecue in June; ananimal sanctuary open day just out of town inAugust; and the amazing Midlands Vegan Festival
in October (bottom photo, Vegan Society stall),where I gave a talk on vegan history.
Wales:
Cardiff – the opera house with Hazel (ouranniversary trip)
Four Crosses, Powys – 3 course vegan dinnerwith 15 members of the Montgomery Voice forAnimals, quite an achievement in that rural area.
Llangollen – a highly successful ‘Vegan Café for aDay’Machynchleth – the Center for Alternative
Technology, and their veg café, with Susianto in
June.
Early in the year I had the rather strange
experience of watching myself over three episodes
on SMTV, from interviews we did in Dubai a few
months earlier. And throughout the year I did a lot
more research on the early history of veganism,
from 1806, all going into the blogs of course.
In between all that I do mybit for local history in thevillage where I live, which
generated some interest as
I was invited to give talks about it in three nearby towns, andcontribute an article for the local mag. Plus a few reflections onrural trains and boats and roads that ended up amongst the
weekly blogs, this being #97, and the end of another year.
2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon – time to bring on Herb,
the Vegetarian Dragon...
Happy New Year!
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152

Going Dutch
June 27, 2012

I spent a couple of days in Amsterdam last week, at a joint meeting between the
Vegetarian Society UK and the Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond (NVB, founded 1894).
They were two of the three founding members of the International Vegetarian Union in
1908. The British, German and Dutch Vegetarian Societies met in Dresden, Germany,and received letters of support from 13 other groups around the world which wereunable to attend in person.
Since then NVB has hosted four IVU World Vegetarian Congresses, in 1913, 1950, 1971
and 1994 – only the Germans, Indians and British Societies have hosted more, so NVB
has made a major contribution to the development of IVU.
IVU has never existed as a separate organisation, right from the start it was simply aUnion of the member societies, meeting together and sharing
resources where they could. It still works in basically the same way
today, though now with about 120 member groups on every
continent of the world.
On the right is Hugo Nolthenius, President of NVB, and therefore
President of IVU for the three years leading up to the 1913
Congress. When IVU activities resumed after the First World War, he
was elected as IVU treasurer. His colleague, Mr van Borrendam,
became the first long term IVU President in the 1930s.
Below is the group photo of the 1913 IVU Congress at The Hague:

In 1987, Rob Snijders, Director of NVB, oversaw the full legal establishment of the European
Vegetarian Union. He became the General Secretary and led EVU from the NVB office in Amsterdam(I worked with him to build the first EVU website) until 1995 when it moved to Switzerland.
The meeting I attended was funded by the (political) European Union as part of a project toencourage community groups from EU countries to provide cross-border adult education
opportunities. It was a good chance for me to visit the NVB offices, meet some of their staff, andlearn a lot about the work they do today.

153
Most of our time was taken up with the two days of meetings, but naturally we got out and about alittle in between. We tried a couple of the many veg restaurants, and I particularly liked the one run
by some people from Suriname, a former Dutch colony in South America.
One of the major campaigns run by NVB is their National Vegetarian Restaurant Week – apparently
there is a tradition in the Netherlands of restaurants taking different themes for a week, offering
extra menu items and discounts. NVB have made use of this to attract a lot of interest for theirannual vegetarian week.
Part of our discussions were about the significant increase in the number of people who like eating
more vegetarian food, but do want to ‘be vegetarian’ – now often known as ‘flexitarians’. Apparently
the Dutch language has the advantage of two separate words for ‘vegetarian food’ and ‘vegetarianpeople’ – that would be useful in English too!
At the end of day two we had some spare time before the flight home, so I took a ride on one of thetour boats going around the canals – Amsterdam is built on dozens canals and most buildings arenext to one. The tour took us past all the major landmarks, including Anne Frank’s house. Below is aphoto from the boat, near the heart of the city, showing a succession of bridges along one of thecanals, and below that is a typical skyline thru the glass roof of the boat:

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154

California here we come!
October 3, 2012

The first ever IVU World Congress/Vegfest to be held on the West Coast of North
America is about to begin. We start in San Francisco from Friday, October 5, then down
to Los Angeles for October 11-14 – the 40th such event held all around the world in 104
years, since 1908.
Up to a couple of years ago it would be fair to say that most veg*ns in California had
never heard of IVU. No doubt some will still miss our arrival, but the publicity will
already have helped to raise awareness among many there.
We have two main objectives for the next couple of weeks:
1 – to help local veg*ns in their efforts to promote our way of life, by generating somepublicity and increasing the noise level. A bunch of foreigners arriving in town can often
attract interest in the local media.
2 – to make North Americans generally more aware of what is happening in the veg
movement around the rest of the world. There will be speakers from all over the world in
both San Francisco and Los Angeles, and we’ll be looking to put lots of reports online sothat that unable to attend will still get to know something about them.
Note: the word ‘vegetarian’ refers to food ‘with or without’ eggs/dairy - *everything*
below is the ‘without’ version…! - i.e. suitable for vegans.

The program is very flexible, with everyone putting their own schedules together. Here’s
what Hazel and I will be doing over the next couple of weeks:
Thursday, October 4 – drive down to London for a direct flight to San Francisco, pickup a rental car and drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to stay with our Vegsource senior
friends near San Rafael in Marin County.
Friday 5 – a lazy jet-lag morning, then down to the city for a stroll around Chinatown,
before heading to the world-class Millennium vegan restaurant for the evening
registration and dinner with our global friends. Thanks to Green Earth Travel for helping
to get them there – I’ll be on the door with Marly and Hazel to welcome everyone.

155
Saturday 6 – to the Golden Gate Park for the San
Francisco VegSoc’s annual veg festival –www.worldvegfestival.com - this year with IVU
members and supporters on the program, joining
more than 6,000 locals that went along for all the funlast year.
The Green Lifestyle Film Festival is also moving up
from LA for the weekend this year. Around midday I’ll
be giving a presentation on IVU and veg*ism aroundthe world, along with colleagues from the IVU
International Council.
There will be a lot of people around that I’ve talked toonline for many years, but this will be the firstopportunity to meet in person, so it should be a great
weekend.
There will also be some time out to take a look aroundthe park and the botanical gardens next door – and awander over to the Bluegrass Festival that Hazel foundonline. Hopefully we can persuade some of the musicfans to drop into the Vegfest too.
Sunday 7 – day two in the park, with a huge varietyof activities. I’ll be giving a brief talk on vegan history
in the evening, as a warm-up act for John Robbins, thefamous author of the multi-million selling Diet for a
New America, and the founder of Earthsave
International. He is just one of many great speakers
over the two days.
Monday 8 – a slow morning planned... In theafternoon it’s back down to the city for a rooftop
reception at the office of VegNews magazine. Thenmaybe over to the Loving Hut vegan restaurant in theevening, where GoVegan Radio will be hosting a dinner
for the SFVS volunteers.
Tuesday 9 / Wednesday 10 – Hazel and I will betaking the small coastal road down to LA, taking in thescenery and stopping a night in San Simeon, along theway. Then arriving in LA to stay with our friends Zel
and Reuben who run the Vegetarians in Paradise
website, and produce some great vegan cookbooks.
Thursday 11 – the bus tour around LA. There isnothing quite like a bus full of people from manydifferent countries. We’ll be meeting some rescued
wolves, dropping into the Getty Museum, Venice
Beach, Hollywood and Universal Studios – and eating
at some outstanding vegan restaurants along the way.
Friday 12 – the IVU International Seminar –deliberately smaller than the many thousands we’re
expecting in SF. This will be an opportunity to interact with speakers from all over theworld, on a wide variety of topics. I’ll be giving the opening presentation, with a panel of
IVU speakers, and keeping an eye on things thru the day.

156
Some of the IVU members and supporters in SF and/or LA:

In the evening there will be a pool-side dinner at the Warner-Marriot Hotel to begin the
VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo - www.healthylifestyleexpo.com
Saturday 13 – up early as I’m on first at 8.30am, kicking off the Expo on the
beginnings of veganism. Then I can sit back and listen to some of the top American
experts in veg health and nutrition.
In the evening we’re over to a
nearby high school for a (vegan)
fundraising comedy pro-celebrity
basketball match - PCRM FoodFighters vs Harlem Wizards www.pcrm.org/about/events/events/pcrm-food-fighters-harlemwizards-basketball
Sunday 14 – day two of the Expo, more great
presentations expected - Jeff Novick MS RD. ; Michael
Klaper, MD ; Neal Barnard, MD ; Caldwell Esselstyn MD ;John McDougall, MD ; Brenda Davis, RD ; John Robbins andmore amazing fun and serious speakers over the weekend.
Monday 15 – to LAX in the afternoon, arriving back in
London on Tuesday morning, and a leisurely drive home tothe cold damp English countryside.
We’re looking forward to a great experience, and a lot of fun in the sun.
For the entire program see: www.vegetarianvegan.org/index.php/blogs/congressvegfest-updates/58-40th-ivu-congress-vegfest-california

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157

Congress is dead - long live the Vegfest
October 10, 2012

I’m writing this from California. The first part of the 40th IVU ‘big event’, in San
Francisco, is now over, and a lot of us are heading for Los Angeles for part two.
For the last 104 years IVU has been promoting a World Vegetarian Congress every twoor three years, but this one is the ‘game changer’ – I borrowed that phrase from George
Jacobs, editor of IVU Online News, and he is right.
What we are seeing this week is a completely new approach for IVU, and so far it isworking well. We had big crowds in San Francisco, as they do every year with local
visitors, but for me there was a surprise on Sunday evening...
I had expected the attendance to be nearly all Americans, and mostly Californians, witha few from other states, and fewer from other countries – but during the last big session
Dixie Mahy, SFVS President, asked for a show of hands of how many came from Europe,
Latin America, Asia, etc., and there were a huge number from overseas, and many morefrom other US states.
The SF sessions started on Friday evening at the very high-class Millennium vegan
restaurant, near Union Square – there were too many of us to all eat at the same time,
so a rota system had to be used – leaving plenty of time for drinks, nibbles and catching
up with old friends in between eating.
On Saturday and Sunday we were in the County Fair Building, in the Golden Gate Park –admission to everything was a mere $10 per day for anyone not on the ‘four day
package’ (ie locals and those arranging their own accommodation). The main hall had a
trade fair with entertainment, and there were three rooms for lectures and workshops.
The main auditorium was huge, and by Sunday it was packed, with standing room only,
for talks by top speakers like Drs. McDougal, Klaper and Goldhamer.
Lunch was available from a wide variety of stalls in the trade fair, all vegan of course,very different to the conventional congress dining hall. Dinner on Saturday and Sunday
evenings was in the re-arranged auditorium, with more after-dinner speakers, including
John Robbins as the grand finale.
On Monday we had a ‘rooftop reception’ at the VegNews office in the Mission district,with some great vegan snacks and drinks, including an extraordinary variety of vegan‘cheeses’. Some were then going on to one of the Loving Huts for a meal celebrating all
the SFVS volunteers.
The accommodation was in many different hotels and hostels. Some used the ‘official’
hotel, but many others found cheaper alternatives, including basic hostels from $23 pernight – combine that with the $10 daily entrance and it was possible to put together avery low-cost weekend.
How this is all so different....
This was the first IVU event to use multiple venues across the city – and we even haveanother city still to come. It was also the first to be shared with a pre-existing annual

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event, the first where volunteers were out on the street bringing in passers-by, and thefirst of the new annual IVU Vegfests....
In the past we’ve had many Congresses that had everything in one venue, a hotel, auniversity campus or a beach resort. Being so self-contained meant that very few local
people knew it was happening, and very few came in. At the most extreme introverted
event recently, it became clear the even other people in the same hotel didn’t know it
was happening.
There was also very little flexibility in the costs, but that began to change in Dresden,
2008, where we were offered variety of hotels or a hostel.
The isolated exclusivity changed at the 2010 Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia, where
there was a huge vegan food fair which attracted about 5,000 people, mostly local, alongwith a good overseas contingent. That also offered a choice of hotels – and it was thefirst ever ‘congress’ with no politics involved.
For most people, the word Congress sounds like something to do with government, andit was, until recently, where the IVU Council was elected, rules were made, theInternational Council met, and other business conducted. However, for a globalorganisation with limited funds, it was always difficult to get everyone together, so the‘democracy’ was just an illusion – reaching a low point in Goa, 2006, when just 11 out
120 member organisations were present. Decisions made by those few were supposed tobe binding on all the others unable to be there.
In the 21st century, the obvious solution was to move everything online and, despitesome opposition, that has now happened. All ‘political’ issues affecting IVU are now
decided by email, giving everyone an equal opportunity to debate and vote, even if they
don’t have the time or money to fly around the world.
The grandiose title ‘congress’ also led some to imagine that IVU ruled the vegetarian
world – and we still do get people demanding to know why we aren’t doing that. Since
the 1980s the veg movement has expanded dramatically – and inevitably has become
even more diverse in the process. No-one is interested in a self appointed few deeming
themselves to be a ‘world council’ –vegetarians, and even more so vegans, will just do
whatever they want to do, and disagree with each other endlessly about how to do it.
Dixie said at one point that she likes IVU because ‘it brings people together” – whichvery neatly sums it up, especially when the people are from different countries. Whatthey do together is largely up to them, but we hope they share ideas and experiences,learning from each other as much as from the speakers. There are many routes to avegan world, and no ‘council’ can decide which route anyone should take.
So the word ‘Congress’ is now redundant. The isolated introverted venue is outdated,
and the same-price-for-all approach is just plain wrong.
California 2012 is the major transition to the future events – they will now be every year
and called ‘IVU World Vegfest’ – and the 41st IVU World Vegfest, joint with the 6th Asian
Veg Congress, will be in Malaysia, starting with a weekend in Kuala Lumpur, then up to
Penang for a different few days. We look forward to lots of local participation and lots ofsharing of experiences.
Meanwhile we’re on our way to Los Angeles for the rest of this one...
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159. . . and then to something completely different
October 17, 2012

I’m writing this at about 33,000 feet, somewhere over the North Atlantic. The first major
IVU visit to California is now over, next year we’re off to another first in Malaysia.
San Francisco and Los Angeles were very different events – SF having a big food fair andthree lecture rooms, in a simple building in the park, with a huge number of people
wandering in and out. LA was a professional conference setting, in an upmarket hotel,
and all participants together in the one large hall. Here’s what we did in LA:
Thursday October 11 - before the talks, we had a day out on a bus, visiting some of
the tourist attractions of LA. First stop was the Getty Museum, an outstanding art
collection in an amazing setting – a stunning building on a hill overlooking the wholecity.
Our tour guide was Chef AJ, a well known LA vegan chef and former stand-up comedian.
She made good use of her entertaining skills with a quiz whilst we sat in the inevitable
LA traffic between venues. The questions were all about American health professionals,
American books, American chefs . . . so I did a bit of heckling from the back of the bus,
asking if she had any non-American questions. AJ didn’t seem to understand the conceptof ‘not American’, so she got some more heckling, but all in good fun and it passed thetime to the next attraction.
The second stop was for lunch at ‘Native Foods’ – great food in huge portions, just a bitof delay feeding 61 people from a dozen different countries, From there we went on to
Venice Beach, then Hollywood Boulevard for the walk of the stars, and eventually to‘Follow your Heart’, another great vegan restaurant not too far from the base hotel. We
were met there by some tame rescued wolves and musical entertainment.
There were hitches with the volume of traffic and getting everyone fed, but they all
seemed to enjoy themselves, and for a first attempt by the Vegsource team it was ahighly successful day – so much so that they’re now thinking of doing it again next year.
Friday October 12 – 9.00am to 3.15pm was an IVU Seminar with a dozen speakers
from many different countries, and an audience of about 70 that had paid specifically forthat session. This was a feature of the whole program in LA - each part could be booked
separately – one woman from France only booked the LA bus trip (though was in SF) . . .
another from Japan just booked the Sat/Sun Expo below.
Our Seminar speakers were from Australia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, UK
and USA – with the audience from those plus Canada, India, Israel, and Spain, with awide variety of topics being presented, and ending with a useful panel Q&A session.
Keeping the same audience in one room all day was very different to the usual IVU
parallel sessions, and the feedback from those present was very positive.
We had a three hour break, then to the opening dinner of the Vegsource HealthyLifestyle Expo, a very grand seated and served affair, with quality food, musicalentertainment, and followed by a highly entertaining talk by Jeff Novick RD on the
nutrition of nuts.
Saturday/Sunday October 13/14 – I had the first speaking slot for my talk on
Veganism from 1806, which generated some interesting comments afterwards. The twodays consisted of talks by some of the leading North American health professionals – Drs
Klaper, McDougal and Barnard; Brenda Davis from Canada, and many more. I was told

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the audience of about 400 was 30% up on last year, thanks to IVU being involved, andwe were glad to help promote such a great annual event.
The food over the weekend was an optional (separately priced) buffet at the hotel, or a
range of nearby vegan eateries for lunch and dinner. The overall flexibility, with somepeople also using alternative accommodation, was very different to the traditional all-inone IVU Congress. Some might have preferred the simple package-style event, but mostseemed to appreciate being able to make their own arrangements according to personal
preferences and budgets.
This flexibility was a continuation of how it worked in SF – there were many different
possible combinations, including what to do for the two spare days between the twocities, and different ways of making the journey between them. Many just booked partsof the whole, and those attending everything had a fair amount of individual planning to
do. The wide variety of photos posted on Facebook suggested they enjoyed doing theirown thing.
FB rules OK
Facebook was one of the big differences from the last IVU Congress, two years ago. The
way veg*ns are using it seems to have expanded dramatically over those two years
since we were in Indonesia.
I was asked about media coverage in California, but that was never going to be verymuch. In Indonesia the government ministry of tourism paid for the opening banquet,
and the minister came along to perform the opening ceremony. Can anyone imagine the
USA government doing that...? The issue with the media is much the same –‘vegetarians/vegans have meeting’ is just not news in Europe or North America.
But we are now generating our own news on Facebook, and no doubt other social
network sites. Many of the visitors to California were posting photos and comments, andgetting lots of ‘likes’ and appreciative comments from their friends back home. IVU has
been a part of this expansion – our FB page was set up soon after Indonesia, now with
4,500 fans, and we’ve since added a useful group for ‘IVU Members and Supporters’.
This visit by IVU to California was a turning point – the transition from old-style
Congress to the new-style Vegfest. We look forward to seeing how it develops next year
in Malaysia, where we start in Kuala Lumpur, then move on to Penang in the north.
There will also be optional extra events in India the previous weekend, and in Thailand
the week after – it looks like becoming another grand mix-n-match opportunity.
If you’re interested in what IVU is doing around the world, join our FB group –we now have a huge collection of photos from California:
www.facebook.com/groups/IVUMembers

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Brighton - veg capital UK?
Updated October 2012For about the last 20 years I’vebought my shoes from 'Vegetarian
Shoes' in Brighton, a small city on
the south coast of England. It wasdeveloped by the Victorians as aseaside escape from London, andnow has about 8 million visitors
per year. But even before theVictorians arrived, Brighton had aquirky history - the Indian-style
Pavilion, below, was built by the
Prince Regent over 200 years ago.
We used to live along the coast and I could go in to try on theshoes, but since we moved further north I buy them online(www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk).
When I was in China, with my friend Susianto from Indonesia. I
showed him the logo in my shoes -"I don't suppose you getthese in Indonesia" - "no, but I buy mine online from them too"
- which kinda put me in place, the age of the internet knows noboundaries...
Hazel and I went back down for a few days a while back. The
photo on the right was the view from our window looking acrossthe end of the pier. As we live in the countryside, and a longway inland, when we want to get away we usually head for atown, preferably by the sea. Our hotel is not totally veg*n,none of them are, but they nearly all offer a full veganbreakfast and this one was excellent.

Above is a slice of Gardener Street,
Vegetarian Shoes on the left - and here's
Laura selling me some new shoes.
Then after a hard morning shopping, over
the road to Infinity Foods, veggie organic
wholefood, where we sat in the upstairs
window watching the world go by overlunch.

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A couple of years ago Brighton elected the first ever British Green
Party MP (Member of Parliament) - Caroline Lucas who has
represented Brighton at the European Parliament since 1999. They
have lots of Green politicians in Europe but the antiquated UK
electoral system is designed to keep the establishment in power,
and they have clung on to it.
Caroline got elected because of the significant 'alternative community' living there. As
one national newspaper reported: "After the eight-hour count to victory, the exhausted
new MP sat with supporters to toast their victory with fair-trade champagne and avegetarian fry-up."
But they have top quality veg cuisine too, as this 5-starreview by a non-veg food critic from Times Online shows:“... We were here to eat at Terre à Terre, which has
picked up a hand-made reputation for good food cookedby Amanda Powley with Philip Taylor. ... Nothing on themenu is anything you've eaten elsewhere. ... I was so
intrigued by this food that I bought the cookbook,... And
it's vegetarian!
Yes. Didn't I mention? This was meatless and fishless.
Quite a lot of it actually vegan, ... it's incredibly good
food, and I mean that in a credibly defying sense. This ismost probably the best vegetarian restaurant in Britain, but it's also better than thatghetto accolade. It is singularly and eccentrically marvellous." - www.terreaterre.co.uk
The more usual image is summed up in this extract from a Brighton City Guide, from a
non-veg band called 'Blood Red Shoes' :"... THE COWLEY CLUB is a venue but more important an all-round cultural centre, it's
run by an anarchist co-operative and has all kinds of shows, club nights, protest
meetings and more. It sells books and has lots of free courses, for example English
courses for asylum seekers or meetings about breaking up BNP rallies or electoral plans.
It's also a super-cheap vegan cafe in the daytime. It rules basically, and pretty muchsummarizes what I like about Brighton. ...Blood Red Shoes is not even remotely
vegetarian, which actually makes us theminority in a town like Brighton.
... HAND IN HAND is up around an area
called Kemptown - which is generally
worth checking out anyway as it's pretty
cool - this place is tiny and brews its own
ales in the basement. It also sells cheap
pies which are freshly made by a local
muso, the thai vegetable ones are ace.
...get on the BIG LEMON eco-friendly
vegetable-oil fuelled bus and get into
town [photo right: the bus ready for awedding]. ... a town with a rich history
of insane, hippy, lefty, drug maniac, ecowarrior, nocturnal, organic vege, oh-sobohemian ridiculousness."

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One evening Hazel and I were able to meet up with some of the local veg group in one of
the many veg*n eating places. This one was the Aloka, a 'weigh your own' place - you
help yourself from the great variety of food, then put your plate on the scales and printout a price ticket. A good incentive to avoid too much heavy food! After eating I gave abrief talk about IVU, and got them to wave to anyone reading this:Naturally I have to do some wildlife
photography - the one one on theright is a Herring Gull, it was sitting
on a post above an open-air pub on
the beach. They are very big, very
bold, and dive down for any food
which is not guarded closely enough,not bothering to wait for left-overs.
On our last night we went to Terre a
Terre, the very upmarket veg
restaurant I mentioned above – wemanaged to visit several other veg
places before going home, but itwould need longer to go to themall...
If you want to take a look around, then one of the best times is in March, when you cantake in one of the biggest Vegfests in the UK: brighton.vegfest.co.uk - meanwhile here's
my photo of the pier at night:

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Throwing the lion to the Christians - Veg*ism andReligion
August 18, 2010, updated September 26, 2012

I have absolutely no religious inclinations at all - which might havemade me an odd choice for a speaker at a conference of the Christian
Vegetarian Association UK (CVAUK) back in August 2010.
As IVU Manager, I try to treat all religions with equal respect as they
are an inevitable, and indeed essential part of promoting veg*ism
worldwide. My research into the history of vegetarianism has countlesscrossovers with the history of all religions, so I try to have some basic
understanding of them all. Among the current IVU member
organizations we have veg groups representing various sub-sects ofChristians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Hare Krishnas, Muslims,
some spiritual groups that don't fit easy labels, and others that make apoint of being strictly non-religious.
I am also very aware that there are millions of people around the world
who would not consider going vegetarian without the blessing of theirreligious leaders. So we need to find ways of helping those leaders tosee veg*ism as an opportunity, not a threat. Historically some haveseen it as a threat - in the middle-ages the Christian Church burned
vegetarians at the stake as heretics... Fortunately they don't do that
now, but there are some leaders whose underlying views don't seem tohave changed very much.
Religions generally change very slowly, which allows the IVU collectionof articles about many religions to go back 60 years or more, and still
be relevant today. See: www.ivu.org/religion
The photo below right sums up for me how vegetarianism can bringreligions together. I took this in Indonesia, November 2009. The young
woman on the left is Muslim and herfriend was a Seventh Day Adventist
Christian - they were inseparable
throughout the time we were there.
The rest of that lunch table wasmade up of Buddhists, Hindus, andodd bods like me, all there for the
Asian Veg Congress.
I was initially attracted to attend the
UK Christian Veg Conference by theacademic quality of the speakers mostly veg*n theologians who hadtaken historical topics for their talks.
So I offered a talk on 'The religious
origins of organized veg*ism'. If
these guys can persuade other Christians that veg*ism is a positive step then IVU will dowhatever it can to support them - as we will for all religious groups.
It turned out to be very worthwhile, and enjoyable, with 30-40 of us on the Leeds
University campus, jointly organised with the Theology Department. Despite my own
lack of any religion, my previous visits to Leeds, in Yorkshire in the north of England,165
have also been to Christian Churches, researching my family history - churches andgraveyards are usually the only old buildings still standing, so I'm beginning to getcertain associations with the place.
The Saturday was made up of some fairly
serious, and very interesting, talks fromacademic theologians - the last one
speaking about Hinduism for comparison and all rounded off in the evening with a
lot of fun at Hansa's Gujarati veg
restaurant a mile or two down the road.
The photos on the right are top: the meeting place where theUniversity has taken over a row of oldhouses, with Father John on the steps.
middle: Matthew Barton, from the Leeds
Theology Department, getting thesessions underway with Cambridge
theologian David Grumett about to speak.
bottom: some of the group at Hansa's
Gujarati veg restaurant.
Sunday began with a Mass, which I
skipped, but it was followed by the slightly
inappropriate timing of me addressing ameeting of Christians on a Sunday
morning. I gave a presentation about theorigins of organised vegetarianism, andthe important role that 19th century
Christians had played in it.
After some further lively talks from Father John and thewonderful 80 year old CVAUK president, Don Gwillim - allmuch more light-hearted than the Saturday sessions - wedivided into groups for some productive workshop
discussions, including some disturbing accounts of theopen hostility they often receive from flesh-eating
Christians in their home churches.
It was a very useful weekend, I learned a lot andhopefully was able to contribute something to the group in
return. For anyone with an interest in all this, check out'Theology on the Menu - asceticism, meat and theChristian diet' (link to amazon.com) by David Grumettand Rachel Muers, who both spoke on the Saturday.
And see the Christian Vegetarian Association UK at:www.cvauk.org (a member of IVU)
Maybe one day I'll go to Leeds for something other thanchurches, graveyards and Christians - but I do hope that CVAUK organises more
conferences like this one, and indeed it would be great to see veg*ns from otherreligions around the world doing something similar. We do all have a lot to share.
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The Vegetarian Society and me
Updated October 2012

In 2010 I joined the Board of Directors of the
Vegetarian Society UK – the world’s oldest,
founded in 1847, and still going strong today.
Sadly I don’t get paid anything other than
expenses - no doubt if I was a director of a
junk-food firm I’d be paid millions, but suchis life when you’d rather do something useful.
The photo right is ‘Parkdale’ the HQ of VSUK,
near Manchester.
I go back a long way with VSUK, to sometime in the 1980s when I was running a localgroup which was part of the ‘nationwide network’ of more than 100 similar groups. Hazel
and I were also running a veg B&B at the time so we got to know a lot of veg*ns aroundthe country.
Veg in cyberspace
In 1994 I got onto the primitive version of theinternet, heard about the ‘world wide web’ anddownloaded one of the first web browsers. It was
mostly plain text with very limited options for
pictures, similar to the screenshot of the 1995
Mosaic browser on the right.
Some veg*ns at three UK universities had started
the world’s first veg website, running on a server
owned by one, the website managed by another,and the third started putting single pages on it for each of the major veg groups in the
UK – all done within the academic world as few people outside of educational
establishments had any access to the internet.
Which was where I came in – I took over the single page for VSUK and started
expanding it. During the month of January 1995 we got 500 page views – by thatsummer it was 10,000 per month, and by theend of the year it was 40,000.
The photo right is from the cybercafé at the
IVU World Veg Congress of 1996, in the USA.
The machines have downsized a little sincethen!
It was a unique experience being involved
right at the beginning of something so
revolutionary. We all thought this was goingto have a major impact in the future, butwere always up against those who wanted tokeep their mindset firmly in the 20th century.
It was hard to get any funding as the usual response was “what about those not online”.
They didn’t believe that very soon most world would be online.
By the end of 1996 the VegSoc website was up to 100,000 page views per month, andby then I had also set up new websites for some other groups, including EVU, Viva!, andthe first IVU website in December ’95. But I decided to leave VSUK and the others, sothat I could concentrate on IVU – I saw the future of the veg internet as global, andwanted to be a part of all that.

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A couple of years later, in 1999, the VSUK website was struggling a bit, and I took it on
again, now at www.vegsoc.org , and was even paid a small amount now that more
people were beginning to realise it might be useful after all. It was still a struggle to get
it taken really seriously, especially as few of the full-time staff could access the web fromthe office. By 2002 it was up to 300,000 page views per month, the staff could now use
it at work, and the revolution was underway. This time we did a handover session withsome training so that the staff could run it themselves, I dropped out again, and havebeen delighted to see it go from strength to strength ever since.
Meanwhile a lot of work had gone into the 2002 (all vegan) IVU World Veg Congress,
being hosted by VSUK in Edinburgh, Scotland. I
had put up a website and spent the week at thecongress trying to make it as interactive online
as possible, for those unable to attend.
The photo right is Jeff Freedman from Torontoin the 2002 cybercafé, with rather smallermachines by then. He wrote daily articles about
congress, to which I added some photos andput it all online, along with lots more photos,
articles and forums.
Veg timetravel
During that Congress it was agreed to hold thecentenary IVU Congress in Dresden, Germany,in 2008 – and I was asked to provide somehistorical info in time for that one. The biggest
source of veg history is the library at Parkdale– so I made the hour-each-way drive one day
per month for the next six years.
On the right is part of the library, with boundvolumes of all the society’s journals from 1847,
and other books back to 1819. In 2008 I wascommissioned to catalogue all this, naturally
doing it as more webpages. It was from herethat I eventually began to discover a very different history from a vegan perspective.
At the 160th AGM, in 2007, I gave a talk about how the Society’s Diamond Jubilee, in
1907, led to the founding of IVU in 1908. VSUK has been a leading member ever since.
My latest incarnation as a ‘Trustee’ of the Society is a result of the elected board
members deciding there was a gap in their knowledge of historical and international
aspects of vegetarianism, and I was honoured to be asked to fill the gap.
I took the photo below in June 2010 when we rounded up 11 of the great bunch of 33
staff to wave to anyone reading this blog:

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Living on the Front LineJanuary 19, 2011

Last Friday Hazel and I were in a group of 15 sitting down to a vegan meal together.
Nothing unusual in that you might think, but in this little corner of the world it wasprobably unique. This is livestock farming country, withhunting, shooting, fishing and any other form of animal abuse
you can think of somewhere nearby.
The sparrow-hawk on the right was sitting on our garden bird
feeder. We hadn't intended the smaller birds to be the food,but I have watched a hawk tear one apart in the tree. So
some people just think of it as normal for them to behave thesame way, but of course humans have a choice, sparrowhawks don't.
We do have crops growing around here, but the farmers don't
waste their time growing food for humans when they canmake far more money from animal feed, and one of thebiggest animal feed firms in the country is just down theroad. We have small scale factory farming in our village, andmore around the area for beef and poultry. The farmers' market in the nearby town isalmost all meat and dairy, very few commercial growers bother with fruit or vegetables,
despite the good quality land. And the slaughterhouse is about five miles to the east.
Right, from myoffice window, amile north, animal
sheds and feedsilo:
The first problem
of arranging avegan meal for 15
people is simply
finding somewhere
to hold it. Most of
the pubs andrestaurants offer
ovo-lactovegetarian options- just replace themeat with large quantities of eggs or cheese and the local dairy and egg farmers don't
mind too much. But take out even that and you meet with suspicion and even open
hostility. Above, pheasants bred by gamekeepers for shooting, photo from my officewindow.
So the local 'Voice for Animals' group only attempt it once a year, for their Christmas
Dinner - a little late this year in January. They are based some distance away, and havemembers from a very wide rural area. They've held these dinners various places overthe last few years, some good, some awful. This year they were at a pub called theGolden Lion just over the border in Wales, which laid on a three course completely veganmenu, with three choices for each course. But this is not a very conventional pub, thelandlord gives guitar lessons at the back, has his friends round to provide live music
gigs, and the whole pub doubles as a musical instrument shop. So we had our veganmeal surrounded by guitars for sale:

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Here's the menu, all vegan, even the ice cream:

1- Caramelised Onion Soup; Roasted Roots Paté or Creamy Mushrooms on garlic Bruschetta
2- Vegetable Bolognaise with spaghetti ; Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables and Spiced Rice orMushroom and Tarragon Pithivier
3- Homemade Cherry Ice-cream, Served with a hot cherry compote; Forest Fruit Crumble or Crepes
with a Toffee and Nut Sauce- so it can be done, even here. But why would people like us want to live in a place like
this?
Because it is beautiful countryside and it needs to be reclaimed as the naturalenvironment that it once was. It wasn't always like it is now - not so long ago mostordinary people around here didn't eat much meat simply because they couldn't get it.
They grew their own vegetables, and gathered from the wild, including some animals
and fish, though mostly through poaching which brought harsh penalties if they werecaught. They would not have understood anyone actually choosing to eat only plantfood, but not because of nutritional concerns - to them flesh-eating was a symbol ofwealth and power and their descendants today do not want to be seen eating 'peasantfood'. Right: from my officewindow, a mile east, sheep
grazing and the feed silo fordairy cows.
These days we all want to live inthe beautiful countryside, andrecent plans to expand the factory farms and the slaughterhouse have all met with fierce
opposition from local meat-eating residents. They'll still buy their cheap meat in the
supermarkets of course, but they just don't want to be reminded of where it comes from,preferring the advertisers fantasy-land of cows grazing happily in the green grassy fields.
We do have cattle in the field at the back of our house from time to time - but it doesn'ttake much to see that there are no cows (i.e. females). These are all-male herds,
fattened up for a couple of years between the arable crops which end up as animal feed.
We get the lucky ones in our field - the majority spend their entire short lives in the big
sheds before being hauled the five miles forslaughter. Right: even being outside doesn't
guarantee much grass (from my officewindow).
In this area our little gathering of 15 sharing
a vegan meal won't go unnoticed, and the'Voice for Animals' group will be taking theirstall anywhere they're allowed to set it up. So if you're finding life a little too easy in a
veg-friendly town or city, come and join us on the front line.
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National Veg Week - does your nation have one?
May 23, 2012

The idea for a National Vegetarian Week (NVW) originated in
the UK - following a successful national veg day in 1992 it
was expanded to a week in 1993. Both of those were at the
beginning of October, but subsequent market researchshowed that the campaign would be more effective in the UK
in the late spring - to tie in with fresh local produce inseason - so it moved to May in 1995 and has been
there ever since. See: www.nationalvegetarianweek.org
This is coordinated from Parkdale (photo right), the HQof the Vegetarian Society UK, where they have lots ofstaff turning it into a major national event. There are
hundreds of businesses and local groups running
activities up and down the country, with the big
advantage of far more media coverage on aconcentrated week.
In 2007 the Australian Vegetarian Society decided to run
their own NVW, and also agreed that it would be best in
the spring - which if course in the Southern Hemispheremeans back to October. For last year's OzWeek see: www.vegetarianweek.com.au(should be updated soon, ready for next October). More recently another has started for
the USA, running in April, see: usvegweek.com
The original UK national veg day was probably arranged to tie in with World VegetarianDay on October 1. That was invented in the USA in the 1970s - proposed at the IVU
World Veg Congress in Maine in 1975, and formally launched by NAVS (North American
VegSoc) in 1978. However, it didn't really take off outside the US until the age ofinternet made it so much easier for the whole world to share these things - see:www.worldvegetarianday.org
As a result of discussions around the IVU World Veg
Congress in Germany in 2008, Centro Vegetariano inPortugal launched International Vegetarian Week. This is forthe first seven days of October, to turn the world veg day
into a week, and they say that 18 countries joined in lastyear. You can find that one at: www.vegetarianweek.org
The whole of October is sometimes known Vegetarian Awareness Month, and in 1982 the
IVU World Veg Congress passed a resolution "that October of each year henceforth shallbe known as Reverence for Life Month."
In 1994 The Vegan Society (UK) rounded off the month (andcelebrated their 50th anniversary) by launching World Vegan Day
on November 1 - www.worldveganday.org - and some groups are
now expanding that into a week and The Vegan Society is now
promoting November as vegan month.
So whether you want your national veg week in the Spring, Octoberor November, or all together if you're in the southern hemisphere, they do have an
impact, so how about getting your nation to join in?
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Vegan Wolves
July 20, 2011

A couple of weeks ago Hazel and I went to the annual BBQ
organised by the Wolverhampton Vegans and Veggies – areally nice laid-back afternoon, in some hot sunshine for achange. The city’s football team is called The Wolves,
though I don’t think they’ve been attracted to the barbie
yet…
It was well publicised across the city, plenty of sign-boards
to the ‘free veggie BBQ’ – in fact it was all-vegan with alist of small ’suggested donations’, and plenty of tables
with leaflets etc. From the look of the buckets people were donating far more than thesuggestions.
We’ve seen a lot of changes in local groups across the UK in recent years, a typicalexample is a group that ran from 1967 as the ‘Oxford Vegetarian Society’ and continued
as that until recently – but is now known as Oxford Vegetarians and Vegans – or justOxVeg for short. These local groups, as in Wolverhampton, have not only dropped theformal structure, they have also made a point of including both vegetarian and vegan in
their names, and most are now affiliated to both the national vegetarian and vegansocieties, with many also affiliated to other groups like ‘Viva!’.
Below: a few scenes from the ‘Vegan Wolves’ free public BBQ:172
The end of the formal societies has come very rapidly. In the 1990s the VegetarianSociety UK had about 100 affiliated groups, almost all called ‘society’ – a quick survey ofthe current 106 shows that 100 of them are now just informal vegetarians / vegans /veggies / veg or some combination of those. Only 6 actual local societies remain.
The UK Vegan Society also lists around 100 local groups, many of them the same asabove as they affiliate to both – and only 2 ‘societies’ among them.
The change is due to the internet of course – local groups mostly needed formal
structures to look after the money they had to collect to print and post newsletters. Now
everything is done on websites and email, so no costs involved, and no formal society
needed.
Meanwhile the national societies are looking less and less like the ‘social network’ clubsthat they were before the age of the internet. Memberships are declining, and attracting
trustees is getting harder.
On the new version of social networking, facebook, the most popular vegetarian page
now has over to 150,000 fans – traditional societies could only ever have dreamt ofnumbers like that. And most societies around the world now have far more Facebook
followers than real-life members.
So where does this leave the future for local activities? My impression is that they are
getting much stronger, and we are now seeing major events organized locally, andindependent of any of the national organisations. The big VegFests such as Bristol andBrighton are typical of that – and there is one of those in Wolverhampton too, on
October 29 this year, organised by the Midlands Vegan Campaign. They had over 1,500
visitors last year, which is impressive for a relatively small city.
Right: the scene in themain hall at a recent
Wolverhampton Vegan
Festival, this year’s
prediction is “80+ stalls,
20+ talks/workshops,
vegan caterers fromacross the UK, live music
all day, late night party &much more!”This appears to befollowing from what has
happened increasingly inNorth America over thelast 10 years – there are
now variations of VegFests attracting thousands of visitors in San Francisco, Toronto andBoston. We know of at least 20 more in that region, and growing numbers in other partsof the world.
The older of these City-based VegFests, like the three named above, are run bytraditional local societies, but others are increasingly being run as separate organisationsin their own right. There are many variations with an endless mixture of trade & info
stalls, guest speakers and entertainment, but always in the same place and about thesame time every year. It looks like there will be one near you soon - if not, maybe you
should try filling the gap . . .
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Vegan Café 4 the Day - could your group do this?
September 6, 2011

Last Saturday Hazel and I went just over the borderto Llangollen in North Wales to visit the ‘Vegan Café
4 the Day’ in one of the old halls in the middle oftown. The FREE Café tours Wales, setting up for one
day in towns where there are no other vegan places
to eat.
The leaflet right was being handed out in the streets
as we arrived:
The group take the event all over Wales, and havebeen getting great
responses
everywhere theygo. Llangollen(pronounced
Thlangothlen) is a
tourist town and it
was full of visitorson the first Saturday of September, which made it an
ideal venue for the vegan event.
Left: signs in English and Welsh outside the oldbuilding.
The old hall was packed, with a mixture of vegans gladof somewhere to eat and meet other vegans – and a lotof curious locals and tourists who came in just to try
what was on offer. The atmosphere was good too, allvery relaxed and friendly, with more of a sense ofcommunity than normal cafes where people often don’ttalk to those on the next table.
It was all run by volunteers, with funding mostly from donations plus a small grant fromthe Vegan Society.
This touring café
is an idea that
other groups
around the world
could use,
especially thoseaway from thebigger cities.
Left: Inside themain entrance – amenu board, partly
in Welsh, and the
local guide leaflet.

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Below: some of the happy eaters with their free food, about 1.00pm - it had been fullsince opening at 10.00am, with lots of visitors coming and going:

Below: part of the buffet (waiters were also serving the from the menu), the hardworking (and mostly young) volunteer staff in the kitchen, a rack with some free leafletsand books for sale, and a plate of falafel and salad:More about vegan Wales on: www.eatoutveganwales.org
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The Big Veg Weekend
November 2, 2011
World Vegan Day was on a Tuesday this year, so a lot of groups held their big events theprevious weekend – and the last weekend of October is now becoming a worldwide
vegan party. Some that we know about, in all sorts of varieties, were all happening at
the same time in:Accra, Ghana ; Bath, UK ; Boston, USA
Cape Town, South Africa
Sao Paulo, Brazil ; Sydney, Australia- and no doubt many more.
Last year I was in Bangalore, India, for thesame weekend where the Indian Vegan Society
organised the India & SE Asia Veg Congress (allvegan as always these days of course). The
photo below is some of the great music at thatevent. WVD was on the Monday and we had a trip to a vegan organic farm near the citywith more traditional Indian music and dancing.
This year Hazel and I headed for a slightly less exotic but equally impressive venue, theWest Midlands Vegan Festival in Wolverhampton, about an hour from home, where I was
giving a talk on the history of veganism.
We arrived at 11.00am, just as the doors were about to open – and found theextraordinary sight of a huge number of people queuing all along the street, to get into avegan event. It would have been hard to imagine that ten years ago.

As I was due to speak at 12 noon we jumped the queue and went in to meet lots of old
friends who were at their stalls waiting for the crowds. And it did get very crowded – thephoto below is just one end of the main hall, and *before* most people came in. By
1.00pm it was getting difficult to move around.

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By 4.00pm over 1,500 people had gone through the doors, and more were still comingin, quite amazing in a town that few people outside the UK will have heard of, and manyin the UK only know because of the football team. We met friends from Manchester,London and Leicester, and there were many more that had made long treks to be there.
The Vegan Society (below left) and the Vegetarian Society (right) were both getting
plenty of interest on their stalls. It was great to be at a vegan event where allvegetarians were equally welcome, without the sort of hostility we’ve sadly seen in someplaces. We’re all on the same path.

A couple more of the stalls below – the guy in bear suit must have been getting rather
hot as it got ever more crowded . . . and a colourful food stall seen from above.

As well as the main trade hall and eating area, there was a big café/bar with music,
comedy, poetry and more going on. Plus upstairs and downstairs were cookery demos
and three lecture/workshop rooms.
I spent an hour giving my talk on vegan history in one of these rooms. Considering all
rival attractions I was pleased with the attendance, and they seemed to find it
interesting. I was also very grateful to the Vegan Society, Amanda in particular, forletting me use their projector and setting it up for me.
Next year the IVU World Veg Congress/Vegfest is in California early in October so there
might be an opportunity to stay in the states for a couple of weeks, and visit the huge
Boston Veg Food Fair over the ‘big weekend’ at the end of the month on the way home.
Last year they reported 25,000 thru the doors over two days at that one, and initialreports from this year suggest they still need a bigger venue…
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Cruelty Free Christmas - an idea for Christians?
November 23, 2011

We’re getting near the season of peace on earth and goodwill to all sentient beings.
Well it would be nice to think that was what Christmas could be about . . . and evenbetter if we could have that all year round of course.
Last Saturday Hazel and I went to a local Cruelty Free Christmas Fair in Shrewsbury,organised by the Montgomery Voice for Animals – in a church, which seemed just a littleincongruous to me. As far as I could tell, the Church owners were not too concerned
about what was on the stalls, as long as
they brought in some more money to help
maintain the building. And it certainly is
one of those glorious buildings that must
be preserved.
Right is my photo of the ‘Christmas Card
Shop’ in a separate part of the Church. It
sells cards produced by dozens of different
charities, with 4% commission to thechurch:I recently read a book by an academic,
non-veg, historian who said thatvegetarianism was ‘quite fashionable’ in first century Rome. Then the Christians took
over, followed by 2,000 years of mass slaughter.
And not just slaughter of animals of course – both sides in the First World War had army
chaplains praying for victory while millions of humans were slaughtered there too. Most
slave owners on the American ‘deep south’ plantations were devout church-goers. Throwin a few Catholics and Protestants bombing each other, heretics burned at the stake, andthe list is endless. Not really the most glorious record of “love thy neighbour as thyself”(Mark 12:31).
Most genuine Christians today would distance themselves from all that of course, butthey still seem to be generally oblivious or indifferent to the appalling cruelty involved in
producing their Christmas dinner.
There are several Christian Vegetarian Societies that are members of IVU, and I had theprivilege of speaking at one of their conferences last year. I went along with sometrepidation but they were the most delightful company, I really enjoyed the two days I
spent with them and came away with a lot of respect for them. But sadly they talked
about the hostility they face back in their home churches.
Below some of the food at our local Cruelty Free Christmas Fair, all vegan of course:

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For most of us, the reality of Christmas in western countries is a time for advertising
agencies to pile on the emotional blackmail, persuading people to spend money they
don’t have, buying other people things they don’t want, or else “you’re a scrooge”. All in
the interests of economic growth and prosperity of course, and to hell with any people,
let alone non-human animals, who get in the way of all that.
Below, a quiet moment in one corner of the Cruelty Free Christmas Fair in St. Mary’s
Church in Shrewsbury, there was a steady flow of people coming through for most of thefour hours it was open. Over the next few weeks there are dozens of similar events
being run by local groups up and down the UK and probably in many other countries,
some much bigger, many small like this one, but with a significant combined effect:

It would be good to think that more Christians might make their Christmas cruelty-free
this year. There are plenty of cruelty-free Christmas shopping ideas in your own country,
both online and at local fairs, far too many too list
here, try a Google search.
For more about Christian Vegetarianism see:
Christian Vegetarian Association- www.all-creatures.org/cva
Christian Vegetarian Association UK- www.christianvegetarian.co.uk
Christian Vegetarian Association of Ghana- christianveggiesghana@yahoo.com
Brotherhood of the Cross and Star (Nigeria)- bcsvegetarianfellowship@yahoo.com
Brotherhood of the Cross & Star (UK)- celiaofo@yahoo.co.uk
The Order of the Cross- www.orderofthecross.org
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Vegan Camp – 31 years of a simple idea
August 22, 2012

Last week I had the opportunity to drop into the Vegan Camp, which has run for a couple
of weeks every year, in all parts England, Scotland and Wales, since 1981. This year it
was near the Lake District in North West England.
Over those thirty-one years it has growninto something of a national institution, a
simple but effective idea which could workfor groups in other countries.
The camp’s origins seem to have followedfrom the thinking behind the Vegan Views
magazine, which was first published in
1975, and has appeared quarterly for 37
years. There is a low price for print/post
version, but these days the free online PDF
version is equally popular and gaining
international interest.
Vegan Views (a member of IVU) has
always supported the work of the Vegan
Society (also a member), but the founders
felt a need for an independent magazine
which could take more in-depth, andperhaps more controversial, articles andopinions. For more info, and freedownloads, see www.veganviews.org.uk
In 1981 the Vegan Camp was started asanother independent organisation,
overlapping with Vegan Views, but quite
separate. It is open to anyone who wants
to spend a couple of weeks on a campsite with a lot of vegans – it has never been
restricted to committed vegans, though they have to be for at least those two weeks ofcourse. The idea took off and attracted so many participants that numbers eventually
had to be limited. Below is a view of half of the 2012 camp, the big communal tent witha vegan food shop and meeting space was just off to the right:

Most at the camp bring their own tents, but some this year stayed in the caravan(trailer) site across the road, and some, like me, stayed in a nearby veg B&B. Many stayfor the whole two weeks, others for any time they wish, I just dropped in for a couple ofdays.
The campers include families, so there were plenty of children around, along with someolder couples and younger singles, just anyone who wants a vegan holiday. The
organisers say it is not meant to be any sort of campaign, just a holiday, but for vegans

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who are isolated in their local communities it is a great source of support to get themthrough the rest of the year, and a good intro for wannabe vegans.
The activities include day trips to local attractions, physical outdoor activities, and homemade evening entertainment, all down to whatever anyone wants to organise, withplenty of choice so mostly smaller groups taking up each option. While I was there I
went to a talk in one of the caravans, a karaoke session in the bar, and then a groupday-trip over to Keswick in the Lake District, where we took a boat ride around Derwent
Water, a large lake surrounded by mountains. It was getting windy, the water was
choppy, and those in the open part of the boat were getting wet:On the way back we stopped at Castlerigg, a stone circle estimated to be 4,500 years
old, on a hill-top surrounded by mountains. The rain had stopped for a while but theclouds were down over the mountain tops:

If anyone wants to go to the camp next year (in Somerset I heard), or is interested indoing something similar in another country, you can find a lot more details at:www.vegancamp.co.uk

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Wild Food Foraging, and the Veg Cookery School
September 5, 2012

Last week I had the opportunity to join the staff of the Vegetarian Society UK on theirteam-building day out, learning about foraging for food in the wild, then cooking it. As atrustee (board member) of the society it was great to spend a day in such goodcompany away from all the usual office routines.
We were led by John Wright, who hasappeared in the ‘River Cottage’ TV series
alongside Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, as
an expert on foraging for free food that is
growing all around us.
The society’s HQ, Parkdale (photo right)
is on the outer edge of greater
Manchester – right next door to a large
country park with plenty of woodland, so
we didn’t have to go very far to findsomething edible.
John gave us a tour of all the culinary delights growing in the park, some of themfamiliar, but others were unexpected. That’s him below with some the group of about 20
of us, wondering whether they really wanted to taste the offerings…

After a couple of hours collecting unlikely specimens (unfortunately no fungi around), we
headed back to the Cordon Vert Cookery School, housed at one end of Parkdale. The
school offers professional as well as recreational courses in vegetarian/vegan cookery,and has become world-renowned in its own right for the high quality of tuition it offers.
Most recently it has been running courses for the chefs of one of the UK’s top hotel
chains. The chefs are not vegetarian of course, but they learn how to produce high182
quality plant-food dishes. Many of the people ordering these dishes in the hotels are not
veg*n either – but it’s a great way to get more people trying more veg food, and raising
the quality of what is on offer for committed veg*ns in the process.
John set out some of the items we had collected and proceeded to demonstrate someunlikely things he could do with them – naturally we had to taste those too:

Living in the country I’ve done some foraging myself over the years, but it does takesome dedication as most wild varieties take a lot more work – often for less results –than the bigger, juicier, cultivated plants.
My main concern has been that in this cooler northern climate, there is very little wild
food, especially fruit, that can be eaten without added sugar to make it palatable.
Tropical fruit has rather more sun to sweeten it than we get around here.
Below – some photos I took a few years ago of food growing wild within a few minutes
walk of our house: sloes, elderberries and chestnuts:

If you want to try it for yourself, search for ‘Foraging for Food’ on google, and you
should find some articles and books for your own country and inyour own language.
For more about the Cordon Vert Cookery School (not far from
Manchester airport…) see www.cordonvert.co.uk
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183

Divided by a common language
March 9, 2011

“Do you have anything vegetarian?”“Yes, do you eat fish?”“No, vegetarians don’t eat fish.”“Some vegetarians here eat fish.”“No, some people eat fish and unfortunately call themselves vegetarian, but they could
call themselves Martians if they like, it doesn’t mean they are….”“Oh, so what do you eat then?”“I eat plants.”
Blank look. End of conversation. They seem to be thinking that I might like to go out andgraze on the lawn…
It should be simple: Vegetable – vegetation – vegetarian – all derived from the Latin‘vegetabile’ which roughly translates as ‘plant’. So vegetarians eat plants.
But of course it isn’t simple. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone through this.
Do the same in India and you’re offered lassi and paneer. Milk products are not plants
either.
Some years ago a poll in the USA asked people if they were vegetarian – up to 12% said
yes. More detailed surveys of what people actually ate showed that nearer 1% camewithin even a loose genuine definition of ‘vegetarian’. That left about 30 million
Americans who think vegetarians are flesh-eaters.
Even that loose definition included eggs, dairy and honey – which don’t look much likeplants to me. Back in the 19th century some people did actually claim that milk was aplant because it was just grass that passed through a cow. The same logic would makemeat a plant too, not that many cows get anywhere near grass these days.
The Americans in those days were at least a little more accurate than the British – early
19th century American books often referred to their ‘vegetable and milk diet’ – the Brits
added eggs but still called it just a ‘vegetable diet’!
The first people to call themselves ‘vegetarian’, around 1840, really did just eat plants,
we have now proved that beyond doubt. If they’d had more money our history would
have been different – but just as they launched the world’s first Vegetarian Society theyfell apart and it was rescued by the vegetable-egg-and-milk eaters who were then stuckwith the word ‘vegetarian’.
They knew they weren’t really vegetarians and spent the rest of the 19th century trying
to solve the problem of the wrong name. In 1871 the President proposed changing it to‘Diet Reform Society’, which would have been better, but he was narrowly out-voted andthe problem continued.
Then they spent most of the 20th century trying to pretend the problem didn’t exist. The
classic was the silly fiction of vegetarian being derived from the Latin ‘vegetus’ –meaning ‘whole, fresh, lively’ – so fresh milk? No problem, it's vegetusian (and why not
fresh meat?). But it was fiction and now we’ve proved that too.
So ‘vegetarian’ really does just mean someone who eats plants.
Some people call themselves ‘pesco-vegetarian’ – I’m not bothered by that if they reallyare just eating plant food with occasional fish, like Bill Clinton does now. Though I’dguess most of them include eggs/dairy which are neither pesco nor veg.

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In India there are several hundred million people following what was originally just a
Hindu diet – plant-food-plus-milk-products. Thanks to the British they’re now called
lacto-vegetarians, which again wouldn’t be a problem, except that it takes too long to
say all that. So they just shorten it a bit to ‘vegetarian’ – which all adds to the confusion
with a lot of people being convinced that all ‘vegetarians’ must be eating vast amountsof cheese.
In fact the most recent USA polls show that 66% of those genuinely within the broad
ovo-lacto-vegetarian definition in that country don’t use any eggs or dairy products at
all.
Ah, so they’re vegan then?
Nope, ‘vegetarian’ minus eggs/dairy does not necessarily equal ’vegan’.
The original vegans saw it as an ethical lifestyle, as do many today – treating all nonhuman animals with the same respect as humans (I refuse to define veganism with along string of negatives!). That goes for clothes, entertainment, research, work etc.,
etc., as well as food. Would you wear human skin on your feet..? Well, apart from yourown I suppose.
So, for them, someone who only eats plants, but wears leather or goes to rodeos, is nota vegan – though many others just see it as a diet and call themselves vegan because
they just eat plants, which is what ‘vegetarian’ really means, as opposed to ovo- lactopesco- pollo- or even carno- vegetarians. So now we’re all confused again.
What we should have:
Vegetarian – someone who just eats plants.
Vegan – a person living an animal-respecting ethical lifestyle, including a vegetarian diet.
So simple, but I doubt if we’ll get back to it in my lifetime. Maybe it would be easier toinvent some new words and start again. So next restaurant:“Do you have anything plantatarian?”“Yes, do you eat eggplants?”“Only if they’re free-range.”

For the real origins of ‘vegetarian’ see ‘Vegetarian Equals Vegan’ in the History section.
note... in recent years biologists have deemed that fungi and algae no longer belong in
the kingdom of plantae. But for most of us common folk a definition of 'plant' would besomething that grows in the ground and cannot move around of its own accord - sounds
like a mushroom to me :-) and the supermarkets will still sell mushrooms in the fruit andveg section....
later note ... a couple of months after the above blog was written, the International Veg
Union Council proposed a new definition of 'vegetarian', though it stopped short of 'plantfood only' as we cannot dictate common usage - this was put to all the member
organisations worldwide and was given a 95% majority support. So this definition is now
used by IVU, but others will of course continue to define it their own way... details werein a later blog: www.vegsource.com/john-davis/vegetarianism-re-defined.html

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Are you a positive or a negative veg*n?
July 21, 2010

If we ask meat-eaters what they think 'vegetarian' means,most would probably say 'someone who does not eat meat'- but that is not at all how I see it.
I'm a positive veg*n, I eat plant foods. I define myself by
what I do, not by the negative of what I do not do. If wedefine ourselves as a negative of others, then we are sayingthat they are 'normal', and we are abnormal for abstaining.
When I was in Indonesia last year I went on a great day-trip
with a bus full of veg*ns from all over Asia. The driver didn't
know my name and at one point referred to me as 'theEuropean guy', which was fine - he could have called me the'non-Asian guy' as I was the only one, but that would havebeen odd, maybe even slightly offensive. So why do veg*ns
collaborate with the flesh-eaters in defining ourselves as'non-meat-eaters'.
I do not 'abstain'. I do not 'avoid'. I am not 'meatless' or'meat-free'. I simply make a positive choice to eat, and towear, the things I prefer, and my health, the animals, andthe planet, all benefit from that choice.
[the photo right is George Jacobs, chair of the IVU Council,
with a friend in Dresden, Germany, 2008]
By way of comparison, when I was growing up in the 1950s
and 60s most people smoked tobacco. They branded me asa 'non-smoker' but I didn't see it way, I just thought it was
disgusting and unhealthy , and I certainly did not consider
my preference for clean air to be some sort of self-denial.
So when I was offered a cigarette I asked them
why they did it - but they couldn't defend it ofcourse, as the real reason they smoked was justbecause everyone else did, and they thought it
looked 'cool' - encouraged by film star images andmass advertising.
I like the graphic left as a representation of theimage and the reflected reality as I always saw it(courtesy of www.smokingadverts.com )Even in the 1980s I had to fight to get a ban on
smoking in the office where I was based. One
otherwise intelligent colleague couldn't believethat we did not allow anyone to smoke in our
house, and tried to brand me as anti-social forthat!
In July 2007 the British government finally caught up with some other parts of the worldand banned smoking in all public places. So now I'm finally vindicated as the normal
one, and the smokers have to stand outside in the rain to indulge their perversion.

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I can also remember Frank Sinatra singing about 'one for the road' - but now drinking
and driving is universally considered a social evil. So things can change. Maybe one day
we'll get to the point where flesh-eating is seen as the abnormality that it is - meanwhile
we can at least set a better example of how we define ourselves.
Ultimately we should be aiming to abolish words like 'vegetarian' and 'vegan' completely- normality does not need a label, it's the flesh-eaters who should be branded asabnormal. And in the long term we do not want green labels on supermarket products
saying 'suitable for vegetarians' - we want blood-red labels on anything which is nonveg. The Indian government tried to do exactly that, but they kept the green, andagainst predictable opposition the red one got
diluted to brown, but at least they do have both(see right). That will take time for the rest us ofcourse, so for now we have to live with the realityof being a minority, but the way we use language
can help towards those long term aims.
So I am not 'non-Asian', I am European.
I am not a 'non-smoker', I am someone who demands the right to breathe clean air.
- and I am not a 'non-meat-eater', I am someone who chooses plant foods, which iswhat 'vegetarian' originally meant.
The International Vegetarian Union obviously does not have the power to define words,
that's just down to common usage, and dictionaries trying to keep up as they change.
But we can decide how we define our own membership (groups only, IVU does not haveindividual members), and we can set a better example.

The above was written in July 2010. In May 2011 it was proposed to make our definition
positive and to return it nearer to the original. The proposal was:
"IVU defines vegetarianism as a diet of foods derived from plants, with orwithout eggs, dairy products, and/or honey."
The last clause being an inevitable compromise. This was to replace the old negative
definition:"For the purpose of membership of IVU, vegetarianism includes veganism and is definedas the practice of not eating meat, poultry or fish or their by-products, with or without
the use of dairy products or eggs."
Making the change required a ballot of all 120 IVU member organizations around theworld, and as many of those have thousands of individual members who were also
consulted. The proposal was supported in May 2011 with a 95% majority.
Later update: Further to comments about fungi/algae etc - I think most ordinary people
would describe a 'plant' as something that grows in the ground and cannot move aroundof its own accord. Sounds like a mushroom to me... the fact that academic biologists
have recently deemed that fungi and no longer in the kingdom of plantae is not going tostop supermarkets selling mushrooms in the fruit and veg section.
wikipedia: "Herbivores are organisms that eat plants." - seems simple enough - would
anyone really define a herbivore as a 'non-carnivore', or 'an animal that doesn't eat
meat' - with a long list of things excluded from their diet?
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Vegetarianism Re-Defined
May 11, 2011

After a couple of months of lively, and even heated, debate about the meaning of theword ‘vegetarian’ the IVU International Council finally reached a unanimous proposal.
The Council currently consists of 16 voting members from Argentina, Australia, Brazil,
India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Singapore, Togo, Spain, United Arab Emirates, UK and USA.
This proposal was then put to all the member organizations by email ballot (IVU does nothave individual members, but the large number of member orgs have hundreds ofthousands of individual members and supporters). The response was an overwhelming –94% - ‘yes’.
Those that voted are from all the above countries plus:
Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Costa Rica, Czech
Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, New Zealand,Paraguay, Portugal, Thailand and Turkey.
Some countries have more than one member organization,such as the UK and USA which have many in each - and allentitled to vote. Right: a small sample of IVU member
logos:
This is the message that George Jacobs, Chair of the IVU
Council (in Singapore) sent to all the members:
By way of background, the IVU International Council (IC)consists of members elected every two years by you, themember organisations, and regional coordinators who
liaise with member organisations in a particular part of theworld. I am an elected member of IC, and in 2008, I was
selected by IC to serve as chair of IC.
Recently, IC voted to bring a new definition of`vegetarian' to you, the member organisations, forapproval. The current definition, as used in ourMemorandum of Association - www.ivu.org/..articles.html- states:"For the purpose of membership of IVU, vegetarianism includes veganism and is definedas the practice of not eating meat, poultry or fish or their by-products, with or without
the use of dairy products or eggs."
IC suggests that we change the definition to the following:"IVU defines vegetarianism as a diet of foods derived from plants, with orwithout eggs, dairy products, and/or honey."
The two definitions seem quite similar. The main reason we are proposing this change isthat the proposed definition highlights diets derived from plants, while at the same time
including those vegetarians who also eat non-flesh animal based foods, such as dairy
and eggs. Our goal is to maintain the crucial unity of all vegetarians while acknowledging
the benefits of plant based diets for human health, the environment and our fellow
animals.
In the past, the situation with our food was different in two ways. One difference is thatfactory farming has now spread its tentacles further and intensified the conditions under

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which increasing numbers of our fellow animals suffer.
Another difference between the situation today and that of the past lies in the greater
amount of knowledge we have:(1) We now understand more about the health dangers of foods from animals;(2) we know more about the connection between livestock raising and climate change;(3) awareness has grown substantially as to the horrors of intensive farming, of not justmeat but also of eggs, dairy and honey.
As a result of these differences in knowledge, we can see a huge increase in the numberof people who know about plant based diets and a smaller increase in the number ofpeople who are adopting them. Yes, as a percentage of the entire population, those who
eat a vegan diet constitute a very small percentage of the population, but it is a growing
percentage in some countries, and whereas even five years ago, `vegan' was a word
and a concept most people in most places didn't know, today at least people are awarethat some among them choose plant based diets and that there exists a sensible
rationale for choosing not to eat any animal based products.
A second reason we like the new definition is that this definition uses positive wording.
The current definition uses negative wording, as it talks about what vegetarians do noteat: "not eating meat, poultry or fish or their by-products". In contrast, the new
definition is positively worded: "a diet of foods derived from plants". We hope that thepositive wording will put vegetarianism in an optimistic, constructive light.
The discussions
Many issues arose in the discussions and it was clear that there were views from
opposite directions on several points. The new definition is inevitably a compromise
which the ballot showed is an acceptable minimum basis for most of the IVU member
organisations. It is not in any way binding on the member organisations, which willcontinue to use their own definitions, or adapt this one, as they wish.
From the discussions we know that:
Some will just delete everything after the first comma.
Some will move dairy products into the section before the comma.
Some will add another clause defining what they do not eat.
Some will produce extremely detailed lists of everything they do or do not eat.
Some will include their particular priorities of why they choose this diet.
The old definition was in place for almost 12 years, and no doubt this issue will continue
to be debated and the definition is likely to be further revised one day in the distantfuture. Some of the points raised:
Eggs/dairy/honey are not veg - true, so delete the 2nd half for your own purposes if
you prefer…
Mushrooms and seaweed are not plants - in recent years biologists have deemedthat fungi and algae do not belong in the kingdom of plantae. But for most of us
common folk a plant is something that grows in the ground, or the sea, and cannot morearound of its own accord – sounds like a mushroom… we’ll stay with common usage.
Salt is not a plant - true, but added salt is not food either, it’s little more than anaddiction with people in developed countries consuming, on average, ten times more salt
than they need. Plant foods contain enough natural sodium for normal needs. Some
medical conditions require added salt, but then it is, in effect, a medicine/drug, not food.
The meaning of this definition is perfectly obvious – and quite sufficient for us to decide
who can or cannot join IVU, which was the original reason for doing this.
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189

Why Vegans Need Total Vegetarians
May 2, 2012

A few days ago I went to Amazon books, just searched for ‘vegan’, and got 4,503
results. That sounds great, except that after looking thru dozens of pages all I could see
were American cookbooks, finding any mention of the animals was very rare. One evensaid “Whether you go vegan for your health or the environment…” – it gives theimpression that most Americans see veganism as just another health-food fad diet.
Veganism is not just about food. It is an ethical position which rejects any use ofanimals for any purpose, including clothing, research and entertainment, as well as diet.
(Someone once described the term ‘dietary vegan’ as the equivalent of a ‘secularCatholic’.)
So what do we call someone who only eats food entirely derived from plants, but stillwears leather or even just wool? One increasingly common term is ‘total vegetarian’.
Vegetarianism is a diet which may be adopted for reasons of health, ethics, theenvironment or religion.
The word ‘vegetarian’ was first used by a small group of people in the London, UK, areaaround 1840, but it only came into more common usage with the founding of The
Vegetarian Society on September 30, 1847.
The Society was founded jointly by two distinct groups, one of which included eggs anddairy products in their diet, the other relied exclusively on food derived from plants. It
was this latter group which first called themselves ‘vegetarian’ – people who just lived onvegetation – and much as some of us might like to return to that original meaning,common usage and dictionary listings will make that difficult.
The first objectives of the Society simply required members to ‘abstain from the flesh ofanimals’, leaving it to individuals to decide whether to use other animal products. Thus,
from 1847, there was always more than one type of vegetarian.
Today we can define three common types:
1 – Ovo-lacto-vegetarian (plant foods plus eggs/dairy) – still the most common formin the UK any many other countries.
2 – Lacto-vegetarian (dairy but not eggs) – this is the predominant type of vegetarianin India, and therefore relevant around the world, where there are now significant
numbers of vegetarians of Indian ethnicity.
3 – Total-vegetarian – a term becoming increasingly common in the USA which is also
helpful elsewhere, meaning a diet entirely of plant-foods – a total-vegetation-eater.
In the later 19th century there were attempts to use ‘pure vegetarian’ or ‘strictvegetarian’ to separate these from the eggs/dairy users, but they ended up just being
used to describe anyone who was pure or strict about not eating flesh. It is possible that
‘total vegetarian’ could end up suffering the same misuse, but maybe we can avoid thatby promoting it.
In 2011 the International Vegetarian Union conducted a ballot of 120 member
organisations worldwide, and they agreed, by a 95% majority, to a new definition,
consistent with everything above:
IVU defines vegetarianism as a diet of foods derived from plants, with or without eggs,
dairy products, and/or honey.

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The placing of the first comma is an important division. This definition does not consider
why anyone becomes vegetarian, merely what they eat. There are, of course, manysmaller variations as well as the three above, including whether honey is used.
Many vegetarians hold a variety of ethical positions, but there is no overall consistency
due to the different reasons for becoming vegetarian, as well as the different types ofvegetarians.
Vegan
The word ‘vegan’ was invented in the UK in 1944 to provide a name for the first Vegan
Society. That Society’s current definition:
Veganism denotes 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 thedevelopment and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans,
animals and the environment.
Comparing that with item 3 above, we can say that a vegan follows a total vegetariandiet, but total vegetarians are not necessarily vegan.
The relevance of all this to vegans is that there has, for many years, been an increasing
tendency for people who only eat plant foods to call themselves vegan, whilst continuing
to wear leather shoes or use other animal products. This has been a particular trend in
North America, and is very frustrating for those trying to promote genuine, fully ethical,
veganism.
If the term ‘total vegetarian’ becomes more widely accepted, it could just prevent theword ‘vegan’ from continuing to decline into the same sort of confusion that overtook‘vegetarian’.
Of course we will continue to refer to ‘vegan food’, I do too because it’s shorter than
‘total vegetarian food’, but if we can make them interchangeable then it could at least
help to clarify that veganism is more than just food.
In the French language they have three terms – the original ‘végetarien’ dating back to
1878, then in 1920 they added ‘végetalien’ for an exclusive plant-eater, only much later
adding ‘végane’ for those of an ethical persuasion.
We need this clarity in English . . . something between ovo-lacto and vegan. ‘Total
Vegetarian’ fits – but will it catch on enough before it gets corrupted?
See the North American Vegetarian Society: ‘What is a Vegetarian?’- www.navs-online.org/faq- like most vegetarian organizations today, everything NAVS does is Total Vegetarian.

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Flexitarian and Plantatarian- 21st century dimensions
February 9, 2011

My definition of an ovo- and/or lacto-vegetarian would be someone who deliberately andconsistently chooses a diet of plant food plus eggs and/or dairy products, and sees thatas their ideal diet. Not someone who occasionally goes in and out of that diet for
whatever reason, or from any direction.
Accurate statistics are not always easy to obtain, but those I’ve seen tend to confirm mypersonal impressions all around the world – that relatively few younger people havebeen adopting this form of diet over the last ten years (apart from those born into it byreligion and even many of those are moving away from it).
If I’m right then the number of consistent secular ovo- and/or lacto-vegetarians is notjust reducing – more significantly they are getting older, and not being replaced. Whichwould inevitably mean it is only a matter of time before they die out.
Of course I’m not suggesting that ovo-lacto-veg food, cook-books, magazines or
websites will disappear – there will be a vast and growing number of ‘flexitarians’
buying, cooking and eating it all. What is going faster than many realize, especially inthe developed world, is the class of individuals who only eat that way, all the time.
And I’m certainly NOT saying that younger people are rejecting vegetarianism, just thatparticular form of it. It is being squeezed out on both sides by two major trends:
1 – Flexitarians – people who deliberately choose vegetarian food (either ovo-lacto or
just plants) for some of their main meals, but not all of them. Commercially–funded
research is showing a huge increase in this approach in recent years, almost everywherein the developed world - the various ‘meat-free Monday’ campaigns play on this ofcourse.
2 – Plantatarians – (or plantarians if you prefer) I’m using this to mean people wholive wholly on plant foods, including vegans and raw foodists – but many ‘plantatarians’are solely concerned with health and diet, so not necessarily sharing all the vegan ethicalvalues.
Considering those two approaches in more detail:Flexitarians– this includes an infinite variety of diets, defying the simplistic attempts at
categorization we often see. Some use only organic/free-range meat, others cut out red
meat, some only eat fish etc. etc.
– but they all consciously make some meals vegetarian, some with eggs/dairy, others
rejecting that . The commercial research shows that in western countries up to 90% of
the ‘meat-free’ food in supermarkets (especially the fake-meat varieties) is bought byflexitarians, not by committed vegetarians, and their numbers are rising dramatically.
A recent report in a national UK newspaper suggested a remarkable tenfold difference in
numbers: “Research by Mintel shows the number of consumers calling themselves‘vegetarian’ has stuck stubbornly for the past five years at about six per cent of theoverall food market. However, the number who agree with the statement ‘I eat meatfree foods’ is about 60 per cent.“ ( www.telegraph.co.uk/.../Dont-call-it-vegetarian-it-ismeat-free.html )192
Plantatarians- the above comment about the static number of ‘vegetarians’ hides what is really
happening – an equally remarkable rise in the number of those vegetarians that are now
excluding eggs and dairy, thus moving to plant-foods only.
In the USA we have meticulous and detailed surveys commissioned by the Vegetarian
Resource Group showing that 66% of genuine and consistent US vegetarians now
exclude eggs and dairy completely (though some still use honey www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll).
In the UK, some rather basic data suggests an equivalent rise from 20% to 40%
dropping eggs and dairy in recent years. This needs verifying but would be entirely
consistent with my personal experience of meeting veg*ns all around the UK. The
majority of activists I meet are now vegan, and the majority of consistent ovo-lactovegetarians seem to be getting noticeably older.
In India the national survey from 2006 showed that older and more religious people are
more likely to be ovo- and/or lacto-vegetarian than younger non-religious people. The
future implications of the vast number of secular westernized young Indians are fairly
obvious. However, we are also seeing more and more reports about vegans, andparticularly vegan sympathizers, which in India is very significant indeed.
So why do some people persist in the belief that the ‘vast majority’ of vegetarians are
ovo and/or lacto? Some possible answers:
1 – they wrongly imagine that the huge quantity of ovo-lacto-veg foods, cookbooks etc.
are being bought by ovo-lacto-vegetarians – in reality the vast majority of these
consumers are flexitarians, especially in the developed countries.
2 – they are still living in the 20th century, oblivious to recent major changes. This
seems to be particularly true for older long-term ovo-lacto-vegetarians in the west.
3 – they are motivated by religious views, noticeably among older lacto-vegetarians ofAsian origin who want to maintain their religious traditions of using milk and milk
products. But even this is changing in India, with traditional vegetarian groups now
actively promoting soy milk and tofu.
4 – they are including several hundred million Hindus, Buddhists and others in Asia who
do not eat meat. But most of them have also never heard of ‘vegetarianism’ and would
have no interest in it if they did. They simply follow the diet required by the religion they
were born into. Gandhi grew up not eating meat, but only consciously decided to becomea vegetarian when he was a student in London, he saw it as quite different.
No doubt those religions will continue, but elsewhere will committed long-term ovolacto-vegetarians continue for much longer?

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193

The Plant-food Two-step Shuffle - and Pure
Vegetarians
April 13, 2011

The perpetual problem in promoting the plant-food diet: the meat-eater says he/shewould like to switch to plant-food only but, for whatever reason, says it’s too difficult tomake the change all at once. Do you:1 – scream about animal abuse and demand they go vegan immediately.
2 – continually demean their less-than-perfect diet as they slowly progress, or evenstop.
3 – try to help them find a route that works best for them, and offer support on thejourney.
If 3 then your response is likely to depend whether your primary concern is health,animal rights, religion or the environment – or some combination of those, making forendless permutations of pathways into the light . . .
Some of the many possible first steps towards a completely plant-food diet:
1 -Avoid the direct products of slaughter- this evolved from British vegetarianism and leaves a lot of indirect products such as
eggs, dairy products (and wool). We know that they all ultimately involve a lot ofslaughter of male calves, chicks (and sheep), but many, probably most, vegans today
did get there via that route.
Sadly, once they’re safely across, some think that same route should then be blocked toothers.
2 - Avoid the products of all animal farming- to me this looks more American but I’ve seen it elsewhere too. It eliminates eggs/dairy
from the outset but allows wild-caught fish (but not farmed fish) in the first step. In
theory it could include wild birds and mammals too, but city dwellers won’t find much ofthat in their supermarkets.
This second route seems to follow from the Henry David Thoreau legacy of living in thewild – plant-food with a bit of fishing. Though Thoreau did say he felt guilty about thefishing.
For most city-dwellers this ‘life in the wild’ is just fantasy, but it is easy enough to argue
from both health and ethical perspectives that ‘no animal farming’ could be a better firststep than ‘no slaughter’. The obvious downside to this being that if all 6 billion humans
switched to eating fish, there soon wouldn’t be any more fish in the sea.
3 – Avoid factory farming– a smaller first step. In the UK, and probably elsewhere, there has been a significant
movement towards organic and free-range meat – again for both health and ethicalreasons against industrialized mass production. I know several organic/free-range meatand dairy farmers in the countryside where I live. But is this – or the others above - astep towards plant-food only? Or is it just an end in itself?
Eating this way is more expensive, so likely in itself to at least reduce excessive
consumption.
4 – the ‘meat-free Monday’ approach.
- Persuade people to cut out meat one day a week and hope they gradually expand it to194
the others. This is often promoted for environmental reasons, as a way of reducing
emissions from the livestock industry, though not all types of livestock are equally
responsible, and again some people will just switch to fish etc.
The Catholic Church has been promoting meat-free Fridays for the last 2,000 years, but
it would probably be hard to find anyone who ended up vegan as a result. It still leaves
eggs/dairy/fish etc. which most people don’t see as ‘meat’.
5 – probably lots more
– I recently saw a suggestion of go plant-only for breakfast, then sometime later change
lunch, and eventually dinner. Some will still only ever get as far as step one of that routetoo.
Any of these steps are of course the permanent diet for some people, there is no
guarantee they will ever take the next step. However, without route #1 there would
undoubtedly be far fewer vegans in the world than we have today.
As someone once said ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ andmany will never go the full distance. If millions of people simply reduced their meat
consumption in any of the ways above, it would save a lot of animals, improve theirhealth and help the planet.
People who have taken even a small first step will usually have started a thought process
which eventually points towards other possible steps – and if millions at least start
thinking then there is the possibility of a cultural shift in attitudes.
Of course vegans will always promote the destination, but they do need to give somethought to how others can make the journey. It is unfortunate that many perpetuate themisuse of the word ‘vegetarian’ – when what they are really arguing against is ovo-lactovegetarianism as a permanent diet rather than just a first step.
The latest stats from the USA show that 66% of all types of vegetarians there no longer
use eggs/dairy at all – but a lot of American vegans still seem to spend more time
attacking the remaining 33% than attacking the meat industry. Maybe they’re just an
easier target with a convenient label – how you do label someone who only eats plantfood plus wild-caught fish?
Vegans could make a major contribution by helping to promote Pure Vegetarianism – aterm being increasingly used in India and elsewhere to specify a diet of foods derived
wholly from plants. That would allow veganism to be more clearly seen as an ethicallifestyle, not just a diet.
For the real origins of ‘vegetarian’ see:www.vegsource.com/john-davis/vegetarian-equals-vegan.html

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195Will there ever be more veg*ns?
November 30, 2011

For those who have been active in the veg movement for any length of time the above
title must seem almost heretical - but it is actually an interesting question…
Back in January 1995 I started the first website for a national vegetarian society, andone of the first things I put on it was a page of statistics, surveys of the ‘how many
vegetarians’ type. Other people were soon putting up similar stats for other countries, a
few accurate surveys, others just rough estimates from various sources. The internet
had created new possibilities for easily collating and sharing this data in a way that had
never been possible before.
After a few years we began to notice something odd – the number of vegetarians was
not going up.
It was odd because we could all see a significant increase in the provision of specificallyvegetarian foods in shops and restaurants, and business surveys were showing similarsignificant increases in sales of these products. So, if there were no more vegetarians,
who were the people buying all this stuff?
It became increasingly apparent that there was a very large number of what the foodindustry called ‘meat reducers’, later also known as ‘flexitarians’ – people who liked
eating vegetarian meals some of the time, but they were not at all consistent about it.
Many of the surveys were very concerned to check consistency - the commitment of
individuals to only eat vegetarian, all the time. And the data we could collect fromvarious countries showed a surprisingly similar level of a few percent in every country of
the genuinely consistent veg*ns – usually 1-6%, with just a few dubious estimates goingslightly higher.
India appears to have a lot more ‘vegetarians’ – but in reality the vast majority are
Hindus just following the diet of the religion they were born into without thinking about it
much. Apparently one survey a few years back even claimed that 80% of Hindus would
eat meat if they could afford it (though I haven't see the original survey...).
The numbers making a conscious, deliberate, consistent and committed choice to bevegetarian or vegan in India are back to the same low levels as everywhere else.
Today, 17 years after I put those first stats online, the figures have still not changed. We
still have about the same number of committed vegetarians that we had back then,despite far more veg*n activity being apparent. So has the movement failed in all thecampaigns to persuade more people to ‘Go Vegetarian’?
In the sense of people becoming consistent, committed vegetarians – yes, they havevery obviously failed. But what they have inadvertently achieved has been to persuade avast – and increasing - number of people to eat some vegetarian/vegan meals, some of
the time. These part-timers seem to like the idea of veg*ism, but they won’t stick to it
consistently when it becomes inconvenient for any reason.
I can hear the outrage of moral indignation from those ‘conviction vegetarians’ – andeven more so from ‘conviction vegans’. But are they being realistic in demanding thateveryone should be as committed to the cause as they are?

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Or does all this actually have more to do with personality than dietary or ethicalchoices…?
I’ve been doing some research into ‘personality types’, and there seems to be agreementthat our personalities are fixed by an early age, then don’t change much. It seems that
only a small percentage of the population have the type of personality that prefers atotal commitment to whatever cause they are promoting.
It works the same in politics and religion as it does in veg*ism. There is always a small
core of people with strong convictions, and a large number of ‘fair-weather friends’ – theflexitarians who bend with the wind.
In all the great world religions there are millions who keep the faith they were born into
just because ‘it seems the right thing to do’ – but they don’t spend very much time
thinking about it. People who vote for a particular political party often do that out of
habit too.
There is often a problem with the ‘conviction personality’ types being unable tounderstand why everyone else is not like them. This often results in ever louder andmore aggressive ranting about the lack of commitment in others - common in
fundamentalists of many religions, and political movements, and we see it in somevegans too.
But most others are not like them because they just have different personalities, and noamount of ranting will change that. If this is right then there will never be more than asmall percentage of people who are consistent, committed vegetarians or vegans.
We have, however, seen a significant change over the last ten years in the deepening ofthat commitment – to the extent that more and more vegetarians are dropping theeggs/dairy and moving closer to veganism.
So it may be that we will never have more than a few percent of committed ‘conviction’vegetarians and vegans. But if those of us who are committed to the cause can make iteasier for others, then there is ample evidence that very large numbers of others would
follow.
How consistent those others become just depends on how easy it is for them – so agreater variety and quality of vegan food in shops and restaurants, at reasonable prices,would make a huge difference to the numbers who (mostly) follow our lifestyle.
Eventually there would come a ‘tipping point’ – where it becomes so easy to be veg thatmany will just eat that way all the time, because it ‘seems like the right thing to do’, but
without really thinking about it much – just like all the millions of Hindus in India.

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Why some restaurants don’t do vegan food – andwhy they should
December 14

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned encouraging more restaurants to offer vegan meals,
and was asked for some ideas about doing that. So here are just a few thoughts. The
excuses:
1 – We’ve had no demand for it
The Catch22 - most vegans will just look at the menu in the window, or the website, andif they see nothing vegan they go somewhere else instead. Hence the restaurateurs see
no demand.
2 – Losing one awkward customer won’t
make any difference
Most people do not dine out alone, and mostvegans have mostly non-vegan friends andfamily. When they’re deciding where to eat
the one vegan will have a veto – and they
won’t hesitate to use it. The restaurant
doesn’t just lose the one awkward customer,
they lose all their friends and family as well.
Add to that, most people like going back tothe same restaurants, and repeat trade is
crucial to the success of any business. Thosefriends and family are likely to keep goingback to the one with vegan options that waschosen – even when the vegan isn’t withthem.
3 – It is just too much hassle when there are so few vegans
Most plant-food meals in restaurants are not eaten by committed vegans, they arebought by people who like the idea of vegan food but do not commit themselves to it inany consistent way.
There have been many business surveys demonstrating thisfor vegetarian food in general over the last 20 years, and inrecent years it is possible to see the same trend for vegan
food. One of the biggest groups choosing vegan options are
ovo-lacto-vegetarians - they are generally well aware of all
the health and ethical issues around eggs and dairy
products, and most are inclined to limit their consumption,
but without much consistency. Given a choice between arestaurant whose vegetarian dishes are all smothered incheese sauce, and one offering some vegan options, they
will often prefer the latter.
In most parts of the world there are still more ovo-lacto-vegetarians than vegans, but
the impact of the internet in general, and social network sites in particular, has made ahuge difference to attitudes in recent years. In 2009, for the first time according toGoogle Books, there were more books published with the word ‘vegan’ in the title than‘vegetarian’. In 2011, for the first time, there were more Google searches for ‘vegan’
than for ‘vegetarian’.

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But still only a relatively small proportion of the people generating all this interest are
actually 100% consistent vegans, the rest are part-timers, but they still like eating out,
and are likely to be attracted by vegan options on the menu.
4 – Vegans are unpleasant, holier-than-thou, unwashed drop-outs with nomoney, why would we want them in our restaurant
The media does like that stereotype, and a lot of people fall for it.
Vegans are just people, all different, like everyone else. And wecome back to the point above – most vegan food is not bought by
100% vegans, there is an endless variety of potential customers.
That’s a mostly vegan family on the right that doesn’t fit all ofthat stereotype. Well you might not want them either, but two ofthem do spend a lot of money on vegan food these days…
5 – We did a vegan option, but they don’t come back again
If there is only one vegan item on the menu, then the only option
is take it or leave it. Why would anyone go back to a restaurantwith only one dish on the menu? Bigger restaurants should be able to offer two or more
options, for a genuine choice. Smaller places could at least rotate a few vegan dishes, togive a different single dish each week over a few weeks, there would then be something
different to come back for.
6 – There are no easy vegan recipes suitable for commercial restaurants
Vegan cookbooks do tend to be written mostly for domestic use. We need cookbooks
that are specifically for non-vegans chefs about how to make it easier to provide vegan
options in a non-vegan restaurant (I’m sure I’ll be told they already exist, in which casethey need to be better publicised).
All the above points have been well known to many vegetarian groups for the last 20
years or more. In the UK for example, almost any café, pub or restaurant now has achoice of vegetarian meals, but outside of the bigger cities there is still very little without
eggs and dairy products. Times are changing, the increasing consumption of meals
entirely derived from plants is significant, and the approach we make to businesses
needs to change too.
This is not just about
the relatively small
number of committed
vegans, the provision ofvegan food inrestaurants goes way
beyond just them. If all
this makes sense, thendo feel free to print it
and take copies to yourlocal restaurants!

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199

The Future of the Movement
November 22, 2010, updated October 31, 2012

Two years ago I wrote these thoughts about where we’re going in promoting veg*ism
worldwide – not necessarily what I think should happen, just what it appeared was
already happening. I’ve updated a couple of minor points, otherwise it still stands.
1 – There will be a continuing decline in the number of traditional
vegetarian/vegan societies. By ‘traditional’ I mean those that collect subs, electcommittees etc. These fall into two types:a) Small groups – those whose income is mostly from members’ subs.
b) Larger groups – those with significant other sources of income.
The smaller groups traditionally collect subs to cover the cost of printing and posting
newsletters, but now that most people are online they are increasingly using email andwebsites which are free. Very few of the new start-up groups are now following the
traditional structure, they just use meet-up style online news and networking. Somelong-standing traditional societies have also scrapped all the bureaucratic systems andgone online only, many just calling themselves Anytown Vegetarians/Vegans, instead of‘Veg Society’.
The bigger groups are moving towards the non-profit business or agency model, which iswhat in reality they are if they are not relying on member subs for their main income.
Very few new veg societies of any significant size have emerged in recent years, as mostof the bigger groups are now avoiding the pretence of democracy maintained by theolder groups – where only a tiny number of members ever bother to vote, and the same
few try to manipulate everything.
The indications from the bigger traditional groups is of a declining membership, whilstthose following the non-profit business/agency model are attracting large numbers ofhighly mobile ‘supporters’ who have no interest in voting for ‘leaders’ – if they don’t likewhat the organisation is doing they just take their support elsewhere.
2 – there will be an increasing prominence of online-only veg organisations,both profit and non-profit. Usage figures show that traditional real-life veg groups are
generally not very good at attracting visitors to their websites – the most popular veg
websites (with the odd rare exception) are all run by a small number of people with noreal-world organisation behind them (vegsource.com and happycow.net are among thebest examples of that). Some of them, like Vegsource, then move on to promoting reallife events as well.
This is happening everywhere, not just in the veg movement, a typical case would be toconsider the advance of amazon.com compared with high street book stores. This will
also add increasing pressure to traditional veg*n societies as they will struggle tocompete with much more efficient online resources offering everything for free.
3 – a much higher proportion of vegetarians will exclude eggs/dairy. The latest
detailed survey from VRG shows that in the USA, over 60% of those who were genuinely
within the broad definition of vegetarian (optional eggs/dairy) were in fact eating plantfoods only (apart from some still using honey). This reflects a major shift in recent
years.
What happens in the USA usually goes everywhere else before too long – and inevitably
those mostly younger people show the trend for the next generation of adults. However
this will still not help the traditional vegan societies as most of this next generation willbe less interested in joining traditional societies, as they will have grown up in an online
world.

200
Some of those traditional societies are
already being run by people who are too
old to understand what is really
happening in the youth culture (and I
have to admit that includes me, but atleast I’m aware of it, it seems someothers are not…)
Photo right: from the 2010 IVU World
Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Everything above suggests that thattraditional vegetarian and vegan societies will be left with an ageing and declining
membership in the coming years.
All the above also has implications for the International Vegetarian Union (IVU), which
was founded in 1908 as a union of all world’s vegetarian societies. Clearly IVU will haveto rethink its role when those societies disappear – and less than half of the current
member organisations now appear to be using the traditional ‘democratic’ structures.
4 – there will be a continuing increase in big veg trade fairs. In the past we hadcongresses with a few stalls thrown in as a bit of an afterthought. Now we’re getting
very big trade fairs with lectures as optional extras, some of which are very
professionally run and counting attendances in tens of thousands. The money from thetrade stalls covers the cost of the lectures, and allows for paying expenses to top quality
speakers – a big advance on simply relying
on registration fees to pay for the lecturers.
5 – a further rise of Asian led
spiritual/business organisations. The
most dramatic example can now be seen in
the Loving Hut restaurant chain – currently
207 eateries in 29 countries (up from 166
in 19 countries two years ago), by far thebiggest vegan restaurant chain the world
has ever seen and still expanding rapidly.
The Loving Huts are run by the followers ofSupreme Master Ching Hai. Along withother examples, this Asian stylecombination of business and religion ishaving a significant impact globally.
Add to that the Govinda restaurants run byHare Krishna followers, lacto-veg but plentyof vegan options, and now with at least 60
restaurants in 30 countries – and a lot more at various times in the hundreds of temples
and food relief programs. There are of course countless thousands of independent veg
restaurants and smaller chains, but a serious worldwide challenge to multinationals like
McDonalds, KFC etc. is only going to come from similar global franchises offering a veg
alternative.
As I said at the beginning, this is not necessarily what I think should happen, merely
what is already going on. I look forward to some comments below telling me I’ve got it
all wrong – it will be interesting to see what others think the future holds.

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201

Neer cast a clout ‘til May be out - Veg*ism,Wildlife and the Environment
updated September 26, 2012

The title is an old English proverb, subject to endless debates about what any of itmeans (try googling it). I wrote some of this at the end of May 2010 – and as the May
blossom and the month of May were both now out it seemed to be time to start someclout casting....
May blossom is the mass of tiny flowers which cover the Hawthorn trees. In this part ofEngland it appears in late May and stays into early June - and we have a lot of Hawthornaround here, looking like spring snow on the trees. I notice it more when I'm
photographing wildlife - and I'm increasingly wondering how long before anotherdeveloper destroys a lot of it.
We should all know, by now, that the livestock industry is making a huge impact on
climate change. But being vegetarian, and more so vegan, can also make a significant
difference to the environment in other ways, including the survival of wildlife - wild
plants as well as animals, birds and insects.
The damage done by grazing livestock is enormous, mainly throughthe destruction of habitats and extermination of competitor species.
No doubt meat-eaters will point out that growing large areas of crops
also destroys habits and 'pest' species - but they conveniently
overlook the fact that it takes vastly more land, and water, to produce
a pound of meat, compared with a pound of soy. 90% of the world's
soy production is used for animal feed, if it were eaten directly byhumans there would be more than enough to feed the world, and far
more habitat left for the wildlife.
My personal involvement with wildlife began by chance. The English
city my parents were living in was badly damaged during WWII. New
houses were being built out of town, so they moved out and I spent
my childhood surrounded by countryside. Gradually ever more houses
were built and the countryside disappeared, but I was one of the lucky
ones who lived there before it was destroyed.
I took all the photos on this page since we first moved to this part ofthe countryside in 2001. [right: sometimes the names are asinteresting as the plants - top is 'Devilsbit Scabious', and below'Common Toadflax' both on local nature reserves]
My parents moved into the countryside when I was 3 months old, andmy earliest memories are a large area of open land near our house,
just a left-over patch from where the new houses had been built. It
had a meandering stream, trees to climb, a swamp with frogspawn
and dragonflies - and lots of birds, insects, fish and wild flowers.
Several other young families made the same move away from thebombed city (this was late 1940s) so there were plenty of other kids my own age toshare this natural adventure playground. The stream had a lot of bends, with fast/slow
and deep/shallow areas, perfect for what was later called bio-diversity.
I must have been about 8 or 9 when someone in authority decided this was a health andsafety issue. They sent some workmen along to build a wooden fence between our

202houses and our 'wilderness' - it didn't take us long to knock it down again as soon as
they were gone! My first encounter with 'them'.
They tried to fence it again from time to time, but we always got through - it would havebeen fair enough if they were trying to protect the wildife, but 'they' didn't think like thatin the 1950s, it was just seen as a dangerous wasteland. Meanwhile I read every book I
could find about the wildlife, and in our gang soon
became 'the one who knows what things arecalled'.
Paul McCartney tells a similar story in his
autobiography 'Many Years from Now'. He is just a
few years older than me and from a different
bombed city, but that early experience seems tohave had a similar impact on both of us,ultimately leading to the end of eating our fellowanimals. No doubt many more of our generation
went through a similar encounter with the natural
world.
Top right; a Honey Bee
Middle - Southern Hawker Dragonfly
Bottom: a Peacock Butterfly on Buddleia
When I was 13, in the early 1960s, I got myfirst guitar and was distracted for someyears from the wildlife - which turned out tobe just as well. The authorities gave up withthe fences and turned to their 'final solution'.
They sent in a digger to cut a dead straight
trench and fill in the meandering stream.
Then they bulldozed the small hills into
perfectly flat parkland, with closely mowngrass. The wildlife vanished, and years
before 'environmentalism' became trendy I
began to understand what ecologicalvandalism looked like.
While all that was happening our patch ofcountryside was rapidly turning into a
giant housing estate with ever more motor
vehicles polluting the air. By the mid
1970s I was living back in the city, but it
had sprawled so much that there wasn't
really much difference by then.
I eventually returned to the city but neverlost the fascination with the countryside.
Some years ago I was doing somevoluntary work on a local wildlife reserve when I mentioned to a colleague that it was
just like where I had grown up. That was when it dawned on me that the nature reserves
were the only places in the south of England left like that. It was time to move.
My wife, Hazel, had a more authentic country childhood, in a small village where herfamily had lived for generations. But that too had been swallowed up by the urban
sprawl. We looked further north and found a relatively unspoilt area close to the borderwith Wales, and moved to a small village there in April 2001.

203

Right: a group of Starlings making asplash in the birdbath, both in ourback garden:
The photo below is the back of ourhouse, from across the field one
summer, the arrow points to mystudy window, where I'm sitting
writing this:Right is the view over the top of mycomputer monitor, looking back the otherway from the photo above, during a recent
cold winter, and couple more from my officewindow, moving thru the seasons:
The pressure from developers is relentless,
it is much easier to make a profit frombuilding on green fields than from cleaning
up polluted ex-industrial sites. The owner ofthe fields all around us have tried to cash inby getting planning permission to build on
them, which would hugely
increase their land value.
We're fairly sure they won't
get it at this time, and it will
be safe for at least another15 years, but the endlessdestruction seems almost
inevitable.
Maybe we're just being
selfish, trying to hang on to our little patch ofcountryside when people need houses. But the
wildlife needs to survive somewhere too, andthe space is shrinking all the time.

Summer Daze
Time seems to pass more slowly in the
countryside during the summer. The rush of
spring flowers has gone, and the birds can findplenty of food under cover in the hedgerows.
We actually see a lot more birds in the winteras they come nearer the houses looking for
food, with not many leaves to hide under.

204This was the view from my study window,
over the top of the computer, early in June:
Not much dynamic activity, though I've
seen some Hollywood films that felt likethey were slower. The wheat in the field
was looking like long grass, but a month
later, early July, it was beginning to look
like the real thing:

But we have had some activity, lots of Buzzards
circling overhead in June - looking for any young
rabbits foolish enough to wander too far from theburrow. The Buzzard on the right very obligingly posedon the tree right outside. They're just medium sized as
hawks go, but you wouldn't want to be on thereceiving end of that beak.
The bright orange wild flowers below have several
country names, including 'Orange Hawkweed', as thehawks aresupposed to eat
them to improvetheir eyesight,
though we've
never seen the
Buzzards eatingours...
Some birds are definitely smarter than others. We
have a Song Thrush that regularly uses the samestone to hammer snail-shells to break them open - I'm
still trying to be quick enough to get a photo, maybe
next time. But one that I haven't heard of elsewhere is
the Crows dunking their bread in the bird-bath.
They find the bread in the neighbors' gardens (wedon't eat white bread!) - but it tends to dry out, sothey bring it over to ours to soak it for a while, thentake it back to the nest for the chicks. I can't imagine
that white bread is any healthier for baby crows than it
is for us, but they seem to like it.
For my facebook albums of wildlife photos around the world, go to:www.facebook.com/#!/john.davis.9279/photos_albums
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205

A Year in the Sky
December 29, 2010

Skyscapes are like landscapes, but looking up of course.
The photos below are all from my office window, and all but
one of them during 2010, so this is my review of the year.
The window looks out over a flat landscape which people
living in hills and mountains might think rather boring, but
it makes for a big sky, and an endlessly changing
kaleidoscope, sometimes unexpected like this odd stub of arainbow behind a grain silo:
The window looks east, so I get sunrises, but only reflected
sunsets, and rainbows in the afternoons when the sun isgoing down in clear western skies and the east is damp:

Double Rainbow (November 2009, all others 2010)

January - Between the Snows

January - The Big Blue

206

February - Wood Pigeons leaving the Oak Tree

March - Full Moon Rising

March - Buzzard Soaring

March - Black Headed Gulls following the tractor

207

March – Double Rainbow 2 – the pot of gold

April - Trails on BlueMay - Stormy Weather

208

May - Mountains of Clouds

May - Martian Sunset, looking north-east, the setting sun reflected in the clouds

June - Hot Air Balloon in low cloud209

June - Midsummer Sunrise

August – Late Summer

December – Ice Blueback to top

210

Read all about it - antiquarian veg*ism
June 9, 2010

Last week was the biggest literary festival in the UK, at Hay-onWye, a small town just on the Welsh side of the border withEngland. It's held there every year because, despite having a
population of only about 1,900, it has more than 30 bookshops,
many selling specialist or antiquarian books. The festival attracts
up to 80,000 visitors each year.
Over the years of researching the history of vegetarianism I haveoften wanted to read books written hundreds of years ago. But
without direct access to a great library, or a big enough wallet tobuy antiquarian books, it was never easy. So I mostly had to relyon summaries written by those who did have direct access.
My one big advantage was access to the library of the VegetarianSociety UK, near Manchester, where they have copies of all thesociety's journals in bound volumes back to 1847. And a lot ofother old books as well, the earliest being dated 1819. In 2002 it was suggested that I
compile a history of IVU in time for the centenary in 2008, which turned out to be abigger job that I expected, and resulted in monthly visits to 'Parkdale' for the next six
years.
photo right: Parkdale - home of the VegetarianSociety UK which was founded in 1847, and has
been at Parkdale since 1969. More about thatnext week as I'll being going there again on
Friday.
But the world is changing dramatically, thanks asever to the internet - the biggest seller of oldbooks is probably now the Amazon re-sellers
system. But the first to put complete old books online for free was Project Gutenberg(www.gutenberg.org) which has been digitizing non-copyright books for many years, butjust in a basic plain text-format. They now have about 30,000 titles online.
Google's digital library (books.google.com) was launched in 2004, using scans so thatthe original books appear in PDF format. By the end of last year Google claimed to haveover 10 million books online, though there has been much dispute with publishers about
copyright issues.
Microsoft ran a similar project for a couple of years, then transferred its collection to theInternet Archive (www.archive.org), which now has about 1 million books available - butthey also link to Gutenberg and Google Books, making it a useful general search site.
There are several other more specialized organizations with similar projects.
The impact of this on researching the history of vegetariansim has been enormous - now
we can easily read many of the books published on the subject over the last few hundredyears. The biggest remaining problem is just finding them... given that the word'vegetarian' wasn't used until the 1840s, and often not used in the actual titles after
that, you need to have good idea of what to look for.
To overcome this last hurdle, we now have our own project on the IVU website, and in
the bibliography below - to find links from all the above sources to every out-ofcoypright book ever written on veg-related topics - and so far we about 200 of them.

211
The earliest texts are from the ancient Greeks andRomans, but they didn't have printing, and of course they
were written in ancient greek or latin ... so the scans areof later printed translations.
But we do begin to get scans of original books from the18th century with our earliest book being Thomas Tryon's'Letters', published in England in 1700.
In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography (we have links tothree complete editions of that) he says that when he was16, in 1722, it was reading a book by Tryon that had
persuaded him to adopt the 'Vegetable Diet' for many
years - probably the 'Way to Health' published in 1691.
Unfortunately we don't yet have a scan of that, but the'Letters' are similar and give us a good idea of what Franklin was actually looking at.
photo above: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) - portrait 1777 by Jean-Baptiste Greuze
The language and typeface of those days is not always easy for us to read, so whereavailable we have also included later editions as they are set in more modern typefaces,
but this is the first part of Tryon's letter on 'Flesh Broths' as published in 1700:

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212

Bibliography
All links go to original editions on Google Books or archive.org unless otherwise stated,
and are listed in roughly chronological order, instead of the usual alphabetical by author– use search to find authors or keywords. The contents are not necessarily vegan, or any
sort of vegetarian, but indicate a movement towards more humane thought and healthy
lifestyles.
Starting with Indian texts:
1.

Outlines of Jainism by Jagmanderlal Jaini M.A., Indore. Pub. Cambridge, 1916.
Founded by Mahavira, 599 BC - avoids all harm to animal life.

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

The Kalpa sutra, and Nava tatva: two works illustrative of the Jain
religion and philosophy trans. & appendix by J. Stevenson, Bombay. Pub.
London, 1818
Jaina Sutras Part I & II trans. Hermann Jacobi, Oxford 1884
Texts from the Buddhist canon, commonly known as Dhammapada, withaccompanying narratives trans. Samuel Beal, Prof. of Chinese, London, 1878.
Buddha (?563-483 BC)
The Lankavatara Sutra; a Mahayana text trans. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki,
London, 1932
Asoka, the Buddhist emperor of India by Vincent A. Smith M.R.A.S., Oxford,
1901. Asoka (273?-232 BC) banned all animal slaughter in India.
The Laws of Manu trans. George Bühler, Oxford, 1886. Somewhat disputed Hindu
texts... does not prohibit meat eating but: p.99, Law 48: "Meat can never be obtained
without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to (theattainment of) heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun (the use of) meat."8.
9.

Greece, Rome and Early ChristianHesiod’s Works and Days (c.800 BCE) contained in Homer's
Batrachomyomachia, hymns and epigrams; Hesiod's Works and days; Musæus'Hero and Leander, trans. George Chapman, London,1858
Hesiod: Works and Days Trans Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914. Describes a
mythological 'golden age' of a plant based diet.

10. The life of Pythagoras: with his Symbols and Golden verses M.Dacier 1707
11. Pagan Regeneration: a study of mystery initiations in the Graeco-Romanworld Harold Rideout Willoughby 1929. Includes Orphic Communities. p.129: “Theascetic prescription included an abstinence from meat...”12. Herodotus - trans. Rev. William Beloe 1831. P.236: “The neck of land which
stretches from the country of the Gindanes towards the sea is possessed by the Lotophagi
who live entirely upon the fruit of the lotos.”

13. The Fragments of Empedocles (link to Questia.com) trans. W.E. Leonard
Ph.D., Chicago, 1908. Part 2 says much about transmigration of souls and theOrphic/Pythagorean traditions.

14. The life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus (the Athenian)
15. Plato's Republic commentary by Lewis Campbell M.A., Ll.D., London, 1902.
16. The Republic of Plato trans. Thomas Taylor c.1800. This edition: London,c.1894. In Books II & III Plato (428-347 BC) develops the dietary ideas of Pythagoras.
17. The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers By Diogenes Laertius(?412-?323 BC), includes a section on Pythagoras, trans. C. D. Yonge, 1853
18. Ovid's Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC - AD 17). This edition
pub. London 1822. Book 15, p.516 is a biography of Pythagoras. p.519: “He first forbid
animal food to be served up at the tables of men”.

19. Seneca's Morals - Seneca (c.5 BC - AD 65) - trans Sir Roger L'estrange c.1870
p110: "I gave over eating of flesh".

20. Plutarch's Morals Vol.5 by Plutarch (c.AD 46-c.120)- edited by W. W. Goodwin
Ph.D, Harvard, 1878. Includes the essay 'Of Eating Flesh'.

213
21. Select Works of Porphyry: Containing His Four Books On Abstinence from
Animal Food; etc. - Porphyry (233-304 AD), trans. T. Taylor, London, 1823
22. The works of the Emperor Julian . . . translated from the Greek pub. 1798.
p.178: Julian . . . lived on vegetables (several references to his Pythagorean diet.)

23. The Ante-Nicene Fathers Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to
A.D. 325 edited by A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, Vol.2 (of 10 vols.) P.137 – ‘On
Eating’, from The Instructor, by Clement of Alexandria.

Al-Ma’rri (Abu ‘l-‘Ala - 973-1057, Syria/Baghdad)
24. The letters of Abu ʼl-ʻAla of Maʻarrat al-Nuʻman - D. S. Margoliouth, M.A.
1898 – biography and letters of Al-Ma’rri
25. The quatrains of Abu'l-Ala (Al-ma’arri) – Ameen F. Rihani, 1904
26. The Diwan of Abu'l-Ala – Henry Baerlein, 1909
27. Abul Ala, The Syrian - Henry Baerlein, 1914
28. The Luzumiyat of Abu'l-Ala - Ameen F. Rihani, 1918
29. Studies in Islamic poetry – R. Nicholson, 1921 – mostly poetry of Al-Ma’rri
Europe – Middle Ages to 17th Century – The Renaissance
30. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science Vol.1 by Eugène
Müntz, 1898. p.17 footnote: "It appears from Corsali's letter that Leonardo ate no meat,but lived entirely on vegetables, thus forestalling our modern vegetarians by several
centuries."

31. Discourses on the sober life (Discorsi della vita sobria) Being the personal
narrative of Luigi Cornaro (1467-1566) New York, 1916 edition
32. The Art of Living Long - the treatise by the celebrated Venetian centenarian,Luigi Cornaro (1465-1566), with essays, pub.1903
33. Utopia by Sir Thomas Moore (1478-1535) 2008 edition: p.108 "some live
unmarried and chaste, and abstain from eating any sort of flesh."

34. The Essays of Michael de Montaigne, Vol II (1533-1592) trans. Pierre Coste,
this edition London 1811
35. Poemata : Latin, Greek and Italian Poems by John Milton 1608-1674(ivu.org plain text 146k) this edition c.1876. - Elegy VI, line 60: 'Let herbs to them abloodless banquet give'

36. Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained this edition 1854.
37. The Works of Abraham Cowley Vol.III (1620-1667), Samuel Johnson, John
Aikin, this edition 1806. p.173 The Garden
38. Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets (ivu.org plain text 255k) by John Evelyn(1620-1706) First pub. 1699, this edition New York, 1937. From the foreword:'Evelyn ... is probably the first advocate in England of a meatless diet.'

39. Tryon's Letters, Domestick and Foreign, to Several Persons of Quality,
Occasionally Distributed in Subjects, Viz. Philosophical, Theological, and Moral. byThomas Tryon (1634-1703), pub.1700 (see eg Letter XIX 'Of Flesh Broths', p.87)
40. A Pythagorean of the Seventeenth Century - Alexander Gordon, Liverpool
1871. Commentary on, and extracts from, Tryon’s (ovo-lacto) autobiography.
Europe 18th Century – The Age of Enlightenment
41. An Essay of Health and Long Life By George Cheyne, M.D. F.R.S., 1724. "Benefit of a low Diet, living altogether on 'vegetable Food and pure Element.' "42. A Treatise on Health and Long Life ...: To which is Added to this Edition,(not in Any Former One) the Life of the Author By George Cheyne, 10thedition, London 1787
43. Fables of Mr. John Gay first appeared 1726, this edition London, 1792. John
Gay (1685-1732) wrote many references to humane diet.
44. The Fable of the Bees by Bernard Mandeville, 1729
45. The Seasons by James Thomson, first pub. 1726-30, this ed. London, 1824.
46. An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope ((1688-1744), first pub. 1732-5, thisedition London 1820. Humane commentary

214
47. Emanuel Swedenborg : a biography by James Wilkinson, Boston, 1849. p.238:
He writes on the subject in his Arcana as follows: "Considered apart, eating the flesh ofanimals is somewhat profane...."

48.
49.
50.
51.
52.

Works Vol.26 (inc. The Princess of Babylon) by Voltaire. This edition 1769.
The Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire, short edition 1802. See Beasts p.31
A Philosophical Dictionary Vol VI by Voltaire. See Viands p.315
Memoirs of the Life of Voltaire by Voltaire. This edition London, 1784
John Wesley (1703-1791) biography by Richard Green, pub. late 19th century.
p.35: in the hope of thereby promoting his own piety, he began to use a vegetable diet.

53. Free Thoughts Upon the Brute-creation By John Hildrop, London, 1742
54. Observations on man, his frame, his duty, and his expectations Vol.2 byDavid Hartley (1705-1757), first pub. 1749. This edition 1801. Much concerned withanimals as food eg: 'With respect to animal diet, let it be considered, that taking away the
lives of animals, in order to convert them into food, does great violence to the principles of
benevolence and compassion.' p.222.

55. A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals
By Humphrey Primatt, London 1776
56. An Introduction To The Principles Of Morals And Legislation by Jeremy
Bentham, first pub.1780. This edition 1823. (“can they suffer?”)
57. Disquisitions on Several Subjects by Soame Jenyns, first pub. London 1782;
this edition 1822. p.19: Disquisition II - On Cruelty to Inferior Animals
58. Rousseau's Emile; or, Treatise on education this edition New York, c.1892
59. John Howard (1726-1790) Biography of the prison reformer by Edgar C. S.
Gibson, London, 1901. p.180: "has been accustomed for years to exist on vegetables
and water, a little bread, and a little tea."

60. Letters from a citizen of the world to his friends in the East by Oliver
Goldsmith (1728-1774), this ed.1840 'I have seen the very men who thus boasted of
their tenderness, at the same time devour the flesh of six different animals tossed up in africasee.' p.32.

61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.

The Task by William Cowper, first pub.1782; this edition London, 1817
The Cry of Nature (html page on ivu.org) by John Oswald - full text from 1791
Paul and Virginia By Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, this edition, London 1898
Studies of Nature Vol. IV By Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, this edition 1796
Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy this edition 1835
Schiller's "The song of the bell"; and other poems Trans. Thomas C.
Zimmerman, pub. Pennsylvania, 1896 - see Der Alpenjäger (The Hunter of the Alps) inboth German and English
North America – 18th century

67. The Ephrata community 120 years ago The Ephrata 'vegan' community was
founded by German settlers in Pennsylvania in 1721, this account pub.1905
68. Souvenir book of the Ephrata cloister complete history, pub.1921
69. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin edited by John Bigelow, 1868 edition
70. The Dorrellites 'vegan' community in 1790s New England. See pp.82-89 of thisextremely hostile volume of 'History and proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley memorialassociation' pub.1905.

71. Johnny Appleseed : a pioneer hero by W. D. Haley, 1871. This edition 1955.
Johnny (1774-1846) was based in Western Pennsylvania. p.8: 'He believed it to be a sin
to kill any creature for food'.

England: early 19th Century
72. An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food by Joseph Ritson, published 1802
73. Joseph Ritson, A Critical Biography by Henry Alfred Burd, 1916
74. Joseph Ritson, Percy Shelley and the making of romantic vegetarianism(link to ucdavis) - essay by Timothy Morton from 'Romanticism 2006
75. The Code of Health and Longevity Or a Concise View of the Principles
Calculated for the Preservation of Health and the Attainment of Long Life. Vol III:by John Sinclair, pub 1807.

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76. The Surgical Works Vol.2 by John Abernethy, pub, London 1811. 'Of Tumours'
p.93: '...the power of the regimen recommend by Dr. Lambe should be fairly tried.'

77. Facts authentic, in science and religion: designed to illustrate a new tr. of
the Bible by William Cowherd, 1818
78. Water and Vegetable Diet in Consumption, Scrofula, Cancer, Asthma, andOther Chronic Diseases by Dr. William Lambe, First Pub. London 1815 as'Additional reports on the effects of a peculiar regimen in the cases of cancer,
scrofula, consumption, asthma and other chronic diseases.' This edition 1850 New
York with intro by Joel Shew M.D. - p.90/91: "My reason for objecting to every species
of matter to be used as food, except the direct produce of the earth, is founded as may beseen in my last publication on the broad ground that no other matter is suited to theorgans of man, as indicated by his structure. This applies then with the same force toeggs, milk, cheese, and fish, as to flesh meat."

79. The Life of William Lambe M.D. (PDF 500k on ivu.org) - by E. Hare, 1873,
complete text of the 1897 reprint.
80. The Return to Nature: or, A defence of the vegetable regimen; - John
Frank Newton, the original 1811 edition.
81. Early days of the Right Honorable George Canning – by John Frank Newton,
1828, giving more details about himself.
- Byron and Shelley
82. Life of Lord Byron : with his letters and journals (Vol.1 - to 1811) pub.
London, 1839, this edition 1854. p.356 - 1811, June 25: "… an entire vegetable diet,neither fish nor flesh coming within my regimen.”

83. Life of Lord Byron : with his letters and journals (Vol.2 - 1811-13) pub.
London, 1839, this edition 1854.
84. Life of Lord Byron : with his letters and journals (Vol.3 1814-17) pub.
London, 1839, this edition 1854. p.337: abstinence.... like some years ago, ...of diet,
and, with the exception of some convivial weeks and days, (it might be months, now andthen,) have kept to Pythagoras ever since.

85. Lord Byron's Don Juan first two Cantos pub.1819, unfinished at Canto 16 on
Byron's death in 1824. This complete edition from Philadelphia, 1859. Overall it
reflects Byron's inconsistency about his diet.
--86. Shelley at Oxford (1810/11) - by Thomas Jefferson Hogg, Shelley's friend at
Oxford. This edition from 1904.
87. Letters from Shelley to Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1810/11) - with notes by
W. M. Rossetti and H. Buxton Forman, 1897
88. Letters from Shelley to Elizabeth Hitchener - Vol.1, 1811 - privately printed
1890
89. Letters from Shelley (& some by Harriet) to Elizabeth Hitchener - Vol.2,
1812 - privately printed 1890
90. A Vindication of Natural Diet (original 1813) - new edition from 1884, with apreface by Henry S. Salt and W.E.A. Axon.
91. The life of Percy Bysshe Shelley: Vol.1
92. The life of Percy Bysshe Shelley Vol.2 by Jefferson Hogg, pub. 1858 (in 4volumes but only 2 finished). This is a much critcised biography, more about Hogg thanShelley.

93. Letters from Shelley to William Godwin Vol.1 - 1812 & 1816
94. Letters from Shelley to William Godwin Vol.1 - 1816 to 1820 – both vols.
privately printed 1891
95. Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus 1823 edition, by Mary W. Shelley.
Written 1816-17, first pub.1818. (later revised 1831)
96. Letters from Shelley to Jane Clairmont (1816-1822) - privately printed
1889
97. The Shelley Society's papers. 1886-1888 - 20 articles by various authors
98. A Shelley Primer - by Henry S. Salt 1887
99. Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Monograph - Henry Stephens Salt, 1888

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100. An Examination of Hogg's "Life of Shelley" - Henry Stephens Salt, 1889
101. Shelley's Vegetarianism - by W.E.A.Axon, 1890
102. Shelley's principles; has time refuted or confirmed them? by Henry S. Salt,
1892
103. Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet and pioneer; a biographical study - by Henry S.
Salt, 1896
104. Peacock's memoir of Shelley, with Shelley's letters to Peacock - Thomas
Love Peacock 1785-1866 - edited by H.F.B. Brett-Smith, 1909
105. The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley - ed by George
Woodberry, 1901
106. Selected prose works of Shelley - edited by Henry S. Salt, 1915 - The necessityof atheism -- A letter to Lord Ellenborough -- A refutation of deism -- A defence of poetry - Essay on the literature, the arts, and the manners of the Athenians -- On life -- On a
future state -- Essay on Christianity

USA – Early 19th century – Graham and Alcott
107. History of the Philadelphia Bible Christian Church, 1817-1917 – centenary
book
108. Letters of Pestalozzi on the Education of Infancy – published Boston 1830.
Written by Pestalozzi to J. P. Greaves, and this book read by Bronson Alcott.
109. Record of a School by Elizabeth Peabody 1835, about Bronson Alcott's school
110. Conversations with Children on the Gospels by Bronson Alcott, 1836
111. Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All
Ages by William Andrus Alcott, 1838112. Discourses on a Sober and Temperate Life – original by Luigi Cornaro, 16th
century Italy. The edition with intro and notes by Sylvester Graham, New York,1833
113. A Defence of the Graham System of Living: Or, Remarks on Diet andRegimen. Dedicated to the Rising Generation by Sylvester Graham, New
York, 1835
114. Nature's own book by Asenath Nicholson, 1835 – a not-very-strict Grahamite
115. A treatise on bread, and bread-making by Sylvester Graham, Boston 1837
116. Lectures on the Science of Human Life by Sylvester Graham, first pub.
Boston 1839. this edition pub. by William Horsell, London 1849
117. The philosophy of sacred history considered in relation to human alimentand the wines of Scripture - by Sylvester Graham, edited by Henry S. Clubb,
pub. W. Horsell, London, 1859
118. Lectures to ladies on anatomy and physiology by Mary Gove Nichols, Boston,1842 - many references to the vegetable diet.
119. Nichols' health manual : being also a memorial of the life and work of
Mrs. Mary S. Gove Nichols – Thomas Nichols, 1887
120. Bronson Alcott at Alcott House, England, and Fruitlands, New England(1842-1844) by F. B. Sanborn, 1908
121. Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands (1843) by Clara Endicott Sears withTranscendental Wild Oats (1876) by Louisa May Alcott, 1915 edition
122. The Dial (Vol.3 – 1842-3) – the Transcendentalist journal, articles on Greaves
and Alcott.
123. Pedlar's Progress The Life Of Bronson Alcott by Odell Shepard, Boston, 1937
England – mid 19th century
124. The Healthian - April and part of May 1842 (PDF 2.5mb, ivu.org, courtesy of Bill
Shurtleff and University of California at Berkeley)125. The law and method in spirit-culture: an interpretation of A. Bronson
Alcott by Charles Lane, 1843, includes the full text of the letter from Greaves to Alcott.
126. A brief account of the First Concordium, or Harmonious Industrial College- published at the Concordium, 1843 (PDF 419k ivu.org courtesy of Maynard Clark andHarvard University).

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127. The New Age - Concordium Gazette - from Alcott House, Ham Common,
Surrey. Complete issues - May 1843 to December 1844
128. Fruits and farinacea the proper food of man by John Smith, (1798-1888)
London 1845
129. Hydropathy for the People by William Horsell, written in England in 1845, with
notes by Russell Trall M.D. for this New York, 1850 edition.
130. Punch magazine, 1848, Vol.XIV – includes a sarcastic piece about The VegetarianSociety which was founded in September 1847.

131. Vegetarian messenger Vol.1 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1849/50
132. The penny vegetarian cookery – by the Vegetarian Messenger, 1850 – mostly
ovo-lacto, but much is vegan, even a vegan omelet.

133. Vegetarian messenger Vol.2 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1850/51
134. Vegetarian messenger Vol.3 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1851/52
135. Vegetarian messenger Vol.4 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1852/53
136. Vegetarian messenger Vol.5 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1853/54
137. Vegetarian messenger Vol.6 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1854/55
138. Vegetarian messenger Vol.7 – Vegetarian Society UK, 1855/56
139. On the mode of communication of cholera by John Snow, 1855 - expandedfrom the 1849 pamphlet.
140. On chloroform and other anaesthetics: their action and administration by
John Snow - published shortly after his death in 1858, and including a brief 'Life of John
Snow' by Benjamin W. Richardson M.D. who knew him, but was very hostile to hisvegetarianism.

USA later 19th century
141. Religion, Natural and Revealed by Orson S. Fowler, New York, 1st pib. 1844,
10th edition 1848 p.136: Were a flesh diet productive of no other evil consequence thanlowering ... benevolence that alone should forever annihilate so barbarous a practice'.

142. Physiology, animal and mental by Orson S. Fowler, New York, 1847, 5thedition 1851 (half of Fowler & Wells, NY, which published many of the veg-related bookson this page).

143. Hydrotherapy or The Water-Cure by Joel Shew, New York 1851.
144. Philosophy of Health: Natural Principles of Health and Cure by Larkin Baker
Coles M.D. Boston, first pub. 1848 - 26th revised edition 1851 (claims 28,000 sold)p.51 The Quality of Foods (promotes lacto-vegetable diet)- Russell Trall
145. The hydropathic encyclopedia Vol.1 by Russell Trall, 1855 (orig.1851) –includes ovo-lacto-dietetics
146. The Hydropathic Encyclopedia Vol.2 by Russell Trall, New York, 1854
(orig.1851) – appears to be vegan, but see below…
147. The New Hydropathic Cook-book: With Recipes for Cooking on Hygienic
Principles - by Russell Trall, 1854, includes the use of milk and eggs, but see below:
148. The hygeian home cook-book; or, Healthful and palatable food without
condiments - by Russell Trall, 1874 – the first vegan cookbook, see Preface.
- Thoreau
149. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), first pub.1854. This edition withintro by Will H. Dircks, 1886.
150. Life and writings of Henry David Thoreau by Henry S. Salt, witten 1890 1896 edition
151. Anti-slavery and reform papers - Thoreau, Henry David, ed. H. Salt,1890
152. Selections from Thoreau - Thoreau, Henry David, 1895, ed H. Salt 1895
153. Poems of nature - Thoreau, Henry David, ed. H. Salt, 1895
More late 19th century USA
154. Health: Its Friends and Foes by Reuben D. Mussey M.D., LL.D, Boston, 1862.
p.169: Chapter VIII - Man by nature a vegetable eater - vegetarianism

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155. Recollections of a busy life by Horace Greeley (1811-1872) pub.1868 - editor of
the NY Tribune p.98: Chapter VIII - Temperance in all things

156. Horace Greeley Voice Of The People by William Harlan Hale, 1950.
157. Health in the Household, Or, Hygienic Cookery by Susanna Way Dodds,
1883 – argues strongly for plant-foods only, but then includes meat . . .
158. The stomach: its disorders and how to cure them by J.H. Kellogg, Battle
Creek, 1896
159. Figs or pigs? Fruit or brute? Shall we eat flesh? : a comprehensive
statement of the principal reasons for entertaining the vegetarian or
fruitarian principle - James Madison Allen, 1896 – promotes veganism
160. Food, Home and Garden - Journal of the Vegetarian Society of America Vols IIII, 1897-99; edited by Henry Clubb
161. The Golden Age Cook Book by Henrietta Latham Dwight, New York, 1898
162. Every living creature; or, Heart-training through the animal world byRalph Waldo Trine, 1899
163. The Vivisection Question articles from 1880 to 1900 compiled by Albert
Leffingwell M.D, 1901
Europe – late 19th century
164. Les Confidences: Confidential Disclosures by Alphonse de Lamartine (17901869) 1857 edition. p.60: 'to kill animals for the purpose of feeding on their flesh is oneof the most deplorable and shameful infirmities of the human state'.

165. The Descent of man – Charles Darwin, 1871
166. Fruit and bread : a scientific diet by Gustav Schlickeysen, translated from theGerman by M. L. Holbrook, New York,1877 – original German edition appears to havebeen 1875. Strongly Darwinian, the earliest known vegan (frugivorous + grains) book from
Germany.

167. The Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger, August, 1884 - The
Vegetarian Society (Manchester), one complete issue - the first section of a large
book of other misc. articles.

168. Sir Isaac Pitman, his life and labors by Benn Pitman (brother) 1902
169. The life of Sir Isaac Pitman by Alfred Baker, 1908
170. Essays on Diet - Prof. Francis W. Newman, 1883
171. Memoir and letters of Francis W. Newman - Isobel Giberne, 1909
172. Fifty Years of Food Reform by Charles Forward, London 1897 (ivu.org 20mb
PDF)
173. Tolstoy biography by Romain Rolland, 1911
174. Musicians of Today - by Romain Rolland, includes Wagner and Hugo Wolf, 1915
- Henry Salt (also much by Salt on Shelley and Thoreau above)
175. Literary Sketches - Henry Stephens Salt, 1888
176. Godwin's "Political justice"; a reprint of the essay on "Property", fromthe original edition; - Godwin, William, 1756-1836, ed. Salt 1890
177. Songs of freedom - Salt, Henry Stephens, 1893
178. Animals' Rights, considered in Relation to Social Progress by Henry S. Salt
1894
179. Pamphlets V, 1836-1895 - includes 'On Certain Fallacies' by Henry Salt
180. Humanitarian Essays: Being Volume III. of "Cruelties of Civilization." Henry Stephens Salt , Humanitarian League , London, 1897
181. The logic of vegetarianism; essays and dialogues - Henry Salt, 1906
182. The Humanities of Diet (PDF 42k on ivu.org) - by Henry Salt, 1914
183. Killing for sport : essays by various writers - Salt, Henry Stephens, 1915
184. Seventy years among savages by Henry S. Salt, 1921 - autobiographical essays
Asia and the Pacific – 19th and 20th centuries
185. Thoreau's philosophy of life, with special consideration of the influenceof Hindoo philosophy by Helena A. Snyder, Dissertation, Heidelberg University,
1902. p.20 Abstinence from meat eating

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186. The Hindoos as they are: a description of the manners, customs, andinner life of Hindoo society in Bengal by Shib Chunder Bose, first pub.1881.
This edition Calcutta, 1883. 'The writer has exposed the ... evils to India of English
dietetic habits' (Howard Williams in Ethics of Diet).

187. Poetical works of Edwin Arnold : containing The light of Asia 1883. p.95:'henceforth none Shall spill the blood of life nor taste of flesh' (in 1891 Arnold was VicePresident of the Bayswater Vegetarian Club, of which Gandhi was Secretary)

188. A guide to health - Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1921
189. An Autobiography or The story of my experiments with truth - M. K.
Gandhi, 1925
190. A Quest For Gandhi by Reginald Reynolds, 1952. Personal account of Ghandi at
the ashrams.
Europe and USA – 20th century

191. Romain Rolland; the man and his work by Stefan Zweig, New York, 1921
192. Thirty-nine reasons why I am a vegetarian Henry Stephen Clubb, publishedby the Vegetarian Society of America, Philadelphia, 1903
193. Unpolished rice, the staple food of the Orient Henry Clubb, 1905
194. The Universal Kinship by J. Howard Moore (1862-1916), pub. Chicago, 1906.
"kinship of all the inhabitants of the planet Earth"195. No Animal Food and Nutrition and Diet with Vegetable Recipes – Rupert H.
Wheldon, England, 1910. This ed. New York. – the first British vegan cookbook
196. Humanitarian Philosophy by Emil Edward Kusel, Los Angeles, 1912
197. A great Russian tone-poet, Scriabin by A.E. Hull, London 1918. Refers to
Scriabins theosophy, from about 1904, which led to his vegetarianism.

198. The Natural Diet of Man by John Harvey Kellogg 1923
199. The Vegan – the magazine of the Vegan Society UK, all issues from 1944, link tovegansociety.com

200. Vegetarian Times - US bi-monthly magazine, the link goes to January 1980.
See 'Browse all issues' for the complete subsequent issues, currently up to 2004.
201. Vegan Views – UK magazine, some items from 1975 onwards, online version
free to download.
General histories on ivu.org:
202. The Ethics of Diet - A Catena (HTML pages, full text) by Howard Williams, 1st
published 1883, text from the 2nd edition, 1896.
203. Souvenir Book of the 15th World Vegetarian Congress - India, 1957 (HTML pages) - huge collection of articles by various worldwide authors.
204. The Vegetarian Movement in England, 1847-1981 : A Study in the
Structure of its Ideology – (HTML pages) PhD Thesis by Julia Twigg, 1981.
205. Vegetarianism in Australia, A History (PDF 8mb) by Edgar Crook, 2008
Most recent books are still subject to copyright, so not available for free online. Links
below are to some recommended books via amazon.com:
206. Animal Liberation: Peter Singer, 1975, revised 1990, chap.5, on history, is still
good, and way ahead of anything else written at that time.

207. Search for a New Eden: James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842) : The
Sacred Socialist and His Followers by J. E. M. Latham, 1999 – the story behind
Alcott House. This takes a rather condescending view of their diet, and has some mistakes,
but much valuable research.

208. Vegetarian America: A History by Karen and Michael Iacobbo, 2004
209. Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in NineteenthCentury Britain by James Gregory, 2007. A non-vegan perspective, but more
useful history.

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