Post written by VegBlogger. Follow me on Twitter.
Vegetarian or vegan? Technically I suppose I meet the definition of a vegan, at least how other "vegans" seem to interpret and follow it. However, I am still not comfortable calling myself a vegan, even though my lifestyle fits the "definition."
I have always preferred the term "vegetarian." This is because I do not believe that it is possible to be 100 percent vegan in the world in which we live. Every time I say the word vegan, I conjure up images of all the ways that it is not possible to be completely vegan.
According to The Vegan Society, a "Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing and any other purpose."
While I realize that most people will argue that there are things we have choices about and things that we don't, the fact still remains that we cannot be 100 percent vegan in our world.
Animals have been used in everything from the vulcanization process in making our tires to the glue in our kitchen cabinets to the medications you take when you are sick (even if the medicine itself is vegan it was likely tested on animals at some point). It is possible to avoid using many of these things, even if the alternative does not seem practical or appealing.
Bees have especially been exploited extensively in the food production of much of which vegans dine upon (yet according to the vegan definition, the items would not be vegan because of the exploitation).
Who decides what is possible and practicable in order to fit the definition? I think you could avoid eating things like almonds and blueberries, which involve bee exploitation during pollination. But would you want to?
There are so many things that animals are (or have been) used for, that I am not comfortable using the term vegan to refer to myself. Even the very Internet that I am using in order to post this was linked to animal exploitation at some point (the space program first sent up animals, which eventually lead to where we are today with the Internet).
Because there are so many things that render items non-vegan or questionable in my mind, like the bees being forced to pollinate almonds, space exploration beginnings, ladybugs purposely being used in organic gardening, worms purposley being used in your compost pile, meat-based pet food, glue in our kitchen cabinets, etc., I personally don't care for the term "vegan."
I like the term "vegetarian," which came 100 years before "vegan." I'll even take "Pythagorean," which was used circa 500 B.C. So while I use "vegan" on my site for search engine purposes, offline I still call myself a vegetarian.
I certainly live my life trying eliminate suffering to animals. But it does not escape my mind that I do cause animals to suffer, even if it is by simply driving my car, or eating non-organic food (which likely had insecticides sprayed on them). I am an ethical vegetarian. I am comfortable with that label, if I must use one. How about you?
(Donald Watson, who coined the term "vegan" in the 1940s)
I like the term ethical vegetarian actually, but I can comfortably say that I eat a vegan diet, not that I am a vegan.
Posted by: Vibeke Vale | 01/21/2010 at 01:23 PM