Vegans, what they can and can’t do, and why they want to do it

HOW do you know if someone’s vegan?, the joke goes. Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. But there’s a growing appetite for the plant-based diet.

STATISTICS about veganism in Australia are about as solid as silken tofu, but everyone agrees it’s on the rise.

Vegan Australia points to research that has found Australia has the third fastest-growing market for packaged vegan food.

British statistics show the number of Pommy vegans has tripled in just a few years. In the United States, a commonly cited number says vegans have increased six-fold in just three years.

And there have been 63.8 million posts about it on Instagram, while Google searches for veganism have skyrocketed.

Renee Somerfield in one of PETA’s eye-catching and often controversial ads.

What is veganism?

(It’s not as simple as you might think.)

Not all vegans were created equal. According to Vegan Australia, veganism is:

“ … 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.”

But vegans take that “as far as is possible and practicable” in different ways.”.

They eschew meat and dairy products. That’s obvious. And no fur jackets.

The uninitiated, though, wouldn’t know that honey’s not vegan.

VA says bees are exploited in the making of honey.

People were floored this week to hear that animal fat is used to make Australian bank notes. The tallow helps make them slippery... and non-vegan.

  Plenty of drinkers don’t realise that egg and fish bits are often used in making wine. The red food dye known as carmine — and used in lollies and cakes — is made from crushed beetles.

Other surprising things that might not be vegan (depending on the brand) include beer, white sugar, marshmallows … and even tattoos! And of course pearls, and beeswax, china, and some vaccines.

There are grey areas.

There are some grey areas for vegans, such as avocados which are farmed using migratory beekeeping.

Take avocados. That most hipster and delicious and nutritious of fruits. Many avocados, along with almonds are farmed using “migratory beekeeping” — farmers shift hives around to pollinate the crops.

That deprives bees of their freedom, a diverse diet, and can put them at risk of disease.

And if you accept that is bee exploitation — which is not vegan friendly — you have to look at all manner of fruits and vegetables that might use the technique.

Blueberries. cucumbers, cherries, apples.

It’s also true that there’s not much you really can eat with the guarantee that insects have not somehow been harmed.

Then there’s the issue of clothes. We all know that wearing fur is a no-no (right?) but PETA says silk (spiders), leather (cows and other animals) and wool (sheep) are also off the cards.

And most pillows and doonas use feathers, which is a no-no.

At the Womadelaide festival last year, one of the performances involved clouds of feathers drifting down over Adelaide’s Botanic Park — some vegans were outraged, and one wrote that they might as well have been sprayed with blood.

Why has it become so popular?

(Well, Beyonce DID egg on her 112 million Instagram followers to vegan up.)

The driving force for people wanting to cut down meat consumption is health and weight loss.

But dietitians warn the claims are often overstated. Vegans are sometimes lumped in with pescetarians or vegetarians, or compared with an “average” diet that might be burgers and fries, rather than a well-balanced diet. Vegans also have to be careful to get all the key nutrients they need.

There are also concerns about “orthorexia”. Following strict diets can be a smokescreen for disordered eating. Recent studies have found links between a vegan lifestyle and orthorexia — which is an eating disorder where the sufferer is obsessed with healthy eating.

Veganism is an easy way to turn down cheese at a dinner party.

But according to UK statistics, for those who actually become vegan or vegetarian, animal welfare is their main beef. This weekend Adelaide will host the Vegan Festival, which is pet friendly but meat unfriendly. They’re expecting bigger numbers than last year.

Headline act James Aspey says there’s no reason to keep eating meat.

James Aspey, one of the headline speakers at Vegan Festival Adelaide. Picture: Peter Ristevski

“There is a huge amount of suffering and animal cruelty (in the food industry) … we would never do it to a dog, so why is it OK to do it to a pig, a cow, a chicken or a fish?” he asks.

There has been a crop of documentaries and exposes about cruelty to animals in the past few years, which has heightened awareness in Australia.

Environmental concerns are also a big motivator. Meat and dairy farming are big carbon emitters; they use a lot of water and a lot of land. Recent research from Oxford found going vegan could reduce your food footprint by 73 per cent.

However, other analysts say that the type of food is just one consideration — it becomes more complicated if you take into account the farming practice, the distance the food has to travel, potential pollution and moral questions about supporting jobs.

Critics also point out that growing fruit and vegetables often has the unintended consequence of killing mice, snakes and rabbits — not to mention insects.

A simple reason veganism is not wilting is that vegan food is more sophisticated and more easily available than ever before.

From supermarkets to cafes and top-end restaurants, there are vegan options sprouting up all over the place.

Vegan Festival organiser Lea McBride said there were plant-based alternatives for everything.

“You can still have your barbecue, you can still have your curry nights and the Sunday roast — with all the amazing vegies and Tofurky,” she said.

“There really isn’t anything you miss out on.”

Vegan chef Gaz Oakley has even released the “first ever vegan Christmas cookbook” with “no-turkey wrapped in Gaz’s streaky “bacon””.

The turkey is made with lots of herbs, dried mushrooms, chickpeas, tofu, onion. The “bacon” has about 30 ingredients. (But if you have the strength...)

In recent times some vegan activists have become more aggressive; storming restaurants, vandalising shops and harassing butchers.

But psychologists say such militant actions do not work to convert people.

Far better to plant a seed of thought, or try to get someone to meat you halfway.

Originally published as Vegans, what they can and can’t do, and why they want to do it