Veganism has been becoming more popular over the past years. While some people use the term vegan, others say plant-based. But what is the difference?
More and more restaurants are offering vegan options on their menu; vegan versions of your favourite food are increasing by the day – and so is the number of people that are on a vegan diet. But what does it really mean to be vegan?
Sadly, there is no easy way to answer that. In short, vegans don’t consume any animal products, that includes food, but also clothing or furniture. So, no vegans don’t wear leather shoes or woolen jumpers. The main reason people adopt a vegan lifestyle (note: it is more than just a diet) is usually for animal rights. They don’t want to support a system that exploits animals and treats them as products. And while veganism is an ethical movement, some people start eating plant-based for a lot of other reasons, like for the environment or their health.
This is where for a lot of people, the word „plant-based“ comes to use. Plant-based usually refers to someone’s diet, rather than a lifestyle. In other words, plant-based people could still consume animal products as items of clothing. And, another very important point where there is a lot of difference of opinion, is when it comes to „cheating“ (a lifestyle expression commonly referred to as eating something that is not part of your „diet“). If we look at the difference between plant-based and vegan, it becomes rather obvious that you cannot really cheat on a lifestyle, but maybe on a diet (even though I personally do not use the term „cheating“ in that way). This leads to arguments of people who say they are vegan, but occasionally do eat animal products. But what is the problem with that?
Vegans commonly are people that care very, very deeply about animals and their mistreatment. It is an emotional subject connected with pain, suffering, and, inevitably, slaughter. This might shed a light on why someone would get upset about someone that wasn’t really 100% true to the cause. Similarly, how you would consider yourself a feminist but not take a break now and then to allow yourself the occasional sexist comment. Another side effect of a „cheating vegan“ is that non-vegans then start to assume that other vegans too make exceptions and potentially don’t take their lifestyle choices as seriously or feed them non-vegan food.
What is my point of view on this? I totally understand getting upset about this. Because I consider myself a vegan and know other people that do too but then also say that they aren’t as „strict“ when confronted with consuming something non-vegan. Looking at the bigger picture, however, the more people are swapping animal products with plant-based ones, the better. If you need to eat „real“ Mac and Cheese once a week to be „vegan“ for the rest of it, that already helps a lot of innocent animals, as well as the planet. But please also do understand the consequences of your actions and maybe refer to yourself as plant-based.
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