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Vegan

Vegan

Date: May 11 2007

Topic: Vocabulary

Author: max's girlfriend

Lesson

Perhaps you have been in a restaurant or food market and have seen a food item labeled as "vegan."  Do you know what this means?

 Vegan is a word used to denote a life-style in which a person abstains from the use or consumption of any animal products, or as a label for the person themself.  It is also used to describe food and other items that are made without the use of any animal products. This includes insects, meat, dairy, leather, fur, or any other part of an animal.

Examples:

    "Sweetpea Bakery makes a wicked vegan cheesecake." (adjective)

    "Did you know that Alice Walker is a vegan?" (noun)

Vegan is sometimes thought of as a more extreme form of vegetarian.  Vegetarians do not eat meat, but they sometimes eat eggs and other dairy products.  The word vegan was created from the word vegetarian by people who felt that the label "vegetarian" had become too ambiguous, in other words, the word no longer has a clear definition.

 Some people "go vegan" for health reasons, but I think the majority of people who are vegan are so because of their concern for the welfare of animals.

For more information I recommend the site www.veganoutreach.org

 (If you know the word for "vegetarian" or "vegan" in another language, please post a comment! I'd love to know what it is! )

 

 

Comments

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hal9000

hal9000

Italy

I am not vegan but I think it's the beautiful think. I hope I will become vegan in a future day.Wink

08:05 PM Mar 01 2008 |

hal9000

hal9000

Italy

I am not vegan but I think it’s the beautiful think. I hope I will become vegan in a future day.

08:03 PM Mar 01 2008 |

Gretta

Gretta

Kazakhstan

hello, everybody. it's a big toopic. i think that we shouldn't shame on smbd. for vegetarian he or not, because we are different . and for my country it's impossible to live without meet!!! it's our tradition. but generally i support vegeterians, because their bodies are more healthy)))

09:18 AM Feb 26 2008 |

mahali

mahali

Austria

i've been a vegan since three years, and i'm really happy with it!

09:56 PM Jan 31 2008 |

puellanigra

Poland

In polish:

vegetarian – wegetarianin (male), wegetarianka (female)

vegan – weganin 

 

06:17 PM Dec 27 2007 |

max's girlfriend

United States

As I understand it, "Vegan" is a word that was created by a group of people in the UK around 1944.  The people felt that the meaning of the word "vegetarian" had become too confusing, and they wanted a word that conveyed their commitment to a dairy-free lifestyle.  They took the word from the word VEGetariAN, because they believed that "vegetarian" truly begins and ends with "vegan." That is why the one word is shorter than the other. 

 Thanks to everyone who has been responding to this! It's fun to get feedback from all over the world!  (And a special thank you to everyone who is doing their part to end the abuse of animals!)

08:58 PM Oct 12 2007 |

vutka1

Brazil

well, I was a vegetarian once, but it was really difficult giving up meat and specially dairy products. I don't know if I can do it anymore, even to save the planet…

06:39 PM Oct 12 2007 |

eva_maitreeya

Indonesia

Vegan – A diet that excludes all meat, fish and dairy products as well as any food derived from a living animal such as eggs. Their diet relies on beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and soya products for protein, grains and starchy vegetables for carbohydrate and nuts and seeds and oils for fat.

Vegetarian – There are two types of vegetarianism: lacto-ovo vegetarians who exclude red meat, poultry and fish and lacto-vegetarians who exclude red meat, poultry, fish and eggs.

02:12 PM Oct 12 2007 |

vutka1

Brazil

why is the shorter version bigger then the longer version of the word?

01:48 PM Oct 12 2007 |

Olenkaa

Olenkaa

Ukraine

When I was 15 I saw one video..how cows and bigs are killed for meat…It was so terrible, the were crying!!! With real TEARS!!!! It was so much pain and suffering there that I couldn't sleep that night… And from that day I understood that we mustn't eat animals…They look like us, they are our friends…We must love and protect them, coz they love and trust us.. And people..kill them in so terrible way!!!!!!!!!!! Look at these: do you think it is normal??? Do you really feel that it is normal?  http://www.ruki.org.ua/ruki/foto.htm

And by the way, you can stay healthy!!! but it's another topic)) thanks for attention.))

05:01 AM May 22 2007 |

unaxxu

unaxxu

China

cool,but i like eating animals a lot

12:37 PM May 20 2007 |

conan_t

China

i don't know what this word mean “Vegan”

09:07 AM May 20 2007 |

SPRING

Turkey

 hi everybody

10:20 AM May 19 2007 |

SPRING

Turkey

 hi everybody

10:20 AM May 19 2007 |

maya80

maya80

Lebanon

Smile

08:59 AM May 19 2007 |

catherine3785247

China

绝对素食主义者

07:44 AM May 19 2007 |

duderyu

India

I very much appreciates to you. ur views,  ur sprit,  ur idea and ur thinking are too cool. now-a-days we will nt find ur kind of girl. Don't think that u r girl that's why i am appreciateing to u. i am a married person because i like ur excellent views that't why i sending this message to u. Plz don't mind

bye 

take care

god bless u  

06:42 AM May 18 2007 |

duderyu

India

I know about very well is just mean that those guys who dont do the sex. That guys are called vegan.

06:29 AM May 18 2007 |

Mohammed_88

Israel

 

When I read vegan I thoughy it will be something related for crime

 

04:47 PM May 17 2007 |

zaki

Pakistan

i am  a student , and religious minded man i know about  many bigest religious of the world and there are mention in all religious that eating meet is allowed our creater make these animal for us ,it mention in bibble , hiduisam,in islam. why we donot eat them i want to say vegeterion people that if animal are our friend because there are living thing so i say that plants are also living thing and vegeterian people kill them and eat , today the age of science and tecnology and science proof that plants are living thing they can feel ,they can laugh and weep, so why you kill them and eat them

04:40 PM May 17 2007 |

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