What Does Vegan Mean? Understanding a Vegan Diet
- Vegan: the definition: Veganism means avoiding animal products entirely.
- Difference between vegan and vegetarian: Vegetarians can still eat foods like cheese, milk, and honey, since they typically only avoid meat and fish.
- Vegan products: There's a wide range of alternatives to meat, eggs, cheese, milk, and fish, including plant milk, vegan spreads and cold cuts, and vegan meat and fish products.
- Is a vegan diet healthy? A vegan diet can help you eat a balanced diet and may minimize the likelihood of diseases like diabetes.
Veganism - just a trend? The fact that more and more people are living vegan and eating vegan food means this is anything but a simple trend. Being vegan is about a lifestyle that's consciously lived out. The reasons people choose veganism vary:
- Moral and ethical beliefs
- Intolerances to certain foods
- A sustainable approach to the environment
All of these reasons can motivate someone to choose a vegan lifestyle. But being vegan also raises some questions: What does a vegan diet actually look like? Do vegans eat an unbalanced diet? Is protein missing from a vegan diet? We'll explain all of this and more in this article and in our vegan cooking classes. And who knows: maybe a vegan diet is something for you too. If you'd like to live more sustainably otherwise but don't want to give up animal products entirely, seasonal cooking or the zero waste kitchen might also be a good fit for you.
What does being vegan mean?
Being vegan means not consuming any animal products, such as meat, gelatin, milk, eggs, and honey. But there are certainly differences between vegan lifestyles too. Some vegans also adjust their broader lifestyle. Cosmetics, cleaning products, and clothing - none of these should have an animal origin or have been tested on animals. According to the definition of vegan, it's about finding animal-free alternatives for the sake of people, animals, and the environment.
History of veganism
A plant-based diet has always played a significant role throughout our history. Religious, moral, political, and social reasons have all contributed to this. The concept of vegetarianism has existed since the 8th century BC. The vegetarian way of life is largely rooted in Indian cultures.
The term "vegan," however, has only existed since 1944, formed from the beginning and end of the English word "vegetarian." The word traces back to the nonprofit organization Vegan Society of England and its co-founder, Donald Watson.
What's the difference between vegan and vegetarian?
Vegetarians don't eat meat or fish. The difference between vegan and vegetarian is that vegetarians do consume animal products like eggs, honey, and milk. Vegans, on the other hand, avoid everything of animal origin entirely.
What do you eat on a vegan diet?
Contrary to the idea that a vegan diet severely limits what you can eat at all, we want to show you that you can get all the protein and vitamins you need with a vegan lifestyle too. That's because all purely plant-based foods are vegan.
Vegan foods
- Vegetables and fruit: These foods are important sources of vitamins as well as minerals, phytonutrients, and fiber.
- Legumes: This includes lentils, peas, beans, soybeans, and lupins. Legumes are very important in a vegan diet for getting protein.
- Whole grains and cereals: Oats, rye, spelt, wheat, barley, millet, rice, as well as quinoa, amaranth, and buckwheat ensure you get all the carbohydrates and fiber you need.
- Nuts and seeds: With flaxseed, walnuts, almonds, and hemp seeds, you consume healthy fats.
So being vegan doesn't mean you only eat salad. Our vegan cooking class in Berlin will show you that pizza, burgers, and doner kebabs can all be made vegan too. And thanks to the popularity of veganism, a lot has changed in supermarkets. There are now alternative products that generally taste just as good and can be enjoyed without any guilt. There's vegan yogurt, vegan chicken nuggets, vegan chocolate, and even vegan chips - so eating vegan isn't hard at all.
Vegan alternatives to animal products
Vegan alternatives for cow's milk | Vegan alternatives for cold cuts and spreads | Vegan alternatives for meat |
|---|---|---|
Oat milk | Hummus | Tofu |
Soy milk | Baba ganoush | Tempeh |
Almond milk | Vegan cold cuts | Seitan |
Rice milk | Vegan cheese | Lupin |
Coconut milk | Vegan vegetable spread | Jackfruit |
So a vegan diet can actually be quite varied. And the best part is: you can discover delicious dishes you might never have considered before.
Is a vegan diet healthy?
With a vegan diet, it's important to get all the key nutrients you need to avoid nutrient deficiencies. If you're easing into veganism, you should carefully plan everything you cook so you eat a balanced diet. We'll walk you through the important nutrients you should be getting as a vegan.
Vitamin B12
If you eat a vegan diet, make sure you're getting enough vitamin B12. You can easily manage this with dietary supplements.
Calcium
Green vegetables like broccoli, spinach, nuts, seeds, and raisins can help meet your calcium needs. Products like oat milk and almond milk are also typically fortified with calcium.
Iron
Since vegans don't eat meat, it's important to find other ways to get iron. Red lentils, sesame, kidney beans, and amaranth can help with this.
What are the downsides of a vegan diet?
A vegan diet comes with relatively few downsides. You may need to adjust your cooking a bit at first, but that gets easier with time and practice. A bigger challenge is eating and drinking out at restaurants, cafes, and bistros. There it's usually harder to find oat milk or a vegan burger. So if you're planning to eat out somewhere, it's worth checking the menu beforehand.
There are also several apps you can use to check which restaurants near you offer vegan options.
What are the benefits of a vegan diet?
A major benefit of being vegan is that a vegan lifestyle can help spare many animals from a life full of suffering, since animal farming is unfortunately still often far from fair. A vegan diet can also help you minimize your ecological footprint, since meat production is, among other things, a major contributor to high CO2 emissions.
People who live vegan also tend to think more consciously about their diet, which can be a real help toward eating healthier overall. Cutting out animal products can also help minimize the risk of diabetes, since animal products are often a major factor behind the disease.
Living vegan - veganism is easier than you might think
Being vegan really isn't as hard as you might initially think. A vegan diet definitely has its advantages, since it makes you think more consciously about what you eat. That doesn't necessarily mean all vegans live healthier than non-vegans, though. Constantly eating processed products, even if they're plant-based, isn't really healthy either. So it comes down much more to how you eat overall.
What matters is thinking about the impact your own consumption has and whether it causes negative effects. That doesn't mean you have to commit to a fully vegan diet and cut out animal products entirely. It's more about enjoying things in moderation - for the sake of the environment, the animals, and yourself. Discover {nrEvents} vegan cooking classes across the US.
