What does Vegan mean exactly?

Question

What does one do when practicing a full vegan lifestyle? What do true vegans think of simple vegatarians claiming to vegan? Where did this lifestyle originate?

Answer 1

vegetarian you wont eat me

vegan you wont eat anything that comes from an anial like milk and cheese and stuff

im veggie :]

Answer 2

Being vegan means that you try not to use any animal product or by product.  However, even if you ride a bike with rubber tires that are made of oil you can't completely rid your life of animal products.  Jains do a very good job at being vegan.

Answer 3

IN SHORT.

Vegan is a lifestyle which is lived with the aim of doing things without using other animals to help. This includes diet (vegans do not eat or drink meat, fish, eggs, milk, honey etc.) clothes (no leatherwear, wool or fur) and no using medication or cosmetics which are tested on animals. A vegan also may not hunt animals or bet on a horse race.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Vegans endeavour not consume or use animal products and by-products of any kind, for any purpose.

A "full" vegan lifestyle is hard to describe as animal exploitation is so entrenched in our culture that it is almost impossible to avoid out all animal products /by-products.

Beyond the standard: not consuming meat, dairy, eggs, honey, and animal by-products (such as whey, albumin etc)... it is up to each vegan how far they take their commitment - there is no "vegan rule book" which you have to obey or you are kicked out of the club :)

I consider myself to be a fairly "hardcore" vegan:

All my toiletries and household cleaners are not tested on animals and contain no animal ingredients. I don't drink wine, beer, or cider which has been processed using animal products. I don't buy sugar which has been processed using bone char. When I finally get a tattoo it will be using vegan ink. I don't wear: leather, wool, silk. I don't support charities which fund animal testing. etc etc the list goes on and I don't want to bore you :) That said... I 'm sure there are others out there who manage to avoid more animal products than I do. But thats fine. Veganism is about trying to live a compassionate lifestyle, it's about giving a d**n... not being perfect!

I don't usually use the term "simple" vegetarian but I do get a little annoyed when someone goes around telling people they are vegan when they aren't. Not because I think veganism is an exclusive club and they aren't allowed but because it makes life more difficult for other vegans when we try to explain our lifestyle to others. A comparison is pescatarians calling themselves vegetarian resulting in the common "sure we have vegetarian options: you do eat fish right?".

I don't know where the lifestyle originated but the word vegan has been used since ~1944 when Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson, frustrated that the term "vegetarianism" had come to include the eating of dairy products, founded the UK Vegan Society. They combined the first three and last two letters of vegetarian to form "vegan," which they saw as "the beginning and end of vegetarian.

(according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan)

Hope this answers your question, sorry I've rambled for so long :)

Answer 5

Vegans do not eat anything that had a mother or a face, no milk, no eggs, no cheese, gelatin etc. They rely strictly on vegetabels to make up a complete protein chain in their diets. Other vegetarians vary in their choices; some do dairy, some do eggs and fish and chicken. As to what they think, the only way is to ask them and for the origins of vegans, try a yahoo search engine.