The Asian Read Team
vegan#veganlife#vegancafe, these hashtags can be sighted all over the social media and are
particularly famous among the millennials, however as new and cool it may sound, the idea of ‘being vegan’ is decades old, the term ‘vegan’ was coined in 1944, by Vegan Society in England, it is a combination of the first and last letters of the word “vegetarian.”
Veganism goes deeper than the surface of a #picture on your favourite app, it extends to a whole new way of living. It believes in excluding all forms of exploitation and cruelty towards animals as far as possible and practical, be it in form of food, clothes, or any other purpose for that matter.
One of the essential parts of veganism, that most of us are acquainted with, is, food, to simply put it, the focal point is to serve a total Plant based diet on the vegan’s table, dominated by all kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds, beans, pulses, tofu, soy milk, while keeping away any kind of meat, dairy products, eggs, even honey, to be clearer, anything edible that might be extracted from an animal.
Now to most of us, veganism may sound very raw, green and boring, but, on the other hand vegan food industry is bigger than we can imagine, everything from a pie to a pizza is made available, so that we never see a bored vegan! To our surprise, vegans have managed to delight themselves and even non-vegans with all sorts of vegan: hot dogs, ice cream, cheese, non-dairy yogurt, and even mayonnaise along with other meat substitute
products like vegan chicken recipes or plant based meat. Even peanut butter is vegan!
Moving away from food, veganism breathes even in fashion and cosmetics, as it is very natural to keep the idea alive in the clothes one wears and products one uses, therefore, leather accessories, silk scarfs or any animal tested products are a big NO in a vegan’s closet, there is an exclusion of fabrics and other materials that are made out of animal skin or are in
anyway extracted from animals. The ideology even extents to steering clear of places and sources of entertainment that use animals or where animals are abused or injured in any way.
Veganism is not some fancy idea of a rich man, there is scientific reasoning as well as benefitsfor as to why certain concepts are avoided while others are accepted to be right. When itcomes to animal agriculture, it releases up to 65% of global nitrous oxide emissions alongwith 30 to 40% of methane and 9% of carbon dioxide emissions, that are major greenhouse gases, another research shows that if world goes vegan by the year 2050, we will be able to reduce food related emissions of greenhouse gases by 3 quarters, furthermore, 2/3rd of the all agricultural land is used for pasture that requires serious deforestation and as a result releases large amounts of carbon dioxide
One the flip side, there are exponential health benefits to vegan diet, it is proven to reducethe risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes and even reduce premature mortality. It is morethan often quoted to have reduced body weight and to have resulted an overall healthier andactive lifestyle.
If you are the one about a healthier body and mind, then trying out veganism, now, hasbecome easier than it was decades ago, today, everything is made available at your door stepor at click of a button, you have the freedom to educate yourself on what suits you and can
easily connect to others in the vegan community. Veganism is all about being humane andwhat is more human that to be loving, kind and conscious about your surroundings!
Be a human, be a vegan!
