Fat, Brown and Vegan: The Basics

By Richard Bowie |Executive Editor|

You made it to post two! Hey thanks! You’re either actually curious about veganism and what all the hubbub is about, or you’re my mom. Either way, thanks for sticking around and let’s get right in to it! (And I’m going to need to borrow $20 for gas, mom.)

Last time, I introduced you to what Fat, Brown and Vegan was going to be all about – but before I dive into any of that, I thought it best if I just take one step back for a second and explain simply what veganism is and what it means to me. Veganism has only really made it mainstream in the past couple years or so, and it’s easy for me to forget that not everyone has had the same exposure and knowledge of it, so …

What is veganism?

Put simply, veganism is a way of living that refrains from the exploitation of animal life in any way; I don’t use animals for food, entertainment, sport, utility, clothing, science etc.

What’s the difference between a vegan and vegetarian?

While there is some flexibility within the realm of vegetarianism, generally vegetarians don’t contribute to the killing of animals for food (meat and gelatin [made from the bones, skin, connective tissue of cows and pigs]). However, vegetarians still consume and use animal by-products, or goods that come from animals that don’t necessarily require the animal to be slaughtered to produce.

Meaning…

Vegans and vegetarians both don’t eat meat (contrary to popular belief, this does include chicken and fish), but vegans also don’t consume milk, cheese, yogurt (…dairy, you get it) eggs, honey etc.

This all stems from the treatment of animals as objects that belong to us­­—as lil factories that exist only to give us cheese fries, buffalo wings and Double-Doubles.

But hold on to your seats, because aside from keeping all this animal stuff out of our diets…

Vegans also don’t

• wear leather (cow hide)
• wear wool (that’s the sheeps!)
• wear silk (is the spit of worms)
• use products with beeswax (this would be like someone taking the crib you bought for your newborn baby and crushing it up to make like shoe polish or lip balm. Leave that ish for the babies!)
• partake in animal entertainment and “sport” industries like zoos, aquariums, circuses, animal parks, rodeos, horse/dog races, bullfights, wildlife hunting, fishing etc.
• use goods produced by with the use of animal testing, experimentation, vivisection (the dissection of animals while they’re alive).

All this, again, because of the belief that animals, their bodies, their milk intended for their young, their habitats, their freedom all do not belong to human beings. This is an ethical decision made on the part of every ethical vegan (as opposed to those who just observe a vegan diet, for health reasons for example), and thus follows through to a bunch of different decisions a person makes regarding goods they enjoy and pay for.

Veganism isn’t about being perfect

If you’ve maybe been considering going vegan, but are intimidated by what I’ve mentioned here and all the changes it might seem like you’d need to make, remember one thing: veganism is about not contributing to animal exploitation, not being perfect. Now this doesn’t mean I can go out and chow down on some ribs or anything, but it means that I can keep things in perspective.

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