Plant Based vs Vegan Terminology?

[lunchboxbunch]

More and more I want to embrace the word VEGAN. I know it has been a trend to not use the word vegan, in the past few years, and go with "plant-based" in fear that others will be turned off by such a powerful word. Example, restaurants like Veggie Grill call themselves plant-based and never use the term vegan. (And there are MANY more companies that do this.)

I am wondering if you guys think there could be a reemergence of the word VEGAN as more and more animal cruelty videos and campaigns take flight on the internet.

My question: does the term "plant based" represent as much power and depth as the term VEGAN does? And what do you usually call yourself? Have you ever NOT used the term vegan in fear that it will turn people off?

[VeggieInspiredJourne]

To me, they are two different things. I think one has to do with diet and one has to do with lifestyle. I eat a plant-based diet for health reasons, but I do not necessarily follow a vegan lifestyle. I'm trying to better about it though and incorporate veganism into my entire life. It's a work in progress.

[boardsknives]

I'm interested to read more opinions on this topic as well! I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Based on feedback from (non-vegan) friends and family, "vegan" is a severe-sounding term to them, and they don't completely understand what it means. The word has many negative connotations that I am still trying to understand but I think it's slowly getting better. Although all of my recipes are vegan, many of them are written to appeal to a wider audience, including non-vegans, so sometimes I leave both "vegan" and "plant-based" out of my blog copy and recipe titles to put the emphasis on the food and the featured ingredients. At the same time, I know that using those terms make my blog more searchable so it's a tough call. I've also noticed that those "something-free" terms are really popular, like meat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, etc.

[HB1]

I like "plant based" because it (1) is more descriptive vs vegan and (2) is a positive sounding word.

[Trinity_Bourne]

When I published my first recipe book I decided to really embrace the word vegan in it - to give voice to the whole lifestyle aspect of compassion. It was a dilemma. I sat with it for months. Now, I feel that it was limiting. The vegan community in the UK felt as if it wasn't too interested in my book (whereas the health/yoga/conscious community is VERY interested).

I am about to publish my second book and have chosen to use the word plant-based much more instead of vegan. It feels counter-productive to me to use the word if I don't have much support from the 'vegan' community. It feels better for me to inspire those communities that embrace my work. The word plant-based feels much less threatening to people who feel negatively about the term vegan. It means that more people are willing to explore and end up interested in the ethical side anyway.

On the other hand, I've been a vegan for 21 years and have seen in that time that the VEGAN word has become much more acceptable. I guess it's a totally individual thing and will work differently depending on what your focus is on. My focus is actually on health and raising consciousness - so I am coming to the conclusion that it works better for me to generally use the word 'plant-based'.

Thanks for opening up an interesting discussion.

[thejstone08]

I am interested to see the responses in this as well. I call myself vegan and live a vegan lifestyle. I have never shied from the term due to my fear of what someone else would say either. However, I use "plant-based" in my tag line as it certainly seems to be a more accepted term in my area. That being said, I am from South Carolina and we have a lot of defensive eaters (haha). As in, they learn I'm vegan and automatically start defending their diet. I have found that when I say I'm vegan, but then go into the conversation using the term "plant based" thereafter, it seems to go more smoothly and they listen to what I'm saying better. I am not a pushy vegan by any means, I find leading by example is my best method. So, for me, just getting them to ask about my life is enough, and using a mix of the two terms is going well so far

[lunchboxbunch]

defensive eaters! I think you said that perfectly. I think I am just an optimist living in vegan-friendly Los Angeles, where I hope to turn more and more people ON to #vegan living. But yup, the defensive eaters are plentiful!

I guess we have to question WHY the word vegan leaves people defensive? And then do our best to help replace the OLD negative stereotypes with NEW positive ones, aka the reality of what MY vegan life is - totally positive and awesome. So I want to bring that to EVERYONE.

It is so complicated though! Curious to hear more voices on this!

[lunchboxbunch]

Love this answer! Very accurate POV. I guess it is interesting how loosely some recipe developers use the term vegan to describe recipes, when in truth, vegan does define more of a full lifestyle. But on menus at restaurant, you usually see *vegan rather than *plantbased. Interesting to ponder!

[lunchboxbunch]

what do you think makes the word vegan something of a negative association?

(And I agree this can be the case sometimes, depending the context .. but it, for me, can also have a very positive connotation.)

[lunchboxbunch]

fascinating! I think most authors struggle with this as well, I know i did for HHVK!

But I have read in the past year that London is starting to notice a VEGAN-boom? And that could trickle outwards in the UK? What do you think?

[g7911914]

For a person who has never heard of the word vegan (yes they do exist), the word "plant based" I think is more descriptive/positive sounding than the word "vegan"

[Trinity_Bourne]

I've also noticed a vegan boom in the UK over the last few years.

Jamie Oliver is now making the word vegan trendy too. He's not vegan in the least, but he's friends with world champion free runner Tim Schieff who is. Tim has featured vegan recipe demos and things on Jamies FoodTube channel and Jamie makes the effort to include atleast 30% vegetetarian or vegan recipes in what he does. He's a hugely influential character. I have noticed other things like that becoming more commonplace recently too. All of that sort of stuff helps enormously. I am hoping that the word vegan becomes less tainted - although these things do tend to take a while to trickle out.

The clear energy of Finding Vegan has done masses to make the word inviting and trendy too. It's fascinating that you had big contemplations about this one too when you wrote your book HHVK.
Trinity

[VeggieInspiredJourne]

I do use the word vegan on a lot of my recipes, too. I think people just understand what that means in terms of food. But, I am very careful not to call myself a vegan as I certainly am not perfect in my lifestyle.

[VeggieInspiredJourne]

I think many people associate the word vegan with being very limiting. They think it's all about what you can NOT have and envision a vegan as someone who eats lettuce all day. I'm not sure why this is the stereotype because, honestly, I eat a much larger variety of foods now than I ever did while consuming animal products and I think this is the norm for most plant based eaters.