Congratulations on your journey. It's not always easy in this society, but it's the right thing to do.
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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— abridged definition from The Vegan Society
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Resources on Veganism
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Here are some documentaries that are recommended to watch if planning to or have recently become vegan:
- You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again
- Dominion (2018) (CW: gore, animal abuse)
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Vegan Dating App Veggly
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There's only 1 reason to go vegan, everything else is bonus.
People who go plant-based for health, environment, etc... aren't necessarily vegan unless they agree that needlessly exploiting animals is wrong. Veganism is a philosophy about not exploiting animals, not dietary preferences.
No, it's a term for consumption choice.
A vegan who does it for environmental reasons is more vegan than someone who is philosophically opposed to animal exploitation but still eats cheese.
Please check out the original definition of veganism, by Leslie Cross https://www.vegansociety.com/about-us/history
Veganism is definitely not just about consumption choices, people can exploit animals in so many other ways besides consumption. Using them for their work, vivisectioning them, testing on them, etc.
A vegan who does it for environmental reasons is more vegan than someone who is philosophically opposed to animal exploitation but still eats cheese.
The first person is just plant-based, not vegan. They can stop being plant-based as soon as they find an environmental reason to go back to animal exploitation. Also they wouldn't necessarily be against using animals for their work, vivisectioning them, etc.
Plant-based is insufficient to describe a vegan diet. While it is often used as a less contentious term for vegan (many people still avoid the term vegan because of the reputations of vegans), it can also just mean, well, a diet with a lot of vegetables.
It's fine to draw a distinction between a vegan lifestyle and a vegan diet. But there is no better term to describe a diet that excludes all animal products than the word "vegan".
It's nonsensical also to say that a person can go back to animal exploitation when they find an environmental reason to do so, as if this somehow justifies the use of a different term for the same diet. There is no shortage of people who started "vegan for the animals" only to drop it for this or that reason. Likewise it's also true that there are very few animal products that are comparable in environmental impact to vegan foods.
Ultimately I don't care if The Vegan Society thanks a person practicing a vegan diet for the wrong reasons isn't really vegan, because even though it they coined the term, it's far past their control. Maybe they can take back Pythagorean or something.
You use "vegan" in a idiosyncratic way. I would never call Alice, who doesn't consume animal products but kills animals for fun, a vegan.
Do you think all c/vegan communities in the fediverse have their sidebars wrong, as in they should be about diet and not veganism?
I would say Alice follows a vegan diet, and would wonder why she thinks it's fun to kill animals, since wven moat carnists don't do that.
I think vegan groups should speak to the full diversity of motivations for adopting veganism, whether in diet, lifestyle, or philosophy. It's foolish to exclude people who do what you think is right but for different reasons. Unless you're a religion I guess, and I'm not interested in that.
How do you define veganism?
I think vegan communities should welcome everyone, but words have meanings and we should use them correctly to make sure we make ourselves understood.
Imagine a community called c/politicians, made by politicians and it's about politics. They welcome everyone, including a newcomer, Bob. Bob does not engage with any kind of policies but presents himself as a politician in the community. Would they be excluding him from the community by pointing out that his use of the word "politician" is wrong or, at least, very unique?
Veganism is, to the degree possible, the avoidance of the utilization/exploitaion of animals.
A vegan diet is a diet that follows this principle.
A vegan lifestyle is a lifestyle that follows this principle.
A vegan philosophy is a philosophy that supports this principle.
This isn't that complicated.
I agree, that's why I said there's only one reason to go vegan. You have to be against exploiting animals.
There may be other reasons to go on a vegan diet, but this is the only reason to go vegan.
That's not quite it.
I'm not saying why one goes vegan, but rather what it means when people say they are vegan.
Absent other modifiers, it's about diet.