I couldn't help but be amused the other week when I went to a friend’s birthday celebrations. She had made sure the venue catered for all tastes with delicious food suitable for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans. Along with the meat and cheese dishes were two large bowls of vegetable rice, one clearly labelled ‘vegan’ and the other not. (Presumably the only difference between the two being that one also contained butter.)
By the end of the night the food had all gone except for - you guessed it - the bowl of vegetable rice with the dreaded ‘V’ word in front of it. Even those who wanted to soak up excess alcohol were avoiding eating it - and I don’t think it was because they didn’t want to deprive any poor vegan in the vicinity of extra calories.
The very word ‘vegan’ clearly makes most omnivores run a mile. I suspect they fear it may be tasteless and could even be the death of them – so they’re too frightened even to try a mouthful. Which is a real shame because in reality a balanced, vegan diet is a delicious, compassionate choice that benefits the health of humans, the planet and animals.
Re-branding a ‘vegan diet’ as a ‘plant-based’ diet would no doubt help, but on its own will never last. Just as changing the negatively perceived term ‘Mongolism’ to ‘Downs Syndrome’ works for a while, the new term ends up being equally surrounded by negativity in the end. In such circumstances what is also needed is sustained education that changes biased, negative attitudes and beliefs into positive, intelligent, informed choices of looking at and interacting with our unbelievably rare and precious planet and the individual lives on it - both human and animal.
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