If you’re not really familiar with veganism you may have heard some rather interesting myths about it. Some are funny, some are insulting and some are just plain crazy. If you’ve been vegan for a while you’re very likely to have encountered them at some point. In no particular order, here are some of the most common. Let’s clear them up;
Myth #1 – Vegan mothers can’t or don’t breastfeed
This false idea about veganism is spread by those who have absolutely no idea what veganism actually is. These folks realise that vegans don’t consume cow’s milk, (or goat’s milk etc) and jump to the notion that we therefore do not believe in breastfeeding our babies, reasoning that it’s real milk, coming from an animal. However there is a very real difference between consuming the milk that was intended for the baby of another species, who has been taken from it’s mother so that you can consume it’s food, and a human mother giving her baby the healthy, nutritious food that is created for it from her very own breasts. This is milk given freely to the very baby it was produced for. As many mothers will testify, breast milk is not only highly nutritious and perfectly suited to the baby, breastfeeding also provides a beautiful opportunity for bonding between mother and child. Another reason we leave the cows and their babies alone is because it is well-known that cows, especially mothers and calves, form strong emotional bonds with each other, beginning from that very suckle.
Myth #2 – Vegans won’t touch semen – because it’s “man milk’’, “from an animal” – or perhaps even because sperm are ‘alive’.
This is an interesting one that hasn’t been seen around for a long time, thankfully! You might even think it has finally completely died, but nope, sadly, this myth is still out there in the minds of some of the most uninformed. This seems to be for similar reasons to the last myth, (that it’s not vegan because humans are animals too) but this one is even more bizarre. We’re not going to get into detail here, but again, this relates to an issue of consent between adults and has zero relevance to animal rights, (which is what veganism is about), and spermatozoa are cells, not animals. Whatever a vegan wishes to do as regards seminal fluid during moments of intimacy is a completely personal choice, just as it is for everyone else, and it has no relation to veganism whatsoever.
Myth #3 – Vegans don’t engage in certain acts of intimacy
This one is kind of related to the last one, but, you know the whole ‘won’t put meat in your mouth’ thing?! Yeah, that… Generally, this is usually said to a vegan as a way to poke fun at them, but with some of the other myths out there, you do have to wonder how many people might actually think this could be true. There’s no truth in it. Let’s just leave that one there.
Myth # 4 – Vegans don’t drink alcohol
This myth may stem from either the misconception that all vegans eat only raw wholefoods, or from the now more common knowledge that many alcoholic drinks contain animal derivatives. Whilst it’s true that vegans are more likely to be health-conscious than the general population, and many people turn to a vegan diet for health reasons alone, veganism per se is neither a diet nor a health craze. It’s true also that a great majority of alcoholic beverages contain animal by-products or derivatives, primarily wines and beers. However there are still a great number of alcoholic drinks which do not utilise animal products in either the making or refining, plus many brands of specifically vegan wines and beers. Barnivore.com has around 3000 vegan-friendly alcoholic drinks listed on their site. That’s a lot to choose from!
Myth #5 – Vegans are all skinny, weak and frail, because they are all undernourished.
A vegan diet has been confirmed by major world health and dietetics associations to be healthy and able to meet nutritional requirements at all stages in life, if a balanced, healthy diet is eaten. As you may be aware, many vegans are very focused on health and may have first switched to a vegan diet purely for health reasons, before embracing the vegan lifestyle completely. Whist there certainly are some malnourished vegans out there, most are aware of the need to ensure they are eating sufficient sources of nutrients and supplementing these where needed. But vegans come in all shapes and sizes, and eat all kinds of foods, including junk foods.
Many people do lose weight when they switch to a vegan diet, but this tends to have to do with replacing their regular Burger King or Macdonald’s with more plants or a veggie burger. Less of the calories, less of the saturated fat. Also some people still think that vegans only eat salad. But of course they don’t, and so not every vegan will look like the stereotypical idea of a vegan, skinny and weak. There are plenty of plus-size vegans and YES, you can even put on weight on a vegan diet! And while we’re at it, yes, you can totally build muscle on a vegan diet! Google ‘vegan bodybuilders’ if you’re not convinced.
Myth #6 – Vegans only care about non-human animals and not about humans. (Ugh! Really?!)
This is such a horrible thing to say. People tend to say this when they are so keen to defend their current lifestyle that they go on the defensive and start to get offensive! Thankfully not every non-vegan thinks this, but sadly, enough do that it’s not uncommon to experience this accusation.
Vegans as a group are generally, and understandably, quite overwhelmed by the levels of suffering they are aware of, and when you become aware of this and tell others thinking they will care as much as you do, only to discover that they don’t, it’s easy to see why at least some can end up feeling quite misanthropic. However, not only do most vegans care about humans too, it might actually be argued that in some ways, they care even more than most non-vegans – once you’ve considered the devastating effects of meat-consumption on the planet, and the human rights issues of working in certain environments.
To say that because vegans care so deeply about animals they don’t care about humans is just absurd and has absolutely no logical reasoning. In fact, it’s a logical fallacy known as a false dichotomy, whereby a failure of reasoning has ensued in the speaker’s mind. Caring about people and caring about animals are NOT mutually exclusive! The one does not make the other impossible, or even difficult.
Myth #7 – Veganism is expensive
There was certainly some truth to this a few years ago, especially if you wanted anything ‘’free-from’’ such as yoghurts and biscuits and the like. Admittedly in some parts of the world, where veganism is not yet as popular, the free-from foods are still priced considerably higher. When soy milk first hit the supermarkets in Britain, it was nearly £3 a carton! But this is not true anymore. Now you can buy it in places like Aldi for as little as 0.59p. Beans, lentils and rice, typical vegan staples, have always been among the cheapest items, especially when bought dry and in bulk. You can pick up a pack of vegan yoghurts for around £1.50, many of the dairy options are far more pricey than that. Lots of meat-eaters choose meat-free alternatives to cook with, such as Quorn mince, simply because it’s cheaper. And of course fruit and veg is priced the same for vegans as it for non-vegans.
If you’re going to buy all the high-end, most expensive free-from and speciality ranges, then, yes, your food bill is going to be expensive! Just as it would be buying the same high-end, speciality animal produce or products with animal products in them.
Myth #8 – Vegans are free-loving, hippy tree-huggers
Of course some vegans are, but not all. Like any group of diverse individuals, there are people from all walks of life and belief systems and lifestyles and personalities. And there’s nothing wrong with being a free-loving, hippie tree-hugger anyways. Nobody likes animal suffering. Vegans are just everyday people from every walk of life who understand the levels of pain and suffering involved in the use of animals, and who therefore wish to reduce the amount of harm they cause to other sentient beings. Generally speaking, vegans also naturally tend to care about the environment. But you don’t have to a have a ‘hippie mentality’ and you don’t need to go around hugging trees in order to live a vegan lifestyle, so don’t worry. If free-loving and tree-hugging aren’t quite your thing, living vegan still can be.
Myth #9 – Vegans pretty much only eat salad, – because, what else is there?
The only time vegans have eaten nothing but salad has been either when eating out before vegan became more mainstream, eating at a family member’s house who had no idea what else to do with the plant foods they had so easily turned into delicious side-dishes for their meat-centred meals and so simply gave the visiting vegan some salad items from the fridge, or on a long hot summer’s day when they just fancied a salad.
There are an absolute plethora of plant foods with which you can make a limitless amount of dishes, from curries to stews, from soups to pancakes to cakes. And that’s before we add in the ever-increasing abundance of processed foods such as nuggets and sausages and pies, sweets and treats, desserts, ice-cream, chocolate, waffles, churros, etc etc. Vegans who follow a raw, wholefoods diet may very well literally only eat fruits and vegetables, but they are by no means representative of the vegan cohort. Ever heard of a ‘junk food vegan’? Yep, that’s certainly not the healthiest option but there are enough of them out there. And there’s no harm in a little indulgence every now and then if you have a largely healthy diet.
Myth #10 – Vegans can’t eat out
Okay, so in Britain for example, the menus in non-veggie eateries usually only feature one or two dishes specifically for vegans, but hey! -that’s a hell of a lot more than even 5 years ago! In the USA, almost everywhere has served at least 1 dedicated vegan meal for years already, and in Latin America it’s perfectly possible to find a plethora of places where you can get something vegan, even in the smaller towns. This is not to even mention the sheer number of places you can persuade your friends to eat a vegan lunch with you, in the fully vegan restaurants, burger bars and take-outs. Just like with everything ‘vegan’ in the last 3-5 years, eating out or ‘on-the-go’ as a vegan has never been easier than it is currently is, and it’s only getting better and easier every year!
Myth #11 – Veganism is a weight-loss or a fad diet
This myth probably arose from the older generations who didn’t understand veganism, thinking it must be some new kind of fad diet, – (because who on earth would give up meat and animal products, right?) It’s been fuelled in recent years by people switching to a vegan-friendly diet (not necessarily becoming vegan), in order to lose weight. Like many ideas ahead of it’s time, veganism was dismissed for decades as a craze or a fad. Thankfully, although for many the meaning of veganism has been diluted, the world seems to understand that veganism is about way more than a ‘particular kind of diet’, is not intended as a weight-loss strategy, and is here to stay. Yey! As with any ‘diet’ you may lose weight or you may gain weight
Myth #12 – Veganism is a cult. (Ouch)
Vegans have a got a bad rap over the years. The idea that ‘veganism is a cult’ comes in part from the more aggressive tactics (as from a non-vegan perspective, a group of people have adopted a ‘new’ idea and are now spreading it, trying to recruit others to their cause’), and of course, there have been vegan ‘celebrities’ within the movement that have gained very large followings with some almost revering them. But to call something a cult is a quick and easy, (and very offensive) way to dismiss it as lunacy in the minds of others and suggest that it is worthy of no further consideration, lest you get ‘’sucked in’’. Veganism is NOT a ‘cult’, and never has been. Veganism in general does not differ much from the beliefs of most people in society either, since when asked, most people are quick to suggest they hate animal cruelty. Most people also admit they would find t extremely difficult to kill an animal. Veganism is simply a way of living that seeks to avoid doing unnecessary harm, causing unnecessary pain and suffering to others where possible, and we don;t pay for others to harm them on our behalf. If that is what constitutes a ‘cult’ for some people, well… they’re crazy, obviously.
Myth #13 – Veganism is a religion
Veganism does not have a deity or religious worship or rituals. It does not have specific ideas about creation, sacred texts or beliefs that doing certain things and abstaining from others will lead to some kind of afterlife, vegan or otherwise.
Veganism is simply a philosophy and a way of living; a way of life focused on the here and now, a set of logical and moral beliefs (chiefly; that it’s morally wrong to inflict pain and suffering upon sentient creatures where we are not forced to) based on the reality of what we see, rather than beliefs that rely on faith. It seeks to avoid causing unnecessary pain and suffering to others through what we buy, use and do. This does not a religion make.
However, for many vegans, though not all, there is certainly a spiritual side to being vegan. This may come from the principal of Ahimsa. It may come from Abrahamic religions and a desire to respect the Earth and every living thing on it, or from simply having reverence for life or from other forms of spiritualism. It is not present for all vegans however.
What some people may not realise is that veganism is compatible with ALL religions. You can be any religion you like and still decide to abstain from consuming certain products, (eating meat and animal produce, wearing their skins and furs and buying products with animal ingredients). There is no current known religion that specifically requires its devotees to consume animals and their products. Many vegans are atheist, some are agnostic and still others belong to a wide variety of faiths.
Myth #14 – Vegans are ‘going against God’ (Ouch! Is this God actually some kind of Devil?)
There are those among the ‘God-made-animals-for-us-to-eat’ brigade, (usually from the Abrahamic religions and primarily Christians) who would suggest to you that by eschewing animal products you are somehow offending God, going against what ‘He’ said for us, or even, – consorting with the devil!! Dun-dun-duuuhn!! This is both quite funny and can also be rather insulting too. When not said as a glib, cheap excuse not to think about the hell that animals suffer, but instead spoken in earnest by people who are genuinely religious, it can be quite hurtful because some of them actually mean it! They often like to mention the story of Noah and the Ark and how meat-eating was proscribed following the floods – (yes, specifically proscribed following the floods because apparently there was nothing else to eat! That in no way suggests “thou shall now consume meat or thou will burn in the fire of hell”.) According to the Bible we have today, the Garden of Eden was a plant-based food fest, with no mention of Adam and Eve killing animals, and the specific mention of eating animals came after the fall. Interestingly, they always seem to miss out page 1 of Genesis… where God told us what He had provided for food and apparently didn’t mention animals… But regardless of whether God created other animals with the intention of us killing and eating them or not, it’s hard to imagine how a loving God would imbue them with sentience and consciousness and yet not wish us to realise this and make the less harmful choice, especially when the great majority of animals today are bred and killed not even for sustenance but for greed, profits and entertainment, and often in the most sadistic of ways. It’s hard to believe that as sentient beings, even if He meant for us to treat them this way, that He would punish us for caring enough about them that we spare them such torture. For surely otherwise, a counter-argument may be that the cruelty we inflict upon them on the incomprehensible scale that we currently do, (at a rate of around 56 BILLION land animals per year), mercilessly slaughtering them (often whilst still conscious), not to mention the countless ways we use and abuse them and the unimaginable levels of suffering we cause to them every single day, – is to follow the way of the devil? When you consider all of this, you may think of the famous quote by William Inge, – ‘(…) if animals could formulate a religion, they would depict the devil in human form’.
Besides, some people simply don’t like the taste of meat or other animal products, in the same way some people don’t like carrots or sprouts, or other foods. Does that offend God too?
Well there you have it. Some of the most pervasive myths surrounding veganism, cleared up in detail! If you know of any more, drop us a comment below.
