Vegetarianism: Veganism

In 1944 in Leicester, England, Donald Watson and his wife, Dorothy, coined the word “vegan” which they formed from the first three and the last two letters of “vegetarian.” With this new term, the Watsons wanted to encompass the meaning of “vegetarian” imparted by the Pythagoreans and Buddhists: one who, for reasons of compassion, abstains from consuming all foods and other products of animal origin. It took time for the word to catch on in the United States, but now it has become almost a competing term with “vegetarian.” To help win recognition for the vegan concept in America, H. Jay Dinshah started the American Vegan Society in 1960. Dinshah’s wife, Freya, published the first ethical vegetarian or vegan cookbook in the United States, The Vegan Kitchen (1966), which remains a steady seller.