Plant-based: what it means and where!
How can the term plant-based vary from place to place?
It seems that plant-based means different things in different places. There’s a movement in America where multiple medical professionals refer to plant-based as being vegan BUT there’s a difference, which refers to the foods being whole foods, as opposed to, processed and refined. I’ve written about that here.
What does it mean in England
The definition is quite different here. I’ve spoken to a number of people and although they may not like the actual terms, most of them feel that plant-based and vegan are very different.
What does plant-based mean here?
plant-based is about food
if someone says they’re plant-based it may not describe all their meals
they don’t follow a vegan lifestyle, so they might buy and use items made from leather, wool, silk, down and so on
What does veganism mean?
The people who define plant-based in the way I’ve described above, see veganism as an ethical choice and don’t think it can be limited to food.
They perceive vegans as striving to abstain from any activity or product that involves the suffering, torture, captivity, death or exploitation of other living beings.
They believe that vegans can’t be vegans if they buy leather, wool, silk, down and so on. They define veganism as being ‘vegan by mouth’ and ‘vegan by wallet’ i.e. anything and everything that they purchase would be vegan. This definition doesn’t cut it, as it would actually affect the gifts that they would accept as well.
Is any of this written in stone
In short, the answer is no! With so many people referring to the same with different definitions, it’s best to clarify what you mean if you’re going to use it.
Changes over time
There is some confusion because the way plant-based has been defined has changed over time.
Frustration
For those of you who want a shortcut in describing what you eat, how you live, what you support and the things you won’t or don’t partake in; it’s frustrating that these terms are used in a variety of ways and in effect, dilute or nullify the meaning of them.
Someone was telling me that she’s vegetarian but doesn’t eat eggs, and when she’s said that to people, they’ve started analysing her and asking why she’s wearing leather shoes or implied that she was hypocritical for consuming dairy.
Others have shared that they’ve said they’re vegan and when asked what it means, they got flustered and said it means vegetarian and no dairy, although they didn’t mean that. They actually were ‘vegan by mouth’ but didn’t have the ability to articulate that they don’t eat any animal products or explain what that meant.
I know people who have gone dairy-free after being motivated by ethics and animal rights. However, they didn’t realise that vegan means more than going dairy-free and they incorrectly labelled themselves as vegan, only to be told that they’re not vegan because they eat honey and eggs, or buy and wear animal products, such as, leather and wool. They were at the beginning of their journey and simply didn’t know how veganism was defined.
It may not be what you want to hear, but it wouldn’t be honest or fair for me to say that you can use a specific term and everyone will know what it means. The terms have changed and people’s understanding of the terms may or may not have been ‘updated.’ In addition to that, our own understanding determines the way we define things, which will have an effect on what others hear and believe.