Published: 2024-06-18

Disputes over Vegetarianism in the 19th Century. The Ideological and Material Foundations of a Meatless Diet

Paweł Pasieka Logo ORCID

Abstract

The world’s first Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847 in England. Its founding declaration stated that members could not eat “flesh, fowl or fish”. As for eggs, milk, cheese, butter and honey, members were left free to choose. It was also up to their discretion whether to use alcohol, tobacco, stimulants such as coffee or tea, or clothing and materials of animal origin. This wide-ranging approach allowed for the inclusion of vegetarians of various kinds, but inevitably also led to controversy and disputes about what it actually 
meant to be a vegetarian. At the end of the 19th century these internal ideological conflicts intensified
due to the appearance of new products that were “purely” plant-based – substitutes for milk, meat and leather – all of which extended the options for a vegan lifestyle. This article discusses both the ideological and the material dimensions behind the emergence and the development of the vegetarian movement in the second half of the 19th century, and traces the birth of 20th-century veganism.

Citation rules

Pasieka, P. (2024). Disputes over Vegetarianism in the 19th Century. The Ideological and Material Foundations of a Meatless Diet. Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies, (1 (13), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA.2024.13.02

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No. 1 (13) (2024)
Published: 2024-06-18


ISSN: 2719-2687
eISSN: 2451-3849
Ikona DOI 10.31261/ZOOPHILOLOGICA

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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