Vegetarianism

By Makayla Millette
What is a Vegetarian?
A person who does not eat meat, fish, and poultry.

Vegans are vegetarians who abstain from eating or using all animal
products.
This includes milk, cheese, other dairy items, eggs, honey, wool, silk, or leather.

May do this for religious, moral, or health reasons.

History
The latin root of the word vegetus meaning whole, fresh, and lively.

The term vegetarianism was coined by the British Vegetarian

Society in the mid 1800s.

Many anthropologists believe that most early humans ate primarily

plant foods.
Supported by the fact that the human digestive system resembles that of other plant-eaters rather
than that of carnivores.

humans on meat-based diets contract major ailments such as heart disease and cancer much more
frequently than people eating vegetarian diets.
History (Culture)
Vegetarianism has been found in most cultures since the beginning of
time.

Babylonians, ancient Egyptians (3,200 BCE).

Found in Eastern religions, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Gave compassion to all living creatures.
History (Pythagoras)

Vegetarianism was known through many great figures of the classical

world.

Pythagoras was the most notable one.

Vegetarians used to be called Pythagoreans before the word

vegetarian was created.

He thought that all animals should be treated as family.

History (US)
Up until the mid-1900's, Americans ate far less meat than they do
today.
The cost of meat was very high, refrigeration was not widely available, and distribution was
problematic.

A side effect of the industrial revolution was that meat became

cheaper, storable, and easier to distribute.
As these changes happened, meat consumption increased dramatically and so did degenerative
diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
History (US Continued)
Vegetarianism was not very common in the US until the 1970s.

This is when Frances Moore Lapp's bestseller Diet for a Small Planet
was published.

This launched the vegetarian movement in the United States.

Vegetarian cookbooks, restaurants, co-ops, and communes started appearing out of
nowhere.
The Animal Rights Movement
In 1975, Australian ethics professor Peter Singer wrote Animal
Liberation.

The first scholarly work to present ethical arguments for not eating
animals or experimenting on them.

As Diet for a Small Planet did for vegetarianism, Animal Liberation did
for animal rights.

It launched the animal rights movement in the U.S. overnight.

Animal rights groups started popping up everywhere, including PETA

(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in the early 80's.
Frances Moore Lapp and Peter Singer.
Health Benefits
A vegetarian diet is associated with a higher consumption of fiber,
folic acid, vitamins C and E, magnesium, unsaturated fat, and
countless phytochemicals.

This results in vegetarians having lower cholesterol, being thinner,

having lower blood pressure, and reduced risk of heart disease.

Other benefits:
Improvement of mood

Reduce incidence of diabetes

Reduces risk of cataract development

Less risk of stroke and obesity.

Environmental Benefits
It can reduce the impact of climate change, rainforest destruction,
and pollution, while saving water and other precious resources.

Raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions

than all of the cars, planes, and other forms of transportation
combined.

Switching to a diet free of meat, dairy, and eggs saves more

carbon emissions than driving a Prius by 50% more.

Raising animals for food (including land used for grazing and growing
feed crops) now uses a staggering 30% of the Earths land mass.
Environmental Benefits (Continued)
In the United States, 70% of the grain grown is fed to farmed animals.
Imagine how many people could be fed with that food.
Nearly 80% of land deforested in the Amazon is now used as
cattle pasture.
To produce one pound of animal protein vs. one pound of soy protein,
it takes about 12 times as much land, 13 times as much fossil fuel,
and 15 times as much water.
Works Cited
https://www.vegsoc.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=876

http://www.edu.pe.ca/sourishigh/Pages/Cmp6-03/Beth/Homepage/histo
ry_of_vegetarianism.htm
www.vegsource.com/john-davis/the-vegetus-myth.html

http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/history.html

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/9-health-benefits-of
-a-vegetarian-diet/