Crazy Sexy Life

Donald Watson, Vegan Activist

“Honey, be careful with that orange juice, but why not have some of this chicken soup? I left out the noodles just for you.”

My grandmother’s confused. Nestled in a dimly lit dining room somewhere in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida sits my father, ex-girlfriend and myself. Grandma Helen is jogging back and forth from the kitchen with a schmorgesborg of food she’s prepared just for our visit. Somehow she missed the memo about the whole “I’m a vegan” thing. Correction: the memo was received — just read backwards.

You see, my eighty-five year old grandmother was/is under the impression that veganism (or as she pronounces it: vay-gun-ism) is some kind of twisted spin-off of the Atkins Diet. I’m not exactly sure where she got this idea, but I suspect it has something to do with a faulty hearing aid, her posse of misinformed yentes and a mahjong game that went terribly, terribly wrong.

For those who don’t know, the word vegan (actually pronounced vee-gan) is defined by Webster as: “a strict vegetarian who consumes no animal food or dairy products; also: one who abstains from using animal products.” And it just so happens to be one of the world’s fastest growing movements.

November is Vegan Awareness Month and I believe it deserves – if only for the confused Jewish grandmothers out there – a moment of a silence and a big nod to the man who started it all.

Donald Watson – a British woodworker – recognized the cruelty involved in raising animals for both meat and dairy and desired to create a movement of like-minded people who abstained from consuming all animal products – not just flesh. Watson believed that vegetarianism was “only a stepping stone between meat eating and veganism” and wanted to invent a new word that would properly define this comprehensive approach to compassionate living. But what should this motley crew of plant-eaters be called? The word “vegetarian” already existed, and “non-dairy vegetarian” just didn’t have that new word smell to it.

Watson reached out to his fellow supporters who offered suggestions like “dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivoreand beaumangeur,” but in November of 1944, Watson composed the word himself: “vegan” – a marriage of the first three and last two letters of the already established term, “vegetarian.”

Shortly after, Watson formed the Vegan Society to help spread his message of peace, and began publishing the Vegan News, a “quarterly magazine of non-dairy vegetarians.” Its circulation was humble – the first issue had a mere 25 subscribers – but its content was revolutionary and is now considered a legitimate piece of history. In the first issue, he writes:

“The unquestionable cruelty associated with the production of dairy produce has made it clear that lacto-vegetarianism is but a half-way house between flesh-eating and a truly humane, civilised diet, and we think, therefore, that during our life on earth we should try to evolve sufficiently to make the ‘full journey’.”

Watson spent the remainder of his life helping others make that journey, working with the Cumbrian Vegetarian Society in his home of Keswick, Cumbria. For sixty-one years, the man who christened the vegan movement saw it blossom and grow into a vibrant pack of dedicated citizens.

On November 16, 2005, Donald Watson passed away at the ripe old age of ninety-five. His longevity bewildered naysaying critics and proved that one can not only survive on a plant-based diet, but thrive with brilliance and vitality. During one of Watson’s last interviews, he took a moment to share a message with today’s vegans.

“Take the broad view of what veganism stands for,” Watson said. “Realise that you’re on to something really big, something that hadn’t been tried until sixty years ago, and something which is meeting every reasonable criticism that anyone can level against it. And this doesn’t involve weeks or months of studying diet charts or reading books by so-called experts – it means grasping a few simple facts and applying them.”

So during Vegan Awareness Month let us all remember the man who possessed the courage to stand when others remained seated, the compassion to speak for those with no voice, and the foresight and dedication to help birth a movement of peace and kindness. In loving memory of the man with the plan, I wish you all a very happy and healthy Vegan Awareness Month.

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