Jordi Casamitjana, author of the book “Why Vegans Don’t”, discusses what people who are considering becoming vegan should know before making such an important decision
I became vegan in January.
Not this January, but one colder January 24 years ago, after spending 23 days in isolation in a cottage surrounded by snow on an island in the North Atlantic. I entered the island as a meat-eater, and I left it as an ethical vegan. That was the most important transformative decision I made in my life, even more important than emigrating to the UK from Catalonia in 1993, or deciding to take legal action against a former employer in 2018 after being fired for being a vegan — which led to what most probably will be my biggest legacy, the legal recognition of ethical veganism as a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010.
For me, becoming vegan was almost like seeing a mirror for the first time; as if I had never seen myself until then; as if I had not known who I was for a while, and I finally met “me”. It was not only acquiring a new identity (we humans collect identities throughout all our lives), but finding the one that most closely matches who I feel I am. A kind of rebirth, if you will. A kind of discovering my wings if I had been a caterpillar dreaming about flying, and then I metamorphosed into a butterfly.
Having become vegan in January was not incidental. This month is probably the most likely month when people decide to become vegan. Firstly, because it’s the beginning of a year, and that helps people to reflect on their past and consider a new start if they feel they need to change. Secondly, because of the concept of “New Year Resolution”, which triggers people into acting on changes they may have been considering for some time, but they needed a push. Thirdly, because of Veganuary, the campaign started in 2014 by a British nonprofit organisation of the same name that encourages people to follow a plant-based diet for the month of January (with the aim that this may help them to remove some of their fears that prevented them to become vegan), and which has been growing ever since, with hundreds of thousands of people signing up.
However, precisely because many people “try” veganism in January, they may do it just to imitate others, without the necessary awareness. Becoming vegan is a big deal, and what happens when you become vegan should not be trivialised. You may think that you are just trying something, as you may try a new shop or new clothes, but, in fact, you may be shown the door to the most important “place” you can ever go — so you don’t want to miss it.
There are a few things that you should know before becoming a vegan, so if you are considering it, best read this. You will not regret it, because if you try to become vegan with this knowledge, it could make as much difference as buying a lottery ticket and winning the lottery.
1. Veganism is a philosophy
If you choose to become vegan, you are in luck, because veganism is one of the few “isms” that has an official definition, so you can know exactly what you are subscribing to. It was created by the Vegan Society (the first one formed in England), which first coined the word “vegan” in 1944, and it took them decades to perfect the definition. They finalised it in 1988, and it has not changed since. This is it:
“Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”
People who follow this definition are known as “vegans”, but to be sure they are not confused with people who only follow part of it (such as only applying it to food), they sometimes add the adjective “ethical” before — I do it often. Therefore, an “ethical vegan” is another way to say a “true vegan” or a “real vegan”.
So, if you want to become a true vegan, the first thing you need to do is to agree to try to exclude all forms of exploitation of any member of the Animal Kingdom. However, definitions are always insufficient to explain what philosophies are, because they do not normally explain the “why” and “how — only the “what”. You need a bit more knowledge to understand it. You need, at least, to understand the main principles of the philosophy, also known as axioms (statements believed to be true by those following the philosophy). Here are the five main axioms of the philosophy of veganism:
- THE AXIOM OF AHIMSA: “Trying not to harm anyone is the moral baseline”
- THE AXIOM OF ANIMAL SENTIENCE: “All members of the Animal Kingdom should be considered sentient beings”
- THE AXIOM OF ANTI-EXPLOITATION: “All exploitation of sentient beings harms them”
- THE AXIOM OF ANTI-SPECIESISM: “Not discriminating against anyone is the right ethical way”
- THE AXIOM OF VICARIOUSNESS: “Indirect harm to a sentient being caused by another person is still harm we must try to avoid”
You can learn more about these axioms in the article titled “The Five Axioms of Veganism” or in my book “Why Vegans Don’t.” If after understand all this (definition and axioms) you still think you want to become vegan (in other words, guide your behaviour with these principles and trying to live in a way that does not contradict the definition — even if it may take you some time to perfection this), then you can proceed with confidence as you started with the “right foot”. The “lifestyle” vegans exhibit is the consequence of the philosophy, as once you understand the philosophy, your choices and behaviour will naturally manifest the lifestyle vegans share.
2. Being vegan is also an identity
When you become an ethical vegan, you not only adopt a philosophy, but you also acquire a new identity you did not have before, or you had it hidden within you. This is why many vegans remember the exact day they became vegan as clearly as others remember their graduation or the birth of a child.
Identity is not just what you do, but who you feel you are, even when nobody is looking. When you internalise the axioms of veganism as the pillars of your behaviour and begin to see all members of the Animal Kingdom as equal sentient individuals you should not exploit, you will soon notice that the word “vegan” is not simply a label others put on you, but a self‑description that feels true. At some point, you will realise that going back to participating in the exploitation of other animals would not feel like “changing a habit” but like betraying yourself.
This is why vegans say, “I am vegan” rather than “I am on a vegan diet” or “I wear vegan clothes.” The first expresses an identity rooted in a moral stance that cannot change once it has been unveiled, while the second sounds like a temporary habit or fashion that could be abandoned when inconvenient.
Identity gives you stability. When the novelty wears off, when social pressure mounts, or when carnist habits begin to resurface, remembering that you are vegan helps you remain coherent with who you have chosen to become.
It is Ok to take your time before you embrace this new identity. It is fine to first try the food that vegans eat, the clothes that vegans wear, the toiletries that vegans use, and the alternative products that vegans buy, so you can check if they feel compatible with who you think you are. It is OK to start rejecting the things vegans reject before committing yourself to say, “I am vegan”. It is perfectly logical to learn who you really are before telling others about it. However, once you have done all that and feel that veganism is for you, then don’t be shy to parade your new identity, because it’s one of the best identities you can carry.
Being vegan will change how other people may see you, but it will change how you will see yourself, too. Most likely, it will increase your self-esteem as you can wear the vegan badge with pride. However, be prepared because there are people out there who do not like “other” identities they know very little about and have lots of prejudices about “the others”. That’s OK, that’s their problem, not yours, so you can help them to understand who you are, but if they don’t want to accept it, that’s their loss.
3. Veganism is also a socio‑political movement
Veganism is a philosophy which developed a lifestyle, an identity, but also a transformative socio‑political movement aiming to change the entire world. The philosophy is millennial old (the concept of Ahimsa, which means “do no harm” or “non-violence”, was already in use several hundred years before the Common Era), but it was in the 1940s when veganism became a secular global social-political movement not linked to any religion, culture, or location.
If you believe that exploiting sentient beings is morally wrong, you will, at some point, realise that your personal choices that only affect your life, although essential, are not enough to dismantle vast exploitative systems built over centuries. You will discover how the fifth axiom of the philosophy, the axiom of vicariousness, will lead you to participate in the building of the Vegan World of the future, where the exploitation of sentient beings, human or otherwise, will no longer be systemic — in other words, you may want to begin “acting” for veganism, and become an “activist” of some sort.
Veganism, therefore, also manifests itself as collective action that may take many forms (outreach, campaigns, investigations, political advocacy, corporate pressure, education, and cultural work that challenge carnism and speciesism at their roots). You may start by changing what you eat or wear, but before long, you will encounter others (physically or online) who share your ethics and who are already trying to transform laws, institutions, and norms that normalise the use of animals as resources. That may inspire you to do the same, to try to do what they do to see if it fits your character and skills, or to find your own ways to be “active” and do “something” beyond rejecting exploitation. It may take some time — even years — to find what works for you, but if you are thinking of becoming a vegan, you should know that, at one point, you may want to become a “vegan activist” too — and that would be a sign that you are progressing naturally. This does not necessarily mean going to demonstrations or doing vegan outreach events on the street, as there are many forms of activism (simply wearing a vegan pin or sharing posts about veganism on social media are also forms of activism).
The vegan movement is a justice movement. This means that becoming vegan connects you to a global community of activists who understand that justice for nonhuman animals is intertwined with other struggles for justice. You may find that a vegan can easily fight the oppression of some humans while opposing the oppression of other animals at the same time because the vegan movement naturally overlaps with other social justice movements against racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, ableism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination. So, if you already have some marginalised identities and are actively fighting for several noble causes, be reassured because becoming vegan will help them all, at the very least by providing you with more coherence and consistency.
4. Over 80% of veganism has nothing to do with food
If you try to quantify the proportion of time an average person spends on an average day thinking and behaving in relation to a particular human “need”, you will find that, at most, food only covers 20% of that time. Yet, veganism affects all aspects of human behaviour in which a choice was made by you (as each choice should be guided by the philosophy), which means the 80% remaining too.
Food is often the most visible change when someone becomes vegan, but in terms of daily life, it is only a fragment of the vegan experience. Even if you love cooking and eating, you probably only spend a minority of your time acquiring, preparing, and consuming food — but you spend almost all your time existing as a moral agent making choices that affect others (such as the transport you choose, the hobbies you have, the things you buy, the places you visit, the work you do, the conversations you have, which entertainment you support, which products you use, which charities you donate to, and which activities you accept or reject). Once you embrace veganism as a philosophy, the same axioms that guide your food choices will guide other areas of your life.
Beyond consumption, veganism influences how you speak, how you relate to others (human or nonhuman), and how you understand your place in the world. You may begin to use veganised language (stop referring to someone as ‘it’, and replace expressions that trivialise exploitation with alternatives that respect other animals as individuals). You may find that more of your mental energy goes into questioning systems of oppression than into planning your next meal, confirming that most of veganism has nothing to do with food at all.
If this overwhelms you and makes you think that veganism may be “too much” for you, don’t worry. You are already making decisions based on ideology, and yet you do not even feel that because you are accustomed to them. When you become vegan, you simply change the philosophy on which your decisions are based, but once the change is complete, your new habits will feel as natural and easy to do as the old ones.
5. Veganism is not a cure or a treatment for health problems
Many people approach veganism through the “health gateway”, but veganism itself is not a medical treatment, a therapy, or a supplement prescribed to cure ailments. Veganism is an ethical philosophy about not exploiting animals, and although becoming vegan may improve your health, this may be more incidental and circumstantial, and a secondary effect of rejecting the damaging carnist ideology you were indoctrinated into from birth.
A well‑planned plant‑based diet can certainly improve your health and may help prevent or manage certain conditions, but these effects are a consequence of nutrition, not of ethics. It would be a mistake — and potentially dangerous — to believe that simply becoming vegan will automatically cure chronic diseases, replace medicines, or compensate for lack of appropriate healthcare. Vegans may experience many health benefits, but that is not the defining feature of veganism, and it is not guaranteed.
If you are thinking of becoming vegan because of health problems, it would be wise to separate these two questions in your mind: One is, “Should I stop exploiting animals because it is morally wrong?” — which is a question about ethics and justice. The other is, “Which diet and lifestyle would best support my particular body, considering my current state of health?” — which is a question for a competent health professional familiar with plant‑based nutrition. Mixing both may create unrealistic expectations and set you up for disappointment — or even worse, it may lead you to abandon veganism in the future, blaming the whole philosophy for not curing you, while you should have blamed the type of vegan food you chose to eat.
Also, it must be said that, although there certainly is healing power in food, any “quack” can misappropriate the terms “vegan” or “plant-based” to boost the credibility of alternative “remedies” or lifestyle “hacks” with unsubstantiated healing claims, so we have to be careful not to fall into their deception. A healthy diet is an essential part of preventive medicine, but this does not mean that the same diet can be used to attempt to cure ailments or replace conventional treatment against medical advice.
6. A vegan diet is only healthy if you make it healthy
If you choose to follow a vegan diet, you will find that it can be very healthy, but this only happens if you consciously make it healthy. Replacing animal products with ultra‑processed plant‑based imitations of animal foods (such as fake meats) and junk foods (high in fats, salt, and sugar) while keeping the same patterns of over‑eating, under‑moving, and under‑sleeping will not suddenly turn your body into a temple of wellbeing.
A healthy vegan diet requires attention to variety, whole foods, and key nutrients. You still need to ensure adequate intake of protein, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals, and you still need to be mindful about things such as vitamin B12, iodine, and, in some cases, vitamin D and omega‑3, which may require fortified foods or supplements. Ethical vegans who want to thrive do not ignore science, but they use it to support their goal of living well without exploiting animals. I, for instance, currently eat a Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet, and take B12, Iodine, and Omega-3 supplements every day — as well as vitamin D in the winter, as I live above 50 degrees of latitude.
Fortunately, the basic ingredients of a wholesome vegan diet — legumes, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and fungi — can be delicious, accessible, cheap, and satisfying if prepared thoughtfully. As you explore veganism, you will likely develop new culinary skills, discover new flavours, and build new habits around food. But none of this happens by magic. You must be willing to learn, experiment, and plan, rather than assuming that any diet labelled “vegan” is automatically good for your health.
7. Veganism is not popular or mainstream yet
If you decide to become vegan today, you will still be in a minority, even if veganism is more visible than ever (at most, there are about 3% of vegans in the world, and no country has reached 10%). Documentaries, books, and campaigns have spread the message far and wide, but most humans still participate in the exploitation of animals daily and regard this as normal, necessary, and natural.
This means that you should not expect your ethical stance to be automatically understood, supported, or accommodated in all spaces you enter. Restaurants may offer limited options, institutions may ignore your rights, and friends or relatives may react defensively because your decision exposes uncomfortable contradictions in their own behaviour. You may encounter jokes, stereotypes, or even discrimination — remember that ethical veganism has been recognised as a protected philosophical belief in the UK precisely because vegans can face unfair treatment.
Knowing that veganism is not yet mainstream helps you prepare emotionally. Instead of interpreting every obstacle as a sign that veganism is “too extreme”, you can interpret it as evidence that the vegan socio‑political movement still has a lot of work to do. Joining that movement, even quietly, is part of what it means to live coherently with your values in a world that has not fully caught up with them.
For some people, seeing veganism as a fringe movement, or a movement that goes against “the system”, is an asset, not a hindrance. They may be people who already feel more comfortable challenging the system than following the “current”, so if that is your case, then veganism will most likely feel “home”. Others may be striving for the opposite, the calm of conformity and stability, and for these, the building of a Vegan World (where veganism will indeed be mainstream and popular) will be their primary motivation. Either way, joining the vegan movement will be, by no means, a boring choice, and it can be very exciting if you take all obstacles as challenges you will enjoy overcoming.
8. There are different types of vegans
Although all true vegans share the same core philosophy — excluding, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of animals — the vegan population is diverse. People enter veganism through different gateways (animal rights, environment, health, spirituality, and social justice), and these initial motivations can colour how they express their veganism at first.
In my book “Ethical Vegan, you will be able to find details of all the types of vegans I have identified. Some may focus more on food or health, while others may share the philosophy of veganism with the animal rights philosophy and call themselves “animal liberationists”. Some may enter via the spirituality gateway and may call themselves “yogi vegans”. Some may eat a WFPB diet, others a vegan raw diet, or others a low-fat vegan diet. There are also “eco‑vegans” who emphasise climate and biodiversity arguments, “abstinent vegans” who do not consume alcohol, tobacco, or recreational drugs, and “social justice vegans” who consciously integrate veganism with anti‑oppression work concerning humans. Over time, many of these differences diminish as people learn more about the philosophy and broaden their understanding of what coherence requires. I, for instance, entered veganism via the animal rights gateway, but now, after all these years, I embrace all the other dimensions too.
It is important to recognise these variations without diluting the meaning of veganism. Veganism is not just “doing your best most of the time” or “eating mostly plants”, but a life-long commitment to avoid exploiting animals as far as possible and practicable. When you consider becoming vegan, you may initially fit into one “type”, but you should remain open to deepening your practice so that your motivations and your behaviour align more closely with the full scope of the philosophy. However, if you find in a type of vegan your home, by all means, “live there.” As long as you follow the basic principles of veganism, you can always add more principles to follow (as long as none contradict the five core ones) and refine your identity with them. You can even create a new type of veganism that is entirely personal — that is the beauty of this versatile philosophy.
9. Being vegan is a process, not a state
When you decide to become vegan, your veganisation process begins, and it will never end. Every day, you should become a better vegan than the day before, understanding the philosophy better in all its dimensions, knowing more details about animal exploitation and the connection between products and activities with animals, and getting better at explaining veganism and helping others to become vegan.
Part of this process is practical. Nobody would expect that you become vegan with all the knowledge you require to avoid all forms of animal exploitation to the maximum. You will have to learn a lot, and this takes time. Some people learn faster than others, and some prefer to learn by trial and error, while others prefer to learn by reading and talking to experienced vegans with authority. However, this is not like a course you take where you graduate after passing “the exams” or attending a particular number of classes. There is no “graduation” to veganism because our learning process never ends. There is no threshold of knowledge to cross to “qualify” as a proficient vegan. It’s all a continual process in which you learn more connections between products/ activities and animals, more ways to communicate the philosophy to others and to be actively helping build the vegan world, and a better understanding of both veganism and carnism — and how they interact in each particular situation. Each new product and activity becomes a new subject of study for both new and experienced vegans, and the longer you are a vegan, the more you realise that you still have lots to learn about this world and why harm takes place.
Part of the process is infrastructural. We, humans, are imperfect creatures more prone to make mistakes than to do things right, so if you become vegan, you will carry this natural imperfection with you, and you will make mistakes from which to learn. You may still have the relics of your indoctrination of carnism that will become obstacles in your veganisation process. Your inbuilt cognitive dissonance will still bring you some inconsistencies that you will need to address. The social pressure from the non-vegan world that surrounds you may sometimes be too strong and derail your progress. All this is natural, and we all have to experience this.
Also, building anything is a process that takes time, and building an entire new world — the Vegan World — is the biggest enterprise humanity has attempted, so it will take a long time to finish. If you become vegan, you will join the “working force” that will gradually build such a world, but it will take generations before we begin to see it taking form. Eliminating oppression and exploitation from all human systems — especially when so many people will fight you if you try — is a huge task, but if we all do our part, we will get there at some point.
10. Becoming vegan is your decision, and only yours
Becoming vegan is an intellectual and moral choice that each person must make for themselves under a state of free thought. Others may inspire you, challenge you, or present you with information you did not know—or have been avoiding — but nobody can become vegan on your behalf, and nobody should coerce you into saying you are vegan when you are not. Despite what vegansceptics often claim, no vegan can force any non-vegan to become vegan.
This is important because veganism requires coherence between internal convictions and external behaviour. If you merely follow a trend, imitate someone you admire, or conform to social pressure, you may adopt some vegan practices for a while, but without the underlying ethical commitment, they are likely to fade when circumstances change. Conversely, when you consciously decide that exploiting animals is wrong, and you feel that this conclusion resonates with who you are, veganism becomes stable in your life.
So, if you are considering becoming vegan, give yourself the time and space to reach your own conclusion. Listen to animals’ stories, learn about the philosophy, and examine your values honestly. When you finally say ‘I am vegan’, let it be because this sentence describes you accurately, not because someone expects you to say it. That way, whatever challenges you encounter afterwards, you will not be defending a borrowed label, but living as the person you chose to be.
If, after knowing all these ten things about veganism, you still think that you want to try to see if being a vegan is who you are, give it a go. The theory is one thing, but the practice will tell you whether you are ready. If it does not work the first time, you can try again until you find your true self. Being vegan is a big deal, and everyone could be a vegan if they so wish and find the vegan identity fits them well.
If you are considering becoming a vegan, good on you.
