Modificación de la aserción completa

Since food is one of the prime cultural sites where vegan change takes place for individuals, it is not surprising that vegans might seek to promote veganism through sharing recipes with those within their social networks.

As discussed in the literature review, it has been found that vegans seek to normalize the vegan diet in online forums (Sneijder and Molder 2006). In a similar fashion, providing others with vegan recipes can engender a familiarity with preparing vegan food, as well as frame vegan food as easy to prepare, thus making it seem less out of the ordinary. In line with this notion, most of the respondents who discussed sharing recipes with friends and family (n = 6) described the recipes as easy to prepare.

“When I’m providing people with information I try to make it so they realize how easy it is – that it’s not difficult to get things. I’ll print out a bunch of recipes for my friends. When I’m cooking for my friends, potlucks or anything, everybody always wants the recipes. And I try to make stuff that’s real simple so they realize it’s not that hard” [Robin].

“The recipes [Rose passes onto friends through books] are very quick to do and wonderful. They taste incredible so I figure if I can get somebody to read some of these, and then start using the books from Tess [author] for cooking, I mean what better way to start than having recipes that are very quick, very easy, and taste absolutely wonderful, to get you to go ‘well this isn’t so bad maybe I'll keep doing it’” [Rose].

“So I’ll send them [non-vegan friends invited to a vegan potluck at Megan’s house] recipes, or recipe ideas, and try to encourage them to make something vegan and come to the house and try a bunch of good vegan food…” [Megan].

63

Sharing recipes is one way to introduce non-vegans to vegan food and potentially break down the stereotype of vegan food as “shitty and rubbery,” as John put it. But it also emerged that food was used in other ways by both publicly active and less publicly active vegans. The following section will take a more in-depth look at the role of food in the promotion of veganism and focus on the potential food has for being a tool in making the vegan diet seem somewhat less unusual.

3. 3 Food as a Tool

As John points out, there appears be a stereotype about vegan food being bland. In support of this notion, some respondents (n = 3) relayed stories of how they would prepare vegan food for friends or work colleagues, and then reveal that the food was vegan after people had eaten it, since they expected there would be resistance to the food if those eating it knew it was vegan prior.

“Well, especially when I was in college ‘cause there were so few vegetarians on campus. I would cook stuff and I wouldn’t necessarily tell people it was vegan and they would eat it and be like ‘it’s great.’ I’d give them the recipe and mention,

‘oh by the way it’s vegan,’ which, you know, sounds a little weird. And they’d be like, ‘oh, no, no, I’d love to make it’” [John].

“I would bake stuff and bring it in [to the office]. For a while I was sort of

‘secretly vegan,’ but then I, eventually, was like ‘yeah, all this is vegan.

Everything you’ve been eating is vegan’” [Ashley]⁹.

“Well, I learned that I have to tell them [work colleagues] it’s vegan after they eat it ‘cause otherwise they’re like ‘nah, it’s cool’” [Sarah].

In a similar way, but less surreptitiously, vegans might seek to normalize their food choices by providing vegan food for friends and others within their social networks. It might be

9At this point, Ashley was working for a company that sells food products largely consisting of chicken, which she felt made it even more difficult to publicize that the food she prepared was vegan.

64

the case that a non-vegan’s experience with the vegan food is relayed to others in his or her social network, which might indirectly serve to educate about vegan food.

“A friend of mine, he came over for New Year’s eve and I made a meal that was vegan and he has told multiple people that, you know, I forgot she was vegan until I got there and I thought it was going to be gross but it was really good.

Now, everyone is like [Bianca] cooks interesting and tasty vegan food that non-vegans like” [Bianca].

Megan married two methods when using food as tool. She described hosting potlucks at her house, mainly attended by non-vegans, where she would send recipes to those attending and

“try to encourage them to make something vegan.” In this way vegan food is not only normalized through its consumption at a social gathering (potluck) but non-vegans are prompted to engage with vegan food at a personal level by preparing it, which can also serve to break down stereotypes about what vegans eat.

While vegans might work to normalize vegan food, directly and indirectly, for those within their social networks, publicly active vegans also see value in using vegan food in public advocacy efforts. The core site where food was used in public advocacy was during events, or situations, where vegans tabled. This typically involved setting up a table, from which advocates hand out vegan food samples and vegan literature. Based on the experiences of those involved in tabling, it emerged that: a) tabling was seen as more effective than leafleting (which involves a vegan advocate approaching people in public with a pro-vegan leaflet), since it requires people to come up to the table of their own accord, and b) offering people vegan food at tables was perceived to make it more likely they would take a brochure or leaflet. The role of food in public advocacy is captured in the following quotes:

“Food is almost always tied to my advocacy. It’s very disarming for people to have something to eat, something tasty, while you’re talking to them about, you

65

know, non-human animals, or speciesism¹⁰” [Zach].

“Baked goods are a great way to peoples’ hearts and if people are eating a cupcake they’re more likely to listen, or pick up a piece of literature you have sitting on a table” [Megan].

“I love tabling. I’ve tabled at many events... People can approach you, you know, you’re not coming after them. You can offer something to eat; you can offer cookbooks, brochures, whatever” [Faith].

“It’s nice to give them [some] good vegan food, just so they can taste and hopefully dispel some myth. But the main thing is to get literature in their hands.

The combination of both: I like it better than just leafleting because [with] people coming over to you, they tend to…they feel obligated to take something”

[Margaret].

With regards to the type of information that could be coupled with food to effectively communicate a vegan message in this type of scenario, Margaret emphasized that, in line with her view that concern over animal welfare is the “most compelling reason to become completely vegan and stay vegan,” information that makes people think about what animals go through in order to become food is vital. She also made clear that this information should shed light on all types of farming practices, including free-range farming, since so-called “humane farming” is still “horrific.” In a similar way that such literature can serve to advance the frame animals are maltreated in the food production system, as well as oppose the ability of others to be in a state of denial about how animals are treated in the process of becoming food, other texts including movies and books can do this too. The ways in which vegans use movies and books to spread vegan knowledge will be addressed in the following section.

10 The term “speciesism” refers to how humans tend to discriminate against animals due to “morally irrelevant physical differences” (Ryder 2005). As Francione (2000, xxix) explains: “species alone is not a morally relevant criterion for excluding animals from the moral community any more than race is a justification for human slavery or sex a justification for making women the property of their husbands.”

66