Opinion: Veganism is a Spectrum

By Milena Pross

Jan. 30, 2018

Meat, cheese, eggs, gummy bears, honey, gummy bear-shaped jars of honey: these are just a few common food items that are not considered “vegan” by the masses. But I think it’s time for a change. I say they ARE vegan, nay, they are the epitome of vegan. I believe that veganism is a spectrum and we are all on it.

For too long, documentaries like Food Inc., What the Health, Cowspiracy, and Forks Over Knives have sung the praises of a plant-based diet. To that I say: all diets are plant-based! Everything’s a plant, with the right attitude.

Veganism, much like sexuality, gender, and electromagnetism, is clearly a spectrum. We’ve got the “traditional” vegans on one end, who give up all products that come from animals. This means no meat or dairy or leather or even large blocks of gelatin as a snack. An example of this kind of vegan is my roommate, who eats only grass and sometimes one nut. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got “alternative vegans,” who still recognize that climate change is a problem and know that eating only plants is a good thing to do, but still love steak. An example of this kind of carnivorous vegan is a lion.

I fall somewhere on the middle of the spectrum, a bisexual of the food world. I’m the type of vegan who is a vegetarian. I don’t eat meat or fish or chicken, but I only eat cheese. Specifically, I only eat Cheetos. This is a form of veganism I’d recommend to almost anybody. 

For too long, veganism has been a tenet of only coastal elites and people who would rather watch all those aforementioned documentaries than all the other great programming on Netflix. But now I declare that we are ALL vegans, no matter what we eat. Everybody falls somewhere on the spectrum, and anyone who says you’re not a vegan is just mean.