Dominican University's Dining Services
- Dining Center's Sustainability Mission & PartnershipsWe feel that nutrition and sustainability are very interdependent concepts. Our philosophy for nutrition programs and sustainability efforts run along parallel paths. What is good for us is good for the planet; conversely, what is good for the planet is good for us.
- Food PhilosophyWe are passionate about food and we believe in wholesome, nutritious ingredients.
- Animal Welfare PolicyClick here to review Dominican's commitments to a humane meat and dairy menu.
Vegetarianism & Veganism
Entry from Encyclopedia of Environment and Society
Vegetarianism, in its broadest definition, is a dietary pattern where meat, fish, and poultry are excluded. Frequently, vegetarians will exclude dietary products that include animal by-products and derivatives; however, vegetarian is a broad term that can have varied definitions and meanings. Some self-defined vegetarians may include animal products ranging from eggs and dairy, to seafood, and even occasional meat. Vegetarian dietary patterns are found throughout the world today and are influenced by a myriad of factors ranging from religious beliefs, economic influence, meat availability, environmental beliefs, and ideological beliefs.
Broadly speaking, vegetarians can be broken into four primary groups: lacto ova vegetarians, lacto vegetarians, vegans, and fruitarians. Lacto ova vegetarians do not consume meat, fish, and poultry, but do eat eggs and dairy products. Lacto vegetarians do not consume meat, fish, poultry, and eggs, but do eat dairy products. Vegans do not consume any meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, or other animal made food products, such as honey. Vegans, as well as many vegetarians, are also likely to avoid animal products in their clothing (wool, leather, and silk, for example), grooming, and cosmetic products, and other products. Fruitarian diets are vegan, but specific in that only fruits and vegetables that are defined as fruits are consumed.
In many parts of the world, particularly in less-developed nations and areas that do not lend themselves to meat production, large populations may consume a diet that is primarily vegetarian in nature not by “choice” per se, but because of circumstance. In agriculturally-based environments where horticultural production is limited these resources are more beneficial for human consumption than animal consumption, thusly limiting the capacity to develop strong animal-based agriculture and limiting meat available for human consumption. In such populations, whose diets are primarily vegetarian with occasional meat eating, meat consumption is frequently aligned with holidays and special events.
In the industrialized developed world, meat consumption is quite high. The United States leads the world in meat consumption (red meat, poultry, and fish) with an average annual consumption of 195 pounds per person. Within the United States research suggests that 2.5–5 percent of the population identify as vegetarian and that the numbers of vegetarians are on the rise. While in many parts of the world vegetarian dietary habits may be shaped by environmental and economic factors limiting the availability of meat, vegetarians in the United States often make an active choice in their dietary patterns. While various factors influence this choice—the healthful benefits of a diet low in animal products, ethical beliefs about animals, and religious beliefs—the most influential belief affiliated with American vegetarians is the belief that vegetarianism is beneficial for the environment.
As the developed world continues to increase meat consumption, there has been a parallel growth in the production of meat. Today, significant portions of the world have been transformed to enable cattle raising. In Central America, over approximately the last 50 years, a quarter of the rainforest loss has been to beef production. In addition to the rainforest loss, this beef production also impacts the environment further, as it is shipped to its primary consumer markets in the United States and Europe via the consumption of fossil fuels in transport and the output of toxic exhausts. Cattle farming has, as a practice, immediate environmental impacts.
In the United States, cattle farms consume approximately one-half of the annual water used, while simultaneously being a major source of water pollution via the tons of organic farm waste. Additionally, the intensive farming of beef production in the United States also consumes high levels of fossil fuels (with coinciding emissions) via the transportation of grains and food for the animals, the removal of animal waste, the transportation of animals, their slaughtering, and the transportation of meat.
Worldwide, the nation with the highest percentage of intentional vegetarians is likely India, with only 30 percent of the population consuming meat regularly, 20 percent being strict vegetarians, and the remaining 50 percent being occasional meat eaters. Many Indians who adhere to a strict vegetarian diet do so in part because of religious beliefs. In addition to religious beliefs, one’s economic situation may prohibit the purchase and consumption of meat for many. Socio-environmentally, for those with little economic means, cattle may be more useful as a source of labor, dairy, and dung (that may be used as a fire source) than as meat.
Entry from Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health
Veganism is a system of dietary and lifestyle practices that seeks to promote health and peace while reducing the suffering of both people and animals. Vegans (pronounced vee-guns) are vegetarians who do not eat any foods (e.g., eggs, dairy products, meat) derived from animal sources. Most vegans also do not use products that require for their production the death or suffering of animals, such as leather, fur, wool, and certain cosmetics.
The word “vegetarian” was coined in England in 1847 by the founders of the Vegetarian Society of Great Britain. “Vegetarian” has been used to describe people who do not eat meat but do consume dairy products and eggs. The Vegan Society was founded in England in 1944 by Donald Watson and others who believed that vegetarians should strive to exist without eating or using any animal products at all. Watson stated that the crisis of World War II may have been a motivation behind his founding of the Vegan Society, because he saw so much turmoil and suffering in the world around him. The Vegan founders believed that the first step to creating a better world would be to develop a diet that did not cause the death or suffering of any living beings. The term “vegan” is derived from the Latin word vegetus, which means “full of life,” which the founders hoped their system would be. “Vegan” also starts with the same three letters as “vegetarian” and ends with the last two, as its founders believed they were starting with vegetarian ideas and taking them to their logical conclusion.
The American Vegan Society (AVS) was founded in 1960 by Jay Dinshah. The same year, the AVS began to publish a journal called Ahimsa, which is a Sanskrit word that means “not causing harm” and “reverence for life.” Dinshah and others conceived veganism to be a philosophy of living that has nonviolence, peace, harmony, honesty, service to the world, and knowledge as its goals. In 1974, the AVS became affiliated with the North American Vegetarian Society, which was formed to bring together all of the vegetarian groups in North America.
Since the 1970s, there has been a vast amount of research concerning nutrition and diet. It has been discovered that diets that are centered around meat and dairy products, such as the typical American diet, are high in cholesterol and saturated fat but low in fiber. These diets have been linked to many health problems, including heart disease, strokes, and diabetes, which together cause 68% of all the deaths in the United States. Thus, the interest in diets that reduce or eliminate foods that contribute to these conditions has grown considerably. In 1992, the Vegetarian Times magazine took a poll that estimated that 13 million Americans, or 5% of the population, consider themselves vegetarian. Of the vegetarians, 4% are vegans, which amounts to nearly 520,000 Americans.
Vegan diets are often recommended as dietary therapy for heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, strokes, cancer, obesity, arthritis, allergies, asthma, environmental illness, hypertension, gout, gallstones, kidney stones, ulcers, colitis, digestive disorders, premenstrual syndrome, anxiety, and depression. At present, however, no studies exist that define the efficacy of vegan diets in treating these conditions. Nevertheless, a well-designed vegan diet is an effective weight-loss diet, and is an economical and easy preventive health practice.
Videos
We all know the arguments that being vegetarian is better for the environment and for the animals -- but in a carnivorous culture, it can be hard to make the change. Graham Hill has a powerful, pragmatic suggestion: Be a weekday veg.
Books & eBooks
Eating Animals by Call Number: TX392 .F58 2009ISBN: 9780316072670Publication Date: 2009Jonathan Safran Foer spent much of his teenage and college years oscillating between omnivore and vegetarian. But on the brink of fatherhood-facing the prospect of having to make dietary choices on a child's behalf-his casual questioning took on an urgency. His quest for answers ultimately required him to visit factory farms in the middle of the night, dissect the emotional ingredients of meals from his childhood, and probe some of his most primal instincts about right and wrong. Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, "Eating Animals" explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting. Marked by Foer's profound moral ferocity and unvarying generosity, as well as the vibrant style and creativity that made his previous books, "Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", widely loved, "Eating Animals" is a celebration and a reckoning, a story about the stories we've told-and the stories we now need to tell.
The New Becoming Vegetarian by Call Number: TX392 .M522 2003ISBN: 9781570671449Publication Date: 2003-09-01"The New Becoming Vegetarian" provides practical tools to help you make food choices that promote optimal health. In this new edition, you'll find the latest information on protein, calcium, iron, good fats, vitamins, protective phytochemicals, and more, you'll learn how to get these nutrients in as well as a balanced vegetarian diet. Book jacket.
To Eat or Not to Eat Meat by Call Number: TX392 .T6 2019ISBN: 1538114968Publication Date: 2019-08-20Increasingly, people are shifting to vegetarian, plant-based, or vegan diets. This shift is having profound effects on our social interactions, and this is the focus of this book. Becoming a vegetarian or vegan involves more than just changing your diet. It can change how you socially and emotionally connect with family, friends and the broader community, shape your outlook on life, and open up new worlds and contacts. It can also lead to uncomfortable situations, if dietary choices involving a rejection of meat are read by others as an ethical and moral judgement on mainstream dietary choices. This book adopts an innovative narrative approach, and draws on stories across the globe to consider how the food choices we make in our everyday lives can lead to complex, and sometimes life changing, social consequences. The narratives cover a range of topics, including the moral reasons behind some individuals' decision to change their diets, the religious or ecological considerations, and the potential health and social ramifications. To date, the social consequences of selecting a plant-based diet have been sorely overlooked in favor of texts that have documented the benefits of such diets, and usually focus on health, animal welfare and/or environmental issues, with the aim of persuading readers to give up meat, and change to a 'healthy' and/or 'sustainable' diet. Cultural studies texts considering vegetarianism or veganism have typically targeted academic audiences with analyses of how identity is constructed through food and dietary choices. In contrast, this book offers a unique window onto how our social lives are implicated in our food choices, and is critical in understanding the importance of diet as embedded in complex social processes.
Vegan Mexico by Call Number: TX716.M4 W97 2016ISBN: 1941252214Publication Date: 2016-11-01The first cookbook of vegan regional Mexican recipes. The author of the best-selling "Vegan Tacos", explores the magic of Mexico's regional cooking. Enjoy the exotic flavors of these diverse cuisines without leaving your kitchen. Jason's delicious recipes capture the essence of the moles of Oaxaca, the Mayan legacy of the Yucatan, the smoky chile flavors of Zacatecas, the fruit-centric Southern regions, the Spanish influence of Veracruz, and the street food of Mexico City. Recipes include: Oaxacan Black Beans Blue Corn Mushrooms Bocoles Four Chile Noodle Soup Classic Sweet Corn Tamales Old-Style Street Enchiladas Sonoran Machaca Burritos Sweet Potato Pastelitos Tres Leches Cake A leading authority in vegan Mexican cooking, Jason shares the core concepts for making authentic Mexican cuisine and tie the recipes to their place in the story of Mexico. Readers will come away with a new understanding and admiration for the diversity and flavors of Mexico and be inspired to make delectable main dishes, soups, spreads, sandwiches, breads, desserts, snacks, and much more.
The Way We Eat by Call Number: TX357 .S527 2006ISBN: 9781579548896Publication Date: 2006-05-02A thought-provoking look at how what we eat profoundly affects all living things--and how we can make more ethical food choices. Five Principles for Making Conscientious Food Choices include 1. Transparency: We have the right to know how our food is produced. 2. Fairness: Producing food should not impose costs on others. 3. Humanity: Inflicting unnecessary suffering on animals is wrong. 4. Social Responsibility: Workers are entitled to decent wages and working conditions. 5. Needs: Preserving life and health justifies more than other desires. Peter Singer, the groundbreaking ethicist who "may be the most controversial philosopher alive" (The New Yorker), now sets his critical sights on the food we buy and eat: where it comes from, how it's produced, and whether it was raised humanely. Teaming up once again with attorney Jim Mason, his coauthor on the acclaimed "Animal Factories", Singer explores the impact our food choices have on humans, animals, and the environment. In "The Way We Eat", Singer and Mason examine the eating habits of three American families with very different diets. They track down the sources of each family's food to probe the ethical issues involved in its production and marketing. What kinds of meat are most humane to eat? Is "organic" always better? Wild fish or farmed? Recognizing that not all of us will become vegetarians, Singer and Mason offer ways to make the best food choices. As they point out: "You can be ethical without being fanatical."
The Vegan Studies Project by ISBN: 0820348554Publication Date: 2015-10-01This inescapably controversial study envisions, defines, and theorizes an area that Laura Wright calls vegan studies. We have an abundance of texts on vegans and veganism including works of advocacy, literary and popular fiction, film and television, and cookbooks, yet until now, there has been no study that examines the social and cultural discourses shaping our perceptions of veganism as an identity category and social practice. Ranging widely across contemporary American society and culture, Wright unpacks the loaded category of vegan identity. She examines the mainstream discourse surrounding and connecting animal rights to (or omitting animal rights from) veganism. Her specific focus is on the construction and depiction of the vegan body--both male and female--as a contested site manifest in contemporary works of literature, popular cultural representations, advertising, and new media. At the same time, Wright looks at critical animal studies, human-animal studies, post humanism, and ecofeminism as theoretical frameworks that inform vegan studies (even as they differ from it). The vegan body, says Wright, threatens the status quo in terms of what we eat, wear, and purchase--and also in how vegans choose not to participate in many aspects of the mechanisms undergirding mainstream culture. These threats are acutely felt in light of post-9/11 anxieties over American strength and virility. A discourse has emerged that seeks, among other things, to bully veganism out of existence as it is poised to alter the dominant cultural mindset or, conversely, to constitute the vegan body as an idealized paragon of health, beauty, and strength. What better serves veganism is exemplified by Wright's study: openness, debate, inquiry, and analysis.
The Vegetarian Crusade by ISBN: 9781469626529Publication Date: 2015-08-01Vegetarianism has been practiced in the United States since the country's founding, yet the early years of the movement have been woefully misunderstood and understudied. Through the Civil War, the vegetarian movement focused on social and political reform, but by the late nineteenth century, the movement became a path for personal strength and success in a newly individualistic, consumption-driven economy. This development led to greater expansion and acceptance of vegetarianism in mainstream society. So argues Adam D. Shprintzen in his lively history of early American vegetarianism and social reform. From Bible Christians to Grahamites, the American Vegetarian Society to the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Shprintzen explores the diverse proponents of reform-motivated vegetarianism and explains how each of these groups used diet as a response to changing social and political conditions. By examining the advocates of vegetarianism, including institutions, organizations, activists, and publications, Shprintzen explores how an idea grew into a nationwide community united not only by diet but also by broader goals of social reform.
Animal (de)Liberation by ISBN: 9781909188839Publication Date: 2016-07-28In this book, Jan Deckers addresses the most crucial question that people must deliberate in relation to how we should treat other animals: whether we should eat animal products. Many people object to the consumption of animal products from the conviction that it inflicts pain, suffering, and death upon animals. This book argues that a convincing ethical theory cannot be based on these important concerns: rather, it must focus on our interest in human health. Tending to this interest demands not only that we extend speciesism-the attribution of special significance to members of our own species merely because they belong to the same species as ourself-towards nonhuman animals, but also that we safeguard the integrity of nature. In this light, projects that aim to engineer the genetic material of animals to reduce their capacities to feel pain and to suffer are morally suspect. The same applies to projects that aim to develop in-vitro flesh, even if the production of such flesh should be welcomed on other grounds. The theory proposed in this book is accompanied by a political goal, the 'vegan project', which strives for a qualified ban on the consumption of animal products. Deckers also provides empirical evidence that some support for this goal exists already, and his analysis of the views of others-including those of slaughterhouse workers-reveals that the vegan project stands firm in spite of public opposition. Many charges have been pressed against vegan diets, including: that they alienate human beings from nature; that they increase human food security concerns; and that they are unsustainable. Deckers argues that these charges are legitimate in some cases, but that, in many situations, vegan diets are actually superior. For those who remain doubtful, the book also contains an appendix that considers whether vegan diets might actually be nutritionally adequate.
BOSH!: How to Live Vegan by ISBN: 0062969900Publication Date: 2019-10-15From the international phenomenon and bestselling sensation "Boshi!"--"the vegan Jamie Olivers" (Times, UK)--comes this fully comprehensive guide to vegan living, whether you're thinking about adopting a plant-based lifestyle or a committed vegan looking for new information and insights. Do you want to go vegan but have no idea where to start? "BOSH!", the pioneers of simple, delicious plant-based cooking and the guys behind the biggest vegan video channel on the web, are here to help! "BOSH!: How to Live Vegan" covers all aspects of vegan living from plant-based food and wine to vegan toiletries, travel, and clothes. Henry and Ian address the benefits of veganism on our health and the planet and answer a variety of questions on living life without animal products. Should you be eating avocados? Is it okay to wear an old leather belt? What do you tell your friends when they offer you a glass of non-vegan wine? Pioneering a new way of thinking, "BOSHi!" is helping to make a sustainable and ethical lifestyle accessible to everyone. Whether you're a committed vegan, looking to improve your lifestyle, or starting out for the first time, this book has all the know-how and inspiration you need to pursue and enjoy a plant-based life.
Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism by ISBN: 1138590967Publication Date: 2018-10-17The protest against meat eating may turn out to be one of the most significant movements of our age. In terms of our relations with animals, it is difficult to think of a more urgent moral problem than the fate of billions of animals killed every year for human consumption. This book argues that vegetarians and vegans are not only protestors, but also moral pioneers. It provides 25 chapters which stimulate further thought, exchange, and reflection on the morality of eating meat. A rich array of philosophical, religious, historical, cultural, and practical approaches challenge our assumptions about animals and how we should relate to them. This book provides global perspectives with insights from 11 countries: US, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Israel, Austria, the Netherlands, Canada, South Africa, and Sweden. Focusing on food consumption practices, it critically foregrounds and unpacks key ethical rationales that underpin vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. It invites us to revisit our relations with animals as food, and as subjects of exploitation, suggesting that there are substantial moral, economic, and environmental reasons for changing our habits. This timely contribution, edited by two of the leading experts within the field, offers a rich array of interdisciplinary insights on what ethical vegetarianism and veganism means. It will be of great interest to those studying and researching in the fields of animal geography and animal-studies, sociology, food studies and consumption, environmental studies, and cultural studies. This book will be of great appeal to animal protectionists, environmentalists, and humanitarians lifestyles. It invites us to revisit our relations with animals as food, and as subjects of exploitation, suggesting that there are substantial moral, economic, and environmental reasons for changing our habits. This timely contribution, edited by two of the leading experts within the field, offers a rich array of interdisciplinary insights on what ethical vegetarianism and veganism means. It will be of great interest to those studying and researching in the fields of animal geography and animal-studies, sociology, food studies and consumption, environmental studies, and cultural studies. This book will be of great appeal to animal protectionists, environmentalists, and humanitarians.
Raw Veganism by ISBN: 036743539XPublication Date: 2020-02-25Human beings are getting fatter and sicker. As we question what we eat and why we eat it, this book argues that living well involves consuming a raw vegan diet. With eating healthfully and eating ethically being simpler said than done, this book argues that the best solution to health, environmental, and ethical problems concerning animals is raw veganism--the human diet. The human diet is what humans are naturally designed to eat, and that is, a raw vegan diet of fruit, tender leafy greens, and occasionally nuts and seeds. While veganism raises challenging questions over the ethics of consuming animal products, while also considering the environmental impact of the agriculture industry, raw veganism goes a step further and argues that consuming cooked food is also detrimental to our health and the environment. Cooking foods allows us to eat food that is not otherwise fit for human consumption and in an age that promotes eating foods in 'moderation' and having 'balanced' diets, this raises the question of why we are eating foods that should only be consumed in moderation at all, as moderation clearly implies they aren't good for us. In addition, from an environmental perspective, the use of stoves, ovens and microwaves for cooking contributes significantly to energy consumption and cooking in general generates excessive waste of food and resources. Thus, this book maintains that living well and living a noble life, that is, good physical and moral health, requires consuming a raw vegan diet. Exploring the scientific and philosophical aspects of raw veganism, this novel book is essential reading for all interested in promoting ethical, healthful, and sustainable diets.
Should We All Be Vegan? by ISBN: 0500295034Publication Date: 2019-10-08An insightful look at the arguments for and against universal adoption of a vegan diet and lifestyle. As concern grows over the environmental costs and ethical implications of intensive factory farming, an increasing number of people are embracing diets and lifestyles free from animal products. "Should We All Be Vegan?" gives a fluid and engaging account of the evolution of veganism. Over the course of four easily digestible chapters, food writer Molly Watson reveals the truth about veganism's impact on our health, the planet, and the global economy. Chapters like "The Evolution of Veganism" and "Why Go Vegan Today?" examines the development of veganism from the earliest meat-free human diets to the rise in mainstream adoption of a plant-based diet and lifestyle today; "The Challenges of Veganism" surveys the nutritional and societal pitfalls of a vegan lifestyle; and, lastly "A Vegan Planet" envisions possible futures for veganism and their impact on the earth. Watson evaluates every angle of the debate on veganism in this primer, reviewing the evidence for its effects on health and assessing the ethics, environmental impact, and feasibility of adopting a vegan lifestyle worldwide.
