Food

Vegan diet

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Written by EFW Staff

Characteristics of the vegan diet and the veganism

According to “Corriere della Sera”, at the beginning of 2014 the number of vegetarians and vegans has increased: they were the 7%. In the world the data talk about a billion of people.
Unlike the vegetarian diet, the vegan one is a diet that completely exclude the animal derivatives like milk, cheese, eggs and honey.
This type of diet is also a lifestyle, regarding all the areas and not only food. The core of the vegan diet is the strong respect for all the human beings, but also the belief that through a healthy lifestyle, you can avoid all the risks deriving from meat consumption and all the animal derivatives.

The main philosophy of the vegan diet: the veganism

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The word veganism derives from vegan, a neologism coined by Donald Watson in 1944, which means a real philosophic movement based on the refusal of any kind of animal exploitation. For a vegan, it is fundamental to avoid the consumption of animal products, the support to the zoo technical and fish industry. The main aim of the veganism is to not help the exploitation and the killing of animals, giving up supporting activities like breeding, experimentation, hunting and so on.
Moreover, a vegan wears only clothes made of vegetable or synthetic fibers and doesn’t buy clothes with fabrics of animal origins. A vegan uses cruelty-free cosmetics and house cleaning products as well.

Vegan cuisine

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In particular, the vegan diet foresees the consumption of food coming from biological cultivation, rich in vitamins and minerals and the vegans substitute some products with other considered healthier such as wine vinegar with the apple cider vinegar. From this point of view, it is excluded the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, the, coffee and refined sugar preferring other food such as coffee cereal, barley and brown sugar or natural sweetener like maple syrup.
It is advisable a daily consumption of edible seaweeds, sesame and sunflower seeds, a lot of dried fruits, no salt substituted with other products and red potatoes instead of white potatoes. The vegan diet allows wholegrain bread and sprouts, lots of grain, vegetables and legumes, a source of protein similar to the animal ones. It is better to eat raw vegetables or cooked according to one of the methods of the vegan cuisine.
Although there are limitations on the diet, the vegan diet is perfect for who suffers of certain diseases or for who’s following a low calorie diet; in fact it is possible to prepare lots of recipes and desserts without giving up taste!

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EFW Staff