Purity and pollution: faith vegans’ categorizations of plant-based foods as pure and animal-derived foods as polluting

Abstract

ABSTRACT Veganism has increased exponentially in the UK in recent years and whilst studies have attended to the redefinition of edibility and the adoption of new relationships with foodstuffs, one area that is noticeably absent from academic scholarship is the intersection with religion. Considering the influence that religion has on understandings of edibility, permissibility, and consumption, research gaps emerge pertaining to how religion and veganism come together to reshape the perceptions and categorizations of food types by vegans of faith. This article draws on a sociological study which recruited 12 Muslim vegans, 12 Jewish vegans, and 12 Christian vegans in the UK and conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews, diary methods, and virtual participant observation to gain a holistic understanding of the faith vegan experience. This article’s main finding is a dichotomous categorization of food types by faith vegans, with plant-based foods being seen as pure and animal-derived products being seen as polluting and inedible. Further, these understandings are intertwined with religious ethics, principles, and teachings in order to construct veganism as both God’s ideal diet and correct religious observance, whilst animal consumption is constructed as human greed, weakness, and a violation of what is perceived to be the ethical spirit of religion.