The organization publishes American Vegan quarterly magazine, which is sent to members of the society (earlier issues are published on the website), and books about veganism (since 1964). The organization educates about a vegan diet.[3] It sponsors Dynamic Harmlessness Day annually on November 2, the birthday of the late H. Jay Dinshah, cofounder of the American Vegan Society. It has two YouTube channels, "Powerful Vegan Messages" and "American Vegan Society". It administers the AVS Speakers Bureau (18 popular vegan speakers from throughout the United States) and vegan conferences (the first annual event was held in 1960; bylaws require an annual vegan conference). The AVS administers cooking classes, gourmet vegan dinners by culinary students, encouraging culinary students to learn vegan cooking by hosting events with only vegan food, and other food events.[4][5]
Currently this is four AVS-coordinated and hosted events each year; the template for these events is used increasingly throughout America. Outreach at public events (vegan books, vegan literature, and speaking about veganism). Other support for direct inquiries, consulting for vegan community outreach. It collects, aggregates, and publishes a comprehensive list of vegan-oriented VegFests around the United States.[6] Prior to broad and widely-accessible search capabilities of the Internet, the American Vegan Society published networking and business resources which supported vegan lifestyle.
History
In 1960, 26-year-old H. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society. Later that year Dinshah married the English-born Freya Smith.[7] Freya, whose parents were active in The Vegan Society (of England), contributed to the early growth of the American Vegan Society and is president of the AVS today. The American Vegan Society is headquartered at Malaga, New Jersey, on a parcel of land which is called "SunCrest", or "the SunCrest Educreational Center." During Dinshah's life, the AVS was characterized by vegan publishing and outreach, annual vegan conferences, vegan archiving, spiritual inspiration, providing people with an experience of vegan living, vegan food-preparation demonstrations, maintenance of a small veganic garden, and extensive networking. Dinshah served the AVS as its president and as editor of its publication, Ahimsa magazine (1960–2000).[citation needed] In 2000, Dinshah died of a heart attack at age 66, after a life of promoting veganism.[citation needed]
In 1974, the organization helped to found the North American Vegetarian Society in preparation for hosting the 1975 World Vegetarian Congress in the United States for the first time. The Congress was held in Orono, Maine.[8]
Smithsonian Magazine in 2011 wrote: "Like its predecessors, the vegan society connects a meat-free diet to a number of other causes, including moral and environmental considerations. Among the reasons for veganism the group's website lists are: health; 'an equitable, ethical relationship between human and other living creatures'; 'spiritual development'; and 'practical solutions to the population explosion.'"[9]
Ahimsa magazine was a quarterly publication that explored compassionate living ("Ahimsa" meaning "dynamic harmlessness") as a philosophy, practical aspects of vegan living, and personal and cultural resources for vegans. Ahimsa included vegan menus and recipes, and news about food. The American Vegan Society continues to publish a quarterly periodical, now titled American Vegan, with the motto "Ahimsa lights the way." The AVS is now led and managed by its president, Freya Dinshah, and advised by the AVS Council of Trustees, all of whom are vegans, and operated by a team of staff and volunteers.[citation needed]
The American Vegan Society "promotes a compassionate, healthful, and sustainable lifestyle, empowering",[10] and is known for advocating for vegan foods.[11] The diet is plant-sourced, varied, and abundant. For ethical, health, environmental, and other reasons, (vegans) reject all animal products in food, clothing, and commodities, and the exploitation of animals for sport or entertainment. AVS is guided by the doctrines of Ahimsa (non-slaughter, non-violence) and Reverence for Life, and provides community and friendship to those following and learning about this way of living."[12]
Donald Watson in England (and possibly others) coined the term 'vegan' in 1944; it referred to an entirely plant-based diet (with or without spiritual or philosophical or ethical underpinnings).[13] American Vegan Society used the term vegan to mean dynamic harmlessness and successfully developed a broad social base of practicing vegans who committed themselves to that meaning and practice.
In 1948, Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz formed the first vegan organization in the United States known as the U.S. Vegan Society, in Oceano, California.[14][15][16] The Society lasted from 1948 to 1960 and was a predecessor to the American Vegan Society.[17] They both joined this latter one when Dinshah founded it in 1960.[18]
1961 - the American Vegan Society organized and carried out a Coast to Coast Crusade for Veganism across North America, including various parts of Canada and the USA.[citation needed]
1965 - the American Vegan Society organized and carried out North Atlantic Lecture Tour (Iceland, Britain, Europe).[citation needed]
1967 and 1968 - the American Vegan Society organized and carried out an international ("Round the World") Lecture Tour.[19]
American Vegan Center
The American Vegan Society opened the American Vegan Center on September 9, 2021, at 17 North Second Street in Philadelphia's Old City. The center has a bookstore, an event space, a demonstration kitchen, and a gift shop. It is the first public space operated by the American Vegan Society. Journalist Vance Lehmkuhl directs the center and provides 75-minute walking history tours of Philadelphia's vegan history, with stops to discuss Benjamin Lay, Benjamin Franklin, Caroline Earle White, Anthony Benezet, and others, including national figures such as Sylvester Graham.[20][21]
Dynamic Harmlessness Day
Dynamic Harmlessness Day is celebrated on November 2 each year. The day remembers American Vegan Society founder Jay Dinshah, who created the term "dynamic harmlessness."[22]
American Vegan Society conventions
Annual Conferences have been held since 1960.
Alternate conferences and conventions have been held largely in the northeastern US (New Jersey and New York) but also earlier in California, then later in California (Arcata), Colorado (Denver), Oregon (Portland), and Washington (Olympia), often sharing logistical responsibilities with local and regional vegetarian societies. For a number of years, beginning in 1989, convention proceedings have been videotaped.[citation needed]
The Dinshahs conducted weekend workshops, cooking classes, and other educational programs at SunCrest in Malaga as early as 1969, when their first building (headquarters) was donated.
In 1995, the AVS cohosted the 8th International Vegan Festival in San Diego, California, with VUNA (Vegetarian Union of North America) and Vegans International (VI).
Incomplete List of American Vegan Society conventions:[23]
AVS Vegan Conferences have been held annually since 1960.
Some of these conferences were:
1960– Malaga NJ(?)
- Some annual conferences were in California during the 1960s
1969– Malaga NJ: Educreational Program
1987–
1989– Arcata CA (videotaped)
1991– Denver CO (videotaped)
1993– Portland OR (videotaped)
1995– San Diego California: 8th International Vegan Festival, co-hosted with VUNA (Vegetarian Union of North America) and Vegans International (VI)
1996– ?Johnstown, PA (with the World Vegetarian Congress?)
Ahimsa is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to actions towards all living beings. It is a key virtue in Indian religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.
A flexitarian diet, also called a semi-vegetarian or fauxtarian diet, is one that is centered on plant foods with limited or occasional inclusion of meat. For example, a flexitarian might eat meat only some days each week. Flexitarian is a portmanteau of the words flexible and vegetarian, signifying its followers' less strict diet pattern when compared to vegetarian pattern diets.
The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (VSUK) is a British registered charity. It campaigns for dietary changes, licenses Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks for vegetarian and vegan products, runs a cookery school and lottery, and organises National Vegetarian Week in the UK.
World Vegan Day is a global event celebrated annually on 1 November. Vegans celebrate the benefits of veganism for animals, humans, and the natural environment through activities such as setting up stalls, hosting potlucks, and planting memorial trees.
The American Vegetarian Party was a United States political party formed on July 28, 1947 at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. It was founded by a group of five hundred delegates to the American Naturopathic Association's 1947 convention. The party held conventions and nominated candidates for President and Vice-President in several national elections, although they never seriously pursued ballot access or official recognition as a political party by election officials.
The International Vegetarian Union (IVU) is an international non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote vegetarianism. The IVU was founded in 1908 in Dresden, Germany.
Malaga is an unincorporated community located within Franklin Township, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP Code 08328.
The Boston Vegetarian Society (BVS) is a non-profit educational organization based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, with the purpose of promoting and supporting vegetarianism and veganism. It hosts monthly speaking events and an annual vegetarian food festival in the fall.
World Vegetarian Day is observed annually around the planet on October 1. It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 and endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978, "To promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism." It brings awareness to the ethical, environmental, health, and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. World Vegetarian Day initiates the month of October as Vegetarian Awareness Month, which ends with November 1, World Vegan Day, as the end of that month of celebration. Vegetarian Awareness Month has been known variously as "Reverence for Life" month, "Month of Vegetarian Food", and more.
Hom Jay Dinshah was an American veganism activist and natural hygiene proponent who was the founder and president of the American Vegan Society and the editor of its publication the Ahimsa magazine (1960–2000).
Maud Russell Lorraine Freshel was an American socialite, designer, and animal rights and vegetarianism activist. She also went by her initials, M. R. L., which she later spelled Emarel.
Veggie Pride is an international event that celebrates and promotes vegetarianism.
Michael A. Klaper is an American physician, vegan health educator, conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten years later and subsequently became active in the area, publishing three books advocating veganism and serving as a founding director of the Institute of Nutrition Education and Research.
The North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) is a charity and activist organization with the stated objectives of supporting vegetarians and informing the public about the benefits of vegetarianism.
Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM) is an international nonprofit organization working to promote a vegan lifestyle and animal rights through public education and grass roots outreach. It operates ten national and international programs from its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. FARM has the abolitionist vision of a world where animals are free from all forms of human exploitation, including, food and clothing, research and testing, entertainment and hunting. FARM's mission is to spare the largest number of animals from being bred, abused, and slaughtered for food, as this accounts for 98% of all animal abuse and slaughter.
Alex Hershaft is an American animal rights activist, Holocaust survivor, and co-founder and president of the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), the nation's oldest (1976) organization devoted exclusively to promoting the rights of animals not to be raised for food. Previously, he has had a 30-year career in materials science and environmental consulting and a prominent role in movements for religious freedom and environmental quality.
VegfestAU is a vegan food festival held annually in Sydney and Melbourne on or around World Vegan Day, 1 November.
Freya Smith Dinshah is an Anglo-American veganism activist and writer. She is the author of The Vegan Kitchen, president of the American Vegan Society in Malaga, New Jersey, and editor of American Vegan magazine.
Rupert Henry Wheldon was an American photographer and veganism activist.
Catherine Tjeerda Nimmo was an American chiropractor, naturopath and vegan activist.
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