Vegan Guide
Short answers to real-world questions about veganism — food, health, shopping, and everyday life.
Vegans base their diet entirely on plant-derived foods, excluding meat, fish, dairy, eggs and honey. Everyday meals are built from a variety of nutritious plant foods.
Veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude — as far as possible and practicable — all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
No. An egg is a hen’s product, whether the cage is cramped or the bird ranges a backyard. Welfare matters — it does not change the vegan definition.
Yes. Most people do not switch overnight. A common path: meat first, then dairy and eggs, then honey, labels and clothes.
Meat: legumes, tofu, tempeh, seitan, plant burgers on the grill. Dairy: fortified plant drinks, coconut or soy yoghurt, hummus instead of cream cheese. Eggs: tofu scramble, aquafaba and flax in baking.
No, you absolutely do not need to know how to cook to go vegan. There are now plenty of ready-made products, alternatives and shortcuts that make a complete plant-based diet possible without spending hours in the kitchen.
No. Milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter and cream come from animals, so they are not vegan. Plant milks and cheeses — oat, soy, nut-based — are.
No, despite the popular belief that 'fish is not meat'. Fish have a developed nervous system and feel pain and stress, so ethically veganism makes no exception here. People who eat fish but not the meat of land animals are pescatarians — a different diet category, often confused with veganism.
