The Swingin’ 60’s: Peace, Free Love and Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism regained some popularity in the 1960s with the teaching of Michio Kushi, an advocate of macrobiotics who founded the Kushi Institute in Massachusetts. Born in Japan, Kushi came to the United States in 1949, eager to share what he’d learned from macrobiotic educator Georges Ohsawa, who taught that food was the key to health, and that health was the key to peace. In Boston, Kushi founded Erewhon, the country’s pioneer natural foods distributor,making organically grown whole foods and naturally processed foods widely available and introducing countless people to miso, tofu, tempeh and other soy products, as well as sea vegetables, barley malt and rice syrup, azuki beans and rice cakes – the mainstream availability of health foods that we have today simply wouldn’t exist if not for Michio Kushi. Throughout the 1980s, Kushi met with government leaders at the United Nations and around the world, promoting macrobiotics, working to convey the philosophies of healthful, thoughtful eating.
But the real vegetarian boom came in the early 1970s following the publication of Frances Moore Lappé’s "Diet for a Small Planet." Published at a time when the world was beginning to register alarm over depletion of the earth’s resources, Lappé’s book raised awareness of the wasteful manner in which animals are reared for consumption as meat. Though not a vegetarian herself, Lappé promoted feeding ourselves in a healthful, respectful ways that made a gentler impact on the environment. Her book advocated a complicated methodology for eating complete proteins that involved combining food low in certain amino acids with other foods high in that amino acid – in later editions of the book she abandoned that method, saying, "In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought." While Lappé’s book was slow to gain popularity, in the three decades since its release its sold over three million copies and spawned a 2002 sequel, "Hope’s Edge" The Next Diet for a Small Planet," in which Lappé once again looks at the way we feed ourselves. In 2001, Lappé and her daughter, Anna, founded the Small Planet Institute, a research and education organization which partners with foundations, individuals and socially responsible businesses to promote "living democracy," a philosophy of sustainable, positive, working communities.
The ethical side of vegetarianism also received a boost in the mid-1970’s, with the publication of the book "Animal Liberation" by ethicist Peter Singer, which argued against what the author called "speciesism" – discrimination based on the belief that humans own animals and can do whatever they like with them. His contention that all beings capable of suffering should be granted equal consideration helped to promote not just vegetarianism but a vegan lifestyle, due to his belief that the use of animals for food is unjustifiable because it creates unnecessary suffering. A few years later in 1975, the non-profit group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was formed, founded on the tenet that "animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment." In addition to high profile campaigns against animal testing and fur farming, PETA has lobbied passionately against the use of animals for food. The group has had great success in uncovering and stopping inhumane treatment of animals in laboratories and in spreading awareness of veganism, particularly through their placement of "Lettuce Ladies" – lovely young women dressed only in bikinis made from lettuce – and a 2003 advertising campaign which compared animals killed in factory farms with concentration camp victims.
So Where Are We Now?
Vegetarianism is more popular and acceptable by mainstream society than ever before. The more that we learn about diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and with more meat-borne illnesses from E. Coli, Mad Cow disease and other bacterial infections on the rise, a vegetarian diet is a smarter option than at any time in the past. In a world where our natural resources are being depleted at a rate far faster than they can possibly be renewed, it makes more sense than ever to walk gently on the planet. Fortunately, the ranks of vegetarians are swelling as people figure these things out for themselves – with any luck, most of the world will come around to the vegetarian way of thinking, while we still have some of those resources left.
