What do vegans know and how do they learn? Veganism as a social text and a form of knowledge

ABSTRACT

This paper suggests looking at veganism as a set of knowledge that produces and reproduces habitual food practices and changes in semiotic habits and the meanings attached to foods. A semiotic analysis of veganism as a system of knowledge suggests its being a translated text that recognizes scientific and medical knowledge and the non-vegan alimentary system. However, it reconfigures them by communicating a series of signs whose meanings reverse those suggested by omnivores. The identification of signs that constitute the vegan knowledge enables me to look at veganism as complex system, in which syntagmatic and associative relationships are not fully determined (Barthes [1984]. Elements of Semiology. New York: Hill and Wang). Although contesting the essentiality of animal-based foods, vegan meals suggest two overlapping approaches to meals. In one, the plant-based protein serves as the centrepiece of the meal, imitating conventional meals. The other offers an alternative meal structure, in which syntagmatic relations are constructed as a sequence of daily meals, each consisting of an aggregation of simultaneously served dishes out of which diners construct their own repast, thus broadening the scope of associative relationships .

KEYWORDS:

• Veganism
• text
• syntagmatic relations
• associative relations

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Liora Gvion

Liora Gvion is a qualitative sociologist whose areas of expertise are the sociology of food and the sociology of the body. Her research on the social and political aspects of Palestinian food in Israel matured into two books (Carmel Press and University of California press) and about 10 articles that have been published in major journals. She has studied the ways by which identities have been negotiated, constructed and performed in master chef Israel. Her studies of the body revolved around looking at professional bodies such as the dancer’s body or the opera singer’s body as well as the lesbian body.