The Gender Politics Of The Vegan Diet

Mixed martial arts fighter Cornell Ward (from left), chef Daniel Strong, triathlete Dominic Thompson, lifestyle blogger Joshua Katcher and competitive bodybuilder Giacomo Marchese at a vegan barbecue in Brooklyn, N.Y. Courtesy of James Koroni

Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for this article and accompanying podcast on the masculinity of men denying themselves animal protein:

For These Vegans, Masculinity Means Protecting The Planet

by NEDA ULABY

…Thompson grew up in a rough Chicago housing project. He was the kind of kid who would rush in to save stray cats or dogs if he saw people picking on them.

“[There’s] nothing more cowardly to me than taking advantage of something that’s defenseless,” he says.

Today, Thompson is the kind of adult who checks clothing labels to make sure he never buys leather, wool or products tested on animals. “To me, compassion is the new cool,” he says.

The host of this all-male vegan barbecue is Joshua Katcher, who founded the men’s lifestyle website, The Discerning Brute. He also designs high-end vegan menswear that has caught the attention of such men’s magazines as GQ andEsquire.

In an era of climate change and environmental destruction, Katcher thinks masculinity should be re-framed as protecting the planet, not dominating it.

“Mainstream masculinity is a roadblock to sustainability,” he says, adding that since he stopped eating or using products that hurt animals, he’s occasionally been made to feel unmanly. “It’s considered a sign of weakness to other men — like you’ve left the club.”

Leaving the club is actually nothing new. Pomona College professor Kyla Wazana Tompkins, who studies gender, food and culture, says American men have done it for more than a 100 years, stretching back to the 1800s.

“One particular group of radical food thinkers advocated a kind of manliness based on vegetarianism,” she says.

Those men included Sylvester Graham, a vegetarian after whom the graham cracker was named, and Bronson Alcott, a vegan and father of Louisa May Alcott, who wrote Little Women. Alcott saw his veganism as a continuation of his advocacy against slavery and for women’s rights. According to his daughter, though, Alcott never did any cooking.

Tompkins is a meat eater (as is this reporter), but she finds something very masculine about following a vegan diet. It’s “total control … of the body,” she says.

Something hardcore about veganism does seem to appeal to some men. In fact, according to a Harris Poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, more women are vegetarian than men, but slightly more men are vegan.

John Joseph of the punk band the Cro-Mags and author of a pro-vegan manifesto has rejected animal products for more than 30 years. “I come from jails and gyms where guys were eating Alpo burgers,” he says. “The dudes were like, ‘If it’s good enough for my pit bull, it’s gonna give me more strength and energy!’ ”

Obviously, Alpo burgers are off the menu at the vegan barbecue in Brooklyn. “These are our beet burgers,” says grillmeister Dan Strong. He’s a professional vegan chef who trained in New York’s finest kitchens.

“I was mostly a butcher,” he admits.

But then Strong met a beautiful vegan at the restaurant where he worked and converted to impress her. Now the two run a popular vegan food stand called Chickpea and Olive. Being vegan has made Strong think a lot about how American men are not encouraged to show feelings. He does that now, he says, every time he sits down to a meal…