Planted, Chicago's Vegan Magazine
Kay Stepkin, president of The Vegan Museum, has been featured in Planted magazine. Read the full article below!
“Veg history is vital to our movement”
By: Kay Stepkin
"The Vegan Museum is the first institution in our country - in the world! - to house and archive artifacts of vegan culture and practice. The story of veganism is long, complicated and fascinating: from its historical beginnings in some traditions as vegetarianism, to the knowledge that health comes to us from the soil through our food, to exposing the horrors our industrial farming system inflicts upon farmed animals, to the ecological and spiritual understanding of the interconnectedness of all life.
I have been working full time for vegetarianism, and more recently veganism, since 1971. That year, I opened what I thought was Chicago's first vegetarian business, the Bread Shop, a 100% whole-grain bakery with an adjacent bulk food store and a restaurant across the street. The restaurant, renamed The Chicago Diner, is still open and owned by two former employees. In addition to opening the Bread Shop, I was president of the Chicago Vegetarian Society for six years, produced a TV cooking series called "Go Veggie! with Kay" and wrote a bi-weekly vegan column, "The Veggie Cook,'' for the Chicago Tribune. So, I thought I knew all about Chicago's vegetarian history.
Then, about five years ago, I went on the radio show "Live From the Heartland" to talk about Chicago's vegetarian past, which both the host and I thought I knew. After the show, I received requests to speak to other Chicago organizations. So I decided to do a little internet research on Chicago's vegetarian history, as perhaps there were one or two little tidbits I didn't know. I was astounded by what I discovered. I realized that if I knew so little about our history, so did almost everyone else.
I learned that America's vegetarian movement started in the early 1800s in Philadelphia when 40 members of the Bible Christian Church migrated here from England and grew in the mid-1800s when the American Vegetarian Society formed. Most interesting is that the locus of the movement moved to Chicago in 1893 when the Third International Vegetarian Congress came to the World's Columbian Exposition (aka the World's Fair). The Congress - complete with speakers, meetings and a vegetarian display - drew hundreds of vegetarians from all over the world.
Unfortunately, vegetarianism in the United States came almost to a standstill in the early 1900s and revived only in the 1970s. I have a theory about the timing: What stopped vegetarianism is World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. After these dramatic and devastating events, the movement geared up again when vegetarians had the energy necessary to take action on things other than mere survival.
Knowing you have a history is important. It's similar to the difference between facing the world alone or having a strong and caring family or community behind you. While I was learning more, I also realized that if I and my contemporaries didn't know about our history, young people didn't know either. The young are our future, and they need to know they have the wisdom, support and resources of those who came before.
We could easily have another world war or economic depression with the mess our world is in today: great epidemics of sickness and suffering, violence, the sixth mass extinction affecting both plant and animal life, and extreme climate change. We do not want our vegetarian history and momentum to get lost as it did in the mid-20th century.
Today, in the middle of an old order crumbling, our great vegan movement is exploding, gaining adherents, strength and respect. Our work at The Vegan Museum matters to the movement and, more broadly, to all human society. The museum keeps the story and lessons of our vegetarian past alive while promoting veganism in the present for our health, the environment and all living beings."
"Kay Stepkin has been a leader in Chicago's veg movement for 50 years. She founded The Vegan Museum in 2016 after discovering she didn't open the city's first vegetarian restaurant in 1971 and that Chicago's vegetarian history instead dates back to the 1800s. Visit veganmuseum.org."
Thank you, Planted magazine!
Planted, Chicago's Vegan Magazine, is available for sale online.
You may also pick up copies of the magazine during Vegan Paradise, an outdoor market at The Plant from 11 am – 3 pm, every Sunday through October (when Planted magazine is in attendance).