COMMENTARY/HISTORY
Kay Stepkin
Veg history is vital to our movement
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.
CHICAGO’S
VEG BEGINNINGS
1889
» The Chicago
Vegetarian Society is
first incorporated. It is
restarted in 1943 and
1971 (by Stepkin).
1893
» Vegetarians from
around the world
come to Chicago
for the World’s
Fair, the site of the
Third International
Vegetarian Congress.
1895
» The Vegetarian Eating
Club in Chicago holds
the first known turkeyfree
Thanksgiving
dinner in the U.S.
1899
» Amos Alonzo
Stagg, coach of the
University of Chicago
Maroons football team,
convinces his players
to go vegetarian for
two seasons. At the end
of the second season,
they win the Western
Conference (today the
Big 10). The field was
renamed Stagg Field.
1900
» Chicago’s first veg
restaurant, the Pure
Food Lunch Room,
opens in the Loop.
Planted | 41
/veganmuseum.org