The History of Dietary Identities
- David Bell
- Jul 13
- 7 min read
Diet labels are more than food rules: they tell people who we are. In this history, I trace how food moved from religion and philosophy to public identity, from ahimsa and the Pythagorean diet to vegetarian, vegan, pescetarian, flexitarian, and now Cultivarian.
Here’s the short version:
I show that dietary identity is about belief, class, politics, religion, and ethics, not just meals.
I link early meat-free ideas to Jainism, Buddhism, and Pythagorean thought.
I explain why Britain mattered so much, especially in the 19th century and again in 1944, when Donald Watson coined “vegan”.
I show how named labels changed public debate by turning private habits into group identities.
I end with cultivated meat and Cultivarianism, where meat stays on the plate but slaughter does not.
A few facts stand out. The article notes that organised vegetarian movements took shape in 19th-century Britain, and that the term vegan was coined in England in 1944. It also points to social psychology research showing that labels such as vegetarian, pescetarian, and flexitarian can mark stable group identity.
The religious roots of diet culture | Sophia Day | TEDxTufts
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Quick comparison
Identity or idea | Core rule | Main driver | What it signals |
Ahimsa-based eating | Avoid harm in food | Religion and ethics | Moral discipline |
Pythagorean diet | Meat-free living | Philosophy and soul-belief | Group belonging |
Vegetarianism and plant-based diets | No meat | Reform, ethics, health | Public moral stance |
Veganism | No animal products | Animal ethics | Stronger ethical line |
Pescetarianism | Fish, but no meat | Mixed motives | Middle ground |
Flexitarianism | Mostly plant-based, some meat | Moderation | Loose food identity |
Cultivarianism | Cultivated meat over slaughtered meat | Ethics plus science | Meat without slaughter |
If you want the main point in one line, it’s this: new diet labels appear when values and food systems change.
Early roots of dietary identity in religion and philosophy
Long before anyone started using the word "vegetarian", people were already tying food to morality, discipline and group identity. What you ate could show what you believed, how you lived, and where you felt you belonged.
Ancient ideas about non-harm, purity and meat-free diets
In ancient India, the idea of ahimsa - "non-violence" or "non-harming" - moved beyond ritual and became an ethical rule that shaped eating habits.[1][8][15] Early Vedic texts accepted meat and animal sacrifice as part of everyday life. Later writings, though, placed non-harm alongside truthfulness and charity.[1][8]
From around the 6th century BCE, Jainism and Buddhism took that idea much further. Jain thinkers treated ahimsa as an absolute duty and rejected meat because killing brought needless harm to living beings.[4][12] Those beliefs still shape Jain food practice today.[13][14] Buddhist teaching, meanwhile, tied compassion for all sentient beings to spiritual progress. It criticised large-scale animal slaughter as both morally corrupting and spiritually damaging.[4][7] In that setting, food rules were not just about diet. They showed spiritual discipline in ordinary daily life. Over time, these ideas travelled across places and generations, and later influenced reform movements in Europe.
Early British and European reform movements
In the Mediterranean world, Pythagoras of Samos (late 6th century BCE) offered a similar line of thought. His followers kept a meat-free diet, later called the Pythagorean diet, based on beliefs about the transmigration of souls.[5][9][17] If an animal might hold a human soul, then killing it for food became a moral wrong. The diet also worked as a social signal. It set Pythagorean groups apart from other citizens through visible rules about food, clothing and ritual.[5][9] The name stayed in common European use well into the 19th century, long before "vegetarian" became common.[17] In other words, diet was not only a rule. It was a sign of belonging.
In Britain and Europe, religious dissenters and reformers carried these older ideas forward and linked food choice to conscience and character. The Quakers stressed simplicity and restraint, including in diet, as a witness against excess and vanity.[3][6][10] Their work in causes such as the abolition of slavery and prison reform strengthened the sense that what you ate could serve as proof of moral sincerity. The Bible Christian Church, founded in early 19th-century Britain, went further by requiring vegetarianism from its members and helping spread that dietary ideal to North America.[16]
At the same time, writers such as Percy Bysshe Shelley argued that meat consumption was inherently cruel, casting meat avoidance as part of compassion and justice.[2][11] Taken together, these religious and philosophical strands turned food choice into a public sign of conscience. That move - from private restraint to public identity - helped set the stage for the named dietary labels that came later.
How modern dietary labels formed in Britain and beyond
In nineteenth-century Britain, industrialisation and reform movements turned dietary practice into a public identity with a name. That shift mattered because, once a diet had a label, it could become a movement, an argument and, over time, a moral choice in public life.
Vegetarianism becomes an organised identity
Vegetarianism became a named, organised identity in nineteenth-century Britain. What had once been a scattered practice started to look like a shared public label that people could claim, defend and rally around.
Veganism, pescetarianism and flexitarianism widen the range
Later labels such as veganism, pescetarianism and flexitarianism widened the vocabulary for people whose diets sat between fixed categories. In plain terms, food identity stopped being just one lane or another. These labels also carried clearer ethical claims about animals and the environment.
Why named identities changed public debate
Labels made dietary values easier to see. They helped people explain their choices, spot others with similar views and take part in public debate about food, health and ethics. The same logic later opened space for a new identity built around meat without slaughter. This shift highlights the differences between cultivated and traditional meat in production and ethics.
Modern food ethics and the path to cultivated meat
How industrial farming changed the moral meaning of meat
As industrial farming grew, concern about animal welfare and the environmental impact grew with it. Meat stopped being just a habit on the plate. It became an ethical and environmental choice.
That change mattered. For many people, eating meat was no longer only about taste, cost, or routine. It started to carry moral weight.
Cultivated meat as a scientific and ethical milestone
Cultivated meat is meat grown from animal cells without raising or slaughtering animals, which makes it a major moment in food ethics. It keeps meat on the table while taking slaughter out of production.
Food type | Production method | Animal welfare implications |
Conventional meat | Raising and slaughtering animals | Involves animal slaughter |
Cultivated meat | Grown from animal cells | No slaughter required |
Once meat can be made without slaughter, dietary identity can move from avoidance to replacement. In plain terms, people no longer have to choose only between eating meat and refusing it. A new identity becomes possible: choosing meat without slaughter.
That is where Cultivarianism comes in, as the identity for people who choose cultivated meat.
Cultivarianism in the history of dietary identities
What makes Cultivarianism a distinct identity
Cultivarianism gives cultivated meat a clear name as a dietary identity. It is the latest label to emerge from the long shift from dietary restriction to ethical food choice, built around one idea: choosing cultivated meat over slaughtered meat.
It keeps meat in the diet, but changes the way that meat is made. In that sense, it joins compassion with practical food science, and treats cultivated meat as both a scientific and ethical change.
The Cultivarian Society defines and represents Cultivarians: people who choose cultivated meat over slaughtered meat.
Why Cultivarianism fits the present moment in the UK
In the UK today, that identity speaks directly to current concerns about animal welfare and the taste versus ethical considerations in food production, the same moral questions that shaped earlier dietary identities. It gives people who want to keep eating meat a clear identity based on cultivated meat and no slaughter.
Conclusion: From meat avoidance to meat without slaughter
Across the history of dietary identities, new labels tend to appear when values and technologies change. Cultivarianism names the move from avoiding meat to choosing meat without slaughter. For people who want ethics and continuity with meat-eating culture, it offers a clear identity.
FAQs
Why did Britain shape so many diet labels?
Britain helped shape many diet labels because food culture became closely linked to ethics, social duty and health. Since the early 1800s, people have often used dietary choices to show what they stand for and where they belong.
As industrialisation changed the way people ate, it also sparked concern about food production and animal welfare. Labels gave people a clear way to define part of their identity. That same pattern still shows up now in newer terms such as Cultivarian.
How is Cultivarianism different from avoiding meat?
Cultivarianism takes a different path. It doesn’t ask people to give up meat. Instead, it keeps meat on the plate and changes the way that meat is made.
Cultivarians choose cultivated meat - real meat grown from animal cells in controlled conditions - as a way to reject animal slaughter. The focus is on the source of the meat, not on cutting meat out of the diet altogether.
Can cultivated meat create a real dietary identity?
Yes. Cultivarianism creates a dietary identity by separating eating meat from animal slaughter. It gives people a way to keep eating meat while bringing their food choices more in line with ethical and environmental views.
It also gives people a clear, open label if they reject industrial slaughter but don't want a vegetarian or vegan diet. That matters more than it might seem. Food isn't just fuel; it's tied to habit, meaning, and shared rituals. Cultivarianism lets people show their principles through everyday meals without giving up meat altogether.
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