Veganism is most often written about and discussed in the context of health, animal rights, and environmental stewardship. Each of those is important, yet there isn’t much about veganism in the context of business. As veganism’s presence grows in business around the world, vegan entrepreneurs and their experiences may offer valuable insights into what it’s like to operate a vegan business.
Curious to learn about those insights, Ben started a grad school research project in 2020 where he met with 12 vegan entrepreneurs in Vancouver, B.C., to converse with them about their experiences of operating a vegan business.
In the following academic blog series, Ben will explore how the vegan philosophy is experienced by those vegan entrepreneurs in the Vancouver neighborhoods of Kitsilano and Mt. Pleasant. The first blog of the series reviews topics in which veganism is commonly discussed, like health, and others where it’s seldom discussed, like culture and religion. The second and third blogs introduce the ways in which the vegan philosophy shapes the philosophies and mission statements of vegan businesses and how it may guide decisions in sustainable and ethical tourism. The fourth and fifth blogs describe the participating vegan businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as the history of how vegetarianism – and later veganism – arrived in Kitsilano Mount Pleasant in the 20th century. The series then wraps with Ben’s autobiographical account of the insights he gained from his visits at the vegan businesses and how they address current issues.
We invite you to come along and learn of the fascinating ways vegan entrepreneurs interpret the vegan philosophy and use it to approach different matters in one of the vegan-friendly cities in the world. Join us as we explore Ben’s Vegan Vancouver!
Review of Purpose When I visited Vancouver for the first time in 2017, I was …
Introduction: Tears on the Rainbow Road It was late September and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky or sliver of shade as the
Introduction Spring had just arrived in the neighbourhood, and the trees and along the street seemed to be celebrating the occasion as their hues of
When my wife, Brianne, and I visited Vancouver, B.C., for the first time in 2017, we were familiar with the city’s reputation for being home
Vancouver is home to more than 40 vegan businesses, and many of them are located in the neighbourhoods of Kitsilano and Mount Pleasant (Happy Cow,
Are Vegans Rude to Grandma? 2017 was a year of many new transitions for Brianne and me. We got married, put most of our belongings
Inspiration in a Diner “In the diners in all the world…this one has vegan options?!” True, my reaction was cliché, and could have even been
Weeks before much of the world became familiar with lockdowns and quarantines, I was ascending and descending the many dynamic hills of San Francisco. I
Relevance In both popular culture and in academia, vegan philosophy is most often discussed within the context of animal rights and diet. These two subjects
Our names are Benjamin Hagerty and Brianne Nemiroff. We’re a married couple originally from California. Since we became a couple in 2009, we have always been passionate about travel, both locally and abroad. We were inspired to take a long-term trip in 2017 to explore more of Canada and the U.S. and we soon realized that this wasn’t just a lengthy trip, but a new lifestyle choice, and that we were destined to explore.
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