In the bachelor diploma thesis, I present veganism as eating practice, embedded to all levels of life. I aimed to examine underlying ideology and ways how eating habits affect an individual and his or her social relationships and partnerships. The diploma thesis is based on semi-structured and unstructured interviews with altogether ten vegans, using focused ethnographic observation. Due to the random sample and the small number of "research participants", the findings may not be valid for the wider population, but they nevertheless gave me valid information about vegans and their way of life. Key literature that I relied on when writing my thesis were the work of Sidney Mintz Tasting food, Tasting freedom: Excursions Into Eating, Culture and the Past, Samantha Hurn Humans and other animals: Cross-Culture Perspectives on Human-Animal Interactions, Nick Fiddes Meat: A Natural Symbol and Warren Belasca Food: The Key Concepts.
In today's postmodern Western society, one can observe a high increase in veganism, as evidenced by the increased number of vegan products, restaurants and discussions on it in the media. Individuals are deciding for veganism because of various ethical, environmental, health and political issues. Veganism in Slovenia is still considered a marginal practice, and is not favoured by the majority society. The disapproval of veganism can be attributed to ignorance of the community and the importance of meat throughout history. Meat was a symbol of power and masculine patriarchal society. Because eating and socializing are among the most basic human needs, and are regularly intertwined, changing eating habits can connect or differentiate individuals and groups, thereby affecting social relations and partnership.
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