Vegetarianism has existed since time immemorial. Pythagoras’s writings attest to its presence as far back as the sixth century C.E. While it had a first burst of development during the eighteenth century, it didn’t really begin to flourish until the late nineteeth century, when meat was seen as unnatural, and a source of illness for humans. Removing it from one’s diet meant eating more healthily.

Two major schools of nineteenth and twentieth-century thought – respect for a natural order and abstinence as an expression of the soul’s elevation – then contributed to its increasing popularity.

Since the 1960s, the recognition of animal rights and rejection of suffering imposed by humans, as well as environmental concerns, have created new foundations for the practice.

But in all eras, for its practitioners, vegetarianism has represented first and foremost a kind of personal fulfillment based on voluntary deprivation. The justifications – whether they concern health, spirituality, or politics – have always been minority schools of thought.

Being vegetarian means eliminating animal flesh from one’s diet. Valérie Chansigaud analyzes this practice, which has been growing for hygienic, religious and political reasons. She also explores the values that underpin it, and what the practice has to say about our relationship with nature and society.