Famous vegetarians

12 Famous Vegetarians In History

Pythagoras

Pythagoras is considered by many to be the father of vegetarianism. Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician during the 6th century BC whose life and works continue to influence society thousands of years later. For Pythagoras, a vegetarian diet was a vital element in creating a more harmonious world, free from violence and warfare. According to his biographer Iamblichus, Pythagoras "enjoined abstinence from the flesh of animals, because it is conducive to peace; for those who are accustomed to abominate the slaughter of other animals. as iniquitous and unnatural, will think it still more unjust and unlawful to kill a man or to engage in war."

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonarda Da Vinci is one of the most acclaimed artists in history. Best known for paintings like the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, historical documents indicate that Da Vinci was also a vegetarian and cared deeply about animals. Da Vinci said: "I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the leader of the peaceful resistance that led to India's independence from Great Britain. Gandhi is revered as a practitioner and teacher of nonviolence. Vegetarianism was a key piece of Gandhi's ethic. He preached about the importance of a vegetarian diet for decades, promoting it as not only a healthy choice, but a moral imperative. Gandhi is known to have said: "The most violent weapon on earth is the table fork."

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka is widely considered one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. He was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist best known for novels and short stories, such as The Metamorphosis. Kafka was vegetarian for health and ethical reasons. On one occasion, while viewing a fish at an aquarium, he said: "Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more."

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer and one of the most acclaimed novelists in history. His most famous works-War and Peace and Anna Karenina-are considered two of the greatest novels of all time. Tolstoy was also a passionate vegetarian for the last 23 years of his life. He explained his vegetarianism this way: "A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral."

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor and engineer who secured roughly 300 patents over the course of his life. He is best known for contributing to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. Tesla subscribed to a vegetarian diet for health and ethical reasons. He wrote: "Every effort should be made to stop the wanton, cruel slaughter of animals, which must be destructive to our morals."

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison is one of the most famous inventors in history. Edison is credited with contributing to the invention of the phonograph, motion picture camera, and early iterations of the light bulb. Some sources suggest that Edison tried a vegetarian diet while recovering from an illness. Due to the positive impact of the transition on his health, Edison chose to continue a meat-free lifestyle after his recovery.

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was a prolific Irish playwright known for his role in revolutionizing comedic drama. Shaw is one of only two people to have ever won both an Academy Award and a Nobel Prize in Literature. Shaw also lived the last seventy years of his life as a vegetarian. He is known for saying: "Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends."

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. He developed the theory of general relativity and the equation for the relationship between mass and energy (E=mc²), and he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. Einstein was also an outspoken pacifist, civil rights advocate, and vegetarian. Einstein said: "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks is often considered the "Mother of the Modern Civil Rights Movement." In 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a White person, which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her act of nonviolent resistance played a critical role in the desegregation of public transportation in the US. When Parks developed heart problems later in her life, she became a vegetarian. Parks said of her childhood: "I was not in the practice of eating a lot of meat. We had peach, apple, plums. We would go into the woods and eat blackberries. It was not hard at all for me to not eat meat. It was something that I wanted to do."

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was a labor and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1962. He was a tireless advocate for the rights of farm workers and helped to secure better wages, working conditions, and legal protections for this vulnerable population. As part of his commitment to nonviolence, Chavez also practiced vegetarianism. Chavez said: "I became a vegetarian after realizing that animals feel afraid, cold, hungry and unhappy like we do. I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom."

Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King was an author and activist who married civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. King continued to advocate for peace and social justice after her husband's assassination in 1968. King believed compassion should be extended not just to humans, but to non-human animals as well, and that vegetarianism was a natural extension of her husband's philosophy of nonviolence. Later in her life, King adopted a fully vegan diet.

This is just a short list of the many historical figures who have chosen a vegetarian lifestyle. Other famous vegetarians include St. Anthony of Egypt (Anthony the Great), author Mary Shelley, and businessman John Harvey Kellogg, as well as individuals who are still living today such as Senator Cory Booker and primatologist Jane Goodall.

Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore is a household name, but did you know she's also a long-time animal advocate? Barrymore has a long list of accomplishments in film and television-from her childhood role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to leading roles in Charlie's Angels and The Wedding Singer to her present-day talk show The Drew Barrymore Show. Barrymore was raised vegetarian as a child and even tried a vegan diet in her 20s. She currently eats mostly vegetarian and even serves as "Chief Mom Officer" for a plant-based meat brand named Quorn.

Lizzo

The singer and rapper Lizzo-known for hits like "Good as Hell" and "About Damn Time"-committed to a plant-based diet in 2020. Lizzo is known for her powerful voice, body positivity message, and advocacy for self-love and acceptance. On veganism, Lizzo says: "I'm not a vegan to lose weight, I just feel better when I eat plants."

Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone is an actress, author, and animal rights activist. Silverstone rose to fame in the 1990s for her roles in movies such as Clueless and Batman & Robin. Silverstone is a strong advocate for animal welfare and has even written books on veganism and environmentalism. Reflecting on veganism, Silverstone says: "Being vegan truly is the secret to my life's joy and peace." Click here to learn more about Alicia Silverstone and her support for The Humane League.

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. She has since become one of the most successful country music artists in the world, with hit songs such as "Before He Cheats" and "Jesus Take the Wheel." Underwood is an animal-lover and subscribes to a vegetarian-and mostly vegan-diet.

Russell Brand

Russell Brand is an English comedian, actor, and writer best known for his stand-up comedy, as well as his roles in hit films like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. Brand says that he hasn't eaten meat since he was 14, and today, he eats a vegan diet, free from all animal products.

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix has appeared in many critically-acclaimed films, including Gladiator, Walk the Line, and Joker. Phoenix has won multiple awards, including an Academy Award for Best Actor. But he's not just passionate about film, he also cares deeply about animal rights. Phoenix has been vegan since he was 3 years old. Phoenix says: "When we were younger and we went vegan, it really wasn't about health. We did it because of the mental ramifications of our understanding of animal agriculture. It was really just about compassion. But now we're becoming aware of the impact our consumption is having on the entire planet. And so it no longer feels like simply just a personal choice." Phoenix participates in on-the-ground activism like marches and animal rescues, while also producing documentaries about veganism and animal protection.

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus originally rose to fame for her leading role in the Disney series Hannah Montana. Since then, she has become a successful solo artist, known for songs like "Party in the U.S.A." and "Wrecking Ball." Cyrus has experimented with veganism and currently describes herself as pescatarian.

Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu is an award-winning singer-songwriter who has often been dubbed the "Queen of Neo Soul." Badu is also known for her advocacy work on various social issues, including race, gender and animal protection. Badu has been meat-free for twenty years and identifies as vegan.

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman is an accomplished actress, director, and producer. Portman won Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role in Black Swan in 2011. Portman has been vegetarian since the age of nine and went vegan in 2011 after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Portman is also motivated by the connection between animal protection and other social justice issues, like gender equality. Portman says: "Only after I became active in women's issues did I realize that my veganism was related to those very issues. Dairy and eggs don't just come from cows and chickens, they come from female cows and female chickens. We're exploiting female bodies and abusing the magic of female animals to create eggs and milk."

Billie Eilish

Singer Billie Eilish has become one of the most popular and influential artists of her generation. She gained fame at a young age for her debut single "Ocean Eyes." Eilish has won multiple Grammy Awards and has broken records with her chart-topping music. A passionate vegan activist, Eilish was raised vegetarian and chose to go vegan at the age of 12. Eilish says: "Once I learned about how animals are treated in our industrial food system, I didn't want any part of it."

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney is a British musician best known as a songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist for the hit band The Beatles, but Paul is also an outspoken vegetarian. He has often been quoted as saying, "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." Some sources suggest that Paul hasn't eaten meat since 1975, when he saw lambs running around a field while eating a meal of lamb.

Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell is an actress known for her lead roles on hit shows like Veronica Mars and The Good Place. Kristen has been a vegetarian since she was eleven years old, and she has also experimented with veganism. Kristen says: "I, personally, very much believe in being a conscientious eater. I think being vegan is a wonderful way to live and it has great effects on the body. I also think it has really good effects on the environment."

Conclusion

It's hard to keep up with all the celebrities moving towards a plant-based diet. A few other well-known individuals living vegetarian and vegan lifestyles include Pamela Anderson, Mayim Bialik, Rooney Mara, Billy Idol, Kate Winslet, Ariana Grande, and Serena and Venus Williams.

As many of the famous vegetarians above can attest to, a plant-based diet can benefit your health, the environment, and animals. Reducing your consumption of meat can have a positive impact on your life and the world around you. 

Ready to try more plant-based foods? Whether you start with a Meatless Monday or a fully vegan diet, eating vegetarian or vegan is easier now than ever before. Cutting edge plant-based proteins like Beyond Meat and Impossible Meat products, which remarkably mimic the taste and texture of conventional meats, are widely available in many grocery stores and restaurants. Countless easy and affordable vegetarian and vegan recipes are available online. By trying more plant-based foods, you are joining a growing movement towards a more compassionate and sustainable world. You can take inspiration from the many famous vegetarians who came before you to lead the way to a kinder future.