Kathryn S. Kuhar Attendees of the 2017 Ivy League Vegan Conference, which was held from March 24 to March 26.

The purpose of the conference is to open up a dialogue about the potential power of plant-based diets to address the heaps of global issues, Nina Gheihman, co-organizer of the conference, says.

By Frank M. Cahill and Norah M. Murphy Mar 30, 2017

From March 24 to 26, Harvard hosted the 2017 Ivy League Vegan Conferenceand there wasnt a sign-wielding animal-rights picketer in sight.

We really are focusing not on trying to convert or influence peoples personal ideologies, says Nina Gheihman, a Ph.D candidate in Sociology and co-organizer of the conference. Instead, the conference presented itself as a platform for educational outreach and academic dialogue, attracting an audience less radical than one might expect: Students, academics, vegans, and non-vegans were all welcome at the event.

Vegan is not necessarily the best word because it does have this activist association, Gheihman says. The reason we use the word vegan is because its just the most familiar colloquially. Its a mouthful to say plant-based or bioethics.

For Gheihman, veganism is an easily accessible term to describe the intersection of many related fieldsamong them sustainability, environmentalism, animal rights, and food security. The purpose of the conference is to open up a dialogue about the potential power of plant-based diets to address the heaps of global issues, she says.

The Ivy League Vegan Conference is described by conference organizers as an event concept, meaning that there is no single event-organizing body. Instead, an affiliated organization at each participating school, such as the Harvard or Cornell Vegan Societies or the Yale Animal Welfare Alliance, spearheads the organization of each conference. The first was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in 2012, and this years event, held at Harvard, was the largest yet with over 300 attendees.

The Harvard Vegan Society, a club open to students across all of Harvards schools, organized this years conference. Gheihman serves as the clubs president, and Matthew N. Hayek, who just completed a Ph.D in Environmental Science and Engineering at GSAS, is the clubs vice president. Both played a central role in organizing this years Ivy League Vegan Conference.

Reflecting the conferences mission, a diverse line-up of speakers were invited to discuss a number of topics pertaining to veganism. On Friday, Law School professor Cass R. Sunstein spoke on behavioral economics and public policy. Another Law School professor, Kristen A. Stilt, addressed export practices of farmed animals. Saturday and Sunday featured various presentations and panels exploring topics from aquaculture and ocean ecology to biotechnology and its effects on public health.

This year was the first year that sponsorship played a role in the conference, and it left a corporate fingerprint. Stationed at the conferences entrance in front of a shimmery pink curtain, Unicorn Goods, the worlds largest vegan store, sold clothing and accessories. Whole Foods provided lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal-kit service, supplied dinner for Saturdays reception following a keynote speech by its CEO, Andrew N. Levitt. These sponsors, organizers say, are helping make the idea of a plant-based diet more visible in everyday life.

Right now, veganism is seen as this fringe movement and the [Ivy League Vegan Conference] is a really good concept to legitimize the idea of veganism and make it into a mainstream academic issue thats worthy of serious engagement, Hayek says. It was incredibly important for us to highlight for people what the future of food tastes like. It tastes great.

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More Than Just Tofu: The 2017 Ivy League Vegan Conference - Harvard Crimson