From traditional and ethnic to modern and nationless: the case of Palestinian and Arab vegans in Israel

This article examines meanings that citizens of Israel, who self-identify as Palestinians or Arabs (P&ACIs), instill into veganism and how they mobilize it to obscure their ethnicity and facilitate venues for improving their social positioning in Israel. It argues that the practice of veganism complicates the distinction between traditional and modern food practices. Although Palestinian and Arab cuisines are rich in plant-based dishes, which vegans around the world incorporate into their daily eating, the study participants recognize their essentiality and yet do not see them as an integral part of a vegan diet but rather as dishes they associate with poverty and traditionalism. Veganism, conversely, is perceived as a marker of modernity that provides intrinsic rewards, as it exposes practitioners to global consumption patterns that connect them to something greater than their local community. Moreover, P&ACIs use veganism to expand the notion of a double consciousness to lifestyle practices by providing the opportunity to symbolically partake in an Arab cultural world without being part of it. They construct a vegan-Arab identity that they see as enabling the blurring of national and ethnic boundaries and obscuring the Palestinian and Israeli components of their identity. Although providing them with a sense of freedom from community and state control, the practice of veganism fails to equip them with the necessary cultural capital and resources to keep them away from Israel.