List of vegetarians

This is a list of notable people who have adhered to a vegetarian diet at some point during their life. In the cases where a person's vegetarian status is disputed or they no longer adhere to a vegetarian diet, this is noted next to their entry as disputed or former.

Mohandas Gandhi

Jane Goodall, British primatologist

Voltaire, French philosopher^[1]

Christine Lagarde

Paul McCartney

Martina Navratilova, Czech American tennis player

Surya Bonaly, French professional figure skater

Lo Wing-lok, Hong Kong doctor and politician

Adolf Hitler, German politician

Forest Whitaker, Academy Award-winning American actor

Natalie Portman, American-Israeli actress

Gustav Struve, German revolutionary

Pythagoras of Samos, Greek philosopher credited with the discovery of Pythagoras' theorem

Shania Twain, Canadian singer

George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright

Kate Bush, British singer-songwriter

Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist

Sharon den Adel, Dutch singer

Herschel Walker, American football player

Nicolette Kluijver, Dutch television presenter

Georgina Verbaan, Dutch actress

Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, born in Latvia

Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian singer and member of Swedish pop group ABBA

Frederik van Eeden, Dutch writer and psychiatrist

Julie Christie, British actress

Francisco van Jole, Dutch journalist

Isadora Duncan, American dancer often credited as the creator of modern dance

Jaime de Magalhães Lima, Portuguese writer and Tolstoyan

Leona Lewis, British singer and winner of the third series of The X Factor

Amílcar de Sousa, Portuguese physician, president of the first Portuguese vegetarian society

Mojo Mathers, New Zealand politician

Antoni Gaudí, Spanish Catalan architect

Shanna Moakler, American model crowned Miss USA 1995 and Playboy Playmate in 2001

John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, an important Early Church Father

Esther Ouwehand, Dutch politician

Dick Gregory, American comedian

John Harvey Kellogg, American doctor, best known as the inventor of corn flakes

Gabe Saporta, Uruguayan musician, lead singer of the synthpop band Cobra Starship

José Mujica, President of Uruguay since 2010

Yasmien Kurdi, Filipino singer, songwriter and actress

Faye Wong, Chinese singer

Vegetarians

Former vegetarians

Disputed vegetarians

This list includes only those for whom there is a legitimate dispute of the fact and omits those merely rumored of being a vegetarian, regardless of how widely such rumor is spread.

See also

• List of vegans

Notes

1. ↑ "He ate once a day, after sunset, sometimes once in two days, and often even in four. His food was bread and salt, his drink, water only. Of flesh and wine it is superfluous even to speak, since no such thing was found with the other earnest men."^{[17]:Paragraph 7}
2. ↑ (Original Dutch) V: "Wie is die man die 's zondags het vlees snijdt?" A: "De tofoe snijdt, want ik ben vegetariër." (Translation into English) Q: "Who is that man preparing the meat on Sunday?" A: "Preparing the tofu, because I am a vegetarian."^[67]
3. ↑ (Original Dutch) "Wat hebben Paul McCartney, Claudia de Breij, Erik Mouthaan en Pia Douwes met elkaar gemeen? [..] Ze zijn vegetariërs..." (Translation into English) "What do Paul McCartney, Claudia de Breij, Erik Mouthaan and Pia Douwes have in common? [..] They're vegetarians..."^[72]
4. ↑ Gregerson^[28](p21) observes: "As Zen roshi, Philip Kapleau points out (see his Cherish All Life), any attempt by Theravadins and others to attribute to the Buddha himself, words permitting the consumption of meat involve a blatant falsification and corruption of sacred texts!"
5. ↑ "I became a vegetarian in 1976 while watching a deer being butchered."^[109]
6. ↑ "It may be of interest to note, in view of his exuberant vigor and great powers of endurance, that d'Albert is a strict vegetarian"^[126](p196)
7. ↑ (Original Dutch) "Presentator Babs Assink vraagt vegetariër en dierenvriend 't Hart of het een angstaanjagend beeld is dat wij het varken tot op het bot verslinden." (Translation into English) "Presenter Babs Assink asks vegetarian and animal friend 't Hart whether or not it is a frightening image that we devour our pigs to the bone."^[206]
8. ↑ "If the FRS knew Hartley as a friend, he would know him to be a mathematician with a special interest in statistics, an amateur violinist, and a vegetarian who saw animals as bearing a "near relation" to humans."^[208]
9. ↑ Traudl Junge, who became Hitler's secretary in December 1942, wrote in her memoirs that he ate only side dishes, always avoiding meat.^[226] Likewise, Margot Wölk, who was forced to work as one of Hitler's food tasters at the Wolf's Lair (1941–1944), stated that all the food she tested for Hitler was vegetarian, and she recalled no meat or fish.^[227] Léon Degrelle, an acquaintance of Hitler, also recalled "He could not bear to eat meat, because it meant the death of a living creature. He refused to have so much as a rabbit or a trout sacrificed to provide his food. He would allow only eggs on his table, because egg-laying meant that the hen had been spared rather than killed."^[228] See also: the Vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler.
10. ↑ (Original Dutch) "Zijn gedrevenheid moet, zeggen velen, voortkomen uit religieus besef: de vegetariër Koffeman is net als zijn vrouw belijdend Zevende-dagsadventist, een klein protestants kerkgenootschap."' (Translation into English) "His determination has to, some say, come from religieus belief: the vegetarian Koffeman is just like his wife a practising Seventh-day Adventist, a small protestant denomination."^[274]
11. ↑ [1892] "Under Diefenbachs theosophical influence Kupka becomes a strict vegetarian and adopts a regime of daily physical exercises".^[283](p21)
12. ↑ [1894] "Meets Nazarene artist Karl Diefenbach, who advocates man's return to naure. Moves to Diefenbach's home and participates in communal life-style there, which features vegetarian cuisine, outdoor baths, nude exercising, discussions about spiritual issues, music, and painting."^[284](p408)
13. ↑ "True it is that Lamartine ate flesh and fish at one period of his life; but we have the authority of Douglas Jerrold's London Journal for assuring our readers that he is again a vegetarian."^[156](p222)
14. ↑ "Lamartine said that, despite his conventions, in adulthood he conformed to society by eating meat. But contemporaries recall that later in life Lamartine reconverted to vegetarianism after travelling through India, and lived in Paris like a Hindu vegetarian..."^[289](p214)
15. ↑ Jaime de Magalhães Lima (1859–1936) was a Portuguese writer born in Aveiro. He studied Law in the University of Coimbra. He was an admirer of Tolstoy and visited him in Russia. In 1912 he wrote the essay O Vegetarismo e a Moralidade das raças.^[318]
16. ↑ "The following season proved a very gloomy one for Mahler. Once more the "city of music" could furnish him no greater material consolation than that of a few piano-pupils. Evenings he would attach himself to a group of young, poverty-stricken Wagnerian enthusiasts and over a cup of coffee help wage the abstract battles of the music-dramatist's political and ethical doctrines. Of these sage utterances one the young musicians adopted unanimously was the proposal to regenerate mankind through strict, vegetarian diet. Perhaps the cost of meat-dishes had as much to do with this resolution as the realization that carnivorous humanity was going to the dogs. [...] Although two years had passed since those unforgettable meatless meetings of the young Wagnerians in Vienna, Mahler was in Olmuetz still a vegetarian, claiming bitterly that he went to the restaurant to starve."^{[322]:Chapter III}
17. ↑ "Keussler is also already here. A splendid fellow. After the Saturday evening rehearsal I'll be joining him for a vegetarian meal. (10 September 1908)";^(p254) "I'll presumably have to assume the role of 'the flesh pots in the land of Egypt'. Ouch! What a metaphor for a husband with vegetarian inclinations! (June 1909)."^(p272)[323]
18. ↑ 'O consumo de animais é supérfluo, não há razão para continuar a comê-los quando é tão fácil ser vegetariano', comentou Desidério Murcho, filósofo e vegetariano convicto ['The consumption of animals is unnecessary, there is no reason to continue to eat them when it is so easy to be vegetarian,' said Desiderio Murch, philosopher and vegetarian].^[372]
19. ↑ "I advocate eating nutritious food (I'm a vegetarian), working out, being in top form mentally and physically...".^{[382](pp172–173)}
20. ↑ (Original Dutch) "De koeien waren moe en zwak, maar werden toch de vrachtwagens ingeschopt en geslagen. Toen heb ik besloten daar niet mee aan mee te werken en vegetariër te worden." (Translation into English) "The cows were tired and weak and were brutally thrown into the trucks. At that point I decided to become a vegetarian and stop supporting this."^[401]
21. ↑ "Plotinus came from somewhere in Egypt and lived a frugal life. He was celibate and vegetarian and took little in the way of food, drink and sleep."^[411]
22. ↑ "Outro autor muito afamado de nossos dias, Raynal, era igualmente sóbrio. A senhora Marquesa de Alorna, que muitas vezes o teve a jantar, me contou, que nunca o vira comer mais que algumas poucas ervas e fruta, nem beber senão água."^{[425](pp281–282)}
23. ↑ (Original Dutch) "Of vlees-vrije stijlvolle godinnen als Marly van der Velden, Alyssa Milano, Isa Hoes, Jorinde Moll, Loretta Schrijver [..]" (Translation into English) "Or meat free stylish goddesses like Marly van der Velden, Alyssa Milano, Isa Hoes, Jorinde Moll, Loretta Schrijver [..]"^[451]
24. ↑ "Sextius thought, that there was food enough for man in the world without shedding blood; and that the taking pleasure in butchering helpless animals, only inspired men with cruelty."^[459]
25. ↑ (Original Dutch) "Of ik zelf ook vegetariër ben? [..] Zelf heb ik dat vlees echter niet meer nodig. Bovendien wil ik graag advocaat voor de dieren zijn en u snapt dat ik dan liever niet mijn eigenklanten opeet." (Translation into English) "Whether or not I am a vegetarian myself? [..] I do not to eat meat anymore. In fact, I want to defend the rights of animals (as a lawyer) and I guess you understand I would rather not eat my own clients"^[491]
26. ↑ "Repin's contemporary the prominent sculptor Paolo Trubetskoi was also sympathetic to theosophical ideas and was a vegetarian and confirmed antivivisectionist".^[496]
27. ↑ (Original Dutch) V: "Waarom ben je vegetariër?" A: "'Ik vind het onzin om vlees te eten terwijl er tegenwoordig genoeg vleesvervangers zijn. Vlees eten is ontzettend zielig voor de diertjes. Ik ben dus zeker al twee jaar vegetariër." (Translation into English) Q: "Why are you a vegetarian?" A: "I think there is no sense in eating meat since there are loads of alternatives available. Eating meat, it's so sad for those poor animals. So I have been a vegetarian for at least two years."^[502]
28. ↑ "[..] or Zara Whites, a former Dutch porn actress. The militant vegetarian made a half-naked appearance at the last 'Salon International de l'Agriculture'"[..]^[518]
29. ↑ He (Wright) did not smoke or eat meat, rarely drank alcohol, and exercised with a rare determination".^[525]
30. ↑ Although Louisa May Alcott is in many famous vegetarians lists, she probably wasn't a vegetarian. It appears that although she was raised a vegetarian by her father Amos Bronson Alcott, she didn't maintain that diet. Vegetarian historian Rynn Berry wrote: "Whereas Amos Bronson Alcott remained a vegetarian for the rest of his life – refusing to consume milk, eggs, fish, meat, and cheese, or wear leather or woollen clothing – his wife and their four daughters were backsliders."^[26](p133)
31. ↑ DiCaprio was vegetarian when first meeting Paltrow, though later in life eat meats at a dinner with Tobey Macquire, a vegan.;^[545][546]
32. ↑ David Duchovny identified as a vegetarian in the late 1990s;^[547][548] however in recent years he has been regarded as a pescetarian.^[549]
33. ↑ "The passage from Gaskell has persuaded many vegetarians that Charlotte Brontë was one of their number. In fact, even as children, the Brontë siblings ate flesh, both according to their father and to the friends. Moreover, the diaries of the Brontë children refer to their meals and their menus, all of which contain a flesh component."^[207](p241)
34. ↑ Einstein was known to be sympathetic to the vegetarian cause: "Although I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly vegetarian diet, I have long been an adherent to the cause in principle."^[581] It is also possible that Einstein adopted a vegetarian diet in the final year of his life: a single letter to Hans Muehsam, dated 30 March 1954 states that he was vegetarian; while in a letter to Max Kariel seven months earlier, he said that he was not.^[582]
35. ↑ Although Emerson appears in many un-sourced "Famous Vegetarian" Lists in the internet, he was not a vegetarian: "Once, while Amos Bronson Alcott (a vegetarian) sat at Ralph Waldo Emerson's dinner table, his host discussed the savagery of cannibalism. Emerson was carving a roast as he told his tale. Alcott joked with his nonvegetarian friend: "But Mr. Emerson, if we are to eat meat at all why should we not eat the best?"^[8](p58)
36. ↑ "Ford, not a vegetarian, was obsessed with soybeans […]"^[8](p157)
37. ↑ Some sources state that Jobs was pescetarian rather than vegetarian.^[590]
38. ↑ "Ancient sources sometimes identify Plato as a vegetarian, but none of these were his contemporaries, and it is not clear whether their authors knew for a fact that he ate no meat, or were making an assumption based on the vegetarian passages in The Republic and the Laws and the obvious Pythagorean influence in Plato's philosophy."^[27](p33)
39. ↑ "Another list named Shakespeare, the economic and social theorist Adam Smith (an advocate but not a practitioner), and that avid hunter Prince Charles as "famous vegetarians." There is no evidence to support the vegetarianism of any one of them – and a great deal to indicate otherwise.".^[207](p21)"Even Shakespeare who was no vegetarian was burlesquing the Pythagorean theory of reincarnation […]"^[26](p4)
40. ↑ Norm Phelps argues that Socrates was not a vegetarian.^{[27](pp32–33)}
41. ↑ And numerous lists of vegetarians include both Henry David Thoreau and Charles Darwin, neither of whom gave up flesh or claimed to do so."^[594]
42. ↑ Mark Twain is on many famous vegetarian lists, however these lists fail to provide evidence to substantiate the claim. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, the editor of The Mark Twain's Book of Animals writes that "Twain was not a vegetarian himself".^[595]
43. ↑ Lilli Lehmann, My Path Through Life (1914): "We stayed to a meal with the Wagners, during which he talked much about vegetarianism that he wanted to adopt entirely, but his physician was opposed to it. After what I know of it to-day from my own experience, I am certain that Wagner, without going to the extremes of vegetarianism, would have found it a means of lengthening his life."

References