[fcarraldo]

I think Buddhists would disagree that humanity has survived solely as carnivores for thousands of years. Plenty of other cultures have existed on solely vegetarian/vegan diets as well, throughout history. Peasants within meat-eating cultures also did not always have frequent access to meat, and thus ate primarily vegetarian, or perhaps pescatarian. The idea that humans have always eaten meat and that it’s an essential part of the human diet is a myth.

[gorilla_fight]

What are these cultures which existed solely on vegan diets? Honest question, I searched but couldn't find the answer, there was a response on Quora which mentioned some Buddhists are vegan by default, and some Hindus and Essene Christians are vegetarian, but she "wasn't aware of any 100% vegan cultures."

I can understand vegetarian cultures surviving, since they can acquire essential nutrients through the animal products found in diary, but would be intrigued to find a vegan (plant-based only) culture. Was there perhaps one in the distant past or ?

[ppseafield]

You used to be able to acquire B12 from crops because some of the natural bacteria flora contained the cyanobacteria that make it. Modern farming's use of industrial pesticides means we can't use that as a source anymore.

The Jain's diet is largely plant-based. It allows for dairy, but only in the case that the cows aren't hurt as part of the process.

http://www.jainfoodie.com/jain-food-restrictions/

[fcarraldo]

I’m not an expert in the subject, but I don’t think we know. “Vegan” didn’t exist as a term until a few decades ago. Many Buddhist monks lived entirely vegan lifestyles, or so it is believed, but veganism doesn’t have a strict definition among vegans today. I probably should’ve just used the term “vegetarian”, but then I thought about the monks.