The Boston Globe coins a ridiculous new term for manly men who don't mind eating their veggies
Not to be outdone by the New York Times Style section’s seemingly inexhaustible capacity for coining ridiculous words (see blipster, recessionista), the Boston Globe has a trend piece today that contains one of the most entertaining food-related neologisms in recent memory. In the article, the Globe’s Kathleen Pierce writes about the supposed hot new trend of the male vegan — men who refuse to eat meat and animal products and yet somehow manage to hold on to their masculinity. And because male vegan is far too unwieldy, she’s invented a new word: hegan.
What is a hegan, you might ask? They are, Pierce claims, “the new face of veganism”: “Men in their 40s and 50s embracing a restrictive lifestyle to look better, rectify a gluttonous past, or cheat death. They are hegans. They are healthy. And they are here to stay.” Hegans aren’t interested in the principles of veganism, or saving their environment, or wearing extravagantly colored vegan tunics — they’re just interested in living longer. (Men quoted in the piece tout veganism’s supposed ability to prevent cancer, diabetes and heart disease.)
And no, these are not the effete, flouncing vegans of yore — they are cops, and firefighters, and, most manly of all, men who skate on ponds. Case in point: Joe McCain, a mid-40s Somerville police detective whose weight problems — he once loved pizza, steak and fried foods — led him to “cut meat, dairy, eggs, chicken and fish from his diet and [add] power vinyasa yoga, which helped him shed 60 pounds in eight months.” Or what Pierce calls “the ultimate hegan,” Rip Esselstyn, a veteran Texas firefighter who convinced his department to shun animal protein — and turned his idea into a diet book called “The Engine 2 Diet.”
Unfortunately, Pierce admits, there are “no hard numbers on how many hegans exist.” This is unfortunate, because when promoting arbitrary trends, it’s often useful to have hard figures. (The entire trend piece, as it turns out, is based on anecdotal interviews with male vegans or vegan establishment owners.) Of course, that doesn’t mean that male vegans aren’t really on the increase — the growth of yoga culture and Michael Pollan-esque food politics have doubtless made it more and more acceptable for men to make educated eating choices, and statistics have shown that even if men aren’t going vegan, they’re spending more time in the kitchen.
And of course, it makes sense for the Globe to be inventing ridiculous new terms. People talk about it, blog about it, and if the newspaper is lucky, even begin using it in everyday speech. And, all things said, the succinct catchiness of the word is almost enough to forgive the weaknesses of the article. I can already hear vegan hipsters in Williamsburg and Silver Lake ironically referring to themselves as “hegans” — which, put in the manliest way possible, is actually kind of fabulous.
The facts: Beloved by raw food enthusiasts, agave syrup has become one of the easiest alternative sweeteners to find in grocery stores. It’s derived from the Mexican succulent plant agave, of which there are several varieties. It has to be processed to become sweet, and depending on that process, it can be comparable in composition to the dreaded high fructose corn syrup. True, agave has a low glycemic index — meaning it releases glucose into the blood stream at a slower rate than refined sugar — so it can help keep blood sugar levels stable. Eating agave as a “healthy” alternative to sugar, however, is pointless; the two have the same number of calories, no nutritional value whatsoever, and, even though it doesn’t spike blood sugar, the primary sugar in agave, fructose, has been linked to cancer and cholesterol problems when consumed in large quantities.
The facts: Brown rice syrup is what happens when cooked brown rice meets barley malt enzymes. The sweetness comes from starchy complex carbohydrates, which take a couple of hours to digest. As a result, the glucose is released gradually into the bloodstream, providing a steady supply of energy rather than the rush — and crash — of cane sugar. Plus, the syrup maintains some of the nutrients in brown rice, like protein, so it’s not a total nutritional bust like most sweeteners are.
The facts: Stevia’s not technically a sugar; it’s extracted from a sweet herb of the same name. Therefore it has no calories and doesn’t raise blood sugar. Though the FDA labeled it a “dangerous food additive” in 1991 after an “anonymous industry complaint” (read: shadowy figures in lab coats), stevia is now back on the market as a “dietary supplement.” In the rest of the world, particularly Japan, widespread use of stevia has been going on for decades.
The facts: Date sugar is so low-tech it’s kind of funny — it’s just dehydrated dates that have been ground into a powder. That means it’s completely unprocessed and retains all the nutrients in dates. It’s high in fiber and protein, and has lots of vitamins and minerals like iron and potassium. Plus, it qualifies as a raw food. It still contains sucrose, fructose and glucose, so it’s not a good alternative for diabetics or people looking to control their blood sugar.
My Washington: Not so tawdry, rather lovely 
Governor Walker to Face Recall Election 
A match made on Craigslist adult services 
Can’t see the forest for the wood 
The things I carry 
When I lost the ability to type 
Pop art, the beaded edition 
The beautiful banality of high school 
The unemployed meet MacArthur’s tanks 
Demi’s last night out 
One day you’re in 
Pitch and catch 
