Raising Children Plant-Based: Three Generations of Proof

When the first children were born in the Village of Peace in the early 1970s, there was no roadmap for raising them on a completely plant-based diet. No paediatrician had guidance to offer. No parenting book covered it. The community had to figure it out themselves.

More than fifty years later, those first plant-based babies are grandparents. Their children grew up plant-based. Their grandchildren are growing up plant-based. Three continuous generations, all raised from birth without any animal products.

The community's approach to childhood nutrition is grounded in whole foods. Babies are breastfed, then introduced to mashed fruits, vegetables, and grains. As children grow, their diet expands to include the full range of plant-based foods the community produces: legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables, much of it grown in the community's own organic gardens.

Protein is never a concern. The community's traditional dishes are naturally rich in plant protein: seasoned tofu, seitan prepared in dozens of ways, bean stews, lentil dishes, and grain-based meals that have sustained the community since 1969.

What the Village of Peace demonstrates is not just that plant-based childhood nutrition is possible, but that it is normal. Children here do not grow up feeling they are missing out. Plant-based eating is simply how everyone eats. The social pressure that makes vegan parenting difficult in other contexts does not exist.

Community elders play an essential role in nutritional education. Grandmothers teach grandchildren to cook. Knowledge about which foods combine well, which seasonal produce to prioritise, and how to prepare meals that are both nutritious and satisfying passes organically from one generation to the next.

The children themselves are the strongest evidence. They are active, healthy, and thriving. They attend the community's schools, participate in sports and cultural activities, and grow into adults who continue the plant-based tradition with their own families.

For parents around the world considering plant-based nutrition for their children, the Village of Peace offers something no clinical study can: the lived experience of an entire community raising healthy, thriving children on plants for more than half a century.