When it began in these two different cultures, vegetarianism was deviant because it had never been considered before. In the religious context of Buddhism, which has a history of ascetic practice, that is, abstention from all pleasures, including those of the flesh, vegetarianism could be considered a form of positive deviance as it was seen as a path to enlightenment and self-realization (2 ). But in Greece, and to some extent in American culture today and especially in the 1970s, vegetarianism was not so much a religious practice, but a rejection of authority and the typical way of thinking about killing and eating animals (1, 2). So vegetarianism in this context would be considered positively deviant because it is seen as a sign of intellectual growth and rebellion against the old