--- title: "Chiang Mai 1999: Charles Vaclavik - Delegate Introduction - IVU - International Vegetarian Union" description: "Chiang Mai 1999: Charles Vaclavik - Delegate Introduction: International Vegetarian Union (IVU) 33rd World Vegetarian Congress Chiang Mai, Thailand, January 4 - 10, 1999 'Vegetarianism is the Way' an unforgettable visual, cultural and gastronomic experience Hello Friends, My name is Charles Vaclavik, I am a physician in" url: "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/3661-congress-thai99-profiles-charles.html" date: "2026-11-06T03:13:52+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # Chiang Mai 1999: Charles Vaclavik - Delegate Introduction **International Vegetarian Union (IVU)** | ![IVU logo](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/members/pics/ivu-con4.gif) | | |---|---| | ![Congress Logo](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/congress/thai99/pics/logo99.gif) **33rd World Vegetarian Congress** Chiang Mai, Thailand, January 4 - 10, 1999 *'Vegetarianism is the Way'* an unforgettable visual, cultural and gastronomic experience Hello Friends, My name is Charles Vaclavik, I am a physician in Platteville, Wisconsin, U.S.A., specializing in Family Practice. I live with my wife and 7 year old son on a 350 acre wild life refuge which I have named "The Sanctuary of the Meek." We have been vegans since 1985 and Lacto-ovo-vegetarian since 1977. I have intermittently been vegetarian since 1960. Beginning about twenty years ago, I began exploring the origin of Christianity, and was surprised to read that James, Jesus' brother, was a vegetarian. In reading the primary source material which has been translated into English, such as Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, Epiphanius, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian and others, I realized that there was a pattern of vegetarianism throughout Christianity which was more than a coincidence. I traced this vegetarianism back to Pythagoras and saw that Jesus was as much a Pythagorean as he was a Jew, and that those later to be called Judaic Christians, were indeed, Judaic Pythagoreans. I have written a book documenting the connections between Pythagoras, the Essenes, the Nazarenes and the Judaic Christians, and I have given documentation as to how Judaic Christianity was taken over by the `Gentiles' and was converted into modern day Christianity, which has no universal doctrine of vegetarianism which its spiritual parent (Judaic Christianity) had. The name of this book is "The Vegetarianism of Jesus Christ." I have also given lectures, particularly to the conferences of the American Vegan Society, which elaborates on this thesis that Jesus Christ was not only a vegetarian, but he taught that testimony to his disciples as well. My family and I will be attending the conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand in January 1999 and hope to meet all of you on that occasion. Yours in peace, Charles P. Vaclavik A note on this archive. The history section of this website is drawn from a body of legacy content originally compiled by John Davis, former manager of the International Vegetarian Union. It represents his curation of historical material, and in places includes passages written by him directly. Over the years, the IVU website has migrated between several different hosting servers. In the course of these migrations, a number of PDF files were unfortunately lost, and **some links to PDF documents may no longer function**. Where this is the case, we have chosen to leave the original link text in place, as it may itself carry information of historical value. - Hits: 616 ### Vegan Recipes - [![VEGAN STEAMED RICE ROLL WITH SPINACH AND SPINACH SAUCE](https://ivu.org/media/zoo/images/th10%20556_eb9664a57e9fcc28c20cef9b28640d6c.jpg "VEGAN STEAMED RICE ROLL WITH SPINACH AND SPINACH SAUCE")](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/item/vegan-steamed-rice-roll-with-spinach-and-spinach-sauce.html "VEGAN STEAMED RICE ROLL WITH SPINACH AND SPINACH SAUCE") #### [VEGAN STEAMED RICE ROLL WITH SPINACH AND SPINACH SAUCE](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/item/vegan-steamed-rice-roll-with-spinach-and-spinach-sauce.html "VEGAN STEAMED RICE ROLL WITH SPINACH AND SPINACH SAUCE") [Breakfast and brunch](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/category/breakfast-and-brunch.html) [Main course](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/category/main-course-for-lunch-and-dinner.html) [Rice](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/category/rice.html) [Vietnam](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/category/vietnam.html) [Sauces](https://ivu.org/vegan-recipes-around-the-world/vegan-food-academy/front-page/category/sauces.html) - 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