This year Veganuary has had more people than ever sign up to become vegan for the month of January. But why this year?
The Guardian posted an article which wrote that an astonishing 500,000 people pledged to eat only Vegan food for the whole month of January. So yes, that is breakfast, lunch and dinner only eating plant-based food. This milestone for the food industry also highlights that the number of people trying Veganuary has doubled since 2019. But, you may ask why this year? Well, there are a few reasons…
Supermarkets have played a massive role in promoting and advertisting veganuary. British supermarkets such as Tesco have made and run tevelevsion and radio adverts promoting veganuary for the first time ever. Other companies such as Asda and Aldi have also followed suit and produced dedicated pages on their websites which promote vegan recipes, and helpful information on veganuary. Supermarkets are also stocking more plant-based alternatives on their shelves such as veggie burgers and sausages. Between March and November 2020, people who tried meat alternatives rose from 48% to 53% according to a UBS’s survey. Therefore having the availability of more plant-based foods in supermarkets, makes it much more accessible for people to try veganury and make the switch.
Another reason behind the hype of veganuary this year, is how going vegan lessens environmental damage. Research from The University of Oxford suggests that eating a vegan diet could be the “single biggest way” to reduce your environmental impact on earth. It was also found that by cutting meat and dairy products from a diet, could reduce one person’s carbon footprtint from food by up to 73%. This is a huge percentage and really puts into perspective why so many people are choosing to go vegan this January. The Netflix documentary ‘Life on our planet’ which looks at David Attenborough’s unique life experience through the natural world also gave a huge influence to what we eat. Throughout the documentary, David gave staggering figures as well as a flash forward to what our planet could be if we do not start eating in a more sustainable way. Being such an affluent figure, David Attenborough really broke through to people, and the Veganuary pledge numbers really manifest this.
Eating plant based products for a month also helps the prevention of animal cruelty. When we don’t buy and consume animal products, the demands for them is reduced and this would ensure that fewer animals are bred and killed. It has been suggested that around 1 billion animals are bred and killed for food every year in the U.K, and that doesn’t include fish! The suffering and slaughtering of animals has also been a massive drive for the success of veganuary, as many individuals are keen advocates to reduce the killing of animals for human benefit.
There are clearly many reasons behind the influx of people trying to go vegan for January this year, but will they carry on eating a plant-based diet? I hope so. Being vegan has so many health benefits and saves our planet at the same time. Full disclosure though, I am not vegan myself, but after seeing so many make the switch and all the benefits it has, I have cut dairy out of my diet and the results are showing! So who knows, maybe Veganuary will be just the start for some to make the full change in their diet.
