Going vegan in January

In 2014, Jane Land and Matthew Glover – from the United Kingdom launched a new challenge named “Veganuary”, which aroused the curiosity and interest of many people from different countries. At the same time, Veganuary is also a non-profit organization that inspires and encourages people to try going vegan for the month of January … and throughout the year. The number of participants in the Veganuary challenge has rapidly increased over time – doubling year-on-year, to reach 750,000 people from 192 countries. The Veganuary campaign then expanded in the United States, Chile, Germany and South Africa in 2020. Lots of brands, supermarkets, restaurants promote the campaign by launching new Vegan products and offers.

Last year in the United States, Veganuary was also promoted by celebrities such as Hollywood stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Mayim Bialik, Alicia Sliverstone and Evanna Lynch. On New Year Eve, Natalie Portman – the famous Israeli-born American actress and filmmaker – incited her 5.9 million Instagram followers to go for the challenge by posting as caption “Fight climate chaos with your Fork”. National food chains were also among the influencers in that game: Just salad – a fast-casual restaurants chain based in New York City – and Fresh brothers – a pizza chain in California.

Veganuary suggests plant-based meals.

As soon as someone accepts the Veganuary challenge, he or she is invited to sign up on the Veganuary website. Leaving old eating habits and switching to vegan diet requires many ideas of plant-based dishes. Plenty of recipes are proposed on Veganuary’s website to make the veganism transition easier and tastier as possible. Here are some yummy propositions:

• For breakfast: vegan frittata with purple potatoes, breakfast cookies, low sugar raspberry chia jam, fig and date smoothie, winter spiced carrot smoothie, lemon chia seed protein balls…
• For lunch time: black bean goji burgers, simple Spanish stew, smoky mac and cheese, Mediterranean tofu and vegetable parcels, Walldorf salad…
• For the dinner: chipotle kale bean stew, low sugar sweet and sour sauce, one-pot linguine with olives, capers and sun-dried tomatoes, black bean chili, …
• For snakes: peanut butter, tahini and chocolate chip cookies, cashew oat chocolate chip cookies, single serve protein oatmeal cookie, …

Why do people pledge for Veganuary?

Apart from the willing to eat better, lose weight and get healthier, there are other motivations that push vegan pledges. Veganuary is one way to save and protect natural habitats, especially farmed animals which are the first victims of “carnivore” lifestyle. Plus, this social and environmentally driven campaign can help avoid  wildlife extinction and the destruction of wild places such as forests, rivers and oceans.

Sources: The New York Times, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals