Happy World Vegan Day everyone! Did you know that such a day existed? Yes, it does, and it’s happening today, on Friday, November 1st! So, grab some amazing plant-based food today, have a romantic private dinner or invite some friends. Share your compassion for animals, the environment, and, of course, for a healthy life!
But before you do so, let’s have a look at the world’s vegan journey. How and when did it all start and where has the vegan movement come so far? Can we call 2019 the year when the veganism became mainstream?
Beginning of Veganism
From the earliest day of veganism to 2019, the year which is claimed to be ‘the year of the vegan‘, the plant-based diet has come a very long way. There is some evidence that several societies in the Middle East, India, and around the Meditteranean Sea avoided animal products some 2000 years ago!
The very first mention of veganism was found to be recorded by Pythagoras of Samos around 500 BCE. Not only was he an outstanding mathematician, philosopher, and physicist, but he was very progressive in promoting compassion for all living creating, including humans and animals.
Many other societies and religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism were quite influenced by the great Greek thinkers or came to their own conclusions that humans had no right to hurt other living creatures, particularly animals.
Although medieval Europe wasn’t very meatless friendly, there were some voices that animals shouldn’t suffer and that they feel the same pain as humans. Some famous philosophers, politicians, and writers started to proclaim the animal rights
First Vegan Society
Many vegetarian societies and associations started to appear more frequently in Europe and also across the U.S but it was in November 1944 when the world vegan was used for the first time in history. British woodworker Donald Watson organized the first-ever non-dairy meeting, The aim of the meeting was to discuss a lifestyle and a diet for non-dairy vegetarians who also didn’t eat eggs and other animal products. After the meeting, the first Vegan Society was established.
Mr. Watson looked for a new word that would sufficiently describe such a group of people and therefore he took the first three and the last two letters of the word ‘vegetarian’. From that moment, all people who refused to eat any animal products were called vegans and their movement veganism.
A few years after, Mr. Watso came up with the first definition of veganism which he described as ‘The principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man’.
During Mr. Watson’s life, there were not many vegans and veganism wasn’t mainstream. It was more seen as an extremely restricted diet and a counterculture of the hippies in the U.S. However, in 1994, when the Vegan society celebrated its 50th anniversary, veganism had become increasingly popular and some 200,000 people around the world identified themselves as vegans!
The Rise of the Vegan Movement
The vegan movement is real. No one can deny that the plant-based diet is on the rise. Especially in the last 5 years, more people have been thinking about what they put in their mouth and how the food affects their health. Together with increasing concern about global warming, pollution, overpopulation, environment changes, and animal suffering and animal rights, people are more cautious about their diet.
According to the latest statistics, the vegan population has risen about 600% in the U.S. over the last 5 years. Following the same pattern, in Great Britain, some 600,000 people call themselves vegans which is a 300% growth from 2014. Crazy, huh?
The report also shows that there is a surge of people who were born and raised vegans. In 2016, over 3% of the British aged 15 and older never eat meat in any form or other animal products.
In Australia, where people are very conscious about animal suffering, around 2.5 million people say that they consume food which doesn’t include any meat. That is 300,000 more than in 2014. Some 400,000 to 500,000 people call themselves vegans. Many of them are women from the age of 20 to 35 who appear to be most concerned about animal rights and welfare.
It’s also interesting that there has been an increase in people who identify themselves as ‘flexitarians’. These are people who actively reduce a meat proportion of the food they eat, embrace meatless Mondays or think about going vegetarian or even vegan. In 2017, there were about 39% of these people in North America alone.
More Plant-based Products
The shift in a diet can be observed in a rising number of plant-based products. There are now available in every bigger supermarket and some shopping centres even have their own section of plant-based or vegan foods.
The demand for vegan food is enormous. Vegans and vegetarians can now buy all different types of plant-based meat (including minced meat, sausages, meatballs, salami, ham, burger patties, fish, and seafood), plant-based milk, egg replacer, cheese, and other products.
In Australia, the increasing demand for vegan food has been incredible. It reflects the number of new food products that have vegan labeling. These days, there are almost three times as many vegan products as there was a few years ago.
Plant-based meats represent a huge opportunity for businesses everywhere in the world. Some of them have taken this advantage and came up with a whole lot of new vegan products. The response has been unbelievable so far.
The plant-based milk market experiences an absolute boom. In 2016, the vegan milk market was worth about $8 billion. This number has been growing ever since and it is expected to reach $21 billion in the next 5 years according to Global Market Insights.
Supermarkets offer many different types of plant-based milk – coconut, almond, macadamia, soy, rice, oat, hemp seed, poppy seed, linseed… On the other hand, the consumption of dairy milk has been rapidly decreasing, reaching 22% slump.
Many food chains, fast foods, and eateries have released their own plant-based meats. For instance, the Australian fast-food chain Hungry Jacks announced its Rebel Whopper a few weeks ago. They already put their first vegan burger on the regular menu last year.
The Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are two of the leading plant-based meats in the world and their popularity is rising. More and more traditionally non-vegan food chains have incorporated their vegan meat into their menus and have already served thousands of happy customers.
Veganism as mainstream in 2019?
As we can read from all these statistics, veganism really is extremely popular, especially among millennials. Nearly one-quarter of Americans between the age of 25 to 35 say they are vegans.
For some, this year 2019 has been declared as a year in which the veganism became mainstream.
Not only the influence of the vegan lifestyle is visible in the food industry, but it also reflects all aspects of our lives. In the fashion industry, vegan customers ditch everything that is made of animal parts, such as wool or leather.
Vegan clothes don’t always necessarily mean that it is ugly. In fact, cruelty-free fashion is extremely stylish. But the main thing is that people who wear ethical clothing feel great inside out. They know they didn’t hurt any animals or they didn’t support animal suffering.
The vegan lifestyle goes even deeper. Vegans care about the environment and they are aware of the negative impact of our environment and its sustainability. Plant-based foods don’t hurt the environment so that and its production is more efficient in using our resources.
People who adopt a plant-based living do anything possible to save our environment. They reduce their waste, recycle everything they can and reuse everything they have. It’s actually quite fascinating what can be done to save our planet.
Enjoy World Vegan Day!
No matter what diet you follow, please be respectful to one another and our planet. If you are already vegan – great! You do the best you can for your health, lives of animals and our environment. If you are in the path to be vegan – awesome! You have done the first steps to your happier and healthier future.
The veganism is expected to rise in the following years and be even bigger in its already massive scale. Let’s see what the future will bring.
Klara Walterova
Klara is a professional freelance writer for hire. She offers web content, blog posting, ghostwriting and copywriting. She writes for a healthy lifestyle, wellness and travel websites. She focuses on veganism and the vegan diet. When she's not writing, she develops new tasty vegan recipes, travels the world or plays with her cats. Please contact her for her online writing services on her website writtenbyvegan.com or visit her Instagram profile @writtenbyvegan.