Veganuary sees growing appetite to “try vegan” in tenth annual campaign

16 Jan 2024 --- Consumers and businesses worldwide join up during Veganuary when the UK non-profit of the same name encourages and supports people to try a plant-based diet for January. We meet up with Dr. Toni Vernelli, international head of policy and communications at Veganuary, to discuss the benefits of a vegan lifestyle, the goals of the charity’s annual campaign, its impact and how it’s changed compared to the first launch ten years ago. 

“The campaign is to encourage people to try veganism. We position ourselves as an organization to help people who want to have a go at it,” says Vernelli. “We give support, provide advice, meal plans and recipes and connect participants with other people who are also taking part and just try and make it as fun and collaborative as possible,” Vernelli tells Nutrition Insight. 

The charity also cooperates with businesses to make trying a vegan diet more accessible for people, ensuring there are plenty of options that taste good and are affordable. 

“We know for most people, those are the two key things — many people want to try veganism, but the product’s taste sometimes leaves them going back. They feel that it will be too difficult to find things to eat, particularly when they’re eating out, or it’s prohibitively expensive. We try to address those barriers as well.” 

Tenth year of Veganuary 
Vernelli underscores that the charity has become more international than ten years ago. 

“The first few years that Veganuary existed, it was very UK-focused, with some signups from the US, Canada, Australia and other English-speaking countries. Then we started branching out on the website, translating it into Spanish and opening up offices internationally.” 

“In 2019, we opened our first international offices in Germany, the US and Chile. Since then, we’ve expanded into Brazil, Argentina, Spain and India. We now have eight official chapters and partner with organizations in another eight countries who run Veganuary campaigns there — we have official Veganuary campaigns going now in 16 countries.” 

Additionally, the organization works more intensely with businesses than at the beginning, when Veganuary was mainly a pledge for people to join. 

The increased availability of good vegan food has substantially impacted people trying the lifestyle.“We quickly realized that making these products available to people was going to be essential for this to be a success,” stresses Vernelli. “In 2019, we had the first big corporate launch, Gregg’s launching their vegan sausage roll in the UK for Veganuary.” 

“Since then, all the major high street chains, including Burger King, McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut, have launched vegan specials for January. All the supermarkets bring in many new vegan products, and all the sit-down restaurants have vegan menus for January.” 

Moreover, Vernelli sees that the general perception of veganism has changed. “Ten years ago, when you told someone you were vegan, they thought it was extreme, that it must be tough and they could never possibly do it.” 

“Whereas now when you tell people you’re vegan, they tend to say — I’ve cut back on the number of animal products, we eat vegan two days a week, or I only have oat milk in my coffee. It’s seen more as aspirational, something people want to be a part of.” 

Drivers of veganism 
The increased availability of good vegan food has substantially impacted people trying the lifestyle, explains Vernelli. “They don’t have to make a special trip somewhere to buy something special. They can pick up something from the supermarket and give it a go.” 

“There’s also much more knowledge, research and publicity about animal agriculture’s environmental impact. Most people now have accepted that we eat too much meat and that we all need to be cutting back on the animal products that we eat.” 

“I also think the younger generation has been more open to veganism because they’ve grown up alongside it more than older generations have. They’ve always been a bit more open to having plant milk in their coffees,” she adds. 

Moreover, she sees a “resurgence in being a good cook” among people on social media, such as Instagram, where people increasingly experiment with vegan recipes.

Research suggests vegan diets help reduce risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain forms of cancer.Health benefits 
Vernelli notes that there is well-documented research and statements by public health bodies about the potential health benefits of a plant-based diet. 

“We can say with confidence that a vegan diet helps reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain forms of cancer. Those are pretty concrete and well supported with science.”

Additionally, the charity polls Veganuary participants each year to determine which health benefits they’ve seen. “Every year, usually between 50 and 60% say yes, they did find their health improved. Very few say their health decreased — under 5% every year.” 

“The most common ways that they found improvement was in their mood, helping them sleep better, improving their skin, having more energy and seeing a desired change in body weight,” details Vernelli. “And that’s very consistent; we’ve been asking that question for at least five years, and those responses have stayed pretty consistent.” 

Participants and impact 
In 2023, Veganuary’s official signups on its website amounted to 700,000 people. However, Vernelli adds that a population-based survey found that 4% of British adults gave up animal products in January last year — around 2.5 million people. 

“We survey registered participants and ask how many managed to stay vegan for the whole month — usually about two-thirds of them,” she highlights. “When we ask them how many plan to stay vegan afterward, that’s usually about a quarter of the people who did stay vegan for the whole month.” 

“Out of the rest who stayed vegan for the month, over 75% say they plan to cut back on animal products by at least 50%. The majority make long-term changes to their diet after doing it.”

Veganuary provides daily coaching emails to registered participants to support them with recipes and nutrition tips.By signing up on the Veganuary website, participants receive daily coaching emails focusing on nutrition and healthy recipes, highlighting that the healthiest vegan diet is a whole food plant-based diet. The charity also gives insights on natural sources of protein, vitamins and minerals they need and advises people who stay vegan beyond the month to take a daily vitamin B12 supplement. 

Additionally, Veganuary details vegan options at restaurants on their website, blogs, recipes and videos on plant-based alternatives to animal product staples. 

Next steps 
The organization aims to expand the program into different countries, working with existing organizations to run a Veganuary pledge and businesses to increase the number of vegan options available, says Vernelli. 

“We also plan to do much more on policy with businesses,” she shares. “We want them to start committing to reducing the amount of animal products they’re selling and make plant-based a much larger proportion of their business going forward.” 

She adds that companies such as Aldi, Lidl and Ikea are moving in that direction in the UK. 

“We’re hoping that we’ll see more of them make these commitments in the next couple of years.”

“Customers are led by what’s on the supermarket shelves, at the end of the day,” concludes Vernelli. “Customers can only buy what’s on the supermarket shelves. We know there will be a lag between what customers demand and what supermarkets put on the shelves. The supermarkets have to lead the way.” 

By Jolanda van Hal