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Veganuary

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Veganuary
Pronunciation
Formation2014
PurposeAdvocacy
Websiteveganuary.com

Veganuary is an annual challenge run by a UK nonprofit organisation that promotes and educates about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the month of January. Since the event began in 2014, participation has increased each year. 400,000 people signed up to the 2020 campaign. The campaign estimated this represented the carbon dioxide equivalent of 450,000 flights and the lives of more than a million animals. Veganuary can also refer to the event itself.[1][2]

History

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Founded by Jane Land and Matthew Glover,[3] the first event was during January 2014.[4] In 2015 the project registered 12,800 sign-ups. From there the sign-ups grew to over 500,00 in 2021.[5]

The name "Veganuary" is a portmanteau of "vegan" + "January". The first part of the compound is pronounced either /ˈviːɡən-/ or /viːˈɡæn-/, whereas the -uary part is subject to the same kind of variation as in the case of the word "January" itself, thus /ˈviːɡən.juɛri/, /viːˈɡæn.jʊəri/, etc.[1][2]

In 2023 It’ll Never Catch On: The Veganuary Story, a documentary about the event, featured vegans Kellie Bright, Jane Fallon, Jasmine Harman, Evanna Lynch, Chris Packham and Benjamin Zephaniah and vegan chefs Henry Firth and Ian Threasby.[6][7][8] It debuted at the November 2023 Plant Based World Expo.[7]

Programme

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Veganuary is a crowdfunded campaign to issue a challenge each January promoting eating vegan for the month.[9]: 36 

Participants sign up online and receive a downloadable "starter kit" and daily support emails.[10] They're offered an online "vegan starter kit" with restaurant guides, product directories,[9]: 36  and a recipe database.[9]: 38  Participants are encouraged to share images and recipes to social media, which according to academic Alexa Weik von Mossner creates a sense of community and communicates the message that veganism is easy and fun.[9]: 37 

Reception

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Gentleman's Quarterly noted "it's a clever way to introduce a new way of nutritional thinking at a time of year where our mind is hardwired to explore ways to better ourselves".[11]

A January 2019 slump in UK pub receipts was blamed on Veganuary.[12]

Von Mossner notes that criticism can be raised over the fact that Veganuary uses "images with happy-looking, baby-faced animals while at the same time downplaying (though not completely omitting) the horrific truth about the lives and deaths of the actual animals that are nevertheless slaughtered everyday for human consumption". Another point of criticism may be "the campaign's strict emphasis on food rather than on other aspects of the vegan lifestyle and worldview".[9]: 38 

Tobias Leenaert postulated the popularity of the campaign may be partially due to the organizers' decision to promote "trying" veganism for a specific period vs. "going vegan", which allows participants to decide not to continue with an all-vegan diet without feeling as if they've failed.[9]: 36  Von Mossner agrees and points to the "light-hearted" and generally positive tone of the promotional materials, which feature attractive and "frequently named animals" with captions like, "Save little Eric—Try Vegan this January" rather than images of animal abuse.[9]: 37 

Impact

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Food businesses and restaurants in the UK have been introducing new vegan products in January to coincide with Veganuary.[13][14] The supermarkets in the UK, including Tesco, have been seen to run advertisements advertising Veganuary.[5]

People in the United States are now participants in the challenge. In 2019, The Washington Post reported that "46 percent of people signed up for health reasons, with 34 percent citing animal cruelty and only 12 percent climate issues."[15] In 2020, the Houston Chronicle reported that "Texas was the state with the second-highest sign-ups in the U.S."[16] In 2021, The Maine Sunday Telegram reported that "Annual participation continues to be biggest in Britain, but it’s slowly spreading to the U.S., along with many other countries including Mexico, Argentina, Germany and Sweden."[17]

In 2022, Veganuary published a deck of 40 inspirational cards called The Vegan Kit.[18]

As of 2024, Veganuary ambassadors include Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney and Joaquin Phoenix.[19]

2024 was the first year Veganuary launched their campaign in Spain.[20] This year Veganuary in that country had the support of the Spanish celebrities Dani Rovira, Clara Lago, Elisabeth Larena, Núria Gago, Nathalie Poza and David Pareja.[21][22]

Participants

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Participation in Veganuary has become increasingly popular, with the number of people signing up rising each year:

  • 2014 – 3,300 people[23]
  • 2015 – 12,800 people[5]
  • 2016 – 23,000 people[5]
  • 2017 – 50,000 people[24]
  • 2018 – 168,000 people[25]
  • 2019 – 250,000 people[26]
  • 2020 – 400,000 people[27]
  • 2021 – 582,538 people[28]
  • 2022 – 629,000 people[29]
  • 2023 – 706,965 people[30]
  • 2024 – More than 1,800,000 people[31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Here's How Veganuary Took Over The First Part Of The Year". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Veganuary definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Why I started the Veganuary movement". BBC News. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  4. ^ Maynard, Micheline. "Happy Veganuary: Vegans And Vegetarians Are In The 2019 Dining Spotlight". Forbes. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Carrington, Damian, ed. (5 January 2021). "Record 500,000 people pledge to eat only vegan food in January". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  6. ^ Clark, Daniel (8 November 2023). "'It'll Never Catch On': New Film Tells Story Of Veganuary's First Decade". Plant Based News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  7. ^ a b Chiorando, Maria (9 November 2023). "New documentary marks 10 years of success for Veganuary". Vegan Food & Living. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  8. ^ Pointing, Charlotte. "The Veganuary Campaign Celebrates 10 Years With a Documentary". VegNews. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Alexa Weik von Mossner (2019). "How We Feel about (Not) Eating Animals" in Through a Vegan Studies Lens: Textual Ethics and Lived Activism. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978-1-948908-11-5.
  10. ^ Kettle, Emilia. "What is Veganuary? Everything you need to know and advice". The Argus. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  11. ^ Knight, Nick (4 January 2019). "Veganuary is here: what you need to know". Gentleman's Quarterly. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  12. ^ Gill, Oliver (18 February 2019). "'Veganuary' blamed for January pub hangover". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  13. ^ Howard, Tom (5 January 2021). "Meatless burgers hit the high street for Veganuary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  14. ^ Maynard, Maddie (18 December 2020). "Seven plant-based meat alternatives launching for Veganuary 2021". The Grocer. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  15. ^ Heil, Emily (11 December 2019). "'Veganuary' wants to be your new food resolution for 2020 — and beyond". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  16. ^ Balter, Emma (5 January 2021). "Goodbye 2020, hello Veganuary: the global movement to eat plant-based for a month". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  17. ^ Kamila, Avery Yale (3 January 2021). "Vegan Kitchen: More people are resolving to start the year without animal products". Press Herald. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  18. ^ Kamila, Avery Yale (11 December 2022). "The best vegan cookbooks of 2022". Press Herald. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Veganuary turns 10: How plant-based foods took over Europe". Euronews. 6 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  20. ^ Arana, Lucía (5 February 2024). "Veganuary acompañó a 1,8 millones de personas a probar el veganismo durante el mes de enero" [Veganuary helped 1.8 million people try veganism during the month of January]. Europa Press (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  21. ^ Arana, Lucía (29 December 2023). "Personalidades del cine y la cultura se vuelcan con Veganuary 2024" [Cinema and cultural personalities turn to Veganuary 2024]. Europa Press (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  22. ^ "'Veganuary': comer vegano en enero" ['Veganuary': eating vegan in January]. Navarra Capital (in Spanish). 5 January 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  23. ^ Lowbridge, Caroline. "Veganism: How a maligned movement went mainstream". BBC News. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  24. ^ "Veganuary: Is following a vegan diet for a month worth it?". BBC News. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  25. ^ McCoole, Veena. "Going Vegan This January? A London Food Entrepreneur Shares Her Tips For Veganuary". Forbes. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  26. ^ Topping, Alexandra (31 December 2018). "Year of the vegan? Record numbers sign up for Veganuary". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  27. ^ Smithers, Rebecca (3 February 2020). "Veganuary signed up record 400,000 people, campaign reveals". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Veganuary's rise is unstoppable as 2021 becomes biggest year yet". Veganuary. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  29. ^ "Veganuary takes world by storm with participants in nearly every country". Veganuary. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  30. ^ Chelsea (2 February 2023). "Veganuary 2023 breaks all records in campaign's 10th year". Veganuary. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  31. ^ Chester, Bethany (5 February 2024). "Veganuary 2024 Supports Over 1.8 Million Participants Worldwide to Try Veganism". Vegconomist. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
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