Veganuary: the new Dry January?
Happy New Year all, I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season.
As we step into 2017, the usual ‘fresh start’ approach is being adopted by many, with pledges far and wide to eat more healthily and exercise more. Dry January – which challenges people to give up alcohol for the month – is back, along with Veganuary – adopting veganism for the month.
With consumers keen to introduce the benefits of plants into their diets, meat substitutes, plant milks and vegan offerings have all been gaining ground of late. Indeed, Innova Market Insights has identified ‘disruptive green’ as one of its trends for the year ahead, reporting a compound annual growth rate of +63% for new product launches with a plant based claim from 2011 to 2015.
In addition, new research from Euromonitor predicts that global vegan labelling is set to grow by five per cent by 2020.
From a love of animals or concerns about health, to a feeling of responsibility to reduce their carbon footprint, people adopt a vegan lifestyle for various reasons. Following Christmas and New Year overindulgence, Veganuary is also considered an opportunity to detox, combining the commitment with New Year’s resolutions for a healthy start to the year.
Simone Baroke, contributing analyst at Euromonitor, comments, “Could the annual January diet craze be in for a vegan overhaul? This would indeed be music to the ears of purveyors of carbohydrate foods, may they be potato growers, bakery manufacturers or noodle bars. Now is the perfect time of year to promote the message that even short-term veganism can work wonders for consumers’ health.
“At the start of the new year, most will be positively craving lighter meals composed of fresh fruit and vegetables, potatoes and wholesome grains. The prospect of going vegan for a week or two after a prolonged period of overindulgence is not really all that scary, especially if it promises a significant health boost, including weight loss, without having to go to bed feeling hungry. In fact, going vegan for a while could well be the new detox.”
