There’s one food trend that’s gaining popularity before our very eyes. Once a seemingly zany ideal popularised by hippies and eco-warriors alone, veganism is stepping into the nature-friendly limelight, making a powerful first foray into the mainstream – and it has an ever-growing number of celebrities and public figures helping to promote and promulgate its spread.
A single glance down our Instagram feeds provides solid proof of this contention. Filled with posts from A-listers and reality stars who are embracing the environmentally-friendly diet plan, we can’t help but wonder where its new-found popularity stems from.
Of course, it’s not only those in the public eye who are driving the trend. With an increasing number of people from all around the world transforming their eating habits and opening their minds to a new and dramatic lifestyle choice, we take a look at the truth behind the statistics.
It’s fair to say that many of today’s trends are blown out of all proportion. Though only a small number of people promote and popularise them, the media has a habit of making it seem as though they’re taking over the world at an unprecedented rate.
Not so with veganism, where the numbers back up the evidence we’re seeing with our own eyes. Experiencing a growth of over 350 per cent in the space of a decade, this is one dietary fad that’s just as widespread in reality as it appears to those looking in from the outside.
Little wonder then that an astonishing 168,000 people took part in the annual ‘Veganuary’ event held in 2018, 60 per cent of them under 35. Still less surprising that this number was up from just 3,300 when the idea launched in 2014.
It’s a trend that food producers are responding to, with a 185 per cent increase in the number of vegan products launched between 2012 and 2016. It’s not just supermarkets opening their arms to the idea of increasing their ranges and enhancing their appeal to herbivores but also restaurants and takeaway services like Deliveroo, as well as smaller catering concerns, from the new niche vegan cafes we see springing up to long-established restaurants and eateries.
So widespread is the trend that, according to the statistics, a whopping 20 per cent of under-35s have tried the diet for themselves.
Veganism is not only being embraced by the mainstream, but by the companies who cater to it. With special offerings found everywhere from supermarket shelves to the menus of top restaurants, there are niche concerns setting up shop everywhere one turns, providing not only the basics but products as specialist as vegan junk food and alcoholic drinks.
This perhaps explains a part of its appeal: that veganism no longer means denying one’s self the joys of a varied diet; rather, the many attractions it offers – both health-related and environmental – can be enjoyed in isolation. So far as the trend is concerned, one can both have their cake and eat it. Considering this, is it really any wonder that so many people want to do their part for the planet when modern marketers are making it so very easy for us?
