Vegan Review of 2007 – A Vegan YearJanuary 2007 – A
London Nutritionist predicted 2007 would be the year of the seed, hemp seed. Meanwhile animal rights and vegan charities predicted the numbers of vegans would double during 2007 as vegans reached critical mass in terms of percentage of the population. A BBC 2 Newsnight correspondent went vegan for a month and even a Government website recognised the vegan diet as a sustainable option to counteract global warming and reducing carbon emissions.
February 2007– Veganism cropped up more and more than ever in the media. An LBC radio presenter turned vegan and in BBC 2’s ‘The Truth About Food’ a group of people with high cholesterol and high blood pressure was studied whilst locked in a zoo and fed nuts and raw fruit and vegetables. Dramatic reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol levels were observed. ‘Diet Energy and Global Warming’, a report from Chicago University, was published and revealed that you should be more concerned about your diet than the car you drive if you are concerned about global warming. Meanwhile more condemnation of factory farming followed the bird flu outbreak at Bernard Mathews Norfolk plant "the most bio-secure turkey plant in Britain”. The Vegan Oscars were launched.
March 2007– Radio London discussed veganism, exposés about pig farming and the plight of the world’s oceans due to overfishing encourage more people to look at veganism. Food manufacturers are encouraged to review unnecessary ingredients in their products following a published report on current market trend showing increase in demand for animal free vegan products. Micro Algae is hailed as a potential vegan saviour of the planet’s oceans for providing an ethical, sustainable vegan source of omega 3 long chain
essential fatty acids EPA and DHA.
April 2007 – April 1st rumours of the world’s first vegan fried egg sadly prove to be merely another April fool’s joke. As a report is published that claims bacon can cause cancer, vegans seem more excited by a number of new ethical fashion ranges featuring vegan shoes and vegan handbags following in the footsteps of UK vegan designers such as Natalie Dean and Stella McCartney (who won Elle Style award 2007 for best international designer following her work with Adidas). Meanwhile UK Vegetarian and Vegan charities lay down the gauntlet to Green Party candidates and members of Friends of the Earth – ‘How can you call yourself environmentally friendly if you eat meat?’ they ask.
May 2007 - A Eurobarometer survey says that 8 out of 10 EU consumers are willing to make an extra effort to buy animal welfare friendly products, even if this means changing where they shop or paying more for goods. Over 25 Vegetarian and Vegan organisations join together to pool resources and help as many people as possible go Vegan during the weeks following national vegetarian week. Meanwhile a furore kicks off about a change in Mars’ non vegan recipe for Mars bars. Mars backtrack and agree to change rennet contaminated whey powder but still use battery eggs.
Mono, a Glasgow vegan restaurant counters with a vegan Mars bar style dairy free ice cream dessert.
June 2007 –
Vegan festivals spring up, not just all over the UK but all over the world in places such as Sweden and Thailand. The biggest of it’s kind is The Bristol Vegan Fayre attracting more than 10,000 pro - vegan festival shoppers. Vegan chocolate is hailed as providing numerous health benefits such as helping heart function through nitric oxide production and endorphin release to reduce stress. This is good news not just for companies such as Plamil Foods, who make
vegan chocolate and rebranded during 2007 to highlight organic and sustainable production, but also the many raw chocolate companies who sprang up in 2007.
July 2007 – Even newspapers traditionally filled with animosity towards vegetarians start to publically recognise the new vegan trend. In a 2 page spread a Daily Mail reporter revealed he lost 2 kilos and reduced his cholesterol levels by 23% whilst spending a month on a vegan diet. Despite EU legislation threatening to ban the term ‘superfoods’, vegan superfoods continue to attract notoriety. Victoria Beckham provoked a flurry of activity on Google after admitting her secret to her svelte figure was partly down to drinking 2 pints of vegan
seaweed and algae shake per day.
August 2007 – An article in The Economist reveals that the number of Vegan young adults is set to soar and warned that the food industry should prepare itself for big changes. More research reveals the colours in fruit and vegetables could be behind their apparent ability to dramatically reduce cancer risks and destroy cancerous cells. Vegans are popping up everywhere - fire stations in Texas, running for president, in Jim Henson’s Muppet cast and even in Donny Osmond’s BBC TV game show.
September 2007– Even The Sun newspaper has started using the word vegan. The tabloid vegan word count is helped along by paparazzi quarry supermodel Kate Moss, who started dating vegan rock star, Jamie Hince, a guitarist with the indie rock group The Kills. More famous for their hand-made Vegan Chocolates the multi award winning Booja Booja company launched what is probably the world’s healthiest ice cream. Made from cashew nuts, filtered water, agave syrup and either chocolate, ginger, coconut, vanilla or maple syrup and pecan nuts it immediately won an annual nutrition award. A nutritionist with London Nutrition consultancy
Foods for Life said “It’s vegan-daz, it made choosing the winner of The Foods for Life 2007 Health Food Award very simple.”
October 2007 – Vegetarian Visitor
Vegetarian Guide says Glasgow now vies for title of no1 UK Vegan destination as caterers at Glasgow University join the many vegan establishments in Glasgow such as the café at mono, the organic restaurant bar at 78, the Flying Duck nightclub and vegan deli-café
Stereo. Deans Foods one of the USA’s biggest milk distributors announce very tough market conditions forcing them to axe 700 jobs. This was in stark contrast to the ever increasing fortunes of European dairy-free leader, Alpro, who cranked up their TV advertising campaign for their vegan dairy free yoghurts and milks. Google trends and sales figures from leading vegan food companies such as Plamil Foods and Yaoh Hemp products confirm a greatly increased demand for vegan products. Vegan Hollywood star Jacquin Pheonix launches new vegan documentary called ‘Earthlings’
November 2007 – For the first time
World Vegan Day is celebrated in high streets all over the UK as
Lush Cosmetics stores’ staff go vegan for a day and launch their new website redesigned to make mail order vegan soap shopping easier than ever before. UK Vegan month is launched by Animal Aid who continue with their tour of UK cities. Meanwhile vegan fashion designer Stella McCartney was named Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards proving appreciation of her leading a market trend towards cruelty free fashion. Stella’s stepmother Heather Mills McCartney hopped out of a Range rover at Hyde Park’s speaker’s corner in London to launch a new vegan anti dairy pro environment campaign. A quest for a nationally available healthier vegan Pizza and a petition to The UK Prime Minister to legalize the word ‘Vegan’ was promoted by an organisation calling itself simply MiV, just one of a number of new Vegan groups suddenly springing up all over the world.
December 2007 – Whilst animal rights champions PeTA dish out awards almost weekly the most exclusive vegan awards were handed out at Christmas without Cruelty in London. Winner of the prestigious annual
Arthur Ling Memorial Award sponsored by Plamil Foods went to
Dr Dan Lyons from Sheffield based anti vivisectionist campaigners Uncaged. The 008
Vegan Awards sponsored by Yaoh
Hemp Foods were launched whilst a vegan booby prize was awarded to Quorn by The Vegan Society for including egg and dairy throughout their entire myco-protein range. The Vegan Society’s new press officer also launched a new vegan catering guide, a CD Rom for schools and a booklet about environmental issues with Vegan solutions.
The Vegan Future
Following a string of Vegan awards during 2007, including the RSPCA good business awards,
Lush cosmetics’ vegan campaigns team were invited to speak in the houses of Parliament on ethical retailing. This has won them many new friends in high places. The RSPCA claim Ethical consumerism is now worth a staggering £29.3 billion per year. This fact alone will ensure that veganism is driven forward in an ever more increasingly unstoppable vegan tidal wave of vegan awareness that’s blasting the dusty cobwebs out of every crevice of the establishment.
See also
Vegan Market Trends
