Veganism in 2018 – The Unstoppable Tidal Wave

Veganism in 2018 – The Unstoppable Tital Wave

Vegan Tidal Power

Tidal waves are powerful, unrelenting things that are extraordinarily difficult to avoid when they are headed your way. And never has that been so true than with the vegan tidal wave of 2018 that only continues to show signs of getting bigger and stronger as the year goes on.

That wave is now firmly crashing into the non-vegan shoreline of the “but we’ve always done it this way” cultural and societal “norms” of relentless and industrial-sized animal cruelty and exploitation.

2017 was undoubtedly a great year for veganism. Yet 2018 has come along, taken a look and said “hold my (vegan) beer just a minute…”

Here’s a snap-shot of some what the best vegan year has had to offer us to us thus far.

The Vegan Feel is Now the Real Deal

There is now a distinct feeling that the public’s perception of veganism has undergone a paradigm shift in the last few years. While far from a done-deal, the whole concept of veganism is relatively better understood than ever before as we move through 2018.

The days when veganism was identified with being on the margins of society are now, thankfully, well and truly confined to the litter bin of history. Vegans are no longer identified as cranks or extremists pursuing an unhealthy, unrealistic lifestyle.

Vegan options in stores and restaurants are growing daily and tv chat-shows mull over veganism just as frequently. Meantime, more and vegan campaign groups around the world are continuing to populate billboards and the sides of buses with thought provoking vegan messages and vegan activists world-wide continue with their work.

At the same time, plant-based food festivals are to be found popping up all over the place. If you ever wanted proof of the current global appeal of veganism right now, check out this link for a list of 2018 vegan events:

http://www.vegworldmag.com/events

Consequently, it should come as no surprise that in 2018, 7% of the British population are now identifying as being plant-based – that’s 3.5 million people.

Similarly, in the US, one study has recently indicated that 6% of Americans now identify themselves as being vegan.

Source:

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/six-percent-of-americans-identify-as-vegan

Veganism’s profile, its appeal and its potential are now unbounded and unfettered and just the first half of 2018 alone is testament to that.

Veganuary to Welcome in the New Year

The year started off with the overwhelming success of another Veganuary. Only launched in 2014, the high-profile campaign to raise public awareness of veganism hit new heights in January of this year with an estimated 168,000 signs up (in 2014 it started off with 3,300.)

Post-Christmas blues are that bit easier to deal with knowing that hundreds of thousands are subscribing to Veganuary. Sure, some won’t make the change permanently, but some certainly will. And the public profile of veganism only continues to benefit.

In stark contrast, the dairy industry tried a fight back this year with “Februdairy” and failed miserably. Mercilessly derided on social media and identified as being a movement created by a handful of dairy farmers yearning for a fairy-tale past that never was, Februdairy spluttered to a largely obscure demise.

Veganuary 1. Februdairy 0 (with Team Februdairy having disbanded, gone home and very unlikely to ever play again.)

Celebrity Vegan Shout-Outs

Celebrities can be many things, but more often-than-not, they are identified as role models, be that in entertainment or sport. More and more world-famous celebrities are taking up veganism. Not only kudos to them for making the best ethical and dietary decision they will ever make, but at the same time by doing so, they raise the profile of veganism yet further still.

One of the very biggest entertainment names in the world, Beyoncé, announced her new vegan credentials in March. In doing so, she encouraged her 122 million Instagram followers to do the same.

Avengers star Benedict Cumberbatch is now out and proud about his vegan credentials this year – and why would he not be? Now his super-cool demeanour is now equally matched by his super-cool affirmed vegan lifestyle.

Austin Amelio, aka Dwight on The Walking Dead, announced his vegan transformation in May of this year. On being asked about his new vegan diet, Amelio stated to an enquiring fan that:

“It’s been 10 days, completely vegan the whole entire time, and I feel better than I’ve felt in years.”

Source:

https://vegnews.com/2018/5/the-walking-dead-star-austin-amelio-goes-vegan

William James Adams Jr., better known as Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and a raft of music and television productions, has also made 2018 his year of vegan realisation.

Back in January this year, singer Ellie Goulding confirmed that she had moved from her previous vegetarian diet of the last six years through to full veganism.

As part of her Independence Day celebrations, Miley Cyrus took to Twitter on 4^th July and posted a picture of herself eating a vegan Impossible burger (more of which to follow.)

https://www.livekindly.co/vegan-celebrity-miley-cyrus-4th-july-impossible-burger

In the world of sport, performance is of course everything. From Olympians to swimmers, from soccer players through to the NFL, an increasing number of athletes have been joining the likes of Serena Williams, Ricky Williams, Lewis Hamilton and David Haye in going vegan.

The NFL, that most traditional bastion of American red meat sports, has a growing number of players that are rejecting animal produce and going vegan. And that is a trend that continues in 2018.

https://mercyforanimals.org/10-nfl-players-who-refuse-to-eat-meat

2018 will be the biggest nail yet in the coffin of the lie that you can only get protein from animal products and that vegans are somehow weak and malnourished.

Vegan Food

Every single day there are new vegan products emerging in restaurants, on supermarket shelves and online.

It is fair to say that the plant based Impossible Burger has increasingly taken restaurants in the USA by storm, with 2018 being its best year yet.

Not yet available for purchase on the retail market just yet (although that’ surely only a matter of time), the Impossible Burger is virtually indistinguishable from meat. Such has been the publicity surrounding it, the Impossible Burger recently made the front cover of the New Scientistmagazine with the title: “No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Meat.”

Sources:

https://www.plantbasednews.org/post/plant-based-impossible-burger-cover-new-scientist-magazine

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23831761-800-the-fake-burger-test-could-meat-made-of-plants-ever-fool-you

On the same lines, but this time readily available to consumers outside of restaurants, is the Beyond Meat burger. Similar to the Impossible Burger in that it’s similarity to meat is unnervingly close.

The Beyond Meat burger was launched out of Colorado in 2016 with little fanfare at the time. However, the impact of the Beyond Meat burger was explosive, with sales quickly sky-rocketing. Such has been its success since then, that in May of this year, Beyond Meat announced that they were going global. Consequently, these awesome meat alternative burgers will be found in stores across six continents, in some 50 countries, including Germany, the UK, Australia, Chile, Israel, Canada, South Africa and Mexico as well as in the US.

Source:

http://beyondmeat.com/whats-new/view/beyond-meat-is-going-global

Vegan pizzas are on the march in 2018 too. In the UK, Pizza Huthave shown just how this should be done with their to-die-for vegan pizza options.

(I am biased in that while I live in Ohio, my wife and I go back to the UK a couple of times a year. The first vegan pizza I tried in the UK was at Pizza Hut in January this year, and we were bowled over at just how good it was. So, in the interests of impartiality, there are plenty of other restaurants and retailers offering awesome vegan pizza options.)

The vegan pizza trend isn’t just though in the UK – far, far from it. In January this year, Domino’s pizza in Australia brought out a trial vegan option for their customers. By April they made it a permanent feature of their restaurants having reported that their trial runs repeatedly kept running out through high demand.

This vegan pizza trend is being seen around the world in 2018. In the US, over 40 US pizzeria’s offer now offer a vegan choice.

Source:

https://www.peta.org/living/food/pizza-places-vegan-options

Plant-based food-stuffs in general continue to increase their sales, year after year, and 2018 shows no sign of being any different. In fact, sage business voices, such as Forbes magazine, have predicted 2018 to be the year where businesses need to diversify into veganism so as to ensure future profits and success.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katrinafox/2017/12/27/heres-why-you-should-turn-your-business-vegan-in-2018

Educate to Vegan Liberate

It’s cliché, but it is very apt cliché – knowledge is power. And never is that more so the case than with spreading the vegan message. For a movement so beneficial to the animals, the planet and human health, while the general understanding of veganism has improved relatively, it still gets a rough ride from many that simply do not understand its myriad of benefits.

Just the very fact alone that in the US, successive governments have been subsidizing the meat, dairy and egg industries to produce the very products that make so many ill should be more than enough to make people stop and think. Alas, it does not and so the fight to educate people to choose mercy over misery goes on.

2018 will see the release of Eating Our Way To Extinction, a new documentary focussing on the dangers posed to humanity, animals and the environment by animal agriculture as well as issues of compassion and health. Endorsed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Eating Our Way To Extinction, is expected to be a big hit.

Early this year, The Game Changers was released. Produced by vegan activist James Cameron, The Game Changers is an analysis of how top performers, be they athletes, soldiers or other elites, are able to thrive on a plant-based diet, consequently rejecting the myth that effective protein intake is only available from animal products.

In March this year, Dominion was released in Australia. Dominion exposes the brutality and cruelty that is at the heart of all aspects of the animal agriculture industry.

At times as harrowing as Earthlings, Dominion is a hard-hitting documentary / movie that painful as it is to watch, will open more eyes to the horrors of animal agriculture, under-scoring the imperative of veganism and the fallacy of humane animal “welfare” improvements for sentient beings that are ultimately to be slaughtered in any event. (Humane slaughter is like humane genocide or humane rape – totally contradictory and utterly meaningless.)

2018 and beyond

The future’s bright and the future’s most definitely vegan. It’s no longer a case of hoping that veganism might some-day, one day, break through into the mainstream. It already has.

We’ve not long gone through the six-month mark of 2018, so there’s undoubtedly more to come from the rest of this stand-out year. Expect ever more vegan options to eat where-ever you look. Likewise, be ready for more celebrities and more sports-stars to take up a vegan lifestyle.

Read, write, debate, explain and promote veganism as we all can play our part and all get involved.

2018 has been a great year for veganism so far. Here’s to the second half being just as good if not better and to 2019 and the years beyond seeing the vegan tidal wave continue to grow in strength.

Footnote to Fighting Tidal Waves

There’s an old English tale of King Canute, who was so smitten with his monarchical prowess that he thought he could hold back the tide with just his royal presence alone.

But, both alas and utterly unsurprisingly, he got seriously drenched and lost a serious amount of his regal street-cred at the same time. He was no doubt non-vegan too.

Note to all concerned: trying to hold back tidal change NEVER results in anything else other than a very damp look and sea-weed turning up in your beach-ware. Or your crown.

Note to all non-vegans: sea-weed is though a great source of nutrients and vitamins. Hey! Every omnivore cloud has a vegan silver-lining.