Two movements, one goal

By: Ipacs Tamás Date: 2024. 12. 03. 13:24

Veganuary is a global non-profit organisation that started in the UK in January 2014, with the objective of encouraging people to try a vegan diet. It gives practical advice to make the transition to a vegan diet easy and enjoyable.

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/12-2025/01

This year 1.8 million people have decided to give vegan eating a try. In 2024 Veganuary conducted a global survey to track the attitudes of consumers to vegan eating: participants received 31 days of e-mail support from the programme, which meant they were asked the same questions also in July after January. 81% of respondents remained committed to drastically reducing their consumption of animal products after 6 months. Two-thirds of those who continued to follow a fully vegan diet in the 6-month period have seen an improvement in their health.

Who become vegan?

Six months after taking part in the challenge 27% of participants were still following a fully vegan diet, with 37% eating minimum 75% less meat and other animal products than before Veganuary. 17% ate at least 50% less meat and other animal products than before, and 95% of those who weren’t fully vegan said they would probably try a vegan diet again in the future. Participants were also asked what Veganuary had helped them do: 70% felt more inspired in the kitchen, 60% were more adventurous in their food choices and 55% had the feeling it had helped them make healthier food choices. We also have data related to Veganuary in Hungary: Nestlé did a survey last year ahead of the meat-free January and found that 58% of respondents would give up at least one type of animal food or meat product. In 2023 three out of ten people had a special diet that restricted meat or animal foods, and 10% kept a diet that restricted meat or animal foods. Veganuary is also a good opportunity for food companies and restaurants to introduce new plant-based dishes into their offering or menu.

The Hungarian connection

Veganuár is the Hungarian version of the international Veganuary movement, which debuted in January 2020. Founder Raul Vida started it with support from the online vegan magazine Prove and the non-profit organisation behind it, called Empátia Sztori. The Veganuár brand name and logo are trademarked and subject to licensing.

The founder told that they had been in discussions with Veganuary about how the two initiatives could support each other, but at the moment they are just rooting for each other’s successes and don’t collaborate in any other way. So far, nearly 120,000 people have signed up for the Veganuár programme and the organisers are expecting record numbers of participants in 2025, with Fino Vegajó as the main sponsor.

The appeal of vegan January projects grows every year

B2C

Raul Vida
ügyvezető
Prove/Veganuár

Corporate partners are accepted by the programme from January 2024. Veganuár has a number of partners who joined not to miss the biggest vegan challenge of the year, and also because they want to think together about how they can help the campaign to spread and succeed more widely.

Raul Vida and his colleagues are very critical in choosing their influencers and ambassadors.

“It doesn’t matter how many followers they have or how big their media value is, it only matters whether we can develop an inclusive and inspiring campaign message with them”,

Mr Vida explains. As regards HoReca,

“we are constantly looking for ways to help partners create a smoother Veganuár experience: we started with just a few dozen recipes, but now we have hundreds. A couple of years ago we offered them just one 1-week diet plan, but this January we could recommend two different 1-month plans”. //