Active Vegans

This time of year is becoming busier and busier for The Vegan Society. With more vegan festivals happening in the UK’s warmer months, and our Campaigns team bringing their exciting campaigns to increasingly more outdoor festivals, we are seeing such a huge increase in the celebration of all things vegan. I recently attended two vegan festivals over two consecutive weekends and spent lots of time in the sun amongst many other joyful vegans – it really is a great time of year to get active. Tell us what you’re up to this season by emailing me at alex.douglas@vegansociety.com

Activism in Eastbourne

Our stall at the Seedy Sunday event in Eastbourne in April went well. It is not an overly busy event, but we had some good conversations and gave out lots of leaflets and ‘Plate Up for the Planet’ postcard packs. It’s a regular event that we do, with a good audience made up of non-vegans who are sympathetic and eager to find out more. Evie Sier

Vegan-friendly Health Fair

I had a Vegan Society stall at a Health Fair in an Army Barracks, which went well. People visited the stall and took leaflets away with them or signed up to take the 30 Day Vegan Pledge to get more information about veganism. I also met a recently established vegan so it was great speaking to him. The army chef team were also right next to my stall and one of their staff members had studied a nutrition course. This was helpful as we chatted about healthy eating and I was able to give her some useful information on the health benefits of vegan diets, as well as some tips and advice. Hopefully they will have more troops considering going vegan down the line. The event-goers generally seemed quite interested in nutrition. I actually had a great time meeting people from Victoria Barracks. It was an amazing opportunity to speak about veganism – since many people generally were interested in learning about the health benefits behind going plant-based.

I also had a table at my university’s vegetarian week, and was able to give out even more leaflets there to help generate more interest in veganism. Riya Lakhani

Catering for Everyone

Since the launch of our campaign Catering for Everyone, which you can read more about on page 3, our Campaigner Network has got stuck in promoting the campaign. Sam Clews had a very exciting meeting with the Dietitian and Catering Manager at Aneurin Bevan Health Board, which manages 11 hospitals in South Wales.

Sam says, Everyone I spoke to was really positive about improving menu options for vegans and is aiming to veganise all the soups so there’s something on the menu every day, have one vegan main meal on the menu every other day (to replace the current veggie meal) and have a variety of baked potato and sandwich options on the “off” days.

“I left some Vegan Society recipes and fact sheets with the Dietitian and directed her to the catering campaign section on the website. She’s going to keep in touch with regards to recipe development and said she’d love for me to come taste test the options - hurrah!”

Find your Local Contact or get involved with your local group by visiting: vegansociety.com/ resources/local-and-group-contacts

To order leaflets from us, email leaflets@vegansociety.com

Vgneration

Not-for-profit organisation, TeenVGN, is embarking on a new adventure. In 2013, we began simply as an online social network for vegetarians and vegan teenagers. In 2017, we began to realise that we needed to reach more people. Lots of members were becoming too old to be part of the organisation and many young adults around the world wanted to be a part of it. And so Vgneration was born. Beginning May 2018, TeenVGN officially re-branded to become Vgneration, an outreach organisation, support group and network for young adults, students and teens alike.

The new website is fresh, easy to navigate and interactive, with updated and relevant information. With the addition of a qualified nutritionist and recipe developer, we have been able to create a resources section with nutritional information and free downloadable literature as well as a recipes section with delicious and colourful vegan recipes. The Vgneration website also gives you access to a lifestyle section with exclusive interviews, vegan travel guides plus fresh news and connect pages.

“Vgneration” was chosen as a motivational and inspirational name for the people who are going forward to change the world for the animals, our health and the environment. The generation that can do it. The generation that is doing it. The generation that will do it. The Vgneration. www.vgneration.com

ProVeg conference

April was significant for our movement. It marked the first ever international 50by40 Corporate Outreach Summit, a gathering of organisations from around the world unified by our shared ambition of achieving a 50% reduction in global animal products by the year 2040. This is what we, at ProVeg International, call 50by40 – our organisation’s mission.

Created and organised by ProVeg International together with the Humane Society of the United States, the three-day summit held in Berlin was truly international. We had over 160 participants from over 30 different countries across six continents sharing success stories, best practices and learnings from their institutionally-focused meat reduction campaigns of recent years.

As well as learning from each other, our aim was to bring the animal rights and vegan movements together to build an alliance to help us reach our 50by40 ambition. In time, this new alliance will become far broader in its membership to include organisations from the health, environment, business and governmental sectors – essential vegan allies and partners in our mission.

It was inspiring to discover just how much invaluable work is being done in countries we don’t hear much of back at home in the UK. We heard from effective animal and veg organisations in countries including Taiwan, Japan, China and Brazil – and I was taken aback by the progress they’re making. Jimmy Pierson, Director, ProVeg UK

By Alex Douglas, Communications Manager