Tony Bishop-Weston from Foods for Life has compiled a fascinating look at vegan issues as they hit the media in 2007. Click below to read the review…….

January 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 – 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.

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.

Tags: drink, Food

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