VEGANUARY

Secondary Research

Facts

Vegan Life Magazine http://www.veganlifemag.com/veganism-booms/

In 2006, 150,000 people in the UK opted for a plant-based diet. Today, 542,000 do. That’s a 350% increase.According to the research there are over half a million vegans in GB.This is an increase of over 350% since the last estimate of 150,000 ten years ago, making veganism one of Britain’s fastest growing lifestyle movements. “To have over half a million vegans in Britain is fantastic. More people than ever before are acting upon the health and environmental benefits of veganism, and finding out what really goes on in the meat and dairy industries and deciding they do not want to contribute to the pain and suffering of animals,” said Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of The Vegan Society.The movement is being driven by young people making more ethical and compassionate choices – close to half of all vegans are in the 15-34 age category (42%) compared to just 14 per cent who are over 65 – evidence to support even greater growth in the future.

The Vegetarian Resource Group http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm#what Summary: This website was very useful as it gave me a lot of information about the vegan lifestyle, what you can eat, where to get your protein from. It gives very detailed answers which helps people who don’t know much about veganism.

Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, protein, diet, nutrition

Quotes: ‘Many vegans choose this lifestyle to promote a more humane and caring world. They know they are not perfect, but believe they have a responsibility to try to do their best, while not being judgmental of others.’‘The key to a nutritionally sound vegan diet is variety.’‘Vegan diets are free of cholesterol and are generally low in saturated fat.’

Validation of sources: The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and veganism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. They are still updating their website now so I know the article will be up to date.

Further Research: I could research more into their points and compare their points to other websites.

Huffingtonpost.com 01/08/11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nil-zacharias/the-inconvenience-of-being-vegan_b_870014.html

Summary: This article gets their viewers thinking ‘Is there a difference between my pets and the animals I have eaten recently?’. It also summaries how easy it is to become vegetarian or vegan. It explains how being vegan is better for you and the planet we live on.

Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, 2011, Planet, Animals

Quotes: “You have a pet and wonder if there’s a difference between him/her and the pig that turned into the bacon you ate for breakfast.“As long as your idea of vegan food is not eating potato chips, Twizzlers and vegan cupcakes all day, you’ll do fine.”

Validation of sources: The Huffington Post

Further Research: I could look more into the reasons people become vegan so I could learn more facts.

Wikipedia 26/08/2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeganismSummary: Facts about veganism, the different types there is, the products they use, the products they can’t use as well as what they can and can’t eat.Talking about how popular it has become to be vegan as well as celebrities becoming vegan.

Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, Animal products, Dietary vegans, Ethical vegan, Philosophy, Environmental veganism, Industrial farming.

Quotes: ‘Interest in veganism increased in the 2010s; more vegan shops opened, and vegan options became increasingly available in more supermarkets and restaurants in many countries.’

Validation of sources: Wikipedia is known for being open to anyone to edit pages. But luckily, every piece of information should have a reference behind it which makes it a lot easier to

Further Research: I can use the website references to do some more research into what I have found, as well as comparing them to see if the facts match.

NHS 15/10/2015 http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Vegetarianhealth/Pages/Vegandiets.aspxSummary: Facts about being vegan, what it means to be vegan and how to be vegan. It fives you healthy tips when on a vegan diet as well as how it could help you health wise to become vegan.

Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, health, NHS.

Quotes: ‘Have high in fat, salt or sugar less often and in small amounts’

Validation of sources: The NHS are a government service, so anything on their websites must be correct.

Further Research: I could look more into how to eat healthy as a vegan and how doing so helps animals and the environment.

Food Nawigator 17th March 2015 15/10/2015 http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/Vegan-is-going-mainstream-trend-data-suggests

Additional Research

Vegan YouTubershttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v= mnbIGTrcq5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNzkC6xqn5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSWx93yTVQc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHTeiuG3100

Lived on a farm, it opened her eyes to animal cruelty from a young age so she became vegan when she was 6. She ate fish but realised ‘not all screams are heard’. ‘Egg industry kills 500,000 male chicks everyday. Know where your meat and dairy is coming from, encourages you to educate yourself more on the matter.

Doesn’t want the stereotype of pushy rude vegan. Thinks “humans have an incredible capacity for change.” Being vegan is really healthy. “All vegans want is for things not to die.” It’s becoming easier to be vegan the longer he does it. Knock on economics, competitive farmers, low price of meat, more meat sold, more cows killed.

Became a vegan 2 years ago for animals, environment and health. Raised to respect animals. Didn’t think she had the right willpower to become vegan before. Gets tired of the same boring questions she gets asked. “Every time I eat meat, I know something died for me to eat it.”

He’s a personal trainer. Before he didn’t know what being vegan meant but he needed protein and became vegan from watching ‘from farms to our fridges’. Realised he eats innocent beings. People judge him a lot and ask him questions. “Stop putting death in my body.” “We are being lied to.”

Vegan CelebritiesBustle March 24th https://www.bustle.com/articles/149515-32-verified-currently-vegan-celebrities

Summary: Ellen Page. Jessica Chastain. James Cromwell. Alicia Silverstone.Ariana Grande. Ellen DeGeneres. Joaquin Phoenix. Miley Cyrus.

Tags: Trendy, Diet, Motivation, Celebrities, Beyonce

Quotes: ‘Because when it comes to our environment, health, and the rights of animals, adopting a vegan diet is an all-around win.’

Validation of sources: Uses other sources to show where they got their research from as well as having trusting contacts.

Further Research: I could check the references and make sure the lists are up to date.

Reddit

Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/vegetarian/comments/3xp9rd/is_it_common_for_people_to_react_negatively_when/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/45hved/who_are_some_positive_depictions_of/

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The Telegraph 18th May 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/number-of-vegans-in-britain-rises-by-360-in-10-years/

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Sant Magazine May 15th 2016 http://santmagazine.com/veganism-becoming-popular-lifestyle-trend/

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Primary Research

QuestionsSummary: Leigh Kale’s became vegan because of her family upbringing, meaning that she was raised with the morals to be vegetarian until she decided to become vegan. She found the change difficult, such as finding makeup products that were vegan friendly, as well as find restaurants with vegan suited meals.Leigh enjoys being vegan because she feels healthy and clean, all with being animal cruelty free.Quotes: ‘We only eat ice.’‘Healthy and clean with no cruelty to animals.’

QuestionsSummary: Richard Bradley became vegan through his own research on the topic. He found that there was harm being done to animals that didn’t need to be done. So he became vegan to stop causing any more unnecessary harm on his behalf.Before he was vegan, Richard had an unhealthy diet and it was based around meat. Although this was his diet before, he found the transition into becoming vegan easy, but did have issues with recipes when he first became vegan. His main concern with being vegan is that he has to ask people to make him vegan meals.He likes being vegan because he is doing his bit to stop a little bit of harm. Richard doesn’t like the stereotype vegans tend to have, such as being ‘thin, weak or hippies’. Richard would like more people to become vegan as it is one step closer to stopping unnecessary harm. However. He thinks they need to do a lot of research before becoming vegan.Quotes: ‘Stop anything causing unnecessary harm.’‘We’re all thin, weak hippies.’‘There are plenty of vegan body builders.’‘There are far few vegans overweigh.’

QuestionsSummary: ‘Frank’ became vegan due to peer pressure, although he doesn’t elaborate on that statement. He was a vegetarian before becoming vegan and he found the actual transition into being vegan very easy.He finds eating vegetables hard while being vegan.

Quotes: ‘Vegans do eat meat, especially bacon, but they do it in private.’

QuestionsSummary: Mikey Thompson-Attwell decided to become vegan for ethical reasons. He was vegetarian for three years before, but he ate a lot of dairy products. Although he ate a lot of dairy beforehand, he found the change into being vegan ‘not difficult at all’ as he found many online resources and substitutes for other meals.He finds nothing hard about being vegan and enjoys it because he ‘see’s the world as it is’.He doesn’t like that people think becoming vegan is hard and that people do it for any other reason but to be more ethical.

Quotes: ‘I see the world, instead of with blinkers on.’

QuestionsSummary: ‘Vegan’/anonymous became vegan for animals and the planet. They were vegetarian before becoming vegan but found the transition into being vegan difficult as there are too many fake substitutes that aren’t actually nice to eat.However, saying that, they like being a vegan because the meals are delicious and they feel guilt-free.They don’t like the misconception that the vegan meals are inedible and they wish more people would become vegan.

Quotes: ‘Delicious and guilt-free.’

QuestionsSummary: Isabel became vegan due to health reasons and also mainly climate change, although she also became vegan for the animas too. She had an unhealthy diet before becoming vegan, consisting of bacon and eggs everyday.When she first tried to become vegan, she found it difficult due to not being able to get enough calories in her meals. But the second time she tried, she found it a lot easier.Isabel doesn’t like that other people give her disapproving questions about being a vegan. Although she doesn’t like that about being vegan, she does like that she has more integrity and can influence a few people to become vegan or eat better for animals and the planet. She also feels a lot healthier because of being vegan.It annoys her that people think vegans don’t get enough nutrients.

Quotes: ‘I was not getting enough calories.’‘Questioning me in a disapproving way.’

QuestionsSummary: Jodie became a vegan due to her morals and to also help the environment. She also loves veg which probably made it easier for her to become a vegan.She was a healthy vegetarian before becoming vegan and she found actually becoming vegan easy.Jodie finds getting vegan meals when eating out difficult and expensive. She likes the moral satisfaction from being vegan, plus it pushes her to be more healthy.Jodie doesn’t like that people think vegans are pushy and annoying.She doesn’t mind what other people eat, and she’s rather they eat what they want. But she suggests reducing meat intake could be better also.Quotes: ‘I love veg’‘Eating out is expensive’

QuestionsSummary: Jamie Proctor-Broad decided to become vegan due to animal welfare. He was a vegetarian before becoming vegan but he soon realised that he wasn’t stopping animal exploration enough.He found that at home, it was a lot easier to be vegan than eating out as it’s difficult to find the right meals and to go out, it requires forward planning.Jamie doesn’t like that people think vegan food can’t be tasty. He likes being vegan because he feels like he is helping in a small way to stop exploitation of animals and sentiment beings.Quotes: ‘Turn my back on all forms of animal exploitation.’‘Eating out requires forward planning.’‘Stop exploitation of animals and sentiment beings.’

QuestionsSummary: Laura decided to become vegan due to the benefits for her personally as well as the benefit for animals and the environment.She was a vegetarian for a while before hand until she finally went vegan, although she says it took her a long time as there was a lot of research that needed to be done.She found that eating out or staying at hotels was difficult due to being vegan.But although it can be hard, she likes that she is doing her best to stop the cruelty on animals as well as the environment.The things that annoy her about misconceptions of being vegan is that people think vegans are pushy.She would like people to go vegan, but only if they understand what it means to be vegan.Quotes: ‘Benefit animals and the planet’‘So much research’‘Doing my best to stop the suffering of animals’

QuestionsSummary: Pippa became vegan due to ethical reasons as she is against the abuse of animals.She was a vegetarian before she became vegan but not a very healthy one. She also didn’t find the transition into being a vegan easy, as traveling and eating out is difficult for her, although she says cooking at home is no problem.She finds it hard that people ask her to justify herself, but she thinks no one would ask that if she was glutton free instead. I guess this means people have different concepts of veganism. She doesn’t like that people think vegans are always left liberals. She thinks intensive farming is bad for animals and for the consumers.Quotes: ‘Cooking at home is no problem, but eating out isn’t easy.’‘Asked to justify myself.’‘Clear conscience.’‘Cheap meant is cheap for a reason.’‘In my ideal world there’d be no animal suffering.’

What I learnt from my findings

The first thing I found from my findings is that 55% of the people who answered my survey became vegan due to ethical reasons. Where as the other 36% were due to the research they did, their family upbringing, peer pressure or for their health.The next thing I found was that 55% of recipients found the actual transition into veganism easy, the rest either found it difficult or found the second time they tried a lot easier. This makes me understand that if you slowly change your lifestyle towards being vegan, it’s a lot easier than just getting straight into it, though I can see it would be easier to transition into being vegan if you start off as a vegetarian, 64% of participants were vegetarian before becoming vegan. 46% find the hardest thing about being vegan is finding places to eat out.28% liked being vegan because they felt healthier. 28% liked it because they were stopping animal cruelty, and the other 28% felt like they were doing as little harm as possible.28% hated the misconception that vegan food was inedible and another 28% didn’t like that there’s a negative connotation with veganism. 55% wished more people would become vegan, where as only 10% didn’t want more people to be vegan. 19% said yes, but only if they researched it before, and another 19% said as long as people eat less meat, they don’t care.