The marriage of the words “vegan” and “January” was inspiration for the name of a program and organization originating in the United Kingdom in 2014. Now, more than a decade since Veganuary founding, this idea continues to leverage the hype of New Year’s resolutions with a clear goal to build the vegan community. Veganuary was designed to challenge anyone to eat a vegan-only diet for the entire month of January — and beyond.
Veganuary is a registered charity in England and Wales and states their mission is to “inspire and support people to try vegan, drive corporate change, and create a global mass movement championing compassionate food choices with the aim of ending animal farming, protecting the planet, and improving human health.”
Their five stated strategic areas of focus are: increasing participation, raising awareness, corporate engagement, growing a global movement, and internal development. Their 2027 goal is to have 33 million participants globally. This is an aggressive goal based on their 2023-2024 report stating that 25 million people tried vegan in January 2024. They additionally report to have had 300 businesses and organizations take part in the workplace challenge and sent 17.5 million coaching emails in 2024. The group has teams in the U.K., U.S., Germany, India, and Latin America, with partners in several other countries.
Celebrities have historically jumped into the trend as well, collaborating with the organization and cause. Many have been quoted to say it is “an excellent opportunity to try plant-based diets.” The celebrity messaging and rationale for asking their audience to participate in the January event is not consistent, but it is an opportunity to use their platform for the movement, either as a freewill gesture or paid participation for their likeness.
Veganuary is not without its critics, even within the vegan circles. A quick Google search of “the problem with Veganuary” will yield several articles and blogs written by the vegan community, primarily critiquing the practice as a fad and missing the root purpose of a vegan lifestyle.
Newsweek recently reported data from Google Trends indicates the month-long challenge might be becoming less popular. Traffic for the search term "Veganuary" has been steadily declining since January 2020 and hasn’t been as low as it currently is since January 2018. During the same time frame, the search for “plant-based” has risen.
As Veganuary 2025 closes, dietitians around the world would most likely advocate that nearly everyone could add more fruits and vegetables in their diet. There may be millions of people who jumped on the trend for the first time to eat only vegan or plant-based for the first 31 days of this year. But a balanced diet also has room for animal proteins, and the longer term view for dairy continues to be bright, as consumers are speaking with their wallet when choosing their dietary protein sources, which largely includes real dairy, at historically record levels.
