Seedling Magazine

In 2015, the World Health Organization announced its
position that both red and processed meats were linked with
cancer in humans. Red meat was classified as Group 2A, due
to “epidemiological studies showing positive associations
between eating red meat and developing colorectal cancer as
well as strong mechanistic evidence” , and processed meat
was labelled Group 1, meaning the evidence that processed
meat is carcinogenic is as strong as the evidence for cigarettes
and asbestos. The WHO’s analysis found that “every 50 gram
portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of
colorectal cancer by about 18%.” Meat isn’t good for us, and
our protein needs can be met by vegetables, pulses, and fauxwhy
it’s going
to be
hard to be a
vegetarian
in 2019
by Laura Maria Grierson
2018 might well have been the year of the vegan. In 2012, an
NDNS survey found that roughly 2% of the UK population
was meat­free, equivalent to 1.2 million vegetarians. By 2018,
this had risen to 3.25%, meaning 62.5% more people were
vegetarian.
By contrast, vegan numbers have risen from the more modest
150,000 (0.25% of the UK population) in 2014 to 600,000 by
2018 – a remarkable increase of 300%, with four times as
many vegans as just four years previously. 1.16% of the
population now considers themselves vegan, with young
people leading the numbers (42% of vegans are in the 15­34
age category).
Vegans still lag behind vegetarians in terms of numbers, but
the rise in the lifestyle exceeds that of vegetarianism. Since
2015, “vegan” has begun to overtake “vegetarian” as a search
term on Google, with the popularity of “vegan” more than
twice that of “vegetarian” as of September 2018.
Apart from the numbers and statistics, we’ve also seen
veganism hit the mainstream in a big way. Celebrities such as
heartthrob Zac Efron and singer Will.i.am went vegan (with
the latter giving us the #Vgang hashtag), joining other plantbased
A­listers and cultural icons such as Sia, Beyoncé,
Benedict Cumberbatch, Ariana Grande, Bryan Adams, Peter
Dinklage, Russell Brand, Mayim Bialik, Ellie Goulding,
Jessica Chastain, Woody Harrelson, Darren Aronofsky, and
Liam Hemsworth. In London alone, there are almost 150
exclusively vegan restaurants and shops, and with ethical
eating in the public eye, this number looks set to increase.
So why is veganism looking to overtake vegetarianism? The
simple fact is that the primary reasons people go vegetarian
are also applicable to going vegan – so whatever the reason
for ditching meat, eggs and dairy should be the next to go.
1. Health
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