Veganuary 2023

There has never been a better year to try vegan! (whether you are brand new to veganism or just want to ramp up your meals) Our 21 day Easy and Pasifika Vegan Challenges offer full support from our volunteer team of mentors, who include dieticians and nutritionists. They can answer all your questions and you get to meet a great bunch of fellow veginners (beginner vegans) 🙂

Everyone is welcome to join our Pasifika Cookalongs, which are regularly aired on Facebook. It’s a fabulous way to improve your culinary skills and expand your recipes.

The Kiwi summer brings picnics on the beach, backyard BBQs, gatherings at the local reserve. It’s a great season to change up your habits and get into a new healthy lifestyle, with new year’s resolutions taking hold, there has never been a better time to reduce your intake of fats and cholesterol. Check out some great recipes for your barbie!

This year we predict that there will be a continued boom in plant-based products, especially in new markets such as vegan cheese. 2022 saw a lot of entries in our Vegan Cheese Awards, featuring NZ made plant-based cheeses from all over the country. Many producers are using their previous dairy cheese-making skills to apply to nut-based cheeses, producing a range of delicious new ways to enjoy the taste of cheese.

Precision fermentation is a new technology to this market that will really change the game. With the ability to produce taste and texture dairy identical proteins, economists are predicting the end of the dairy industry by 2030. Dairy from animals is simply too resource-heavy to continue, it is sad that it will be economics that really drives this change, rather than care and compassion for our fellow beings, but no matter the reason, we will be delighted to see an end to the suffering.

Currently there is no legislation around the use of the word plant-based, and companies who have used it, but have included animal products, are changing their formulas to become 100% plant-based. This year we will be working towards getting such legislation brought in. In the meantime, please report any issues you see to the Commerce Commission. This will help them understand that there is a problem that needs attention. Their current thought is that plant-based does not have to mean 100% plant-based, so this labelling can mean that there are animal products in the food. We are also asking for evidence of such cases, so if you can please take a photo and send it to Claire@vegansociety.org.nz along with any details about the product you can give them.

We are pleased that there has been much success for groups against animal exploitation, with the reduction in the number of rodeos last year, and more cancelled for the coming year, the end for rodeos could be 2023. It’s an imported idea that has only been around in NZ for 70 years, it is not part of NZ’s heritage and thus will end shortly. Fingers crossed!

As compassion for our fellow beings who share the planet with us continues to increase, there will be a reduction in the use of animals for entertainment and gambling purposes. As greyhound racing has come under the spotlight, 2023 could be the year that animal welfare laws make it all but impossible to continue.

As the egg shortage hits supermarket shelves and media, there’s a lot of interest in vegan alternatives 🙂 Remind your friends to share this page whenever the opportunity arises https://vegansociety.org.nz/egg-alternatives/

Photo from Vegconomist – the vegan business magazine