UNITED KINGDOM, January 20, 2014 (BBC): Once veganism was widely associated with animal rights activists, the health conscious and the religious. But now more and more people are dabbling with a vegan diet, albeit temporarily. A growing trend for giving up all animal products doesn’t involve going vegan forever. Nor does it even require being morally opposed to eating meat.
More people are pledging to go vegan for seven or 30 days, according to the Vegan Society. There were 40% more people signing up to this temporary menu in the first two months of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, it says. And this year a new campaign – Veganuary – has already seen 3,200 people commit to go vegan for the first month of 2014, organizers say.
There are also 150,000 full-time vegans in the UK – so about 1 in 400 – according to the British Vegan Society. The ratio goes up to roughly one in 150 in the US, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, which puts the total figure at two million. Like vegetarians, they don’t eat meat, poultry, fish or by-products of slaughter — vegans don’t eat eggs and dairy products either.
More at source.