Okay, so we know World Vegan Day is tomorrow and we are somewhat premature with this blog... but, we have very exciting news to tell you on November 1st so we have shifted this blog and our giveaway one day early.
This year has flown by like a basset hound’s ears on a windy day, and here we are celebrating World Vegan Day once again!
Last year, we celebrated this day by going over the differences between vegan, plant-based and flexitarian (or as we like to re-fur to them, flexidogian) lifestyles and diets. This year, like an Alaskan malamute after shaking themself off, we’d like to shed some light on progress that’s been made in the plant-based revolution in the last 365 days.
🌱 A record number of people signed up to participate in Veganuary 2023
In January 2023, Veganuary—the global organisation encouraging people to go vegan in January and beyond—had 706,695 people from all over the world sign up to go vegan for the month of January. The year prior saw 629,351 people pledge to change their habits for the first month of the new year. This year’s growth in participation can be attributed to increased availability of vegan options at restaurants and supermarkets, growing awareness of the impact of meat and animal by-products on animal welfare and environmental sustainability and the campaign’s social media presence; in 2023, #Vegauary was viewed on TikTok over 894 million times and over 300 million people engaged with Veganuary’s various social media channels in the month of January, where they could see just how easy and delicious going vegan can be.
🌱 Cost-of-living crisis contributes to reduced meat consumption in the UK
A study by market intelligence company Mintel earlier this year revealed that the cost-of-living crisis has been a driving force for many in the UK to swap their meat-based meals for plant-based ones. Compared to last year, in which sustainability and the environmental benefits of meat reduction was the leading reason for Britons to ditch meat several times throughout the week, consumers around the country are now finding that eating less meat is a ‘good way to save money,’ with 43 percent finding it so (compared to only 27 percent in 2021). Alice Pilkington, Senior Food and Drink Analyst at Mintel, noted, ‘The cost-of-living crisis presents an opportunity for inherently vegan products, such as chickpeas and lentils, which can pad out meat-based meals or replace meat to make recipes more affordable.’ Winner winner, plant-based dinner!
🌱 Study reveals that when vegan food is the default option, 81 percent of university students choose it
Food for Climate League, the Better Food Foundation and food service provider Sodexo Campus revealed in a landmark study that most university students are happy to eat plant-based! Their study was conducted on the campuses of three schools in the United States—New Orleans’ Tulane University, Philadelphia’s Lehigh University and New York’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. On ‘plant-default days’, only plant-based dishes were displayed (students could ask for the meat alternative). On ‘control days’, both meat and plant-based dishes were presented side-by-side. On the average control day at the three schools, 26.9 percent of dishes served were plant-based, while on plant-default days, 57.6 percent of plant-based dishes were served; at Tulane and Lehigh, the shift was even more pronounced, with control days resulting in 30.8 percent of plant-based dishes being served while an astonishing 81.5 percent of plant-based dishes were served on plant-default days. Jennifer Channin, Better Food Foundation Executive Director, observed, ‘This study confirms what we've seen repeatedly—that Gen-Z students are not only open to plant-centered dining, but that they feel good about eating in places that center plant-based meals.’ This study proves that the plant-based revolution is taking place as we speak (or rather, bark), and we’re trying to contain our zoomies about it!
🌱 One in five ‘Whoppers’ sold at Burger King Germany is plant-based
In an interview with vegconomist, Klaus Schmaeing—Chief Marketing Officer at Burger King Germany—revealed that the chain’s efforts to promote their plant-based options are paying off! Today, approximately one in five Whoppers sold in the country is with a plant-based patty; as for their Long Chicken, almost one in four orders are for the ‘veganised’ version. These numbers make our tails wag, because it means people are increasingly happy to swap out their meat base for a veggie alternative—a more compassionate choice without skipping out on taste.
🌱 Professor Andrew Knight’s revolutionary research on the environmental sustainability benefits of vegan dog, cat and human diets
Unless you’ve been sleeping in like a dog for the past month, you’ll probably know that Professor Andrew Knight came out with a groundbreaking scientific paper on the environmental benefits of vegan diets for dogs, cats and humans. His study revealed that transitioning all dogs to a vegan diet would spare the lives of up to 6 billion land animals (and billions more aquatic animals), along with significantly reducing land use (larger than the size of Saudi Arabia or Mexico), water use (greater than all freshwater use in Denmark), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (by amounts greater than all GHG emitted in the UK) and biocide use. In our exclusive interview with Professor Knight, he revealed optimism for the future of vegan dog food: ‘I think we’re seeing the teething problems that occur when a disruptive industry first emerges, and new products become available. There’s always a period when demand outpaces supply, and supply needs to catch up. We're going through that at the moment with vegan pet food.’
🌱 THE PACK’s launch of its plant-based, oven-baked dry kibble—the first of its kind in Europe
If it’s supply that the dogs want, then it’s supply they’ll get! We at THE PACK are thrilled to have announced earlier this year that we’d be launching our oven-baked dry kibble—the first of its kind in Europe—that is nutritionally complete and packed with drool-inducing, premium and functional ingredients, including sweet potato, naked oats, pumpkin, apple, spinach, algae oil, beetroot and a mix of dried herbs and spices. Want you pup-tivist to join the plant-based dog food revolution? Between our mouth-watering wet meals and our crunchy kibble, we’ve just made it easier to go the whole hog!
You can shop our groundbreaking new oven baked dried food with a whopping 25% off by clicking the following https://thepackpet.com/discount/OVENBAKED25
🌟GIVEAWAY
Do you want to celebrate World Vegan Day in the most wag-nificent way paw-ssible? Enter our giveaway in partnership with Pastan!
There will be three winners — one in London, Bristol and Manchester. Each winner will receive 1 month of food from THE PACK, including 12 cans of our wet food and 5kg of our new oven-baked dry kibble. As for the humans, winners will get to enjoy a meal for two at Pastan.
Simply head over to our Instagram post to enter. Don't have Instagram? Then email us at woof@thepackpet.com and tell us which location you would love to visit if you win.
Winner winner, plant-based dinner!
