Veganuary Challenge Surpasses One Million Participants Mark

Yesterday, the U.K.-based, global Veganuary initiative announced that it had reached a grand total of one million participants since it kicked off in 2014. If you’re not familiar with the free challenge, Veganuary participants sign a pledge to go vegan for the month of January (beyond the first month of the calendar, the organization strives to inspire people to make the plant-based shift year-round).

Jasmine Harman, U.K. television and radio host, who enlisted herself in the inaugural Veganuary, kicked off a video message celebrating the accomplishment: “I feel very proud and very privileged to have been with Veganuary from the start and to be one of their ambassadors,” she said before other notable participants expressed their gratitude for the program. Among the bunch? Rebecca Callard, actor and writer, who participated in 2020,  actor Evanna Lynch, a longtime Veganuary ambassador whom you may recognize from the Harry Potter series; Emmerdale actor James Moore who became an ambassador in 2019, and Kuntal Joisher, who is said to be the first vegan to summit Mount Everest and Veganuary ambassador.

Watch the full video message below. Can you count yourself among the successful participants?

If not, don’t be dismayed, there’s still time to make your pledge to go vegan for the month of January. Take the Veganuary pledge here. During this year’s campaign, Vegnuary reports that more than 400,000 people registered for the January campaign to adhere to a vegan diet, and 600+ food companies, restaurants, and supermarkets promoted the nonprofit’s efforts, launching more than 1,200 new plant-based products and menus in the U.K., and, we’d imagine, a much higher number beyond. Pretty neat considering that when husband-and-wife Jane Land and Matthew Grover kicked off the first run of Veganuary in 2014, they thought it was just a unique New Year’s Resolution and never realized it would become a worldwide movement.

To get a leg up on the Veganuary challenge, check out our 21-day plant-based program or our #PlantBasedForADay challenge and get those smoothies blending pronto. Here’s to the next million aspiring vegans. Who’s excited to join us on this plant-based journey? We can’t wait to get started. In fact, given the yea we’ve all had, we say any day is a good day to start anew and take on this adventure.