1st November is celebrated as the World Vegan Day worldwide. This event was first celebrated by Louise Wallis, the then chairperson of The Vegan Society in the UK to observe the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the society. Their basic goals were to eradicate the cruelty and exploitation happening with the animals worldwide. Improvement in the environment, health and social justice to the animals were other goals of the society.
How do we celebrate World Vegan Day?
There are many ways to celebrate this day and I’m sure all the vegans and whole plat-based eaters would be very proud of themselves. Here are some of the ways, we can celebrate and I too follow some of them.
1. Offer some vegan food at your work place
You can make some delicious vegan food at home and can carry it to your work. You can offer the same to some of your colleagues and good friends at work. It will be easy for them to understand vegan food. People still have mythical thoughts about vegan food, but this will help them to understand more.
2. You can take your family to your favourite vegan restaurants
Who doesn’t want a mouth watering dinner at a nice restaurant after a long hectic day. This is a wonderful way to spend some quality time with your partner and children and you can also enjoy a good vegan meal. You can also take your parents or other family members to show your healthy food habits.
3. Participate in a vegan campaign
Nowadays, few vegan campaigns are taking place around us. This is the most common way to increase awareness about the vegan lifestyle and animal cruelty. Like in India, PETA have been driving couple of animal protection campaigns in various provinces. That will help you to participate and understand the mission and vision of the Vegan Society.
4. Make social media your plate
The way I run an Instagram and Facebook handles for my blog, I’m sure many vegans have social media presence. You can take it to your social media accounts and can spread awareness of the secret of your healthy lifestyle and can also be an vegan influencer. Its easy, quick and has got the widest reach of all the time.
5. Encourage your friends/family with a vegan challenge
Human brains are designed in a certain way that they take challenges pretty seriously. When you are planning to encourage your friends and family members to turn vegan, you can throw a challenge on them. A month of vegan diet challenge could be a great start. When you and your friends will compare the progress on daily/weekly basis, it will motivate them even more to stay vegan. They can easily track the improvements they noticed in their health.
6. Support a small/startup vegan business
Supporting a small or a startup vegan business can really bring a radical change in the society. You don’t need to be the Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk of the vegan world, but supporting with a small amount of money and promoting them on your own will surely bring a big change in this world. This is also reflect your true beliefs and a big step towards protecting the planet we live in.
7. Volunteer/support pet rescue NGOs
If you are a true pet/animal lover, you can offer your support to the pet rescue NGOs. You can also volunteer in helping the animals for food, pet grooming for an entire day as well. You can also clean their places or stables where they are living. If any of your friends, family or acquaintances are looking for a pet adoption, you can surely give them an opinion to adopt from the pet rescue homes. Owners will get a pet, and the pet will get a forever home.
8. Watch/show vegan documentaries
Nowadays, there are many OTT platforms available where numerous vegan documentaries. You can also find out many documentaries made to show the impact on environment. Here are some of the suggestions I would like to make as these documentaries are my all time favourites. Seaspiracy, Slay, David Attenborough: A life on our planet, The Game Changers, Cowspiracy, What The Health, and the list is quite a long one.
9. Listen to the vegan podcasts
Podcasts are another great ways to learn what’s happening in the world of veganism. These podcasts talk about vegan business, vegan restaurants, medical issues, diet, sustainability, fashion and many more. Here are some of my favourite vegan podcasts; The Plant Based News Podcast, Ordinary Vegan, The Simply Vegan Podcast, The Bloody Vegans Podcast, The Vegan Life Coach Podcast, The Minimalist vegan podcast.
10. Start reading a vegan book
Reading a book about vegan lifestyle can be a good and relaxing choice to celebrate the world vegan day. The best part of reading these books is that, you can go back and read the book all over again to understand it deeply. You can also share these books with your friends to help them understand more about plant-based diet. Vegetable Kingdom, The Oh She Glows Cookbook, Animal Liberation, Vegan For Life, How Not to Die, Why we love dogs, eat pigs and wear cows and The Korean Vegan Cookbook are some of my best picks.
Turning vegan was very easy for me, but maintaining it with all of my heart was the biggest challenge. Sustainability could be an issue for the starters. Sustaining and continuing with the thought of staying vegan for the rest of your life is not easy, but if your beliefs are in place then you can surely win it. Nobody can pull you down if you focus is on the right place. Celebrate this world vegan day 2022 with a broad mind and enter into 2023 with a bit green thoughts around you. Happy world vegan day to all of my readers!