by Team VLA
Veganism is on the rise like never before and the UK’s fastest growing vegan organisation has this week announced appointing a team of five new Directors – all dedicated to running and developing this vibrant Association. It has also attracted the help and support of a team of volunteers UK-wide, and internationally, to spread its message and help people live a vegan lifestyle.
New Director Jessica said:
“Over the last few years veganism has grown at an astounding rate, with more people becoming aware of the vegan lifestyle and its multiple benefits, particularly through eating a vegan diet.
In recent weeks it’s been announced that Heather Mills of VBites has teamed up with Holland and Barrett to open a chain of vegan fast food outlets, Ikea have launched a vegan version of their famous meatball and even Quorn are developing a new vegan range. It’s also been reported that Ben and Jerry’s are developing a dairy-free icecream and indeed between 2011 and 2013 there was a 12% increase in UK sales of non-dairy brands of milks as well as non-dairy yoghurts and cheeses.”
The awareness of ethical issues and interest in the vegan lifestyle has been fuelled, in part, by social media activity, as well as hugely successful vegan festivals and events across the UK, in towns and cities from Bournemouth and Bristol to Hull and Glasgow. They’re drawing in tens of thousands of visitors.
Chantal Denny – Founder and Director of the Vegan Lifestyle Association – said:
“Since we launched in February this year over 100 people join us every week, and we have 25,000 following us across our social media network. We’ve been inundated with enquiries and can barely keep up, hence we needed to develop our team more quickly than planned. It’s evident to us that people care a great deal about where their food comes from and how their products are produced and recognise that they have the power as consumers to demand more ethical goods and services.”
Fellow Director David Harrow added:
“Those companies with ethics, good business sense and who want to improve their environmental credentials, for example, are recognising this trend and catering for vegans like never before. All of this is helping to make living a vegan lifestyle easier. There’s so much choice – it’s a wonderful way to live and our new team is here to support people every step of the way.”
The seven-strong team [now including Dave, Jessica, Lauren, Marissa and Suzanne] all volunteers, giving freely of their time, are from different UK locations, working backgrounds and ages and all bring with them diverse talents and skills. They will be building on the Association’s initial success, attending events, curating information and securing special offers for Associates. They will also be promoting the popular #easy2bvegan campaign and liaising with companies and organisations to help bring veganism even further into the mainstream.
The team are helping the VLA to become a cornerstone of the vegan community and a friend to all vegans, for life.
To ‘meet’ the new team and learn more about the Association visit www.veganlifestyleassociation.com/team or follow @VeganLifeAssoc on Twitter and contact via