Veganuary 2020
What started in 2014 as a social media campaign in the United Kingdom to email ordinary carnivores with tips on how to make their diets not only meatless but also free of other animal products has spilled across the English Channel to European shores. And to plug the consumption hole that has opened up after the fat month of December, retailers are also jumping on the flat wave and increasingly offering vegan products on their shelves.
Supermarket Social Media Scouts
It is surprising that it is not Demeter farms, organic markets and health food shops that have discovered access to the hashtag Veganuary, but discounters and supermarkets that are going for the health consciousness and believe they can lure their customers into the shops with it. Presumably, modern technology is too suspect for the operators of flagship food markets to catch on to such trends. It is too bad that the organisation is 'non-profit' and does not recommend purchases, but if the marketing strategists are clever enough, ordinary consumers will not notice the difference between advertising and helping them to lose weight, optimise their diet or feel good.
Taste decides
Every committed person is free to follow the dietary tips, and targeting them as a competition to see who does it better, more consistently and more successfully makes about as much sense as selling soy-based sausages and schnitzels that contain more flavourings than e-cigarettes to make the stuff taste like meat - after all, e-cigarettes also come in gummy bear, toenail, chocolate ice cream and hunter's schnitzel flavours. It is too bad that the child-friendly versions of tobacco substitutes are to be banned, whereas the shape, colour and flavour variants of tofu products may continue to be sold freely to minors.
Far-reaching successes of part-time vegans
But of course the well-informed Veganuary participant knows that it is about more vegetables and fruits that we eat away from the herbivorous farm animals so that they are not fattened and slaughtered, and not only make a contribution to starving animal welfare, but also to climate protection. This is because the unslaughtered steaks eat less grass on the pasture, they also emit less digestive gases, which are largely responsible for global warming. Thus, by giving up meat, eggs, cheese, honey and gummy bears by 350,000 people across Europe, water consumption andCO2 emissions for the whole year are reduced by 60% in the month of January alone. If the campaign were to be extended to the whole year, the climate targets for 2030 would already be achieved in June 2021, retroactive to 1980.
Long tradition - newly discovered
The political effect of celebrities who would otherwise not be heard from joining the action is equally significant. In Germany alone, almost five (5) B to C celebrities profess to have heard of the 13th month of Veganuar and asked whether this measure is coincidental or deliberate in the middle of the carnival or Lent season, during which - good Christians will know - people are supposed to give up meat anyway, after all the word Karne-val(e) means 'meat adé' and has been documented since the 13th century. As early as the Middle Ages, people came up with the idea of foregoing excessive gluttonous orgies because food was scarce in winter anyway. The fact that there is no essential reason to live modestly in this cultural circle today makes it all the easier to pretend to conform to a healthy lifestyle for a month for the sake of a clear conscience.