This article was originally published in 2015

Not so long ago, the word “vegan” conjured up images of anaemic-looking, sandal-wearing hippies.

But today, thanks to a new army of celebrity followers and super-bloggers, veganism has suddenly become glamorous. Beyoncé and Jay Z are partners in a vegan food company founded by their personal trainer, Marco Borges, while other famous names who wax lyrical about the benefits of their vegan diets include Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix, Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Gates. Even athletes Venus Williams and Mike Tyson have become converts.

And it’s not just a celebrity trend. According to The Vegan Society, the number of vegans in the UK has doubled in the last nine years from 150,000 to around 300,000. The market research company Mintel reports the non-dairy milk market leapt from 36 million litres in 2011 to 92 million in 2013, making it worth over £150 million.

Last year, Veganuary, a campaign to get people eating vegan during January, was launched with 3,300 participants; this year, there were 12,800, with 51 per cent planning to stay vegan.

Take a cursory look at the blogosphere and you might be forgiven for thinking a vegan diet can make you walk on water, so hyped has it become. One of the key pioneers of the new vegan lifestyle is Kris Carr, a model and actress turned blogger who wrote the wildly successful cookbook Crazy Sexy Kitchen.