Veganism is more popular than ever (Picture: Getty Images)

Veganism was once considered a fringe movement – but things are rapidly changing.

Vegans used to be plagued by unfair stereotypes of being preachy and malnourished, and spent most of their time negotiating a lack of food options.

And God help if you were a vegan in school a couple of decades ago – where school lunches would consist of plain jacket potatoes and undressed lettuce, more or less every single day.

But things are completely different now, and more teenagers than ever before are giving up animal products completely.


According to Laura, from the volunteer-led organisation Teen Vgn, the prominence of vegan role models and appetising meals on Instagram has made the movement more accessible.

‘It’s becoming quite trendy and fashionable to be vegan now,’ Laura told Metro.co.uk. ‘There are a lot more vegan celebrities and role models these days.’



Teen Vgn runs camps for teenagers, during which they hold workshops on vegan advocacy, cooking courses, and talks with major animal rights groups such as Sea Shepherd.

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‘We now have just over 1,100 registered members from all over the world, and we are getting around three or four new members signing up every week.’

Indeed, social media has made it much easier for people to find out about animal cruelty, as well as providing access to inspirational role models, delicious looking recipes and general vegan tips.

Metro.co.uk spoke to some teenagers to find out what it’s like being a young vegan in the UK at a time when the movement is exploding. Here’s what they told us.

Lucy, 17, Maldon

I first considered going vegan when I was around 14. I worked on a small farm for work experience and saw the way the animals were treated.

In one instance, I was holding a calf as she was being debudded – where they burned her to the skull with a hot poker thing to stop her horns from growing – and as I watched her eyes rolling and felt her struggling, I thought, ‘wow, this isn’t right’.

I tried going vegan for a year, but my family weren’t supportive and it was quite stressful – so when my exams started I just went back to being omnivorous. The guilt was always there. I tried to get back into that state of cognitive dissonance, but I just kept thinking about that calf and how I was funding things like that.

Just after Christmas one of my friends turned vegan, which prompted me to begin researching it – I found out that animal agriculture is rivalled only by the fossil fuel industry in how environmentally catastrophic it is, and decided I couldn’t pretend anymore. I turned vegan overnight and haven’t looked back since.

Jack, 16, Nottingham

I had been vegetarian for about eight years before I went vegan, and I didn’t realise that the milk and egg industry involved so much suffering and death. I think that’s the case for most vegetarians to be honest. I absolutely love veganism.

It’s funny because people say your life changes so much, but it really doesn’t! I’m currently doing my GCSEs at the moment and comfort eat a lot! Plenty of normal junk food for me.

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Most people give me a hard time about being vegan – but I was reading about it in my psychology book, and it’s because we’re social creatures and cannot face being linked to such atrocities. So making fun of vegans is basically a coping mechanism for people.



But I always make sure I fight back with statistics and facts from reliable sources, rather than insults and opinions. We’re seen as preachy and we’re mocked, but honestly, all I see is non-vegans preaching about vegans and not the other way around!

From what I see on social media, veganism is nowhere near completely accepted, but the vegan population is growing – so we must be doing something right.

Haseeb-Ahmed became vegan to live a more healthy lifestyle (Picture: Haseeb-Ahmed/Facebook)

Haseeb-Ahmed, 18, Birmingham

I developed mild depression just after I turned 16, and my diet was awful – I ate no fruits or vegetables, and I didn’t even take vitamin supplements. I used to just fill up on junk food like Doritos and chocolate – until I had a passport photo taken, and I noticed how ill I looked compared to one taken just two years earlier.

So I did a fair amount of research and educated myself on healthy eating, and changed my diet by replacing junk food with more fruit, vegetables and whole foods. After about a year I decided to avoid dairy and egg products – partly because of the way animals are treated, but also because they can cause various health problems.

A while after that, I thought that since I was already avoiding these things I might as well become vegan – and I cut meat out of my diet completely.

My friends do sometimes make jokes about my veganism, but what they say is exactly that: jokes. I don’t mind what they say, and when necessary they help me find food that’s safe for vegans too.


Drew, 20, Pembrokeshire

I turned vegan almost a year ago. I’m in a small town in South Wales, which is a predominantly farming area, the idea of veganism to them is basically insanity.

My whole family have always been meat eaters, but since I changed my mum has switched to being vegetarian, and my sister tries to eat cleaner. It was difficult to get my family to understand the reasoning behind my decision, but it’s worth it to know they now support me.

I definitely think veganism is becoming far more popular now, due to social media and permanent health scares being in the news.

In contrast, the people on my college course have found the subject quite amusing – they love to make comments about their meaty meals and make each other laugh.

Katie says social media has played a huge part in veganism’s popularity (Picture: Facebook/Katie)

Katie, 19, Hampshire

After a year and a half, I still struggle with veganism – not in terms of not consuming animal products, but more because it has opened my eyes to the cruelty of the world. We as a species are so disconnected from the process of how our food is produced.

I definitely think veganism is becoming more acceptable in today’s society – especially among the younger generation. With numerous vegan festivals like VegFest, and ‘hipster’ cafe joints around London, it almost seems that being vegan is becoming more mainstream… and maybe even ‘fashionable’.

Sites like Facebook and Instagram play a huge part in promoting veganism to young people across the world. Not only has social media allowed vegans to connect and share recipes and events, most importantly I feel it reaches out to omnivores who are unaware of the impact their decisions have on the world.


Videos on Facebook go viral so quickly, and organisations like the Vegan Society and Peta provide free, online resources for those interested in veganism.

Just by clicking a button, I am able to reach out to others – without becoming the pushy, preachy vegan stereotype (hopefully!).

Amber sees feminism and veganism as intrinsically linked (Picture: Facebook/Amber)

Amber, 19, London

I consider myself a feminist, and I don’t think you can really claim that title until you see non-human animals as equal to human animals.

The way my teenage friends see veganism really varies depending on where they are from. Most of my friends back in Lincolnshire, where I’m originally from, don’t really understand it (although there are a few that do).

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I come from a town that isn’t very diverse, so we haven’t grown up with many views, religions and cultures outside of our own. I feel this could be the reason most people don’t understand veganism.

I have to say, if I were still in Lincolnshire being vegan would be extremely tough given the way my friends react to it. I’ve never been a person to give into peer pressure, but they have this annoying habit of giving me non-vegan food and being like, “so what, haha”.

However, my friends in London don’t talk about it ever. When they learn I’m vegan, it’s usually because I’ve asked for my coffee with soya milk and they’ve put two and two together. They tell me they respect it, or just leave it at that.

Emily, 20, Birmingham

I found it hard when I first became vegan, at the age of 19. I’d get people asking, ‘What do you eat now? Grass and rabbit food?’ or, ‘Do you miss meat? I love meat, I can’t live without it’.

Sometimes you feel like a bit of an outcast with them, and they will make you feel like they can’t talk about stuff in front of you.

Like I’ve had people say, ‘Oh you can’t eat chicken, sorry’, as though it’s a health problem… I feel like saying, ‘no I don’t want to eat it because of the fact animals deservet he right to live without being killed for us’. But I keep my cool really – I just tell them I’m happier without meat in my life.

I also sometimes get, ‘Do vegans eat fish?’ as if fish somehow grow out of the ground, haha.

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Chloe, 19, Liverpool

I’ve been vegetarian since I was 11, and I tried going vegan a couple of times but it only lasted a few days each time.

But after reading The China Study my 21-year-old brother decided he wanted to go vegan, and then my mum said she would do it too. So I decided I would transition from vegetarian to vegan as well.

Since then I’ve had a couple of people make rude remarks, saying, ‘I should die now if I’m not eating good food’ and that they’re ‘sick of vegan [social media] posts’ – but I’m the one who is healthy and happy, and can eat my food 100% guilt-free!

One thing I have done though is set up a second Instagram to post vegan food, to prevent people complaining.

But I’m happy with my choice of a vegan lifestyle, and I don’t ever see myself going back to being an omnivore as it’s so easy to be vegan – as long as you educate yourself and are willing to get in the kitchen, it’s brill.

If you’re a vegan teenager, check out Teen Vgn here