Google Trends, which records how many searches are made for particular terms is showing that searches for 'vegan' have never been higher.

The peak coincided with the end of the year, a time when traditionally people make New Year's resolutions to improve parts of their life - and we know that more people than ever before chose to switch to a vegan lifestyle.

The Trends measures searches from all over the world but the top 10 countries searching for 'vegan' were:

1. Australia

2. Canada

3. United States

4. New Zealand

5. Germany

6. Austria

7. United Kingdom

8. Sweden

9. Ireland

10. Switzerland

Google Trends is a useful indicator for gauging what is capturing the general public's attention.

The Veganuary campaign encourages the public to go vegan every January with the hope that it will be a permanent switch after people see how easy the lifestyle is and how much better it makes them feel. This year already more than twice the amount of people signed up to go vegan for the entire month of January compared to last year.

You can see the huge difference in Veganuary sign-ups on the graph below. The blue line is 2014/2015, the orange line is 2015/2016 and the grey line is sign ups this year (2016/2017).

Veganuary sign-ups at record high

Last year we saw a huge increase in the number of people rejecting meat and dairy and adopting fully plant-based diets. In fact, the numbers of those following vegan diets has grown by a remarkable 261% in the UK and vegan food sales have increased 1,500%.

There are many reasons fuelling the rise in veganism, including increasing consumer-awareness of the barbaric practices of factory farming, and ease of access to more delicious vegan foods as companies expand their vegan ranges. It may also be because of growing awareness of the looming threat from antibiotic resistance caused by the meat industry, or the unsustainable environmental issues surrounding meat/diary production which were highlighted earlier this year in the report from leading investors to the 16 largest food companies.

Whatever the reason, there's no better time to go vegan. People are usually amazed at how much better they feel without ingesting animal products and they discover so many new delicious foods they won't even want to go back to meat/dairy again.

You can also download our free Festive Vegan Recipe Book if you'd like some fresh ideas.