Food – No meat, no dairy, no problem: is 2014 the year vegans become mainstream?

As New Year dietary fads go, giving up meat, dairy and fish altogether might seem extreme for the average person looking to shed a few pounds. Yet there are growing signs that 2014 could be the year that veganism – often viewed as the preserve of hippies, animal activists and health obsessives – stops being a niche dietary choice and gains new followers, and not just because of soon-forgotten resolutions.

This year will see the German supermarket chain ‘Veganz – We Love Life’ opening its first branch in the United Kingdom (UK), offering over 6,000 vegan products. The store is hoping to take advantage of increasing interest in non-meat, non-dairy food.

Most UK supermarkets already stock vegan products, but Veganz is the first dedicated chain store of its kind in Europe. Set up in 2011, the company hopes to open a total of 21 stores across the continent by 2015 to meet growing demand.

The choice of not consuming any animal products at all is currently being promoted by Mark Bittman’s book VB6, which takes a “flexitarian” approach – advocating eating a vegan diet before 6 p.m.

Veganism has long been plagued by stereotypes of it proponents. But what will dedicated full-time proponents of the lifestyle choice – its title officially coined in 1944 by founder of the British Vegan Society Donald Watson – make of the part-timers and the potential for it to become the latest fad diet?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/no-meat-no-dairy-no-problem-is-2014-the-year-vegans-become-mainstream-9032064.html