Eat plants and save pounds and the planet: why Veganuary matters
Every January, millions of people take on Veganuary, a month-long challenge to eat a plant-rich diet. Whether you’re curious about trying new foods, aiming to make healthier choices, or looking for ways to reduce your environmental impact, Veganuary offers a host of benefits. As more people opt for healthier, more affordable, and more sustainable lifestyles, plant-based eating is becoming part of mainstream food culture.
For caterers and foodservice providers, Veganuary is a great opportunity to explore new menu ideas and support wider sustainability goals – without compromising on taste, nutrition, or cost.
What a vegan diet consists of
A vegan diet is entirely plant-based and excludes all animal products – no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, or honey. Instead, it focuses on ingredients like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds
Today, there is no shortage of delicious, high-quality plant-rich alternatives, including dairy-free milks, vegan cheeses, meat substitutes, and egg-free products. Herbs, spices, and global cuisines bring plenty of flavour and variety.
A well-balanced vegan diet is nutritious, satisfying, and rich in fibre, vitamins, and antioxidants. It is lower in saturated fats and linked to reduced risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.
Why people are choosing plant-based eating
In 2025 around 26 million people participated in Veganuary – and not just for animal rights. While ethical concerns remain a key motivator, many are also driven by health, financial, and environmental factors. Widespread adoption of plant-rich diets could even help reduce world hunger.
The animal welfare argument
Choosing a vegan diet helps reduce the demand for animal products, which in turn lowers the number of animals bred and killed for food. Estimates suggest that going vegan for just one month can save up to 30 animal lives.
Globally, over 92 billion land animals are farmed annually – the vast majority through factory farming. Even in the UK, which has a stronger animal rights record than most countries, over a billion animals are raised in intensive systems, with over 1,000 ‘mega-farms’ housing more than a million animals each. These systems not only raise animal welfare concerns but are also major drivers of climate change, biodiversity loss, and even pandemic risk. Also, many routinely fail to declare their substantial greenhouse gas emissions footprint.
The environmental impact of going vegan
From an environmental standpoint, adopting a vegan diet is the single biggest way you can reduce your impact on the planet. Research shows that plant-rich diets produce up to 75% less emissions, reduce water pollution, and require significantly less land. Widespread dietary change is essential if the UK is to meet its net zero obligations.
Livestock production is the leading cause of deforestation, habitat loss, and biodiversity decline, particularly in areas with sensitive ecosystems. Producing animal feed drives further land conversion and nutrient pollution.
Beef and lamb, in particular, have the largest environmental footprint due to their high land use, greenhouse gas emissions, and grazing requirements, which could otherwise support diverse ecosystems. Even locally sourced meat carries a far higher carbon footprint than plant-rich options – debunking the myth of food miles as the primary sustainability concern.
The myth of sustainable meat: why production methods aren’t enough
Notably, although red meat has the largest environmental footprint, the production of white meat and farmed fish also carries significant environmental impacts. Poultry production, particularly within intensive systems, is associated with high emissions as well as issues such as nutrient run-off, river pollution and damage to wildlife. These challenges are not exclusive to intensive farming; even free-range systems can contribute to water pollution and biodiversity pressures due to feed requirements and land use.
Fish production brings its own set of concerns. Run-off from aquaculture sites, waste accumulation, chemical use, and the spread of disease can all lead to degraded marine environments and loss of aquatic biodiversity. Wild-capture fisheries also present sustainability challenges, including overfishing and ecosystem disruption.
When viewed alongside the fact that even the lowest impact meat and dairy products still have a much higher environmental footprint than the least sustainable plant-rich alternatives, it becomes clear why so many people – and increasingly, catering operations – are choosing to incorporate more vegan and vegetarian dishes. Reducing reliance on animal products, even partially, can meaningfully lower the overall environmental impact of a foodservice offering.
The health benefits
A balanced vegan diet is naturally rich in plant-based nutrients and low in saturated fat. This can support better digestion and higher energy levels. Plant-rich diets are also linked to lower risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. This type of diet supports healthy cholesterol levels, weight management, and overall cardiovascular health.
Conversely, diets high in red meat, and particularly processed meat (bacon, ham, sausages etc), are linked to a higher risk of various diseases, including heart disease, pneumonia, diabetes, and certain types of cancers, amongst others. Reducing meat consumption is good for people and the planet, as evidenced by the EAT-Lancet diet, which supports a shift toward plant-rich eating for both personal and planetary health.
Notably, the experts behind the EAT-Lancet diet have acknowledged that if environmental impact were the sole consideration, their recommendation would be for everyone to adopt a fully vegan diet.
Importantly, vegan diets can provide all essential nutrients when planned well – and many common myths around protein deficiency are unfounded.
Is Veganuary cost-effective?
Yes – and increasingly so. Plant-rich staples like beans, pulses, oats, pasta, and frozen veg are affordable, easy to store, and versatile. Many plant-based proteins are not only nutritionally dense but also significantly more affordable than most meat options, particularly red meat, which has contributed heavily to food inflation.
An Oxford University study confirms that vegan and vegetarian diets are the most affordable in high-income countries like the UK, which is a valuable insight for schools, care homes, and hospitality operations balancing tight budgets.
Plant pioneers: Forest Green Rovers
Many different organisations are starting to see the benefits of vegan food, with Forest Green Rovers a great example. They’re the world’s first fully vegan football club, are leading the way in plant-rich innovation, and are also the only football club to have achieved the Vegan Trademark certification. allmanhall is proud to support the club with procurement solutions that drive cost savings, sustainability – and delicious, plant-rich meals for their supporters!
Through our partnership, Forest Green Rovers use carbon tracking tools like Foodsteps to measure the footprint of each dish, guide kitchen decisions, and engage fans with climate-friendly food choices. This is a powerful example of how organisations can align their values with practical foodservice solutions.
Meat-free diets are the future
Whether we embrace it enthusiastically or approach it more cautiously, the reality is that meat and dairy consumption will need to reduce significantly in the coming decades. The environmental cost of producing animal-based foods remains too high for countries like the UK to meet their climate commitments – even in the face of improved farming practices or industry-wide sustainability pledges.
While regenerative agriculture and grass-fed systems can offer important environmental benefits, such approaches alone cannot fully offset the impact of red meat production. The notion that these methods make meat sustainable at scale is, unfortunately, a myth. Demand reduction must also be part of the solution.
This isn’t about blame or guilt. It’s about increasing awareness of how our everyday food choices affect the world around us – from land and water use to emissions and biodiversity. Humanity has consumed animal products for thousands of years, but only recently have we begun to fully understand the scale and urgency of the impact.
Meaningful change will require collective action across supply chains, catering operations, and individual habits. Initiatives like Veganuary play an important role in shifting perceptions and demonstrating that change is not only possible, but also positive, practical, and rewarding.
What can your catering operation do?
Even small changes can make a big impact. Here are three easy ways to make plant-rich catering more sustainable and cost-effective:
- Swap red meat for plant-rich alternatives: A standard beef burger creates 5.77 kg CO₂e. allmanhall’s The Brighter Burger? Just 0.34 kg CO₂e – a 94% reduction.
- Use allmanhall’s Hero Recipes, designed to deliver taste and nutrition without breaking your catering budget.
- Try innovative ingredients like the Eat Curious range of dehydrated products through Vegetarian Express. They’re stored ambient, are affordable, and are low impact.
Building a resilient, sustainable food system
allmanhall believe that good food shouldn’t cost the Earth. As the UK’s Best Sustainable Food Procurement Solution (5 years running), we partner with clients to:
- Cut costs through smart procurement and consolidated billing
- Reduce carbon emissions through menu guidance and reporting
- Access award-winning support via The Pass and our client support team
We’re proud to hold a Gold EcoVadis rating, placing us in the top 2% of businesses globally for sustainability. We’re delivering real results through collaboration, insight, and transparency.
Ready to take action?
Let Veganuary be a starting point, not just a trend. With the right support, you can build a foodservice offering that’s not only better for the planet, but also cost-effective, inclusive, and future-ready.
Contact us now to explore how we can support your plant-rich and sustainability ambitions – this January and beyond.