Let's make 2025 our most impactful year yet

A Happy New Year to all of our members and supporters. For those people lucky enough to get an extended break over the Christmas and New Year period, it often provides a time for reflection and of course a chance to reflect on personal ambitions for the year ahead.

In particular, many people use this moment to try vegetarian or vegan diets, and we have to hope that a good number make their short-term experiment a long-term lifestyle change – whether they do it for the animals, for the planets or for their own health.

If you’re not already a member of the Vegetarian Society, why not make the resolution to join us and become part of a positive, growing movement? If you have two minutes, let me see if I can inspire you!

Throughout 2025 the Vegetarian Society will be focused on two key things: encouraging more people to try veggie and vegan diets, and also working to change our food systems for the better.

This year, you ‘ll see a regular stream of communications, social media, blogs and interviews from us focused on winning the hearts and minds of meat-eaters across the UK, in particular through National Vegetarian Week, which kicks off once again on Wednesday 1st October (World Vegetarian Day), with increasing support from businesses, local authorities and schools.

You’ll see us showcasing great food from around the world with new recipes, and of course our brand-new experience and teaching kitchen COOK! with the Vegetarian Society will be offering a range of courses throughout the year, with discounts for members.

We also hope to take our new Plant-Based Trademark global in 2025. We hope it encourages many more businesses and consumers to confidently dip a toe into the plant-based food sector. And there is much more – a major retailer will very soon be using this trademark on a fantastic range of plant-based products so watch this space!

But critically, we will also be focused on systems change and how the Society and its members can create positive changes in the way we produce our food. In particular, we’ll be focused on how the UK can become a world leader in plant-based foods. We’ll be building on our parliamentary event last November, at which we were delighted to welcome Danish politicians and our own UK farming minister to find out how the UK can learn from the Danish government’s world leading plan for plant-based foods.

We’ll also be kicking off research commissions on the theme of slaughter-free dairy, thanks to the continuing generosity of our members who have donated to the initiative. No other organisation is currently exploring this concept, and it’s very much in the pioneering zeal of those early 19th-century Society founders that we strive to take the ‘road less travelled’ and hopefully bring many others with us. Look out for updates on this, and how you can continue to get involved and support this important piece of work. If you would like to join me on a personal Q&A about this initiative, you can register for the Q&A on Wednesday 15th January here.

Finally, I can reveal that, very shortly, we’ll be kicking off a brand new and high-profile campaign aimed at improving the egg industry’s current operations, which I’m sure will receive a lot of media attention. I can’t wait to reveal more in the near future, and I hope you will be inspired to support this campaign.

Working closely with you, our members and supporters, I know we can make 2025 one of our most impactful years to date.

If you aren’t already a member and you’ve read this far, why not join us now from as little as £3 a month? In addition to your support for the Society’s mission, we offer a range of discounts on products and courses, our members’ magazine, e-books, access to our exclusive dietitian service, and more.

Along with all the team at the Vegetarian Society, I’m looking forward to working with you all throughout 2025!

Richard McIlwain

Chief Executive, Vegetarian Society