00:00Aside from some poor weather, January brings plenty of New Year's resolutions, whether
00:05it's quitting smoking, picking up some weights or even reducing your screen time.
00:08But here in Kent and across the country are people taking on a new challenge for this
00:13month.
00:14Veganuary is where you become vegan for the full month of January.
00:17You're not allowed to eat any meat or meat products for the whole month.
00:21But in Kent, are there enough places for vegan people to actually eat?
00:24The Quills restaurant in Rochester started adding meat product free options to their
00:28menus around 2020.
00:30To be fair, some people ask, basically demand.
00:33So people was coming and asking, do you do something vegan?
00:35And I was saying, OK, we can make you vegan if you take this, this, this off from the dish.
00:42But the people was asking more and more.
00:45So we said, you know what, we're going to put that in a menu which comes vegan and then we
00:49label it as a vegan.
00:51So it would be just easier for us and for a chef and for a customer.
00:55And then whoever wants vegan, they know where to go.
00:57Now, I love meat as much as the next person.
01:01I don't think I'd be able to go vegan for a full month.
01:04But restaurants are making it a little bit easier.
01:06They've started adding more vegan friendly meals to their menu.
01:09And I'm not just talking about salads like the one I have here.
01:12Burgers, full breakfasts even.
01:15But going into a restaurant and ordering something vegan friendly is wholly different from being
01:18one.
01:19You need special kinds of milk, special kinds of cream, special kinds of butter.
01:23Some Prosecco's aren't vegan friendly.
01:25This one is, but not all of them are.
01:27So how easy is it to actually commit to not eating meat or meat based products for a whole
01:32month or longer?
01:33I would say that actually it's probably one of the more challenging diets really to make
01:39sure that you're getting all of the nutrition, the vitamins and minerals that you need to get
01:43to be as healthy as you can possibly be.
01:45So it's definitely possible in terms of a, you know, like a quick sort of fad way of eating.
01:54It wouldn't necessarily be my first choice.
01:57And I would always recommend that there is research and planning and forethought gone into
02:03it beforehand.
02:03And if it's done in that way, then absolutely you can get everything you need from a vegan
02:09diet.
02:09It just requires some planning 6.3% of UK adults are planning to follow a vegan diet
02:14in 2026.
02:15That's about 3.6 million people, according to some new data, just less than half for
02:20already vegan by the new year, while 3.2% weren't, but have decided to make the transition.
02:27At the end of the day, while restaurants and shops are becoming more accommodating, it's
02:30up to us to see, can we stick with Veganuary as well as we stick with our other New Year's
02:35resolutions?
02:36Finn McDermott for KMTV in Rochester.
02:38in Rochester.
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