No Meat May Campaign Sign-ups Nearly Doubled Compared To 2019

No Meat May sign-ups reached a record number of 25,000 participants who have pledged to ditch meat for 31 days in May.

That's a 150 per cent increase on last year's total sign-ups of 10,000 people.

No Meat May campaign "proves that more people are open to plant-based eating than ever before, and are willing to try a meat-free diet beyond the month of January." 

No Meat May is a charity founded in 2013 by Ryan Alexander and Guy James Whitworth. The program they created challenges people to give up meat from their diets for four big reasons: health, the environment, for animals, and to help create a more sustainable food system for all.

The charity wrote on their website: "Global hunger results from a web of immensely complex factors, including both food scarcity and distribution. Food scarcity at the global level is an issue now with past surpluses being drawn down, and it is fast becoming a critical issue as our seven billion population expands towards nine billion by 2050. As our population increases, available land, water, energy and other finite resources decrease. So we have more people to feed and fewer resources to feed them."

This year, No Meat May is providing participants with free meal plans, recipes of delicious plant-based dishes, live cooking with popular chefs and nutrition advice from experts to stay healthy during the pandemic.  

No Meat May founders say the record number of sign-ups to this year's campaign during the current lockdown may signal that many people are shifting towards plant-based diets during the pandemic.

In a statement sent to vegan lifestyle magazine Vegan Food & Living, Ryan Alexander, No Meat May’s Co-founder, said: “It’s hard to say what the Covid-19 effect is, and whether people are drawing the connection between intensive factory farms and public health concerns, or simply want to learn a new way to cook, and experience the benefits of plant based eating whilst in lockdown.