Monthly Hopium Injection #10

2024/02: Animal-Free dairy takes the stage in NA!

To the 5 new people here, welcome! Here’s what this is:

Ho·pi·um

A Vegan cocktail of “hope” and “opium,” prescribed as a healthy dose of optimism, without the need for clinical trials.

Because here, the evidence speaks for itself.

This is a showcase of a VEGAN WORLD coming: hopeful Vegan news from the last month, all here, all NOW.

You ready?

Let’s hit it!

---

🌍 Africa Bans Entire Donkey Skin Trade:

• It is now illegal to slaughter donkeys for their skin across the continent.

Like other farmed animals, over 53 million Donkeys in Africa have been confined to tight spaces and killed. All for a “traditional Chinese medicine,” Ejiao, otherwise known as their boiled down skin. Fortunately, this ban sets the Donkeys free from this cruel international trade. Month after month, we protect more and more species!

🇩🇰 Veganism Becomes a Legally Protected Belief:

• A daycare failed to accommodate a Vegan child and refused to allow them to bring their own lunch. The daycare was sued and lost on grounds of violating the European Convention on Human Rights.

Our systems are designed to accommodate one type of eater: omnivores. Now, it is against human rights to make it impossible for Vegans to live according to our convictions. For reference, Veganism as a belief has yet to be legally tested in the USA, so the importance of these precedents is huge!

🇳🇱 1st EU Capital Endorses Plant-Based Treaty:

• On Fridays in Amsterdam, all public institutions (like hospitals and community centers) will serve 100% Vegan meals, and the rest of the days will have plant-based meals available.

These are just some of the ways they plan on adhering to the principles of the treaty:

1. No more land use for animal agriculture.

2. Transition from animal agriculture to plant-based agriculture.

3. Actively restore key ecosystems.

This wouldn’t have been possible without support for from the Party for the Animals, “the first successful political party in the world that does not put the short-term interests of man above all, but instead the entire planet and all her inhabitants.” If it can be successful there, we can replicate it here.

What it looks like when we vote for a VEGAN WORLD NOW.

🇳🇱 Cheaper to buy Vegan than Omnivore in Netherlands:

• A study compared the prices of the cheapest, top-12 most common plant-based product types vs the cheapest animal-based counterparts in 8 different supermarkets, and the plant-based products were almost always cheaper.

If you live in the Netherlands, at some stores (like Ekoplaza), you’d save at least 20% by buying Vegan! I’ll be visiting Amsterdam this Summer, so I can’t wait to enjoy those Vegan Fridays and confirm these results. :)

🌱 Veganuary Sees 1.1M Increase in Participants:

• In 2023, 700,000 people signed up for Veganuary. In 2024, it was over 1.8 million people!

This is an out-of-this-world increase from last year, literally. To celebrate Veganuary’s 10th anniversary, the Veganuary flag was also flown from the International Space Station, orbiting the Earth 4,400 times!

🌲 Vegan Diets Makes Carbon Capture Possible:

• Researchers found that by replacing just 50% of animal products with plant-based foods by 2050, we could free up enough land to generate as much energy from bio-energy carbon capture as currently provided by coal-fired power stations.

Carbon capture is often considered nonviable for how much land it requires, but study after study shows us just how many land opportunities we’d have if we all ate Vegan! Carbon capture is just ONE of the many.

🇰🇷 S. Korea Promotes 9-Day Vegan Food Adventure:

• After seeing a significant increase in the amount of Vegans, The Korea Tourism Administration organized a 9-day Vegan food tour that takes you through Seoul, Jeonju, and Busan.

Just last month, South Korea made headlines for finally banning their Dog meat trade. Seems like Veganism is really ramping up over there!

🇺🇸 US Army Now Serving Vegan Meal Options:

• At US Army Central operations, members can now order meals made with IMPOSSIBLE Beef.

Only 3.5% of US Army members are Vegan, but a tremendous 81% of them say they want more plant-based options. While they wait for the Vegan MREs to drop soon, thousands of meals can now be served as plant-based. This helps break down the stigma that Vegan meat is only for Vegans!

🆕 Vegan Food Releases (US Edition):

• 🥓 New mushroom bacon, MyBacon, dropped at Whole Foods, people! If Meati showed us how great mushroom root can taste, these should be bangin’.

• 🍗 Looking for more easy protein? Alpha Foods released Homestyle Chik’n Strips at most major retailers. The macros on these are insane.

• 🥛 Get even more protein with an 8 oz glass of Califia’s new Complete Plant Milk, which contains the same or MORE essential nutrients found in Cow’s milk.

• 🥤 Hit your daily protein goal and pair it with the new creamiest Vegan WHEY protein shake from Orgain. Yes, Vegan WHEY - it’s fermented yeast, baby. No Cows needed. I’ve tried it, and it’s delicious!

• Using the same precision fermentation technology, Breyers partnered with Perfect Day to create the 1st multi-national, animal-free, DAIRY ice cream. The future of food is NOW.

(I am not affiliated with any brand and get no financial compensation from these links whatsoever.)

🇨🇦 Canada’s 1st Animal-Free Dairy Milk Approved for Sale:

• Health Canada sent a “no objections” letter to Remilk, allowing them to sell dairy products made with their animal-free milk proteins.

Brought by precision fermentation, Canada has officially opened its doors to the dairy revolution!

✅ Animal-Free Mozzarella Can Now be Sold in USA:

• In the USA, New Culture obtained the world’s 1st “Generally Recognized as Safe” status for animal-free mozzarella with their casein made from precision fermentation.

New Culture plans to begin sale of this revolutionary cheese at Nancy Silverton's acclaimed Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles. Here’s to hoping they’ll scale up to a national rollout soon!

🌱 1st Ever Vegan Certification for Dairy made from Precision Fermentation:

• TurtleTree’s animal-free lactoferrin (LF+) production process was certified by Vegan Action, the leading Vegan certification provider in the USA.

You can read about why LF+ is so important when I reported on TurtleTree obtaining GRAS status last November. For now, this Vegan certification confirms that these products can indeed be ethical.

🐶 100+ y.o. Greyhound Race Track Shuts Down:

• One of the oldest greyhound racetracks in the UK, the Henlow Stadium in Bedfordshire, England, held its final race, and must be entirely dismantled by April.

Local animal-rights activists have protested against these cruel races for years! Concerns about animal welfare are finally taking precedent over the enjoyment of this “sport.” I’m hopeful the same is happening in other “sports,” like Horse racing.

🐵 Hallmark Bans Images of Chimps on Cards:

• Hallmark has officially stopped production and sale of cards with images of infant great apes on them.

You’ve probably seen them: cards with images of chimps “smiling.” Turns out, these chimps were taken away from their mothers and were displaying a “fear grimace” to the camera. These degrading images have perpetuated the desire to own these endangered creatures as pets. After years of pressure from animal-rights activists, Hallmark became the last major card retailer to stop selling these cards. Finally!

🐷 UK Pig Slaughters Reaches All Time Lows:

• 11.1 million Pigs were slaughtered in the UK throughout 2022, whereas 10 million Pigs were slaughtered throughout 2023. This 10% drop results in the lowest amount on record.

With the release of Joey Carbstrong’s Pignorant film (click to watch it on Prime Video), the public is becoming more and more aware of the standard stunning practice for Pigs: the gas chamber. There is no doubt that with this, we’ll see another 10% decrease in Pigs slaughtered. At this rate, it’ll be illegal to kill Pigs by 2035!

A VEGAN WORLD has less of the first, and more of the second :)

---

Do you feel the Hopium now, my dear reader?

Jokes aside, what from this list are you most excited about? Skeptical of? The discussion continues in the comments below!

If you want more before next month, there are dozens of developments that didn’t make the cut but are equally interesting. I share them on Substack Notes!

As always, I am grateful for your time and attention - thank you!

Be Vegan,
Dani