We hear so much about people who tried Veganuary as individuals, but for many couples, it has been a chance to try something new together.
Over the years, participants have taken on the plant-based challenge side by side, and having someone to plan meals with, share discoveries and keep motivation high, Veganuary often feels much easier.
Here, we share stories of former participants from around the country and their experiences of taking part as a couple.
Lucy and George
It was George who became vegetarian first, motivated to change by his growing environmental awareness, and Lucy joined him soon after. That was back in 2019, shortly before Covid hit.
The lockdowns, bubbles and tiers that followed meant Lucy started to spend more time with her vegan mum. “We just cooked everything together,” she explains. “Mum introduced me to nutritional yeast – I remember that quite vividly as we made lasagne together for Christmas Eve. I just thought that the cooking was so creative and fun, and really not as difficult as I thought it would be.”
Over the years, Lucy’s mum had talked a little about the suffering in the egg and dairy industries, and the discomfort around eating these products was starting to percolate its way into Lucy’s mind.
With her newfound love of vegan cooking, she felt ready to take part in Veganuary. But when she told George and asked if he would like to take part too, he did not exactly jump at the thought.
“George asked if he could have a moment to process the idea,” says Lucy. “Although we’d been vegetarian for a year or two, veganism just seemed like too big a step, too big a change of lifestyle.”
Nonetheless, George did join her and together they embarked on the Veganuary journey.
“We did ‘mess up’ a few times,” says Lucy. “There was milk in crisps and beeswax in sweets. But having mum available was a great help. In mid-January, I messaged her saying ‘Oh dear mum, we ate some strawberry laces and I just checked and they had beeswax in 😓’ and she replied ‘That happens from time to time and you just do your best. Forget it and carry on’.”
Kudos to Lucy’s mum for giving such great advice because there is no messing up. We are all just trying to do our best, and it does get easier.
“After about three weeks, I knew we would stay vegan,” says Lucy. “I’d followed a bunch of influencers on Instagram who were just constantly reinforcing the decision – especially the animal activists like Joey Carbstrong and Earthling Ed. Once you’re in it for the animals and you’ve seen some of those videos, there’s just no going back. At the end of January I asked George if he wanted to stick with it and he wholeheartedly agreed. We’re now both so bought-in on veganism, it’s difficult to imagine life before. We’d never go back.”
Francesca and Mark
“Mark and I took part in Veganuary 2018 after being vegetarian for eight years,” explains Francesca who lives with her partner in Leicestershire.
This was not the first time Francesca had contemplated a change to veganism. She had long wanted to take this additional step towards a more compassionate lifestyle but she had found it hard. Doing Veganuary gave her the opportunity to try again.
And then something happened that only added to their determination. “We watched a documentary on food and the treatment of animals a couple of days before Veganuary began,” she tells us, “and it completely swung both of us. We were meant to go to a friend’s house the next day for a cheese and wine evening, however we both agreed that we couldn’t do it.”
Mark had always enjoyed Francesca’s vegetarian cooking and was more than happy to take part in Veganuary alongside his partner.
Without any expectations about how the month would go, they found that they slipped into a new way of eating and within a week or two were really happy with the change.
“We felt a lot healthier, felt like we were making a difference to ourselves and the animals, and we were both enjoying eating different meals and experiencing different flavours,” says Francesca.
“We definitely eat a lot more pulses, vegetables and tofu than either of us ever have! We have never felt like we are missing out and I have completely fallen in love with food and cooking. I’m very much into Asian cuisine and I enjoy experimenting with different curry recipes. Currently my comfort dish is sesame tofu and broccoli with sticky rice.”
Good food makes all the difference and yet Francesca found that the month changed more than their diets. We wondered whether taking part together and becoming vegan together had changed their relationship at all and what Francesca told us was really beautiful.
She said, “We don’t have any vegan friends or family, but we have always had each other for support. I think it’s always been us against the world and taking part together made us even closer.”
Eight years on from taking part in Veganuary, Mark and Francesca are still vegan and are now married and raising two happy, healthy vegan children.
Sue and Tom
Sue and Tom from Chester, who are now in their 70s, had been pescatarians for 30 years and their son, Rich – known to many as School Night Vegan – had been vegetarian from the age of five. It was Rich who inspired his parents to make the change.
“Rich had watched two Netflix videos, What the Health and The Game Changers,” says Sue, “and he urged us to do the same. He believed that becoming vegan would benefit our health so when I realised no animal suffering was shown in the films, we decided straight away to watch them.”
For Sue and Tom, as for so many others, these documentaries had a profound effect. “We hardly discussed it,” she said. “We just knew it was time to change. I have never knowingly consumed or bought animal products since that day, though Tom, who hates waste, will eat a little dairy our twin granddaughters leave rather than bin it.”
Sue has always loved cooking, travel, gardening and painting. But in 2017, with arthritis affecting her ability to hold a paint brush or a trowel, she felt these important parts of her life were slipping away. And then something miraculous happened.
“After about three weeks on a vegan diet, it became obvious that the problems I’d been having were reversing rapidly. The pain had gone from my hands and their strength and flexibility were markedly improved. I’ve been able to return to long hours painting or gardening without pain, and I am convinced this is due to the removal of the inflammation caused by dairy products.”
But the switch to veganism for Sue was – and always has been – an ethical decision. “If ever I fancy a cream cake or think how easy and quick a dippy egg would be for tea, it’s always the animals that make them easy to resist,” she says. “They are just our food habits, the lazy tradition we’ve been brought up with, that closes our eyes and hearts to needless suffering. But how would we feel to see our much-loved pets treated half as badly as animals on farms?”
Going on this journey together has been so important for the couple.
“Tom has been with me every step of the way,” says Sue, “as we believe that it’s never too late to be open to new information and lifestyles that will benefit the animals, our health and the planet. Tom has impressed me greatly. I am proud of and grateful for his open-mindedness and for his patience. We love being vegan. We no longer feel guilty and wish we’d done it sooner.”
Helen and Glenn
Helen from Hampshire had been vegetarian since 1991 and thought that veganism was just not for her.
“There was a historical stereotype about what a vegan was like as well as what the diet was like. Pulses and beans were not seen as sexy food and did not photograph well in recipe books of the 80s and 90s!”
But as a subscriber to Peta’s magazine, Helen was exposed to stories about how the dairy industry operates and what it means for cows. “Paired with watching the Veganuary podcasts and recommended films on Netflix, I knew I needed to make the changes,” she says.
For Helen, this meant the start of a sustainable transition, moving at a pace that felt right for her. “I started to be curious,” she tells us, “which has become my key advice” and in 2025, after many “food-for-thought moments,” Helen felt ready to join Veganuary.
Helen stuck with her tried-and-tested approach of being gentle with herself throughout Veganuary.
“Foods like chocolate and cheese were the most difficult foods to swap so it was rather a case of choosing the easy wins to begin with and familiarising myself with the ingredients of food and drink. That was certainly an eye opener… who knew how much milk went into foods such as crisps!!” Who indeed?!
But the change has proved to be very worthwhile. “Having more whole foods and a greater variety has really helped Glenn with his health goals, such as lowering his blood pressure and his cholesterol,” says Helen, “so much so that he’s looking to come off his tablets next year.”
As for their relationship, Helen says they have moved quite naturally onto the same page.
“I know I cannot be pushy and expect that just because I’ve changed my opinion on something, Glenn must do so at the same time but over time, he’s started to take on these views for himself and whilst he hasn’t gone completely vegan, his understanding of the issues and truth has changed dramatically. Now, with these shared views and values, we’ve become closer. I don’t feel I need to argue the points as he’s already there.”
Have these stories inspired you? Try Veganuary for yourself and you’ll get lots of resources, including our Celebrity e-Cookbook, Plant Protein Cookbook, Vegan Starter Kit, meal plans and daily support emails – all for free!
