Kick start your New Year with Veganuary!

veganuary bean burger

January, oh January. Every year without fail January sneaks up on us, all a sudden the festivities are over, the previous year a mere collection of memories and we’re supposed to go again. So many of us use January’s unwelcome arrival to attempt to better ourselves with the often futile and unrealistic “new year resolutions”. Without fail every year among half the new year resolutions are dietary aims and this year given the state of the planet the recent Cop 26 and general angst for the future it’s easy to imagine environmental concerns making their way into new year resolution lists… well reader we’ve got the just the thing!

Veganuary as you may have guessed is a melange of two words, both of which are often treated which a bit of contempt but when married together make perfect sense. Veganuary is the pledge of becoming a vegan for the entire month of January, and I think if ever there was a month for it, it’s January. Even the biggest carnivore in our readership would concede that a meat free month might be in order after the Christmas onslaught. You never know it might lead to a complete lifestyle change? But lets get to grips with the first thirty one vegan days first.

So, since it’s conception in 2014 Veganuary has had more participants year on year and in 2021 it enjoyed its most interactive campaign to date. During the 2021 campaign, more than 500,000 people took the pledge to try a vegan diet, while more than 825 new vegan products and menu options were launched as a result of the campaign. The research carried out by the not-for-profit organisation showed that the motivations behind the huge number of participants varied for 21 percent of those taking part it was primarily for the environment, for 22% the motivation was for health reasons and for a whooping 46% it was animal welfare which made them sign up. One reason to sign up locally would be to support local businesses, we’re blessed with so many vegan eateries here in Kent that it’s worth giving Veganuary a punt just as an excuse to be a punter within these businesses.

A great hub for the aforementioned vegan businesses is the ‘Kent Vegan Events’ Facebook page, well worth a visit.

 

Veganuary Recipe

Vegan food is widely accepted as being tasty and packing all the nutrients that a healthy human-being needs. The problem some people have with a vegan diet are its elaborate ingredients which can be hard to get hold of, the expense, and the time it takes to put a dish together, With that in mind CommunityAd have sourced a recipe that we’ve tried and tested (many times) and know it to be easy to make, terrifically tasty, affordable and all the ingredients easily accessible.

Veganuary Spicy and Speedy burgers

Ingredients

1 x tin (400g) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

250g instant rice (Mexican or peri-peri flavour recommended)

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp smoked Paprika

1 tsp Cajun seasoning

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

Instructions

Take a large bowl, add the drained beans and mash them!

Add the rice and mash them together before stirring in all of the other ingredients thoroughly.

Alternatively – put all ingredients in mixer and pulse for 30-45 seconds

If time allows leave the mixture to chill for 20 minutes

Form into burger shapes and whack them in a pre-heated frying pan.

Fry on medium heat for 8 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Serve on a vegan brioche bun, garnished with lettuce, spinach, a slice of vegan cheese and a sauce of your choosing.

 

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