Veganism can seem an extreme to some people. Others may well dismiss it as another food fad. But the hard facts remain: there are now more vegans in the UK than ever before, some 3.5million if recent polls are to be believed, and with climate change and ecologically friendly eating now in people’s foremost foodie thoughts, that number is continuing to rise.
Enter Lucy Watson. A former star of Channel 4’s Made In Chelsea, Watson’s combination of tough-talking no-nonsense attitude and everyday glamour has led her to become one of this country’s most prevalent vegan voices in the internet age. A whopping 1.3 million people follow Watson’s Instagram – and she believes that this platform is the perfect place to espouse the advantages of a plant-based lifestyle.
“I was vegetarian from a young age, purely because I loved animals and I didn’t want to eat them,” the 27-year-old explains. “And then I learned a lot about the dairy and meat industries when I got older, mainly due to documentaries like Cowspiracy, for example, which seems weird when you know I actually grew up on a farm!”