The Vegan Street Blog

Vegan Street Presents 2021's Happy News of the Year

Each month, we send out a newsletter that includes what we call our happy news of the month, which is exactly what it sounds like: Good news for the animals that happened the month prior. I decided to look through the twelve issues of our newsletter from this past year and see if I could gain some big picture insights from the positive developments we included each month. 

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Clockwise from top left: Pinky Cole, Tabitha Brown, Melissa Butler, Tracye McQuirter and Maya Madsen

Black Woman Leadership

We are thrilled for each and every vegan but 2021 seemed to be a year when Black women got some long overdue recognition for the heavy lifting they have been doing for years. While Slutty Vegan’s Pinky Cole and social media icon Tabitha Brown have been adored for a while, this past year shot them into the stratosphere with new collaborations, expansions, partnerships and projects respectively. Let’s not forget how Maya Madsen of Maya’s Cookies, charity-focused and experiencing a massive uptick in support as a Black-owned business, was able to open their first storefront during a pandemic, Shark Tank-rejected Melissa Butler’s The Lip Bar (now referred to as TLB) continued to expand their retail presence and product lines and, last but certainly not least, public health nutritionist Tracye McQuirter helped 15,000 (yes, you read that right) Black women go vegan through her free 21-day program, 10,000 Black Women. Pretty damn impressive.
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Vegan Fine Dining

I am one of those people who proudly prefers vegan food that is on the peasant side of the spectrum, but it’s still exciting to see traction happening on the fancy-pants level because we need to be firing with all cylinders. Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park transitioned during the pandemic to reopen as a fine dining restaurant with a vegetable-forward vegan menu (except for milk and honey for coffee if requested); another Michelin-starred chef, Alex Gauthier, also went vegan and transitioned his established London restaurant Gauthier Soho to an entirely plant-based menu in line with his ethics and opened 123 Vegan, a more casual spot. In 2021, ONA (an acronym for Origine Non Animal) became the first fully vegan restaurant in France to receive a coveted Michelin star. With cutting-edge vegan culinary schools in Boulder, Las Vegas and Australia, and a new animal-free 10-week pastry course at the storied Le Cordon Bleu, it should come as no surprise that our cuisine is getting glammed up a bit.

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Fur’s On the Way Out

The writing has been on the wall for a long time about the fur industry, but 2021 saw some meaningful nails in that horrific industry’s coffin. Fashion media powerhouse ELLE recently announced that all of its 45 international eponymous publications will no show any fur on its pages, website or social media, but in 2021, we also saw famous fashion houses and brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Alexander McQueen/Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta and Canada Goose to either discontinue fur altogether or announce a timeline for the discontinuation of it. (This is not to imply that leather, wool, down and more are not still used by these brands, but one thing at a time.) Department stores Neiman Marcus/Bergdorf Goodman (hey, hey, John was arrested at an anti-fur protest at Neiman Marcus in the ‘90s) and Saks Fifth Avenue also announced that their fur salons would be closing down and the sales would be discontinued. Last but not least, in 2021, Estonia became the first Baltic country to ban fur farming, Ireland became the 15th country in Europe to outlaw fur farming, and Israel became the first country to ban fur sales. Heck, even France, the home of so many of these iconic fashion houses, banned fur farms in 2021. Closer to home in the US, the towns of Wellesley and Weston, MA banned the sales of fur, as did Ann Arbor, MI.

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State By State, Animal Cosmetics Testing is Ending

This year saw the states of Maryland, Maine, Virginia, Hawaii and New Jersey join California, Nevada and Illinois in banning cosmetics testing on animals. Panning out, Mexico became the first North American country to ban animal testing for cosmetics and the European Parliament voted to phase out animal testing and research in the European Union. There is not much more to say on this except it is long overdue and we are grateful for every win.

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There have been many more wins for the animals, but here are a few more odds and ends: 2021 saw the continued rise of the sustainable vegan leather industry made with plant materials like cactus, mango and mushrooms; speaking of mushrooms, is it just me or is everyone suddenly obsessed with these special fungi?; last but not least, greyhound racing in Florida finally came to an end this year. With Iowa’s remaining racing track set to close soon, the two only tracks that remain in use are in West Virginia.

This year-end summation brings us the rise of positive developments and some nails in coffins that are long overdue. There is much to be done but let’s acknowledge some gains, too.

Here’s to an even better 2022!

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