World Vegan Day 2026 is on Sunday

About World Vegan Day

World Vegan Day is a day for vegans and the curious to share food, information and ideas about living without animal products. It also opens World Vegan Month, which the Vegan Society now promotes every November with recipes, events and campaigns.

The day's roots go back to the founding of the Vegan Society in Britain. According to the society's own history, Donald Watson called a meeting with five other non-dairy vegetarians, among them Elsie Shrigley, in November 1944. They wanted a shorter word than 'non-dairy vegetarian', turned down options such as 'dairyban', 'vitan' and 'benevore', and settled on 'vegan', which Watson described as the first three and last two letters of 'vegetarian'. The society, which calls itself the world's oldest vegan charity, later defined veganism as excluding, as far as possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to animals.

World Vegan Day itself began on November 1, 1994, for the society's 50th anniversary. It was founded by Louise Wallis, who had been elected the society's president in 1991. Wallis said in a 2011 interview that no one knew the society's exact founding date in November 1944, so she picked November 1, partly because it sits beside Halloween and the Day of the Dead, traditional times of feasting. The observance has no government status, but it is marked by vegan groups, restaurants and food writers in many countries, and the Vegan Society later widened it into World Vegan Week and then World Vegan Month.

World Vegan Day is different from World Vegetarian Day, which falls a month earlier on October 1.

Sources: The Vegan Society: World Vegan Month, The Vegan Society: History, ARZone: Transcript of Louise Wallis' live guest chat (2011, archived), North American Vegetarian Society: About World Vegetarian Day. How we check dates.

How to mark World Vegan Day

• Cook a fully plant-based meal built on beans, lentils, whole grains and vegetables, or try a vegan version of a family favorite.
• Visit a vegan restaurant or ask a local cafe about its plant-based options.
• Read about the history of the Vegan Society and how the word 'vegan' was coined in 1944.
• If you are thinking of changing your diet, look up reliable nutrition guidance on vitamin B12 and other nutrients, and talk with a doctor or registered dietitian.
• Check the labels on clothing, cosmetics or household products you buy and see which contain animal-derived ingredients.

World Vegan Day dates