Veganism is losing its hippy image and being embraced by everyone from Beyoncé to UFC fighters. Could the movement go mainstream – and what do committed ‘real’ vegans make of the newcomers?
If you want to see the face – or, to be more accurate, the body – of the new wave of veganism, head to the website of the Vegan Bros. There with their tops off, smooth and firm as tofu, are brothers Matt and Phil Letten. They run a blog, sell an online fitness course and, at the end of last year, signed a deal with Penguin Random House to write a book, which the pair predict will become “the vegan bible for years to come”. They swear and they brag; they are the self-proclaimed leaders of an “army of fit, sexy, vegan soldiers”. They say things such as: “The animals are counting on us not to fuck shit up for them,” and suggest that the reason they got so ripped and (to use a non-vegan adjective) beefy was because “the animals deserved better than a stereotypical skinny-ass vegan”.
Phil became a vegetarian first after seeing a video of animals at a factory farm, then went vegan about eight years ago. Matt used to be anti-vegan until he discovered fitness. “I was one of the people who, when somebody talked about veganism, would start making bacon jokes,” he says, when I speak to the brothers over Skype. “That was me.” They launched their Vegan Bros brand a year and a half ago, and have attracted a lot of attention. “We wanted to get across the message that vegan eating isn’t some niche thing any more,” says Phil. “We’ve entered the age of the new vegan. There used to be these stereotypes about vegans. It was considered maybe more feminine or hippy.” Things are different today, they say – they have vegan friends who are police officers, military personnel, investment bankers and airline pilots. “Athletes are becoming vegan,” says Phil.
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