The Future of Veganism Looks Bright
- The Young Vegan
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Yesterday, 16th August 2026, I went to Vegan Camp Out and gave two talks, one for vegan children and one for teens. The talks were called Being the Only Vegan, and they were about the situations that vegans face on a daily basis. Being the only vegan in your friendship group. Being the only vegan in your family. Having to eat with people who are enjoying meat. It was about how we feel in those situations and how we cope. I came away realising how universal our experiences are, but also how little support there is for vegans, young and old, having to live in a non-vegan world.
The Stories
I have to be honest, some of the stories I heard yesterday made me truly angry. The situations that vegan kids and their parents are having to deal with were shocking.
There was the 5-year-old who was made to sit outside of the classroom while their classmates dissected fish.
There was a mother who had to fight to stop people feeding her children meat at school, against their will. She only found out that this was happening because her children kept getting sick as the meat was upsetting their stomachs.
Children had to move schools as there were zero vegan options for food and packed lunches weren't allowed.
One child had a card that they had to show at lunchtime to be able to get their "special meal".
One father told me about a party that his daughter went to. In spite of there being vegan food for her, adults at the party tried to force her to eat meat. She was pressured and had to find a way to remove herself from the situation.
I was asked about how to negotiate co-parenting where one parent forces meat on vegan children.
Something that came up again and again was the sadness that children feel when being surrounded by people eating and enjoying meat. Children who cried when describing their day-to-day experiences. Something else that was said by vegans of all ages was that, to cope with having to eat with those consuming meat, they would pretend that it was vegan. They would ignore what they could smell and tell themselves it wasn't meat.
The struggle is real, and it is so important that vegans take care of their mental health, as we are surrounded by people who don't see/know/feel what we do.
The Future of Veganism Looks Bright
I have been saying for a while that vegan children are truly the future. Not just the future of the vegan movement, the future of this planet. These kids are the ones who will go on to prove the science, change policies, and run countries. I say this in full faith because they've already started.
Yesterday, I heard from children who were getting their friends to want to be vegan and had got teachers to change lesson plans to include stating that animal agriculture is driving climate change. Schools and nurseries are changing menus. Kids are giving their non-vegan friends food and drink that their friends prefer over the meat and dairy versions.
My aim is to support these children. I believe that adults have a responsibility to be the foundation that the vegan children build the vegan future on. We must help them to learn, give them the talking points, reassure them when they're shaken and speak for them when adults won't listen.
My next steps are to take this to the schools. Huge change is needed there. As I said during my talk with the teenagers, veganism is respected in prisons, but not in schools. Make it make sense. I am also going to work on more journals and books to support the young vegans. The Young Vegan website will continue to be a space where we explore being vegan in a non-vegan world and find ways to stay strong and keep fighting for the animals.
I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone I spoke to yesterday; you were all amazing, and the kids are superstars. They are all so strong, intelligent and compassionate that I have no doubt that the future of veganism looks bright, very bright.
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