By Ian Theasby & Henry Firth, co-founders of BOSH!
Ian Theasby & Henry Firth, co-founders of BOSH
By Ian Theasby & Henry Firth, co-founders of BOSH!
The popularity of plant based food is growing fast. There are around 5 million veggies and vegans in the UK, with a huge 35 million veggie friendly / flexitarians in the UK. The worldwide numbers are growing at rapid pace, and a quick Google trend hunt for the term ‘vegan’ reveals a fast-growing hockey stick curve of interest that is rising at increasing pace.
The very fact that we have a new word (flexitarian: a person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish) shows that our attitudes towards food are changing and the ‘powered by plants’ lifestyle is as popular as ever. With more flexitarians than ever, it’s clear that more people are amenable to the idea of incorporating more plants into their diet.
Prominence in the press of warnings from the World Health Organization and the likes of documentaries such as Cowspiracy have highlighted how eating more plants benefits our health and the environment.
The movement is attracting more and more people in the public eye, too. A growing number of athletes are showing that a plant-based diet can actually be a sporting benefit – people like Mike Tyson, David Haye, Serena Williams and Nate Diaz are all changing perceptions.
Celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, Arnie Schwarzenegger and Al Gore are now promoting meat reduction, or removal entirely from our diets, as a necessity to help reduce our impact on the planet.
So why are more and more people adopting a vegan, plant-based or flexitarian way of living?
There is the health issue - processed meat is now listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization and there is growing evidence that a plant- based diet can lead to a longer life, and reduce risk of cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and strokes.
Films like Cowspiracy are raising awareness of the impact of animal agriculture on the planet and that our appetite from animals is the leading cause of climate change. And in terms of cultural shifts, there seems to be growing awareness amongst teenagers that the food leanings of their parents may be outdated.
We ourselves had our minds blown and eyes opened by Cowspiracy and the research we did after watching it. This was a couple of years ago in our late twenties, and we have both been vegan, all plants or plant-powered (however you want to describe it) ever since.
However, we were soon fed up of the lack of recipes out there, boring bean salads and tofu simply were not cutting it.
As lifelong friends, we’d worked together before in a tech startup and the frustrating lack of food inspiration out there sparked our entrepreneurial instinct. If we couldn’t find the types of recipes we’d like to make, why didn’t we just create them? And so, BOSH! was born.
It’s been quite the 12 months - the level of enthusiasm for our recipes has blown us away.
We’ve grown over 1 million Facebook fans in our first year and had over 300 million views of our videos. We’ve also landed ourselves a high six-figure book deal with Harper Collins. This is in part due to the rapid growth of the movement.
There is a huge appetite for plant based alternatives out there, but there is still a lot of stigma attached to the word ‘vegan’.
Vegan food faces two main criticisms; one is the inevitable, ‘What do you even eat?!’ question around options for meal times, followed by the Sounds like hard work’ outlook. Many people
We want to blow people’s minds with food and knock any doubts about going plant based out of the park.
So at BOSH! we make food that delicious, fun and easy to make. It’s not dull and it’s never bland - from show-stoppers through to one-pot wonders and crazy cocktails, we have plant based food totally covered.
Above all, we are all about having fun and celebrating the sheer joy of food. No preaching, just good food.
To see just how delicious, easy and fun plant-based food can be, come pay us a visit at http://bosh.tv
Tagged in Vegetarian Vegan Plant Based