Maui Vegan News for July/August 2026
As the number of vegan restaurants declines and animal rights activities are rare, the Maui vegan community remains fragmented and invisible, a collection of good people doing good things in relative obscurity. Wouldn’t it be great if Maui vegans could take an hour or two off and join the peaceful protest against the Makawao Rodeo — a rare opportunity to come together and take a stand against animal cruelty. Sunday, July 5, 11 am - 1 pm, Oskie Rice Arena, Olinda Road.
EVENTS
Sunday, July 5, 11 am - 1 pm, Oskie Rice Arena, Olinda Road. Peaceful Protest Against the Makawao Rodeo.
Sunday, July 12, 9 am -12 noon. Free food forest planting workshop. Details here.
Ongoing: The Vegan Society of Hawaii hosts in-person and online presentations. Check here for the latest.
Moku Rootsoffers farm-to-table brunches and dinners in Kula. Email mokuroots@gmail.com to be placed on the mailing list.
NEWS AND TRENDS
Over Half Of Men Perceive the Carnivore Diet As 'Masculine
Why Mushrooms are The Future of Everything, From Sustainable Fashion to Food
HEALTH AND NUTRITION
The 8 Best Beans for Your Health, Ranked by Dietitians
RESOURCES
Award-Winning 'More Like Paul' Documentary is Now Streaming on YouTube
Common vegan mistakes: what trips up new vegans, and a dietitian's simple fixes
SPORTS AND FITNESS
Vegan black belt wins NAGA Germany title and says his only regret is not making the switch sooner
This 73-Year-Old Raw Vegan Fitness Coach Is World Powerlifting Champion
Vegan Strongmen Claim Gold and Silver at European Championships
Vegans Outperform Meat-Eaters in Viral Strength Challenge Viewed by Millions Online
CONNECTIONS
Three Maui vegan Facebook groups are Vegan on Maui, Maui Vegans and Maui Vegan Life. The Vegan Society of Hawaii occasionally holds in-person presentations in Wailuku.
THIS MONTH IN VEGAN HISTORY
July
First Animal and Vegan Advocacy Africa Summit convenes in Nairobi. The inaugural AVA Africa Summit brought farmed animal and vegan advocates from 37 countries to Kenya, with organizers reporting 264 attendees. (July 17-20, 2025)
Vegan twin study adds epigenetic evidence. A Stanford-linked randomized twin study published in BMC Medicine found that an eight-week vegan diet was associated with favorable changes in epigenetic age measures compared with an omnivorous diet. The finding did not settle nutrition debates, but it added a notable human trial to the vegan-health evidence base. (July 2024)
USDA school-meal rule opens more plant-based room. The USDA’s updated child-nutrition rule took effect, with phased implementation and rule language responding to calls for more vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based school meals. (July 1, 2024)
Vegan Camp Out reaches its biggest audience. The UK’s Vegan Camp Out returned at Bicester Heritage with its largest reported audience to date, drawing more than 13,000 attendees and mainstream names including Romesh Ranganathan and Sam Ryder. (July 28-31, 2023)
Cultivated chicken reaches U.S. consumers. UPSIDE Foods served cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn in San Francisco, followed days later by GOOD Meat with chef José Andrés in Washington, D.C. Cultivated meat is not vegan, but its first U.S. restaurant sales marked a major animal-agriculture disruption milestone. (July 1, 2023)
Robbins publishes The Food Revolution. John Robbins’ follow-up to Diet for a New America deepened the public link between food choices, health, ecology, and animal protection. (July 2001)
Vegetarian Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer Dies. Singer, a Nobel Prize-winning Yiddish writer, died after decades as a prominent vegetarian who repeatedly used fiction and essays to challenge human cruelty toward animals. (July 24, 1991)
Maui’s first vegan restaurant receives business license. The Vegan Restaurant in Paʻia is Maui’s first documented vegan restaurant. (July 5, 1990)
Britain’s BSE feed ban takes effect. The UK’s temporary ruminant feed ban came into force after mad cow disease concerns, ending the use of ruminant-derived protein in ruminant feed. The measure exposed the public-health and animal-welfare risks of turning herbivores into industrial recycling units. (July 18, 1988)
Donald Watson defines vegan emancipation. At the 11th World Vegetarian Congress, Vegan Society cofounder Donald Watson argued that genuine animal emancipation required abandoning the human habit of using animals for human ends. (July 1947)
Alcott House School opens on a vegetable diet. James Pierrepont Greaves and allies opened Alcott House, a progressive school and utopian community near London associated with vegetarian practice, anti-authoritarian education, and experiments in non-animal food reform. Its “vegetable diet” made the school an early institutional ancestor of later vegetarian and vegan education. (July 1838)
August
The Vegan Society’s largest history exhibition closes. “Veganism: Past, Present & Future” concluded at the Library of Birmingham after presenting vegan history through archives, family activities, and virtual reality as part of the Society’s 80th-anniversary storytelling. (August 23, 2025)
Plant Based Treaty launches globally. Campaigners launched the Plant Based Treaty as a call to put food systems at the center of climate action. (August 31, 2021)
KFC tests Beyond Fried Chicken. KFC and Beyond Meat tested plant-based fried chicken at a single Atlanta restaurant, drawing national attention and rapid sellout coverage. (August 27, 2019)
Burger King takes the Impossible Whopper national. Burger King rolled out the Impossible Whopper across U.S. restaurants, bringing plant-based meat into one of the country’s largest fast-food chains. (August 8, 2019)
A high-profile celebrity wedding goes vegan. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi celebrated their wedding with an all-vegan menu and vegan cake, giving vegan hospitality a rare mainstream celebrity showcase. (August 16, 2008)
Fresh Mint serves vegan Paʻia. [Maui] Fresh Mint became one of Maui’s best-known vegan and vegetarian dining landmarks at 115 Baldwin Avenue in Paʻia, later remembered in local listings and reviews as a rare fully plant-based-friendly restaurant before its 2014 closure. (August 11, 2003.)
McDonald’s makes a hen-welfare concession. McDonald’s told egg suppliers to increase cage space, stop feed-withdrawal molting, and phase out certain debeaking practices, following pressure from animal advocates, including PETA. (August 22, 2000)
Animal-rights writer Brigid Brophy dies. British novelist and critic Brigid Brophy, whose 1965 essay “The Rights of Animals” helped ignite modern animal-rights debate in Britain, died in Lincolnshire. (August 7, 1995)
Diet for a Small Planet reshapes food politics. Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet made the wastefulness of meat-centered diets part of mainstream environmental and hunger debates. (August 1971)
The American Vegan Society finds its synergy. American Vegan Society founder Jay Dinshah married Freya Smith, who became a central AVS organizer, editor, cookery writer, and long-term president. (August 1, 1960)
Non-dairy vegetarians prepare to organize separately. Elsie Shrigley and Donald Watson’s unsuccessful effort to create a non-dairy section within Britain’s Vegetarian Society helped set the stage for The Vegan News and The Vegan Society later in 1944. (August 1944)
Sylvester Graham attacks butter and cheese. In the final issue of Vegetarian Advocate, American food reformer Sylvester Graham published “Butter and Cheese,” arguing against dairy at a time when even vegetarian reform often tolerated milk products. (August 1850)