World Vegan Day 2019: Five facts you didn't know about being vegan

Happy World Vegan Day 2019!

Did you know more of us than ever before are turning vegan? Famous vegans include Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and tennis ace Venus Williams.

The Vegan Society says half of all vegans are now aged between 15 and 34 and more than 60 percent of adults have switched to a plant-based diet in the last three years.

Here are five things we bet you didn't know about being a vegan.

1. Avocados aren't vegan!

Despite being one of the healthiest and most popular foods, avocados aren't actually vegan.

Vegans avoid any products that are associated with animals - and some avocados are produced by the work of bees.

Honeybees pollinate many of our favourite fruits and vegetables, but there are often not enough bees to do this job naturally or efficiently.

So farmers employ a system called migratory beekeeping: They truck hives into their fields, where the bees live for short periods to pollinate the crops during the plants' most fertile window.

2. Veganism has been around for a long time

When do you think the first vegan cookbook was published in the US?

1994? 2004? 2014? Nope none of those.

Would you believe it's actually 1874, which means veganism has existed for more than two hundred years!

The book is called 'The Hygeian Home Cook Book' and was published in New York by Russell Thatcher Trall; one of the founding members of the American Vegetarian Society.

Nowadays there are hundreds of vegan recipe books to choose from.

3. Where the word 'vegan' came from

Do you know where the word vegan actually came from?

Towards the end of World War Two, Donald Watson - co-founder of The Vegan Society - came up with the word.

He was inspired by the word vegetarian and took the first three letters and last two from 'vegetarian'. Clever right?

Other terms for a person who doesn't eat or use animal products that were being used at the time were neo-vegetarian, dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivore and beaumangeur. Not as catchy as vegan is it?

4. Eating vegan saves water

Did you know the best way to save water is to go vegan?

Globally, afarming uses 70 per cent of all available water and animal farming is the thirstiest kind.

It takes a staggering 9,000 litres of water to produce just one pound of beef but only it takes just 60 litres of water to produce one pound of potatoes.

1.2 billion people live in areas where water isn't readily available, and that figure is set to rise because of climate change so we all need to cut down the water that's used.

5. Meatless Monday

Every Monday Los Angeles, in the US, has been meat-free since 2012.

Seven years ago the city council voted to adopt a no meat policy one day a week.

No one is forced to avoid meat but the aim is to encourage people to make healthier choices about the foods they eat.

Happy Vegan Day everyone! If you're vegan let us know what you enjoy most about it in the comments below.