A new year has started and I would like to wish all our readers a Happy New Decade. I hope that this decade will be a decade of change and for that to happen it means we have to be part of that change. we need to do our part to save our planet, animals, biodiversity and human race as well from destruction and greed. So I guess that really sets the tone for this year :-).
Yet I would like to reflect and see what we achieved in 2019 and (also see what we can do in 2020).
Our growing website
Our website continued to grow in terms of content and traffic. For VeggyMalta our website has always been the heart of all we do. I am happy to say that we have an increasing number of contributors who are providing so much interesting reading. To date we have some 375 blogs / articles on VeggyMalta.com providing our readers content and information on vegan and vegetarian recipes, vegan restaurants, meat-free products along with videos. VeggyMalta.com has totally evolved from a personal vegetarian and vegan blog to a community magazine. Yet some changes might in place for 2020 so keep visiting.
As always if you wish to write on VeggyMalta, if you have a recipe to share, or you would like to review some products or restaurants, or some ideas to put forward, please do contact us on info@veggymalta.com.
Malta Meat Free Week
Last October we organised the 2nd edition of Malta Meat Free Week. This was a great success both in terms of participation and also the awareness it created. We obviously have to thank our sponsors for their financial support without which it would not be possible to do such initiatives. Malta Meat Free Week 2020 will happen this October and we are already working on it. This year we hope to engage the catering community further and get more restaurants and eateries involved. This year we again had a lovely winner who is actually thinking of going #vegetarian.
https://www.facebook.com/MaltaMeatFreeWeek/videos/433964384173925/
Social media
Last year we stated we were happy that we reached our target of closing 2018 with 5,000 likes on Facebook. We clearly stated that we needed to aim higher and we did and for 2019 we wanted to reach 20,000 likes and followers on Facebook, and we achieved it! So now I guess aiming for 30.000 likes by the end of 2020 should be a reasonable target for us. Having a wide audience is important if we want to influence change. It is clear that Veggy Malta’s audience is not the converted crowd of vegans and vegetarians but a general audience that is interested in a healthy lifestyle. We cannot be complacent with our growth success on Facebook. In 2020 we need to start pushing our presence on Instagram to help us pass our message to a younger audience.
In-store
We are lucky to have a growing relationship with a number of supermarkets and importers. In 2019 we established a relationship the operators of the health section in PAMA and PAVI supermarkets. This helped us create promotions and offers supporting consumers on a number of health and vegan products. In 2020 we are looking at further developing this giving us a platform to make more awareness and provide consumers with more affordable healthier and meat-free choices.
Let us in the abattoir
Last year in collaboration with Animal Liberation Malta we started an awareness campaign asking for us to be let inside the abattoir to film the killing process. We believe that the general public has the right to know what happens. we will keep the pressure on to ask for access. We supported other initiatives like Million Dollar Vegan and obviously Veganuary.
https://www.facebook.com/veggymalta/videos/713389332502293/
Milk awareness
For 2020 we want to kick-start an awareness campaign on milk. Or rather on plant-based milk and at the same time provide information and the truth on dairy milk. Dairy milk in the EU gets support form local and European funds plus it doesn’t have taxes imposed on it. Many are not aware of the impact on climate change milk has. So there is a lot to do here. If you wish to support us in this initiative or others feel free to contact us.
