The Vegans Unite! Story So Far

Vegans Unite! began in 1998 when an amazingly motivated Melbourne vegan, Katrina Holland, started up a regular vegan social event. With minimal advertising, up to 20 vegans gathered once a month at a great venue called Subterrain in North Fitzroy.

Friendships were formed and many Vegans Unite! regulars attended the International Vegan Festival at Hepburn Springs over the Christmas period of 1998 where they enjoyed meeting vegans from other parts of Australia and from various corners of the globe.

The original Vegans Unite! gatherings continued until the middle of 1999 at which time Katrina left for the UK and some other regulars also left Melbourne. Katrina has since done a whole heap of exciting things: www.vegetarianguides.co.uk/aboutus/index.shtml.

In May 2003, Michael, one of the original Subterrain regulars, decided to revive the idea of Vegans Unite! and the first event was a dinner at Blaze's Soup Bar and Gallery in Elsternwick. Attendance numbers grew and vegansunite.org.au was launched by Andrew in October 2003.

Due to popular demand, 2005 saw the introduction of a monthly email update. This short bulletin contains details of the upcoming events as well as entries on new vegan food ideas and other bits and pieces which vegans may find handy to know.

In December 2005, Vegans Unite! held a combined event with VNV - the Xmas Banquet at Enlightened Cuisine. There were so many people interested in this event that the whole restaurant had to be booked out!

In January 2008 Michael also decided it was time for an overseas adventure. Vegans Unite is now organised by Georgie, a regular Vegans Unite attendee since 2007

Vegans Unite! provides vegans with the important opportunity to develop new links and friendships. While it is not supposed to be a singles-only group, it has led to the formation of a few vegan couples, and there are now vegan children whose parents met at one of the first Vegans Unite! gatherings.

The development of a vegan network in Melbourne, assisted in no small part by the concept of Vegans Unite!, led to the first World Vegan Day Melbourne in 2003 (www.worldveganday.org.au) and the launch of vegan businesses (such as www.veganrevolution.com.au).

We look forward to the growth of the vegan community in Melbourne and beyond through vegans coming together at Vegans Unite! events.