From Influencer to Marketing Expert: the Vegan Trend is Dead -- I’m Reclaiming Plant Based Eating

I just attended the Plant Based World Expo in NYC. The entire event had maybe thirty booths. I was told that at its peak, just three to five years ago, it was fifty times the size. It was empty. And it’s not sad, it’s simply the truth. The organizers are already planning to rebrand it as “The Future of Food”.

And to be honest, that scares me a little. Not because I’m against innovation, but because I’m afraid we’ve drifted so far into food science that we forgot the point of food in the first place....(That’s a conversation for another post.)

After five years inside the vegan wellness and CPG space and over a decade working in social media, I’ve had a front row seat to one of the biggest food movements of our time. I’ve also lived its extremes personally. My relationship with food went from fitness competition diets built on endless protein and “a vegetable if I remembered” to a full raw lifestyle when my health forced me to change or break.

I didn’t become plant based because it was trendy. I became plant based because I got sick. Really sick. Terrified sick. This was during the height of covid when getting medical care felt impossible unless you were coding red. I could barely eat without being in agony and the only thing my body could tolerate for two straight weeks was raw vegetables. I was afraid something was deeply wrong, and at my worst, I genuinely wondered if I would make it out alive.

What came after was documentary deep dives, research rabbit holes, and eventually answers. Answers that forced me to finally put my health first. When my body started healing, I woke up every day grateful to be alive, but even more so, to finally feel good. And that feeling stayed. My cravings changed. My energy changed. My entire relationship with food shifted toward what felt alive. Colorful. Fresh. Real.

That’s why I stayed plant based. Not because of a label. Not because it was trending. But because it worked. And it made me feel human again.

So do I think the 'vegan trend' is dying? Honestly... maybe it should.

The early movement was rooted in avoiding animal cruelty while thriving from consuming fresh food, whole ingredients, and fueling a genuine desire to feel better without harming ourselves, animals or the planet.

But just like every wellness wave, big corporations smelled money and did what big corporations do. They built ultra-processed, lab-created products that promised health but delivered confusion. People trusted the “vegan” label assuming it meant better. healthier. cleaner.

Instead, aisle after aisle became stuffed with products that were nothing like the original intention of plant based living under the guise of being 'cruelty free'.

The heart of the movement got overshadowed by marketing budgets.

But here’s the thing. The core idea was never the problem: Animals were not put on this earth to be caged, stuffed with antibiotics, or to live a life of suffering. Plants have always done exactly what they were meant to do. They nourish. They support. They energize. They heal. The issue is that the industry drifted far from its roots.

We don’t need giant corporations to make our food. We already have what we need in our kitchens, our gardens, our farmers markets, and our creativity. Eating plant forward doesn’t have to feel limiting. It doesn’t have to be low protein or low flavor. If anything, it can be the opposite.

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It can be vibrant. Bright. Hydrating. Energizing. And for many, truly transformational.

It’s why I choose to support brands that stay close to the original mission.

Fabalish is committed to organic ingredients, real food, and

actual flavor.

The Sprouting Company is literally as fresh and alive as food gets. These are the kinds of innovations that make sense because they add something to people’s lives instead of distracting from it.

So if the “vegan trend” is fading, maybe what’s really dying is the version that got too far away from the soil.

Maybe what’s emerging is something better & simpler. Plant based eating doesn’t need a trend cycle. It needs truth. And people deserve food that supports them, not confuses them.

And just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with eating the fun processed vegan stuff here and there. I’m not anti indulgence and I’m definitely not here to judge anyone’s choices. Extremes are actually what made me sick in the first place. The pressure to eat “perfectly” creates stress that is worse for your body than any vegan cookie or plant based burger ever will be.

What I care about is balance. The majority of what we eat should make us feel alive, but there is absolutely space for convenience, nostalgia, comfort food, and all the imperfect choices that make life enjoyable. Wellness is not purity. It’s consistency and self trust.

I’ll be sharing more of my journey and how I’m bringing plant based living back to what it was always meant to be. Real food. Real ingredients. Real wellness.

Follow along if you’re ready to redefine what healthy eating can feel like. And if you're already seeing "the Future of Food" conversations within companies, fear not, and

read about my dream future farm. A vision that isn’t futuristic at all. It’s simple. It’s ancient. It goes backwards in time, not forward. And maybe that’s exactly where our next chapter begins.