Gaz Oakley has become a social media sensation thanks to his vegan versions of well-known meat dishes.
But besides his own popularity, he thinks social media has led to a boom in healthy eating.
“I think there’s a lot of knowledge and information out there these days about healthy eating, and social media’s really helped that. It is such a great platform to use just to get inspiration,” the 26-year-old said.
Oakley, who now has over 228,000 followers on his AvantGardeVegan Instagram account, as well as over 250,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, says it proves people don’t find vegan food bland.
“Things like YouTube are amazing,” he said. “I can film a recipe and post it out to people from all around the world. Instagram particularly has helped turn everyone into a foodie. All you have to do is go to a restaurant and see people snapping pictures of their food.
“And I just think that platform is great to show off food. People get really creative.”
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He added: “Social media has also made the world smaller which is great particularly for the vegan community because I’m able to reach people in all parts of the world and show them how simple and how great vegan food can be. So even if you’re not a foodie, you can go on Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube, find people like myself and other amazing vegan influencers out there, or just general foodies who are putting up exciting food.
“You can get inspiration from there whether it’s for your evening meal or a weekend meal – there’s so much inspiration out there these days.”
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