A GROUP of Colchester ladies have ditched the meat and donned fruity fancy dress to promote a plant based living.

The group have been eating vegan during January and came along to a photoshoot as part of the Veganuary campaign.

This encourages people to experience the benefits of plant based living during the first month of the year.

Despite the healthy looking headwear it doesn’t all have to be about lentils and lettuce leaves, as Colchester is a strong contender for the UK’s leading vegan town with several vegan cafes as well as many other businesses offering vegan options to customers.

Vegan January in Colchester is the perfect excuse to indulge in a stacked trio burger from the Den and a sausage roll at The Nourish Co., followed by a cake at Decouverte.

Many supermarkets now offer vegan ranges. Marks and Spencer has recently introduced new vegan products including not one but two vegan sandwiches.

Teresa Norris, one of the organisers of the Veganuary photo shoot, said: “Try being vegan for 30 days and see what it does for you. The website has lots of useful ideas. If you feel better eating a more plant based diet then make that something you do more of in 2017.”

Visit veganuary.com.