The first in a series tracing how ProVeg took root around the world, this story looks back at the organisation’s beginnings in the Netherlands.
A festival with a spark
In 2011, Veerle Vrindts and Pablo Moleman were university students in Amsterdam. They shared a simple vision: to show that plant-based food could be fun. The result was a volunteer-run vegan festival at their university, complete with food stalls, talks and games, all built around a playful theme. One of the most popular attractions was a ‘chickpea roulette’ game, where visitors tossed chickpeas onto a roulette board – a nod to the event’s Las Vegas theme. The name Viva Las Vega’s was a clever pun: the apostrophe turned ‘Vegas’ into the plural of ‘vega’, meaning vegetarian or vegan.
To match the name, the venue was adorned in bright neon lights to create a Las Vegas atmosphere. The event drew crowds from across the country. “We were amazed that people travelled from all over the Netherlands,” Pablo recalls. “That’s when we realised this was bigger than just a student project.” The success convinced them to form a permanent organisation to host the festival every year.
The same event also marked the launch of what would become the Veggie Challenge – initially a set of daily newsletters written by Veerle for 30 days. Each message offered practical guidance for people experimenting with plant-based eating.
Building a movement
Over the next few years, Viva Las Vega’s grew into a cornerstone of the Dutch plant-based scene, hosting vegan Christmas markets and increasingly ambitious Veggie Challenge campaigns. The tone was always positive and accessible, aimed at making plant-based food appealing to a general audience.
The couple were inspired by the Belgian organisation EVA – now ProVeg Belgium – and by Tobias Leenaert’s work on pragmatic vegan advocacy. “We wanted to build something similar in the Netherlands,” Veerle says. “An organisation that showed how enjoyable and practical this way of eating could be.”
By 2015, they chose to leave their jobs and fully dedicate themselves to the project, working from a home office alongside volunteers and interns. That step transformed a student initiative into a professional enterprise.
Belgian non-profit EVA becomes ProVeg Belgium
We are excited to announce that the Belgian non-profit EVA has joined ProVeg and become ProVeg Belgium. Over the past 22 years, the Belgian team has already had a considerable impact and put plant-based eating firmly on the map in Belgium.
From persistence to partnerships
At first, corporate engagement seemed out of reach. “We just walked up to people at trade fairs asking if they wanted to offer plant-based options,” Pablo says. Most responses were dismissive. So the team devised a ‘demand visualisation programme’ – a coordinated effort in which volunteers politely and consistently contacted food companies to request plant-based choices.
It worked. Within months, the group secured early wins, helping bring plant-based mayonnaise to several fast-food chains, introducing Europe’s first vegan delivery pizzas to the Dutch market, and persuading a baking company to switch to plant-based ingredients. Their reputation as credible ‘plant-based advisers’ began to grow.
Joining forces
Through Erasmus-funded exchanges, the team met peers from similar organisations abroad, including Germany’s Vebu (now ProVeg Germany). Those meetings sparked conversations about merging national efforts into an international network. Pablo and Veerle were immediately interested.
“We were captivated by Sebastian Joy and Tobias Leenaert’s vision of creating the Greenpeace of plant-based food,” Pablo says. Viva Las Vega’s also needed a name that would resonate beyond festivals and student circles. When Vebu took the initiative to form ProVeg International, the Dutch team became the first independent organisation to join. “It was all agreed after a few meetings in Berlin and a friendly hug,” Veerle recalls.
The formal rebrand took place in 2018 and Viva Las Vega’s became ProVeg Netherlands.
A broader impact
The benefits of international collaboration were immediate. The Veggie Challenge campaign went multilingual, later evolving into an app available in 14 languages and cited in a Nature journal study. ProVeg Netherlands also spearheaded a pan-European campaign in 2019 opposing an EU proposal to ban terms such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for plant-based foods. Thanks to the coordinated effort, supported by groups across Europe, the proposal was successfully defeated. That victory signalled a new chapter. ProVeg Netherlands expanded into policy work, advising on issues such as school milk schemes and promotional funding, and became a trusted voice in the country’s food sector.
Growing pains and growing influence
Becoming part of a larger organisation brought administrative challenges, but also professional growth. “We had to adapt to new tools, new ways of working and a lot more paperwork,” Pablo says with a smile. Yet the Dutch team retained much of its entrepreneurial energy. “We’ve managed to keep some of that pioneer spirit,” he adds.
That spirit continues to shape ProVeg Netherlands’ leadership in the field. The team introduced approaches later adopted by other ProVeg country offices, including its work on price parity, nutritional reporting for meat alternatives and protein-split tracking.
Looking ahead
Next year marks 15 years since Viva Las Vega’s began. Now a recognised national authority, ProVeg Netherlands continues to innovate – from corporate commitments through the Protein Tracker and commitments platform to social cluster-based advocacy via Veggie Challenge Teams.
For Pablo and Veerle, the journey has come full circle. Having handed day-to-day operations to a capable team, they now travel internationally on behalf of ProVeg, sharing their experience.
Simon Middleton
Senior Writer
