12 Best Vegan Documentaries – Everyone Should Watch

Since the Seaspiracy documentary gained a huge amount of attention, I thought I would put together a list of the best vegan documentaries that I recommend everyone to watch.

I’ve been vegan over 5 years now and in that time I have watched majority of these vegan documentaries on Netflix and elsewhere on the internet.

How I Became To Be Vegan

I was working in a big office 5 years ago when I overheard a conversation between my vegan colleague Brad and Karen. Karen had watched Cowspiracy one of the vegan documentaries on Netflix and she was discussing how shocking it is that animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of global warming. At this time I was a not so strict vegetarian (as I didn’t eat meat but didn’t study labels carefully). This information was shocking to me because I wasn’t aware of this at all.

Brad then shared links to watch Cowspiracy, Forks Over Knives and Earthlings in a Facebook group that we all belonged to so I set out to watch Cowspiracy on Netflix initially to learn more about this issue myself. Cowspiracy specifically changed my life after I watched it, being an environmentalist myself learning that by still consuming dairy I was still apart of the problem did shock me.

This was one of the best vegan documentaries for me to watch at this time because after I’d finished it, I knew immediately I would never eat meat or dairy products again. If you’ve just decided to go vegan or plant based, check out 5 biggest mistakes new vegans make or my beginner’s guide to going vegan or plant based.

I did continue to watch Fork Over Knives and finally Earthlings and this combination of some of the best vegan documentaries – made me decide to go fully vegan within a few weeks.

I’ve since watched 11 out of the 12 documentaries I recommend below. I think everyone should watch these. The only one I was unable to watch was Live and Let Live, as this was not available to watch without paying and I’m doing a ‘No Buy’ year for 2021.

Best Vegan Documentaries On Netflix

The following are the best vegan documentaries on Netflix UK. If you’re elsewhere in the world you may find that you don’t have all of these documentaries available, however I would imagine a few of them will be.

Cowspiracy

As I’ve said, Cowspiracy was the first I watched and a pivotal moment for me. This is one of the vegan documentaries on Netflix, that was made by filmmaker Kip Anderson and Videographer Keegan Khun. This documentary follows Kip Anderson as he uncovers that animal agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, water consumption and pollution among many other environmental issues. As he tries to discuss this with environmental charities and organisations, he is met with hostility and opposition.

Food Inc

I originally watched this vegan documentary on Netflix, however it’s no longer available on Netflix UK. This vegan documentary discusses how much our food production has changed in the last 50 years, with a focus on America’s corporate controlled food industry. To summarise because it has seen as a business, health and safety of the food, animals, workers and consumers are often overlooked for the sake of trying to keep prices of food low. These issues are overlooked by companies and governments. You can watch it, through this Vimeo link.

What The Health

What The Health is a follow up documentary to Cowspiracy, another of the best vegan documentaries on Netflix. This is another Kip Anderson documentary with a focus on health this time. This documentary investigates the leading causes of death in America, heart disease and cancer. It also discusses the obesity and diabetes at an all time high in America and the corruption in government and big business costing people trillions of dollars in healthcare and keeping people sick for this reason.

Seaspiracy

I saw that this vegan documentary was trending on Netflix over the last few months and I thought that was really great news for the vegan movement. This film is directed by Kip Anderson with a difference as it’s Ali Tabrizi filmmaker and director who investigates the environmental issues with our oceans and marine life. This documentary outlines a lot of shocking facts about our oceans and over fishing, such as they predict the oceans will be empty of fish by 2048 if we continue at the same pace and that the ocean absorbs more than x4 the amount of carbon dioxide than the Amazon rainforest. You can read more facts on their website.

Best Vegan Documentaries On Vimeo

I did mention above that Food Inc is available on Vimeo but there are also a few others of the best vegan documentaries I’ve watched, on Vimeo as well.

Dominion

Dominion is available to watch on their website, however it is a Vimeo link. Dominion is an Australian documentary from the makers of Earthlings. It’s narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Sia, Sadie Sink and Kat Von D. Dominion uses drones, hidden cameras and handheld cameras to expose the issues with modern farming and the animals that are exploited for food and clothing. It’s a very emotional watch but shocking how humans treat these animals in the slaughterhouses.

Earthlings

Earthlings was made in 2005 and is narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, you can watch this documentary on the website through the Vimeo link. There is actually a 10th year anniversary edition which was directed by Leonardo Dicaprio. Earthling means one who inhabits the earth. This documentary was the first of it’s kind back in 2005. Using hidden cameras to show what happens to animals as pets, clothing, food, entertainment and for scientific research.

Forks Over Knives

As I’ve said above Forks Over Knives was the second vegan documentary I watched. This one is primarily a health documentary, discussing how a plant based diet can save you from chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. What stood out to me was they discussed Norways rates of cancer being reduced during the war and meat and dairy was scarce. Then following the war when meat and dairy started to become more readily available again, these cases of cancer went back up. You can watch on their website through a few links to Amazon etc, or on Vimeo.

Live and Let Live

As I’ve said above, I was quite disappointed I couldn’t get to watch this as I’ve heard it’s one of the best vegan documentaries and the idea behind it intrigued me. This documentary explores the reasons that people decide to go vegan such as environmental, ethical and health reasons. It tells the stories of 6 individuals who decided to stop eating animal products for various reasons and shows the impact it has had on their lives. You can watch this one on Vimeo from $5.

Best Vegan Documentaries On Youtube

Dairy is scary

Although this one isn’t strictly a vegan documentary I wanted to mention this one anyway. Vegan YouTuber Erin Janus did a few videos talking about the meat and dairy industry. This one in particular was very popular as it is only 5 minutes long. Really good if you are trying to recommend something to watch and you think the person is unlikely to watch a documentary 1-2 hours long.

Milk: Make Your Own Mind Up

This vegan documentary by Joey Carbstrong a popular vegan activist, is actually one of the newest documentary from this whole list. This one is around 40 minutes long as well. This vegan documentary is written and directed by Joey Carbstrong too and it premiered on YouTube February 2021. This documentary outlines the cruelty specifically to cows and some of the sources of information come from UK farms. I think this is useful, as some people are under the illusion that this does not happen in the UK.

The Game Changers

I watched this documentary on YouTube however it is probably available on Netflix as well. This documentary is a bit different to all of the others as it focuses on the differences a plant based diet makes for athletes – their protein and strength in particular. It dispels the myths surrounding meat and protein and even soy protein. It’s presented by James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and Chris Paul.

Vegucated

Another YouTube documentary, this one of the best vegan documentaries I’ve watched as it follows 3 meat and cheese loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for 6 weeks. This documentary shows that three different people with different backgrounds and family life, can actually successfully adopt a vegan diet for at least 6 weeks. Whilst they adopt the vegan diet, information about the farming industry is shown to them by Marisa the vegan narrator.

I think it’s a great one to show that vegans don’t have to eat salad all the time, one of the New Yorkers struggled with parts of the vegan diet due to not particularly liking beans and vegetables and I think that’s quite realistic.

If you’d like to learn more about veganism, I have a guest post from the lovely Chrissie called How Veganism Transformed My Life and Why Don’t Vegans Eat Backyard Eggs.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my post about the the best vegan documentaries useful. There’s a few great vegan documentaries on Netflix, Vimeo and even YouTube. Be sure to share this with anyone you think would find it useful.

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