In September 2015, James Corden picked up Stevie Wonder for Carpool Karaoke, and somewhere between the classics, the greatest living songwriter casually mentioned he’d been vegan for “about a year and nine months”. Then he did what Stevie Wonder does: he improvised a melody about how much he loves being vegan, in perfect pitch, in a moving car.
Do the math on that quote and you land at the end of 2013 as his vegan start date, which means 2026 marks more than a decade of plants for the man who wrote Songs in the Key of Life. The groundwork was laid much earlier: he’d already given up pork and beef at age 24, back in the mid-seventies.
QUICK ANSWER
Yes, Stevie Wonder is vegan, since around late 2013. The freshest public evidence is his foreword to a vegan cookbook, where he wrote that its author “can teach you how to become vegan for the rest of your life”. No source reports him quitting.
Last fact-checked: July 7, 2026
Health, planet, spirit
Wonder’s reasons are the full spectrum. Health: “For me, it feels good to not eat meat. I think you have to do what is going to be healthy for your body,” he said in 2015. Planet: “We have to be about making our planet more greener, the urban areas more sustainable for the children,” via Connect4Climate. And the classic Stevie flourish: “I’ve been a vegan for two years, so that’s helped my already good-looking self.”
The tofu bacon connection
Here’s the detail that separates the committed from the curious: when Wonder toured in 2014 and 2015, he brought Seattle chef Makini Howell of Plum Bistro along as his private tour chef. Her job included perfecting tofu bacon good enough for a Motown legend. A decade later, Wonder wrote the foreword to her 2024 cookbook Simple Goodness, as VegNews reported in April 2026: “Makini can teach you how to become vegan for the rest of your life if you desire.”
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“For the rest of your life.” From a man twelve years in, that reads less like a blurb and more like a plan.
The vegan timeline, tap to expand
Mid-1970s: pork and beef are out
At 24, at the height of his classic album run, Wonder stops eating pork and beef.
Late 2013: fully vegan
Health, environment and spiritual reasons converge. His Carpool Karaoke math (“a year and nine months” as of September 2015) pins the date here.
2014/15: touring with a vegan chef
Makini Howell cooks plant-based for the whole tour and engineers the legendary tofu bacon.
September 2015: the Carpool Karaoke moment
He tells James Corden about being vegan and improvises a song about loving it.
2024: the cookbook foreword
He writes the foreword to Howell's Simple Goodness, publicly recommending vegan living “for the rest of your life”.
April 2026: still listed, still vegan
VegNews profiles the Wonder-Howell story; vegan celebrity roundups continue to feature him with no contradicting reports anywhere.
Fact or fiction?
He sang about being vegan on national TV. Fact or fiction?
Fact. Carpool Karaoke, September 2015, improvised on the spot.
He's been avoiding some meats since the 1970s. Fact or fiction?
Fact. Pork and beef were out by age 24, roughly four decades before he went fully vegan.
His tour rider demanded real bacon. Fact or fiction?
Fiction. His tour chef Makini Howell built him tofu bacon instead, and it apparently earned a cookbook foreword's worth of loyalty.
Quiz: how well do you know vegan Stevie?
Five questions, no cheating
1. Roughly when did Stevie go fully vegan?
2. Where did he famously sing about being vegan?
3. Which meats did he give up at age 24?
4. Who was his private vegan tour chef?
5. What did he contribute to Howell's 2024 cookbook?
Is Stevie Wonder still vegan in 2026?
All available evidence says yes. The 2024 cookbook foreword is his most recent statement in his own words, VegNews was still telling the story in April 2026, and not a single outlet reports him quitting. We’ll keep this page updated if that changes, but a man who recommends veganism “for the rest of your life” doesn’t sound like he’s wavering.
He sang about being vegan on national TV. Fact or fiction? Fact. Carpool Karaoke, September 2015, improvised on the spot. He's been avoiding some meats since the 1970s. Fact or fiction? Fact.
Is Stevie Wonder still vegan in 2026?+
All available evidence says yes. The 2024 cookbook foreword is his most recent statement in his own words, VegNews was still telling the story in April 2026, and not a single outlet reports him quitting.
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