Let’s rewind a few years, before green juice became a thing: Veganism was a fringe diet, associated with yogis and ascetics, a tie-dyed Woodstock throwback. People routinely likened vegan fare to rabbit food, bark, or, worse, flatly dismissed it. Let’s face it — vegans have had a steep hill to climb, both in public perception of what their diets mean and how they taste. And then there’s the inconvenience factor: It’s easy to pick up a $3 burger at a drive through, but you won’t find that kind of ease and speed with food made purely of plants.At least, not yet. Things are changing so quickly that 2016 might just be the year that going vegan goes mainstream. Stars have led the way for years, with Ellen DeGeneres and Natalie Portman singing the praises of their meat- and dairy-free regimens for years, and Beyoncé and Jay Z threw a megawatt spotlight onto the plant-based way of life when they took a well-publicized 22-day vegan challenge back in 2013. Now, game-changing vegan purveyors are creating a consumer landscape that every average Joe and Jane can also get in on. With disrupters like Hampton Creek, Roy Choi’s Loco'l, and restaurants like L.A.’s Crossroads, it's easier than ever to find animal-free products.Along with improvements in taste, cost, and convenience there's the emergence of a new subclass of vegan consumers — those who embrace plant-based eating part-time. It’s catching on: A 2012 Harris poll found that 47% of American diners ate at least one vegetarian meal per week, and the popularity of books like former New York Times food writer Mark Bittman’s VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 show that Americans are interested in making vegetables the main event, rather than a side dish. “This is a discussion we would not have been having five years ago — how Americans are going to get more plants into their diet,” says Bittman, whose recently announced Purple Carrot is home meal delivery service that caters to full and partial vegans. “The answers are everywhere: supermarkets are carrying different things, fast foods are changing, and people’s attitudes are changing.”