He was described in the Daily Telegraph as "a star of the meat-free world", whose "recipes have gained the respect of herbivores and carnivores alike".
[1] Oakley, who grew up in Cardiff, was taught to cook as a child by his father, and got his first job in a kitchen aged 15.
After success encouraging friends and family to transition to veganism, he decided to use his cookery experience as a form of activism.
He launched the @avantgardevegan Instagram page in February 2016, and, later that year, gave up his sales job to focus full-time on activism and cookery.
[2] Oakley told The Sunday Times that the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in his subscriber numbers hitting one million.