Vegan goes mainstream

One of the world’s most popular fast-food chains, McDonald’s, has announced the launch of its first ever vegan meal. Just in time for Veganuary, the fast-food chain will be releasing its new Veggie Dippers, which have been approved by The Vegan Society. Following on from the likes of Greggs and KFC, McDonald’s are introducing their Veggie Dippers which are made from red pepper, rice, sundried tomato pesto and split peas.

Retail shopping app, Ubamarket has conducted nationally representative research from a sample of over 2,000 UK adults to reveal how our dietary trends are changing and starting to reshape the whole retail and hospitality industry:

• Brits spend £25 per week on vegetarian and vegan products, totalling £1.3billion a year

• 36% of meat-eaters, representing 18.97 million Brits, are buying vegetarian and vegan specialist products

• 23% (11.77 million) are stocking up gluten-free meals despite not having any intolerance

• 31% of Brits (16.08 million) are eating more vegetarian and vegan meals than ever before

• 32% of Brits (16.72 million) are consciously trying to eat less meat, for reasons ranging from their health to the environmental impact of the agriculture industry

• 26% of Brits say that trends like Veganuary and Sugar Awareness Week are shaping their shopping habit

Will Broome, CEO and founder of Ubamarket, comments: “It is great to see that some of the biggest restaurants and food chains are continuing to introduce more vegan options into their mainstream offerings. These industries seem to be responding positively to consumer demand and are becoming even more aware of the increase in vegetarian, vegan and flexitarian diets.”