That time old myth that vegetarians eat nothing but ‘a load of old lentils’ is fast being quashed to make way for the sexy new green cuisine that occasional meat-eaters – or ‘flexitarians’ are turning to in order to battle the bulge while saving the planet.
A plethora of shiny new veggie restaurants are appearing on the hip dining scene, while ordinarily carnivorous restaurants such as Aldo Zilli are considering converting to a more greener establishment to cash in on the trend. Other celebrated chefs like Oliver Peyton are bumping up their number of vegetarian-friendly choices on current menus.
There are plenty of high profile celebrity names flying the flag of vegetarianism to help the cause – from Sir Paul McCartney and his meat free Mondays to Lydia Guevera - granddaughter of the legendary Che - who is appearing in a new Peta advert. They seem to be helping the growing sales of meat substitutes like Quorn and tofu in a market worth £739m, which is steadily on the rise.
So it seems the shackles of minority and doudy have been loosened – vegetarianism is stepping onto the main stage. Recent research revealed 86 per cent of Brits dine on non-meat meals once or twice a week, with restaurants picking up on the trend.
“Historically, chefs haven’t liked vegetarians but that is changing. Younger chefs particularly understand the need for vegetarian food,” said Peyton, who has several London restaurants. “So many more people want vegetarian food these days and it’s my job to cater for them.” he now declares that all of his establishments offer three meat-free options for each course. He is following in the footsteps of many revered chefs including Skye Gyngell, who are supporting Sir Paul’s “Meat Free Monday” campaign. The idea behind it is to counteract the effects of climate change due to the fact producing livestock releases far more greenhouse gas than even transportation.
Owner of Vanilla Black, a celebrated Vegetarian London Restaurant, Andrew Dargue comments that an increasing number of customers are non-vegetarians just looking for something new and a bit different. “People can have a block on vegetarian food and say they don’t like it but they don’t stop to think that even tomato soup or scrambled eggs on toast is vegetarian,” he said. In fact his food is certainly raising a few eyebrows as its been called “haute vegetarian” by the critics and even appears in the good food ‘bible’, the Michelin Guide.
As a lifelong vegetarian myself, I am delighted to see the world (or at least the UK) is finally accepting and embracing the idea that tasty food doesn’t have to have walked, swam or flew at some point. Hurrah!
