With 600,000 people believed to be vegan in the UK in 2018, and an increase in “flexitarians” choosing to reduce their consumption of animal products, orders of vegan takeaways grew 388% between 2016 and 2018 while vegetarian orders rose 137%, according to research by the British Takeaway Campaign. This shows vegan meals are UK’s fastest growing takeaway choice.
Pakistani, Greek, Persian and Turkish takeaways also grew in popularity more rapidly than the nation’s favourites – Chinese and Indian – over the last two years, indicating a growing cosmopolitanism in UK appetites.
In a blow for proponents of fish and chips, English takeaways recorded the slowest growth – less than 1%. Meanwhile, average household spending on takeaways has grown to nearly 15% of food expenditure from close to 11% in 2015.
The online delivery platform Deliveroo reported that vegan orders had quadrupled over the past two years and said that in the last 12 months the number of vegan restaurants on the app increased by 168%, making it one of the fastest-growing categories