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Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

bighospitality.co.uk

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Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#71

Post by simonsarris »

schnevets wrote: post #69
strict9 wrote: post #16

After 15 years of not eating meat, the past 1-2 years have been a golden era of vegetarian options in the grocery store, restaurants, and fast food. Based on anecdotes and my social circles, the number of people completely avoiding meat hasn't changed. But omnivores adopting a semi-veg lifestyle has increased. If I had to pick one thing, I'd say environmental concerns are the main reason my omnivore friends and colle…

To me, it's less about new products and more about people's tastes. People are eating very different things now because of new popularity in some cuisines (Indian, Thai, and Mexican come to mind) and the popularity of "superfoods" (Avocado, Acai berry... ever notice there are never any animal-based superfoods?).

> ever notice there are never any animal-based superfoods?

In my circles it's tallow, A2 milk, and beef liver that are huge in popularity but I agree mainstream goes for coconut water, oat milk, etc. Those are a function of big ag ad dollars I imagine, more than decisive tastes or the actual super-ness of any food.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#72

Post by odiroot »

ultim8k wrote: post #31

Too bad that vegan food is mostly carbs and tasteless stuff like tofu. There are so many tasty and healthy vegetables and great veggie recipes but you have to cook at home because you can't find them outside.

Yes, that's my biggest gripe with vegetarian (and even more so vegan) restaurants. Usually most of the menu is hyper-carby unhealthy dishes. At the same time they can easily be more expensive than the normal restaurants nearby -- they're targeting the hip upper-middle-class folk.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#73

Post by [deleted] »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #29
jbob2000 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I eat an apple, am I eating vegan food? If you call anything that isn't carnivore food as "vegan" food, then you're labelling like 90% of our food as "vegan". That's obviously ridiculous, so I think it's more accurate to call food "vegan" when it's being eaten by someone who is respecting vegan principles. What I mean to say is that I think "vegan food" is defined by the eater, not the makeup of the food. Edit: I…

To me, 'vegan food' is a dish that would normally contain animal products and has been contrived to remove them.

[deleted]

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#74

Post by phonypc »

Kaibeezy wrote: post #17
yifanl wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, growth rate tells you nothing of the total percent of orders.

Right. I looked for that info. Maybe I'll look again. Watch this space. OK, found the British Takeaway Campaign 2017 report, https://jeweb-11431-s3.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/applicatio... - It's a pretty detailed and interesting report, but for everything in there it doesn't provide this data point. Overall, it does mention: Spending on takeaway grew to £9.9 billion in 2016, up more than a third (34%) since 2009 (£7…

What is English takeaway? Savoury pies?

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#75

Post by erikpukinskis »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #29
jbob2000 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I eat an apple, am I eating vegan food? If you call anything that isn't carnivore food as "vegan" food, then you're labelling like 90% of our food as "vegan". That's obviously ridiculous, so I think it's more accurate to call food "vegan" when it's being eaten by someone who is respecting vegan principles. What I mean to say is that I think "vegan food" is defined by the eater, not the makeup of the food. Edit: I…

To me, 'vegan food' is a dish that would normally contain animal products and has been contrived to remove them.

It’s interesting, under your definition whether something is vegan depends on who is making it.

If your family just happens to make a 4-bean salad without meat, then for you that’s omnivorous.

If I make the exact same salad, but my family growing up typically would have put bacon in it, then that same salad becomes “vegan food” because for me it’s a contrivance.

It’s a relativistic definition of what’s vegan and what’s not.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#76

Post by criddell »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #62
criddell wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no reason for them to be absolute, is there? If I eat one non-vegan meal every 20 meals, then I think it's reasonable to say my diet is 95% vegan.

> There's no reason for them to be absolute, is there? Well, yes there is since that's the very definition of "vegan" and "vegetarian". If I drink only at weekends, am I a semi-teetotaller? That's ridiculous.

Definitions of social things are never that rigid. Was my grandmother a teetotaler? The only alcohol she ever consumed for the last 70 years of her life was a tiny bit of wine during communion every few weeks.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#77

Post by mises »

motohagiography wrote: post #13
sniuff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be vegan to eat vegan food.

"The most intolerant wins," dynamic may explain much of it. The availability of vegan food may have grown because it is a complimentary good which lets groups that include vegans eat there. Previously, groups that included vegans either ended up in vegan restaurants, or didn't eat together at all. Other purity urges could seem to have the same property.

Except there's a stubborn minority on the other end - people who want a meat offering. There are a good number of people who actually want to eat meat, and there are a few who don't want to go places without it. I feel like this will somewhat bound the growth of restaurants with only these options, though those with veggie alternatives can still grow. Not every one is okay with just rabbit food, though.

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#78

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

simonsarris wrote: post #71
schnevets wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it's less about new products and more about people's tastes. People are eating very different things now because of new popularity in some cuisines (Indian, Thai, and Mexican come to mind) and the popularity of "superfoods" (Avocado, Acai berry... ever notice there are never any animal-based superfoods?).

> ever notice there are never any animal-based superfoods? In my circles it's tallow, A2 milk, and beef liver that are huge in popularity but I agree mainstream goes for coconut water, oat milk, etc. Those are a function of big ag ad dollars I imagine, more than decisive tastes or the actual super-ness of any food.

> Those are a function of big ag ad dollars I imagine, more than decisive tastes or the actual super-ness of any food.

Perhaps, but when you look at what's behind "A2 milk" (I hadn't heard of it before), it's basically a single company promoting their brand with largely BS statements. The Wikipedia article has plenty of details: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#79

Post by NeedMoreTea »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #59
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we have friends over, and decide on an Indian takeaway. We might order two vegan mains, two meat, and two vegan side dishes are shared between all of us. What's your term for that? Given the site's market and the story, semi-vegan seems a reasonable compromise to describe many takeaway orders.

> What's your term for that? Why should there be a specific term for that? You're describing an order that is neither vegan nor vegetarian. It's no different from a "normal" (for lack of a better word) meal consisting of a salad followed by a steak and chips.

Most places have a far wider, and more creative set of vegetarian and vegan options than only a decade ago. Indian takeaways have had the wider range far longer, of course.

Not that TFA mentioned either, but semi- seems a helpful shorthand to me, to describe changing habits, as we increasingly don't want meat every meal. Even if most people choosing those meals probably never think to describe themselves as semi-vegan yet. :)

Re: Vegan takeaway orders quadruple over past two years

#80

Post by mytailorisrich »

criddell wrote: post #76
mytailorisrich wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no reason for them to be absolute, is there? Well, yes there is since that's the very definition of "vegan" and "vegetarian". If I drink only at weekends, am I a semi-teetotaller? That's ridiculous.

Definitions of social things are never that rigid. Was my grandmother a teetotaler? The only alcohol she ever consumed for the last 70 years of her life was a tiny bit of wine during communion every few weeks.

These definitions are rigid. Anyone can do something they are not supposed to once in a while but 'vegan' and 'vegetarian' do mean that you refuse to eat animal products or meat, not that you don't eat much of them.
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