2017 has seen the rise of many meat substitutes, proving that to have a vegan diet you don’t have to take all your inspiration from a guinea pig. Big lump of hay with a side of carrot and kale anyone? No disrespect to the latter, but we’ll decline the hay, thanks.
Back in October, the news broke that UK giant Waitrose was to partner up with a plant-based ‘butcher’ aptly named The Vegetarian Butcher. Chloe Graves, the vegetarian buyer of the nationwide supermarket stated that she had ‘little doubt’ that plant-based proteins would play a vital role in the future of healthy eating.
It seems that Chloe’s prediction was spot on, as a new report from Informa’s Agribusiness Intelligence has recently confirmed that their research indicates a 25% growth in the UK meat substitute market by 2021.
The producers of the report stated that this growth comes from a growing consciousness in the UK about the environmental effects of meat consumption, along with an increasing concern for health and animal welfare. The progress doesn’t just stop in the UK either with plant-based markets in America, Australia and China also growing steadily.
The special reports and projects director for Informa’s Agribusiness Intelligence, Alan Bullion has said ‘As consumers in the UK and around the world begin making tentative steps away from milk and meat due to animal welfare, environmental or health concerns, we’re expecting to see continuing strong growth in sales of alternative protein products.’
Because if you can get the (even-better) taste with less cause for environmental or health damage and zero animal suffering then that’s the dream, right?
Image credit: Quorn
