In recent light of National Vegan Day (November 1st), it is evident that the UK are turning away from their classic bangers and mash. The Vegan Society found that there are 600,000 vegans in the UK in 2018, compared to just 276,000 in 2016, thus showing that there has been a 117 per cent rise in veganism in Great Britain in the past two years.
The UK’s leading health food subscription box service Mindful Chef has recently researched into the dietary requirements of the public. They examined over twenty thousand customers, asking for their preferences when signing up with options such as balanced, plant-based, pescatarian and protein-packed.
Their report unveiled the top UK cities for vegans: Glasgow, Edinburgh and Brighton. In fact, Glasgow showed a whopping quarter (24 per cent) of the city opting for a vegan lifestyle, while Edinburgh concluding a fifth (21 per cent) and Brighton and Hove and Leicester both at 17 per cent. Across London, Harrow is deemed to have the highest vegan community with almost a fifth following the plant-based diet (18 per cent), followed by east London’s Newham (16 per cent) and Hillingdon (15 per cent).
Top five vegan communities in top UK cities:
1. Glasgow City (24.1 per cent)
2. City of Edinburgh (20.6 per cent)
3. Brighton & Hove (16.7 per cent)
4. Leicester (16.7 per cent)
5. Manchester (15.7 per cent)
Top five vegan communities in London boroughs:
1. Harrow (18.2 per cent)
2. Newham (15.8 per cent)
3. Hillingdon (15.3 per cent)
4. Sutton (14.9 per cent)
5. Greenwich (12.9 per cent)
While not everyone is willing to adopt a vegan lifestyle, the effort in the country to lead a more compassionate lifestyle towards our furry friends is evident, as those in Cambridge (9 per cent), Brighton and Hove (8 per cent) and Bristol (7 per cent) opted for pescatarian food choices. When looking at the capital, Hackney and Redbridge (8 per cent) have the largest pescatarian communities.
And there is certainly room for a more flexible diet as Brent (79 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (78 per cent), and Wandsworth (77 per cent) eat the most ‘balanced diet’ – selecting recipe dishes that include a mixture of vegan, pescatarian and protein.
When it comes to a carnivorous diet, Cardiff (20 per cent) residents are the most likely to choose meat-focused meals over the rest of the UK, with Newcastle (17 per cent) and Leeds (13 per cent) also high on the list of those choosing from Mindful Chef meat dishes, such as beef and chipotle meatballs with squash noodles, and cashew chicken curry with black rice.
