The perception of vegan food has rapidly changed within the last few years, with more and more people either becoming vegan, considering becoming vegan, or just eating more vegan food in general.

Vegan food is everywhere right now. In adverts, in cookbooks and even on the high streets in specialist vegan shops. But as well as being in its own space, veganism and vegan food are becoming ever popular in the home, in restaurants and pretty much anywhere you can also buy meat-based meals.

There are a good few reasons why vegan food has so rapidly become a big part of a society that, even up until a few years ago, saw vegan food as just bad attempts to recreate meat-based food. Nowadays, however, even the most stubborn meat-lovers are likely to eat a vegan meal one or more times a week.

Benefits of vegan food

The benefits of vegan food are many, and access to the internet has rapidly sped up the rate at which new information about these benefits can be shared. Some people used to see veganism as another fad diet, however, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the actual benefits of vegan food that have been proven time and time again.

Here are some of the main reasons that have contributed massively to the rise and rise of vegan food.

Healthiness

Much vegan food tends to be made of, or at least involve, fresh fruits, grains and vegetables. Not only do these foods contain vital vitamins that meat-heavy diets can miss out on, but the low-fat, low-calorie nature of unprocessed foods can fill you without overloading your body with calories.

Don’t get us wrong – there is unhealthy vegan food. Too much of anything is unhealthy, but some vegan food can be just as full of fat, salt and calories as equivalent meat-based food. As a whole though, there is more healthy options than there are unhealthy.

Environmental

The awareness of the environmental impact of our foods, especially with regards to carbon emissions, has increased massively in recent years. Some restaurants even now list the carbon footprint of the items on their menus, in order to allow consumers to make more informed decisions.

The meat industry is one of the largest contributors to global emissions, not just from gassy cows, but from the massive amounts of rainforest and other wildlife areas that are destroyed in order to create the space necessary for massive herds of animals.

Vegan food can be some of the lowest in terms of carbon cost, because not only can it often be grown and sourced locally, cutting down on the emissions related to shipping foods across the world, but plants take in carbon and release oxygen whilst growing, all the way up until harvesting.

The lower carbon cost of vegan food is of the largest factors that may cause an environmentally-conscious individual to at least attempt to cut down the amount of meat that they eat.

Variety

This last reason is very simple – variety is often a good thing to have in your life. Once you’ve cycled through dishes comprising the main meats we eat in this country, you’ve eaten for about a week, but now what? You can keep putting new sauces and sides with them, but you can't get away from the fact that you are limiting yourself unnecessarily.

Allowing some dishes to contain no meat at all means a much wider variety of dishes and cuisines to choose from. There are countless curries, stir-fries and Mediterranean dishes that are traditionally vegan and have stuck around for centuries. Depriving ourselves of these flavours and experiences just because they do not contain meat is now seen as nothing more than stubbornness.

Increased vegan options

As you can see, this process can, and has, quickly become a cycle. The desire of people to eat more vegan foods means that there is more of a market for restaurants, health food shops and other caterers to offer vegan meals, and in some cases build their businesses around them. This then increases the ease at which people can access, try, and learn about vegan foods, which again pushes up the number of people eating vegan food.

As we said, vegan food was often seen in the past as only trying to imitate meat-based food. However, thanks to the increasing popularity of veganism, new recipes and ways of preparing food are constantly being developed and vegan food can firmly stand on its own against criticism. Many original vegan recipes do not try to recreate meat-based dishes, nor would they be improved by trying to.

Vegan recipe ideas to try today

Now we’ve looked at why vegan food is so popular, let’s look at a few recipe ideas to give you an idea of what’s possible, and also make you feel hungry. Most of these recipes are great for making in bulk, so are perfect for parties, events and other places where you need to feed a large number of people a great deal of incredibly tasty food.

1. Potato and Chickpea Curry
2. Vegan Pizza
3. Bean Chilli
4. Vegan Soup
5. Tofu Stir Fry
6. Mediterranean Vegetable pasta
7. Nut Roast
8. Houmous
9. Vegan Chocolate Brownies
10. Vegan hot chocolate

Contact catering specialists

Whether it’s for a restaurant, mobile catering business or just for around your house, Cooksmill has a range of catering, cooking and baking equipment suited to any needs.

If you wish to enquire about any of our products or services, or if you are just after some friendly, professional advice, contact us today using the form on our website, by calling 0161 886 4989, or by emailing info@cooksmill.co.uk.