Top 5 Vegan Trends This Veganuary
The UK is the largest consumer and purchaser of plant-based milk, meat, cheese and ready meals in Europe, and one in three people in the UK have stopped or reduced their meat consumption. (Source: The Vegan Society)
In the year to Nov 2020, Deliveroo reported a 115% increase in demand for plant-based meals.
And this year the IPO of US brand ‘Beyond Meat’ was the best performing first-day IPO in nearly two decades. The UK brand THIS™ Seedrs campaign was the fastest ever campaign to hit £1.5m+ and closed on £4.5m in a matter of days.
Vegan is big business!
Investors are keen to invest in the plant-based space, and there’s an ever-growing number of vegan and ethical investment firms. The plant-based movement has not only grown in popularity, but it’s now well capitalised and poised for even greater growth and market penetration.
Only those in denial about the unsustainability of animal consumption can ignore or pass off veganism as a ‘fad’.
So, where do we see vegan products in the UK heading in 2021? Belle About Town spoke to Louise Palmer-Masterson, founder of the hugely successful Stem and Glory vegan restaurants in London and Cambridge.
- Growth of vegan seafood
Vegan seafood seems to be following a similar trajectory to vegan meat, in that seafood junk – deep fried scampi, deep fried vegan shrimp, fish burgers, and fish goujons – is popular in supermarkets and early adopter food outlets. We are, however, starting to see better quality attempts at vegan seafood, with greater attention to health and natural ingredients.
Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni from Vegan Capital, is an early investor in seafood company ‘Good Catch’ and Sebastiano has observed rapid growth in this area, noting that some companies that are still involved in animal seafood are now venturing into plant-based. Nestlé, for example, recently released the first plant-based tuna in Switzerland.
These global companies know the writing is on the wall. Along with Sebastiano, I believe a greater focus on health, protein, and healthy fats is a new trend within plant-based.
- Healthier less processed vegan meat
Al Subaei, executive Chef at Stem & Glory, creates fake ‘meat’ out of vegetables, instead of highly processed ingredients. He makes a show stopping ‘ham’ from smoked celeriac sheets, and ‘chorizo’ from beetroot. Using the classic flavours to make the experience, whilst remaining 100% unprocessed.
The meat isn’t necessarily the reason you like a certain dish; it’s a combination of layers of flavour, and if you can re-create this from non-animal products, you will have the same taste sensation.
- Vegan Ready Meals
We believe we will also see a trend towards ready meals in general and grab-and-go foods in a wide variety of settings. Castiglioni predicts; ‘vegan ready meals will be the new normal, with a much greater variety of unequivocally plant-based options, easy to buy and ready to eat, taking over shelves everywhere, from gas stations to convenience stores.’.
Unfortunately, products are often veganised simply by removing the animal ingredients, without much attention to the taste or texture. At Stem & Glory we are developing a ready meal range which have a focus on taste, texture and innovation. The aim is to bring restaurant quality to supermarket shelves and raise the bar on vegan ready meals.
- Vegan Cheese
The race is on to create a plant-based cheese that has the same taste and texture as dairy cheese. A few brands are now on the verge of creating an authentic product with an engineered cow’s milk.
Reuben Waller from Plant Candi, a well-known vegan chef, believes ‘the slow demise of the traditional dairy business will provide a marked contrast with the rise of products such as laboratory engineered cow’s milk, which will signal a seismic shift for the vegan cheese market’. This echoes our view too.
‘Not being able to give up cheese’ is the number one reason for flexitarians not becoming vegan, so this would be a game changer. Investors are diving into this space. An engineered dairy product would also take plant-based cheese in a natural and unprocessed direction.
- Vegan Fashion
G-Star’s range ‘Raw for the Oceans’ makes fashion from plastic pulled from the oceans, are committed to 100% sustainable cotton, and use a wide variety of recycled materials in their products. They are an excellent example of how a brand can use their sustainability agenda to grow their market share.
Dr Martens is also ahead of the curve, with profits up 70% year-on-year to March 2019 largely due to the success of their new ‘vegan’ range. However, their range is made from synthetic and non-biodegradable material. So, whilst they tick the vegan box, their products are not yet sustainable.
Michiel van Deursen from Capital V is one investor interested in the plant-based fashion space. ‘Leather is not sustainable at all, and since the alternative is often plastic, this has brought about a shift now towards plant based and biodegradable vegan ‘leather’. Michiel predicts massive growth in plant-based fashion and materials in the next few years, where demand is currently outgrowing production capacity. Michiel believes. ‘The market is ready to be disrupted. I think we are at that point in time where the major players of the future are now being built’.
These are my top five trends for 2021, but one overarching trend which will underpin all others is sustainability, with consumers utilising their purchasing power in support of those with truly circular and authentic sustainable credentials.
