British retailer Marks & Spencer has upped its vegan food range, introducing a Caesar salad made with plant-based chicken.
The new product is part of the M&S Plant Kitchen brand, which it launched last December.
The line includes more than 60 vegan ready meals, snacks, and ingredients. Comfort food like Cashew Mac, Lasagne, and Cauliflower Popcorn are included as are nutritious dishes like Green Thai Curry & Jasmine Rice and Mexican Supergrains.
The latest addition to the line, the No Chick Caesar Salad, features leafy greens, dairy-free Caesar dressing, crunchy croutons, and vegan chicken. Alongside the new launch, M&S also introduced a Hoisin No Duck wrap.
“Some people think meat-free food is boring but that couldn’t be further from the truth, it’s experimental – and it’s delicious, ” Plant Kitchen’s Claire Richardson said in a statement after the line first launched last year.
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Plant Kitchen clearly labels its product with the word “vegan” — a decision that came after the successful campaign by Animal Aid called Mark it Vegan. The initiative encourages supermarkets to label vegan-friendly offerings. “Firstly, it enables those of us who avoid animal products entirely to easily find which products are vegan,” said campaign manager Tod Bradbury in a statement. “Secondly, it also helps non-vegans realise how many delicious vegan options there truly are to choose from.”
Vegan Food in the UK
M&S is one of many supermarkets in the UK boosting their vegan food offerings to cater to shifting consumer preference. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons have all launched new plant-based products recently in a bid to keep up with demand.
More Brits are ditching animal products than in years past. In February, it was reported that red and processed meat consumption in the UK had declined by nearly 30 percent over a decade. In the same month, other research found that there will be 12 million more vegans, vegetarians, and pescatarians in the UK by 2020. The biggest growth will come from the vegan population segment — the data suggested that the number of vegans living in the UK will rise by 327 percent this year, going from around 681,000 to 2.9 million.
