{"id":1161,"date":"2026-04-16T22:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T21:30:09","slug":"the-future-of-veganism-and-vegetarianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/2026\/04\/16\/the-future-of-veganism-and-vegetarianism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Veganism and Vegetarianism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve spent my entire life as a vegetarian. From the moment I was born, to two vegetarian parents, up until this very moment, as a 22-year-old man. Even in my life, hell, even in the last decade, I\u2019ve witnessed the lifestyle go from one of relative obscurity to the forefront of people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was one of the first things I noticed when moving to London in early 2023. The quantity and variety of vegetarian and vegan food were staggering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, I welcomed the adoption of the dietary and, by extension, political choices people were making. I\u2019ve grown up in its culture, and the messaging and rhetoric surrounding animal and climate welfare is one I\u2019m very on board with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the last year or so has been different. Vegan and vegetarian restaurants have been closing at a staggering rate, and price hikes from supermarkets, to an already minority dietary choice, have left many of us with limited options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019, dubbed \u2018The Year of the Vegan\u2019 by The Economist, saw swathes of people take up veganism, and the future looked bright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, in 2026, things have declined steadily. Lacklustre attempts to make accommodations \u2014 such as Burger King\u2019s failure to use separate grills for cooking beef and plant-based patties<\/a> \u2014 have left a sour taste in the mouths of vegans and vegetarians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wagamama removed its \u2018Vegatsu\u2019 vegan katsu curry, along with other vegan items, in 2025<\/a>, despite the company\u2019s 2021 pledge to make 50 per cent of its menu plant-based. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image: Bruno Martin on Unsplash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Meat is struggling financially<\/a>. Eleven Madison Park \u2014 a three-star Michelin restaurant that transitioned fully into veganism in 2021 \u2014 reintroduced meat to its menu in 2025<\/a>. Meat and milk substitutes are 24 to 115 per cent more expensive than their animal-based counterparts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact of the matter is, those who jumped to a meat-alternative diet in the 2010s and the height of the craze, who are now jumping ship, have done undeniable damage to the industry for the rest of us. In essence, they have gentrified veganism and vegetarianism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people, those most statistically likely to bear the brunt of these price hikes and lack of options, are stuck between choosing the ethical choice and the financially sensible one \u2014 things that used to be aligned, even in my lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I could go on and on and on. But I won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I will say is that, buried beneath all this doom and gloom, are small groups of people and small businesses, those dedicated to keeping the lifestyle afloat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently went, with my girlfriend (who\u2019s also a vegetarian), to two different restaurants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image: Sam on Unsplash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first, En Root Peckham<\/a>, offers an interesting selection of plant-based \u201cIndian fusion\u201d items, all of which were enjoyable, and, crucially, it was affordable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interior was interesting and felt as if it had some soul \u2014 unlike the current state of \u2018trendy\u2019 restaurants and gastro pubs, which all merge into one \u2014 with more niche music, dimmed lights, and a sort of faux living room vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The service left a little to be desired, and the strange layout of a cafe in the front section, dining area in the back, made for a slightly puzzling experience, but the food more than made up for these shortcomings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, in line with broader veganism trends, we found out about En Root because of the owner appearing on the news, and talking about how much the business is struggling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went on a Friday evening, after work, and were two of only a dozen or so customers, during what should have been the place\u2019s busiest time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second, Amrutha<\/a>, in Honor Oak (that also serves Indian food), was a pleasant surprise. We went because it was convenient \u2014 close to both where I work and where my girlfriend lives \u2014 but left very happy on (almost) all fronts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the interior succumbing to the same disease plaguing gastro pubs \u2014 terribly uncomfortable chairs, an interior that could bore you to death, and a questionable music selection \u2014 the service and food were superb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food selection is, in essence, a \u2018take it or leave it situation\u2019. You get two options from the set menu: the normal portion at \u00a333 per head or the slightly bigger one at \u00a337. We opted for the normal portion, hesitant to pay extra for something we were unfamiliar with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to it being our first time, we were upgraded to the slightly bigger portion at no extra cost, which was a welcome surprise. The staff were fantastic; they were friendly and genuinely seemed to care about providing a good service, which, having spent the last three years in hospitality myself, is not an easy feat to accomplish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image: Lai YuChing on Unsplash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The food was great, the dishes interesting, and the bring your own booze policy (and the conveniently located corner shop just down the road) was the icing on the cake. Although, as pompous as it sounds, some kind of unique vegan beer or vegan wine pairing would\u2019ve been a nice option (not that I\u2019d opt for it anyway, for money\u2019s sake).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also found out that, when paying the bill, Amrutha operates a policy where you can pay as much or as little as you would like. This kind of policy is almost unheard of, but we chose to pay in full due to the exquisite service and food I mentioned earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I left both feeling more than satisfied. I left feeling hopeful. Hopeful for the future of veganism and vegetarianism, with the belief that, no matter what\u2019s trendy or what big corporations are doing, somebody, somewhere will stick by what they believe in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve spent my entire life as a vegetarian. From the moment I was born, to two vegetarian parents, up until this very moment, as a 22-year-old man. Even in my life, hell, even in the last decade, I\u2019ve witnessed the lifestyle go from one of relative obscurity to the forefront of people\u2019s lives. It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":1166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1167,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions\/1167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mccs-journalism.gold.ac.uk\/wp\/sixsense\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}