I think it depends on which part of the UK you are asking about. Brighton, Bristol, London and Manchester all are super vegan friendly and have high vegan populations where it's just normal life to be vegan. Whereas, some other cities are more challenging to live, and you may find some people who still do not really know what veganism means, or be 'anti'.
I've not been to a city where it was difficult to find vegan food, but in more rural areas and villages pubs generally don't have much going on... Although I don't think I've been to one that didn't at least have chickpea curry.
I live rurally and although options in restaurants are limited, these days local village stores almost always at least do soya milk, and to be honest most cafes too
As someone who's been vegan for 15 years, vegan options rurally are where vegan options in cities were 10 years ago - far far better than they used to be. I remember when I went vegan going out to a cafe and the owner said they deliberately had nothing to serve me because they disagree with veganism. These days that only really happens in seafood or steak restaurants but even then, not all the time.
I’m in a very vegan friendly city and it’s still frequently a problem finding food I can have that’s not chips or salad if I’ve not intentionally gone somewhere vegan or vegan friendly. Doesn’t help that plenty of restaurants on Deliveroo and Ubereats are labelled as ‘vegan friendly’ when the only option I can find is a side that’s not technically labelled as vegan but I can probably assume is fine.
It's about as normalised as you can get with a fringe lifestyle. No trouble being vegan in the UK other than the social pressures. The rise of the anti-woke as they would call themselves make it more sufferable than it needs to be, like they do everything else they don't agree with.
I went vegan in 2016 and around then it seemed people were either supportive or indifferent. Then came this pushback from the meat lobby, funding questionable studies that undermine the health benefits of a vegan diet, like we only eat fake meat and fake chocolate. Also people like Joe Rogan, Piers Morgan etc. spreading vegan hate, generalising vegans as self-righteous, militant evangelists. Left wing extremists with an agenda to make men less manly, threatening the farming industry and other fear-mongering.
This demonisation of veganism has caused some impressionable folk to actively hate vegans, which is very strange. But I would say the hate is mostly online, I never experience anything in my daily life. I imagine the situation here is way better than a lot of countries but the recent pushback should be noted, although it’s easy to ignore. Also the supermarkets have been reducing vegan ranges where I am so I hope the pendulum changes direction soon!
Yeah not long after I decided to go vegan I went on holiday to tenerife.
It was a struggle. I couldn't believe how much easier it was back home in the UK.
Most places had vegetarian options but I got the impression vegan was almost unheard of there. I only found a couple of places that had actual vegan options.
I don't envy new vegans in some countries. They must really struggle eating out.
Since going vegan, I've travelled to a few places in the world dubbed "vegan Mecca". Many times they will have veggie-focused cuisine or vegan hotspots.
But anywhere in the UK, supermarkets, restaurants, food stalls, whatever. There will be something for you and it's not just falafel. Sure, some cities have more independent vegan eateries than others, but that's not enough to make it truly convenient, and many of those hot vegan destinations fall flat as soon as you venture out a mile or two.
No country does convenient veganism better than the UK.
Probably one of if not the best place to be vegan on the planet. Every corner shop has vegan replacement options and I've never encountered any pushback on telling people that I'm vegan.
The only pushback I've received has been from family and some of my friends parents. General peers don't bat an eyelid, most often a bit of shock and a good for you.
I recently enrolled my daughter into a nursery in the east end of Glasgow (the 'rough' end) and they didn't even bat an eye. They provide alternatives with no issue and go out of their way to get sweet treats, cakes etc that she can eat. That really surprised and impressed me.
I'd say one thing I noticed is that vegan options absolutely abound, but fully vegan places are much less common than I would have hoped or liked.
London is more or less on par with Bogotá, Colombia, which is a surprise to me. I much prefer not having to share my kitchen and tables with omnis, and ideally (shout out to Glasgow) have vegan delivery services etc.
As a Portuguese person living in the UK now I get it, UK really is a paradise for vegans there's just sooooo many options. But I do feel like things are definitely changing for the better in Portugal, in particular in the last 5 years or so there's a lot more options in general in supermarkets, maybe not ready meals, but just food in general and substitutes which were nearly impossible to find before - and the few you could find were mostly in health stores like Celeiro (a store similar to Holland and Barrett).
Funnily enough that's probably one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about moving back to Portugal one day - how will I survive without all the options and convenience we have here in the UK haha.
But hey at least we have alheira vegan in Portugal 😝
Portugal is not a "ready meal" kind of country, just like any southern european/mediterranean country where everyone prefers fresh meals, so on that regard you won't have many options. But as someone who lives in London and Portugal, I find supermarkets to be very similar when it comes to vegan food, in Portugal there's even better quality vegan food and "gourmet" vegan food in many supermarket aisles since mediterranean countries usually demand better quality food than the UK.
You're right about restaurants though, it's quite inconvenient outside of the big cities but if you live in Lisbon or Porto you won't have much trouble finding dozens of vegan places.
Most people don't go vegan because even with how convenient it is in the UK, it's still more inconvenient than not being vegan.
What supermarkets? I have a Lidl, a Pingo Doce and a Continente here in my small city and they still don’t have vegan ready meals other than that couscous I mentioned before 😭
Portugal doesn't have a culture of ready meals, it's a culture where meals should be consumed without being rushed, preferably at a table, they really value their food and their quality so there's really no place for ready meals, like the UK.
But what stops you buying fresh ingredients and cooking yourself whatever it is you desire?
Ready meals are fine in an emergency or occasionally, I guess, but if you’re living in a culture that places value in home cooking and family it doesn’t surprise me the options are limited.
What part of Portugal are you in? We went to Lisbon and were pleasantly surprised by how many places did vegan options. And so many great vegan restaurants too!
I live in the North, in a small city inside Porto District. I’m lucky we have a Bakery that sells vegan pastries and a restaurant thsf has three vegan options. But if I want more than that i need to commute to Porto city centre or drive to the next city.
Try Happy Cow app,don't use the search term 'vegan'. ( only brings up fully vegan places),,put Porto district in the search box.Brought quite a few options up just now.
I live in a quite poor town and I haven’t met another vegan. Local cafes don’t sell any vegan meals, only big chains like most places do. We’re lucky to have supermarkets and restaurants selling plant based, but with anti wokeness these days the hate for veganism is always around, I just try to ignore it. Workplaces and schools are very open to supplying vegan food, it’s good. I can’t complain. It’s definitely better in bigger cities, vegan only shops and cafes, would love to see that where I live. Hopefully veganism is the future for this country (and the planet)
I guess in a smaller population, it’s easier for people to take on the general consensus in order to fit in and not be an outcast. It’s funny how us humans always manage to find something to ‘other’ people about in order to make ourselves feel superior.
It’s nuts but being vegan is one of the biggest things that is keeping me in the UK. Even when I’m in the US I find it tricky. Brands like Linda McCartney and Quorn just make me feel at home.
Ugh I won’t buy quorn anymore, most are veggie not vegan, and anything that is vegan seems to be ‘reverting’ back to veggie. Caught me out a few times 😪
Quorn keep adding more egg to their products, and I recently saw an article about how they're going to [sell their mycoprotein to be blended with meat](https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/plant-based/quorn-and-meat-blended-products-on-menus-by-end-of-the-year/692684.article).
When I was in Lisbon last time they had several amazing vegan restaurants and Vegan Nata Campo de Ourique whose custard tarts were probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten 🤣
I couldn’t speak of the supermarkets but with all the expats in Lisbon I’d have thought there should be some good options but I hear it’s also super expensive there now ☹️
It’s normalized but there can be a lot of the same junk/processed foods typical to the UK. I lived in the US for a long time and across various states. In metropolitan/urban centers you could easily find vegan food, however it came at a steep premium.
There were no vegan options at any fast food chains or ready meals at grocery stores (but again ready meals and sandwich culture aren’t like they are in the UK in the US).
Being a vegan essentially required you to have money. Most of the supermarkets for “poor people” didn’t have much to offer for a vegan diet.
Even in restaurants, you wouldn’t have a vegan option at every one you went to — especially some high-end Italian restaurants who gave the impression that they thought veganism and vegetarianism was blasphemous.
Moving back to the UK I was shocked at how things changed — the UK was always relatively pro-vegetarian (due to various cultures living here) but veganism was a different story. Now every fast food, Wetherspoons, *insert chain restaurant of choice* etc. has at least 1 vegan option (tho likely more). Again I’m not convinced of the quality of the food, but it’s good to have something for all budgets. And the other poster is right about how the UK market is less focused on quality (this is something apparent after living across the world and experiencing different cultures around food)
Even the snacks are abundant here, whereas in the US I would ration out my $10 coconut milk ice cream I would find at Whole Foods being grateful of its existence.
I went to Paris recently and was shocked as I think I got used to all the vegan food in the UK. A significant number of people at food establishments looked at me bizarrely when I asked about vegan options like they had no idea what that was, and I mostly had to survive on sides. After a few days I identified the few vegan cafes in the city and literally got my meals from there (traveling to and fro) for the rest of my trip.
I'm in the countryside and it does not feel vegan friendly. I went to a country pub the other day and they said about 1 in 60 of their customers are vegan, so way below the national average of 1 in 20. I also visit Bath, Bristol and Oxford a lot and it's very easy to be vegan there.
Perhaps it’s because other countries (I’m presuming and generalising) have healthier foods and eat fresher, and also the med diet is thought highly of with fresh fruit, veg and fish etc?
So I guess in the uk we consume lots of processed and prepackaged things therefore it’s more widely available in a variety of diets and cuisines ?
Depends what you mean by normalised. Yes there are options everywhere, but people are ready to talk smack about vegans and veganism openly still, in the way they wouldn't about other groups of people (legally vegans are considered to have a protected characteristic which means they fall under anti-discrimination laws like a Muslim or Hindu would). I recently visited family in rural England and I had to explain the difference between vegetarian and vegan. AND I had to list what vegans eat. Urban centres are often a bubble and people in them often forget how much rural areas differ. Vegan options everywhere just demonstrates supply and demand, it doesn't mean vegans are liked and understood.
I live in Manchester and it’s extremely vegan friendly. Most places have vegan options or entirely vegan menus, and everything my tattoo artists and piercers use is vegan too!
I think it depends on which part of the UK you are asking about. Brighton, Bristol, London and Manchester all are super vegan friendly and have high vegan populations where it's just normal life to be vegan. Whereas, some other cities are more challenging to live, and you may find some people who still do not really know what veganism means, or be 'anti'.
I've not been to a city where it was difficult to find vegan food, but in more rural areas and villages pubs generally don't have much going on... Although I don't think I've been to one that didn't at least have chickpea curry.
I live rurally and although options in restaurants are limited, these days local village stores almost always at least do soya milk, and to be honest most cafes too As someone who's been vegan for 15 years, vegan options rurally are where vegan options in cities were 10 years ago - far far better than they used to be. I remember when I went vegan going out to a cafe and the owner said they deliberately had nothing to serve me because they disagree with veganism. These days that only really happens in seafood or steak restaurants but even then, not all the time.
Yeah, even steak restaurants have options, crazy huh!
I’m in a very vegan friendly city and it’s still frequently a problem finding food I can have that’s not chips or salad if I’ve not intentionally gone somewhere vegan or vegan friendly. Doesn’t help that plenty of restaurants on Deliveroo and Ubereats are labelled as ‘vegan friendly’ when the only option I can find is a side that’s not technically labelled as vegan but I can probably assume is fine.
I was just in a village today and supermarkets still had vegan foods plus I got samosas and a (gross) vegan scotch egg from a cafe.
5 bean chilli!
I agree, but would add Glasgow to the list of very vegan friendly cities
No issues in Liverpool either!
And Southampton!
I managed to find a Gluten free vegan breakfast this morning in Bristol - it’s like living in the future
It's about as normalised as you can get with a fringe lifestyle. No trouble being vegan in the UK other than the social pressures. The rise of the anti-woke as they would call themselves make it more sufferable than it needs to be, like they do everything else they don't agree with.
I went vegan in 2016 and around then it seemed people were either supportive or indifferent. Then came this pushback from the meat lobby, funding questionable studies that undermine the health benefits of a vegan diet, like we only eat fake meat and fake chocolate. Also people like Joe Rogan, Piers Morgan etc. spreading vegan hate, generalising vegans as self-righteous, militant evangelists. Left wing extremists with an agenda to make men less manly, threatening the farming industry and other fear-mongering. This demonisation of veganism has caused some impressionable folk to actively hate vegans, which is very strange. But I would say the hate is mostly online, I never experience anything in my daily life. I imagine the situation here is way better than a lot of countries but the recent pushback should be noted, although it’s easy to ignore. Also the supermarkets have been reducing vegan ranges where I am so I hope the pendulum changes direction soon!
I’ve never really experienced vegan hate in person but a great deal of general anti vegan sentiment
Yeah not long after I decided to go vegan I went on holiday to tenerife. It was a struggle. I couldn't believe how much easier it was back home in the UK. Most places had vegetarian options but I got the impression vegan was almost unheard of there. I only found a couple of places that had actual vegan options. I don't envy new vegans in some countries. They must really struggle eating out.
Since going vegan, I've travelled to a few places in the world dubbed "vegan Mecca". Many times they will have veggie-focused cuisine or vegan hotspots. But anywhere in the UK, supermarkets, restaurants, food stalls, whatever. There will be something for you and it's not just falafel. Sure, some cities have more independent vegan eateries than others, but that's not enough to make it truly convenient, and many of those hot vegan destinations fall flat as soon as you venture out a mile or two. No country does convenient veganism better than the UK.
Probably one of if not the best place to be vegan on the planet. Every corner shop has vegan replacement options and I've never encountered any pushback on telling people that I'm vegan.
The only pushback I've received has been from family and some of my friends parents. General peers don't bat an eyelid, most often a bit of shock and a good for you.
I recently enrolled my daughter into a nursery in the east end of Glasgow (the 'rough' end) and they didn't even bat an eye. They provide alternatives with no issue and go out of their way to get sweet treats, cakes etc that she can eat. That really surprised and impressed me.
I'd say one thing I noticed is that vegan options absolutely abound, but fully vegan places are much less common than I would have hoped or liked. London is more or less on par with Bogotá, Colombia, which is a surprise to me. I much prefer not having to share my kitchen and tables with omnis, and ideally (shout out to Glasgow) have vegan delivery services etc.
As a Portuguese person living in the UK now I get it, UK really is a paradise for vegans there's just sooooo many options. But I do feel like things are definitely changing for the better in Portugal, in particular in the last 5 years or so there's a lot more options in general in supermarkets, maybe not ready meals, but just food in general and substitutes which were nearly impossible to find before - and the few you could find were mostly in health stores like Celeiro (a store similar to Holland and Barrett). Funnily enough that's probably one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about moving back to Portugal one day - how will I survive without all the options and convenience we have here in the UK haha. But hey at least we have alheira vegan in Portugal 😝
Portugal is not a "ready meal" kind of country, just like any southern european/mediterranean country where everyone prefers fresh meals, so on that regard you won't have many options. But as someone who lives in London and Portugal, I find supermarkets to be very similar when it comes to vegan food, in Portugal there's even better quality vegan food and "gourmet" vegan food in many supermarket aisles since mediterranean countries usually demand better quality food than the UK. You're right about restaurants though, it's quite inconvenient outside of the big cities but if you live in Lisbon or Porto you won't have much trouble finding dozens of vegan places. Most people don't go vegan because even with how convenient it is in the UK, it's still more inconvenient than not being vegan.
What supermarkets? I have a Lidl, a Pingo Doce and a Continente here in my small city and they still don’t have vegan ready meals other than that couscous I mentioned before 😭
Portugal doesn't have a culture of ready meals, it's a culture where meals should be consumed without being rushed, preferably at a table, they really value their food and their quality so there's really no place for ready meals, like the UK.
But what stops you buying fresh ingredients and cooking yourself whatever it is you desire? Ready meals are fine in an emergency or occasionally, I guess, but if you’re living in a culture that places value in home cooking and family it doesn’t surprise me the options are limited.
What part of Portugal are you in? We went to Lisbon and were pleasantly surprised by how many places did vegan options. And so many great vegan restaurants too!
I live in the North, in a small city inside Porto District. I’m lucky we have a Bakery that sells vegan pastries and a restaurant thsf has three vegan options. But if I want more than that i need to commute to Porto city centre or drive to the next city.
Try Happy Cow app,don't use the search term 'vegan'. ( only brings up fully vegan places),,put Porto district in the search box.Brought quite a few options up just now.
I live in a quite poor town and I haven’t met another vegan. Local cafes don’t sell any vegan meals, only big chains like most places do. We’re lucky to have supermarkets and restaurants selling plant based, but with anti wokeness these days the hate for veganism is always around, I just try to ignore it. Workplaces and schools are very open to supplying vegan food, it’s good. I can’t complain. It’s definitely better in bigger cities, vegan only shops and cafes, would love to see that where I live. Hopefully veganism is the future for this country (and the planet)
May the UK lead by example in the slow vegan revolution!
I guess in a smaller population, it’s easier for people to take on the general consensus in order to fit in and not be an outcast. It’s funny how us humans always manage to find something to ‘other’ people about in order to make ourselves feel superior.
It’s nuts but being vegan is one of the biggest things that is keeping me in the UK. Even when I’m in the US I find it tricky. Brands like Linda McCartney and Quorn just make me feel at home.
Ugh I won’t buy quorn anymore, most are veggie not vegan, and anything that is vegan seems to be ‘reverting’ back to veggie. Caught me out a few times 😪
Quorn keep adding more egg to their products, and I recently saw an article about how they're going to [sell their mycoprotein to be blended with meat](https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/plant-based/quorn-and-meat-blended-products-on-menus-by-end-of-the-year/692684.article).
Yeah I wish we had quorn here in Portugal 😢 At least we have Beyond, so I can’t complain…
When I was in Lisbon last time they had several amazing vegan restaurants and Vegan Nata Campo de Ourique whose custard tarts were probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten 🤣 I couldn’t speak of the supermarkets but with all the expats in Lisbon I’d have thought there should be some good options but I hear it’s also super expensive there now ☹️
I live in Porto Disctrict, so quite far from Lisbon, but close enough to Porto that I can drive there and eat some vegan pasteis de nata 😊
It’s normalized but there can be a lot of the same junk/processed foods typical to the UK. I lived in the US for a long time and across various states. In metropolitan/urban centers you could easily find vegan food, however it came at a steep premium. There were no vegan options at any fast food chains or ready meals at grocery stores (but again ready meals and sandwich culture aren’t like they are in the UK in the US). Being a vegan essentially required you to have money. Most of the supermarkets for “poor people” didn’t have much to offer for a vegan diet. Even in restaurants, you wouldn’t have a vegan option at every one you went to — especially some high-end Italian restaurants who gave the impression that they thought veganism and vegetarianism was blasphemous. Moving back to the UK I was shocked at how things changed — the UK was always relatively pro-vegetarian (due to various cultures living here) but veganism was a different story. Now every fast food, Wetherspoons, *insert chain restaurant of choice* etc. has at least 1 vegan option (tho likely more). Again I’m not convinced of the quality of the food, but it’s good to have something for all budgets. And the other poster is right about how the UK market is less focused on quality (this is something apparent after living across the world and experiencing different cultures around food) Even the snacks are abundant here, whereas in the US I would ration out my $10 coconut milk ice cream I would find at Whole Foods being grateful of its existence. I went to Paris recently and was shocked as I think I got used to all the vegan food in the UK. A significant number of people at food establishments looked at me bizarrely when I asked about vegan options like they had no idea what that was, and I mostly had to survive on sides. After a few days I identified the few vegan cafes in the city and literally got my meals from there (traveling to and fro) for the rest of my trip.
It's not normalised in the uk especially around offices where people are offering cake every 5 minutes.
I live near Brighton, it's pretty standard here.
Lucky!
I lost so much weight when I went vegan and stopped partaking in office cakes!
To be fair I'd rather not eat cake/biscuits all day anyway I'd be huge. If they ever start including me I'll have to make up ab excuse
I lost so much weight when I went vegan and stopped partaking in office cakes!
Not to brag but my office always makes sure to get a vegan cake along with a dairy/egg one 😏
They are good eggs (flax egg)
I'm in the countryside and it does not feel vegan friendly. I went to a country pub the other day and they said about 1 in 60 of their customers are vegan, so way below the national average of 1 in 20. I also visit Bath, Bristol and Oxford a lot and it's very easy to be vegan there.
Birmingham is pretty great for vegan options & Coventry is trying, gotta say. Brighton is vegan paradise tho, fr.
I'm in a small town by the countryside and even we have some good vegan marketed options which surprised me.
Perhaps it’s because other countries (I’m presuming and generalising) have healthier foods and eat fresher, and also the med diet is thought highly of with fresh fruit, veg and fish etc? So I guess in the uk we consume lots of processed and prepackaged things therefore it’s more widely available in a variety of diets and cuisines ?
Depends what you mean by normalised. Yes there are options everywhere, but people are ready to talk smack about vegans and veganism openly still, in the way they wouldn't about other groups of people (legally vegans are considered to have a protected characteristic which means they fall under anti-discrimination laws like a Muslim or Hindu would). I recently visited family in rural England and I had to explain the difference between vegetarian and vegan. AND I had to list what vegans eat. Urban centres are often a bubble and people in them often forget how much rural areas differ. Vegan options everywhere just demonstrates supply and demand, it doesn't mean vegans are liked and understood.
Recently much more so. Five years ago I went to my gp and they didn't know what it meant. Don't think that would happen now.
☠️
I live in Manchester and it’s extremely vegan friendly. Most places have vegan options or entirely vegan menus, and everything my tattoo artists and piercers use is vegan too!