It’s been another busy week at The Vegan Agenda. The weather has turned frostier and we’ve been turning our focus to Christmas, sharing our vegan gift guides and working on content to help you have a vegan and environmentally friendly Christmas. Here’s the vegan. agenda weekly vegan news roundup and stories from around the web, delivered in bitesize chunks to help you catch up easily with the goings-on in the world of veganism.
Borna Foods is Launching a New Plant-Based Pistachio Milk
With over a third of Brits now opting for plant-based milks instead of dairy, we are seeing an increase in innovative non-dairy milk products in the UK. The latest product, soon to hit the markets, is pistachio milk produced by Borna Foods.
From this month, you can get your hands on the pistachio milk from either Amazon or Ocado. There are two varieties to try: lightly sweetened and unsweetened. Both are fortified with added calcium and vitamin B12 from natural sources. Made from delicious pistachio nuts, these milks have a velvety texture, are low in calories and are high in nutrients and fibre.
Pizza Chain Papa John’s Reveals Huge Increase in Demand for Vegan Menu Items
Pizza chain Papa John’s is the latest company to highlight the growing demand for vegan foods. The chain revealed that orders for completely plant-based pizzas from their stores have risen by a massive 81% over the past year.
In addition, the chain has seen an even bigger 154% rise in customers choosing plant-based sides during the same period. This includes their crispy ‘not-Chicken’ vegan bites as well as their vegan cheese and marmite scrolls, vegan cheese potato tots and cauliflower wings.
Papa John’s has a good selection of vegan options on its menu, with six vegan pizza options in addition to its range of vegan sides and
vegan dessert options. The chain currently has over 500 vegan-friendly stores nationwide.
Vegan Food and Living Launches The Big Vegan Survey 2022
Vegan Food & Living has launched its Big Vegan Survey 2022 which gives you the opportunity to take part in research that will help to improve vegan offerings available from supermarkets, restaurants and other brands. The aim is to help vegans get more of what they want onto the shelves.
The survey takes around 10 minutes and by participating, you also have the chance to win a vegan hamper worth over £175. Click here to find out more and take part.
Greggs Launches Vegan Festive Bake to Rival Meat Version
As part of its Christmas 2021 menu, high street bakery chain Greggs is this week launching a vegan festive bake as a plant-based alternative to its popular meat version. The vegan festive bake follows in the footsteps of the ever-popular Greggs vegan sausage roll and other vegan-friendly menu items including their vegan steak bake and vegan sausage and cheeze melt.
The vegan festive bake is filled with Quorn mycoprotein, a vegan bacon crumb and sage and onion stuffing. It contains a sage and cranberry sauce to give it a truly festive taste and is encased in puff pastry. You can get your hands on one for just £1.60 at your local Greggs store.
Pamela Anderson Calls for Cruelty-Free Alternatives to Bearskin Caps Worn By the Queen’s Guard
Vegan actor Pamela Anderson has written to Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, urging the government to help replace the Queen’s Guard bearskin caps with cruelty-free alternatives. In the past seven years, over a million pounds of taxpayer’s money has been spent purchasing 891 of the bearskin caps.
According to animal rights organisation PETA, the production of these hats may have resulted in as many as 1,000 bears being killed. These ornamental hats have been worn by the Queen’s guard for over 200 years and were originally designed to make troops appear taller and thus more intimidating during battle.
Pamela Anderson has said that the continued use of these hats is ‘outrageous’ and stated in her letter to Boris Johnson that, ‘there is nothing more important for people in positions of power to do than protect the vulnerable. Please instruct the Ministry of Defence to make the switch to cruelty-free faux fur’. She pointed out that just one hat requires the fur of at least one bear, some of whom are nursing mothers leaving behind cubs who likely die a slow death without their mother to care for and protect them.
A viable cruelty-free alternative is available from ECOPEL which has launched a faux bear hat which is the first product of its kind in the world. ECOPEL has even offered to give the vegan faux bear fur to the Ministry of Defence free of charge until the end of the decade.
The government is yet to respond to the letter.
This brings us to the end of this the vegan agenda weekly news bulletin. If you have any news or stories you think we should be sharing, please get in touch and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!
