Scots are leading with way with vegan diets

A UK-wide survey has revealed that you’re most likely to bump into a vegan if you’re in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

As National Vegan Day approaches this Thursday, 1 November, health recipe box service Mindful Chef has revealed regional dietary preferences around the country.

The survey shows there is an increasing number of people in the UK that are choosing to eat a vegan diet, with a 117 per cent rise in vegans in Great Britain in 2018 compared to two years ago.

The in-depth findings examine customer behaviour from over 20,000 Mindful Chef customers, tracing their preferences when signing up for the recipe boxes when asked to choose between balanced, plant-based, pescatarian and protein-packed boxes. The city with the highest percentage of those choosing ‘plant-based’ is revealed to be Glasgow, with a quarter (24 per cent) of the city opting for the vegan regime.

Close behind is Edinburgh with a fifth (21 per cent) of customers revealed as vegans, followed by Brighton & Hove (17 per cent) and Leicester (17 per cent).

From the vast array of options available to Mindful Chef customers, the research was also able to show that those in Cambridge (9 per cent) are the most likely to be pescatarian, followed by Brighton & Hove (8 per cent) and Bristol (7 per cent).

When it comes to a carnivorous diet, Cardiff (20 per cent) residents are the most likely to choose meat-focused meals over the rest of the UK, with Newcastle (17 per cent) and Leeds (13 per cent) also high on the list of those choosing from Mindful Chef meat dishes, such as beef & chipotle meatballs with squash noodles, and cashew chicken curry with black rice.

Top five vegan communities in top UK cities: 1, Glasgow City (24.1 per cent); 2, City of Edinburgh (20.6 per cent); 3, Brighton & Hove (16.7 per cent); 4, Leicester (16.7 per cent); 5, Manchester (15.7 per cent).

Mindful Chef is a health-focused recipe box subscription service. Customers choose from 16 well-balanced plant-based, meat or fish recipes, that change weekly. All the recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free and contain no refined carbs.

The Vegan Society’s research found that there are 600,000 vegans in Great Britain in 2018 compared to just 276,000 vegans in 2016.