Get Vegan Food On The Menu
Despite the UK’s established and growing vegan community, we continue to face challenges in accessing healthy and nutritious food, with some public sector menus failing to consistently include a single vegan option.
Now, as part of our Catering for Everyone campaign, we are calling on local and national governments to guarantee a nutritious plant-based option on every public sector menu. This option should be made available to everyone, every day, without the need to make a special request. The Vegan Society has worked hard on this issue for several years and has already secured the backing of a range of MPs for this campaign.
We have launched a landmark report based on new data collected by The Vegan Society using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Our report reveals how many councils across the UK currently provide vegan options on their menus and how many consider veganism when making catering decisions and are making plans to reduce meat and dairy consumption to meet their environmental targets. We highlight those councils that are excelling in their provision of vegan food and encourage those at the back of the pack to do better. The Veg APPG held a meeting in Parliament to discuss the findings with MPs, Councillors and other key stakeholders within public sector catering. The report was represented as a vital tool to help vegans and all committed to sustainability, to hold their local institutions to account and push for more sustainable options.
Our research shows that more than a quarter of the UK’s local councils failed to acknowledge their responsibility to treat veganism as a protected belief when making decisions about catering, despite their obligation to consider all members of their local community equally.
Check how well your local authority caters to vegans and read our full report. You can also find out more information about signing our petition to guarantee at least one vegan option on public sector menus every day.
Can you help us ask politicians to act?
Our template letter will help you to engage with local politicians and encourage them to back our Catering for Everyone campaign to improve vegan options on public sector menus. As a local constituent, your voice is powerful in persuading politicians to take this issue seriously.
If your local council has been graded 'amber' or 'red' in our report, we encourage you to email your councillors, using our template, and ask them to take further action to be inclusive of veganism and to provide better vegan options on their public sector menus. If your council has been graded 'green', please write to your MP to acknowledge and praise this achievement.
You can search for how your local council responded to our request and was graded here. This link will take you to a template letter that you can personalise, urging your councillors to read our new report and ensure that all their public sector menus have at least one vegan option. You can emphasise that this will create a more inclusive space for vegans and support everyone to make more sustainable and ethical food choices. You can also sign our petition urging politicians to guarantee at least one vegan option on all public sector menus.
Do you need more urgent help with a specific public sector institution?
At the same time as campaigning for large-scale political changes, The Vegan Society also helps vegans to ensure that their rights are respected. Veganism is a protected characteristic under equality legislation and both public sector institutions and employers have a duty to be inclusive of vegans.
Please browse through our range of resources provided to help you advocate for your rights and those of others. You may also want to consider sharing your experiences with us or to read those of other vegans.
