Although many of us are trying to cut down on our meat consumption, it can still be surprisingly tricky to find vegetarian and vegan meal options on the high street. So it's pleasing to hear that Wagamama, which has around 120 restaurants in the UK, has just introduced a new, expanded vegetarian and vegan menu.
The chain's new 15-item vegan menu includes starters, mains, and desserts, so your whole meat-free meal is covered. Some of the options are pretty standard - well, obviously edamame are vegan - but other dishes are more exciting. We're particularly keen to try the delicious-sounding yasai samla curry, which is described as "a fragrant, spicy lemongrass and coconut curry with tofu, peppers, shiitake mushrooms and baby plum tomatoes." It's served with white rice, so it sounds super-filling, too.
Wagamama's Customer Director Emma Woods says of the new menu: "Our first ever dedicated vegan and vegetarian menu can be the starting point to support a vegan lifestyle choice. From its October launch, we will be listening to our fans to make sure we are constantly adapting and innovating to meet customer desires and a modern lifestyle.”
Let's hope more of the UK's leading restaurant chains follow Wagamama's lead. The NHS estimates that around 1.2 million people in the UK are vegetarian, while The Vegan Society reckons there are now half a million vegans. Lots of us are adopting flexitarian diets, too. There's no excuse for restaurants not to be offering meat-free options that we want to try - and come back for again and again.