As Veganuary in Yorkshire commences, you may well be considering eating a vegan diet. This can be a difficult thing to do without sufficient research. This blog will assist those of you in Yorkshire that may be considering making the lifestyle change.
According to this study by the University of Oxford, a plant based diet could save millions of lives and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions so reducing meat consumption could be beneficial to everyone and what better way to start than with Veganuary?
Whether you are trying to reduce your animal product consumption or aiming to be a lean mean green eating machine, here are some ideas and advice for Veganuary in Yorkshire.
Don’t treat Veganuary like a chore
Vegan options have never been better in the UK. Most fast food restaurants have a vegan option, KFC offer a vegan burger, Greggs have a few vegan options including the now famous vegan sausage roll. Furthermore, most supermarkets have vegan options in their meal deals and vegan and vegetarian aisles.
There’s no need to just focus on the big brands though. It’s worth checking out your local, independent shops, cafes and restaurants, most of which will now boast varied vegan options.
It is not as difficult to be vegan as it once was and therefore it’s important not to treat it like a restriction. It is better to think about the options that you are opening up to yourself by trying vegan eating.
Be Flexible with Veganuary
If you don’t always strictly stick to vegan options, that’s OK. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t have to be all vegan all the time.
Remind yourself that if you eat something non-vegan, you don’t have to give up and go straight back to cheese and meat boards immediately. Being flexible with veganism can be good for your health and for the environment.
Yorkshire Vegan Confectionery
An important consideration with veganism is that you don’t just have to limit yourself to the vegan and vegetarian aisles at the supermarket. There are many foods and confectionery products that are accidentally vegan, as seen here.
It is still possible to support local businesses as many of the items on these lists are Yorkshire products, this includes…
- Foxes’ Mini Party Rings
- Mr Kipling’s Treacle Tart & Apple and Blackcurrant Pie
- Rowntrees Jelly Tots which were invented by accident in Leeds
- Haribo Rainbow Twists Sour
- Yorkshire-based Chocolatier, Whitakers became the UK’s first chocolatier to offer a vegan selection box this Christmas, continuing a trend of Yorkshire confectioners leading the way in vegan sweets and chocolate
- Dukes Donuts in Leeds boast vegan doughnuts which are all huge and satiate a sweet tooth
- Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles are now Vegan friendly
As is evident, there is a distinct rise in vegan products in general. In 2019, The Vegan Society registered 14,262 products with The Vegan Trademark. This was a 49% increase on the year before.
If you wish to make the effort to be vegan this January, there are plenty of products that you can enjoy while supporting local business with this number sure to grow each year.
Places to eat vegan food in Yorkshire
You can read about a tasty selection of vegan restaurants, cafes and other options here to help with your Veganuary in Yorkshire. Some highlights include
- Prashad – a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Bradford (which as a city is the multi-year Curry Capital of Britain)
- Döner Summer – Vegan junk food with locations across the county.
Useful Links
NHS advice for Vegan eating.
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Take a look at the Yorkshire Menu homepage.
