Although it may remind you of a traditional butcher shop selling fresh meat, this butchery shop Rudy’s located in Islington in London is nothing but vegan.
It’s actually the first vegan butcher shop in the UK and it will open this Sunday to mark the World Vegan Day.
This butcher shop will sell only meat alternatives to traditional meat.
This will include products like vegan pork, vegan meatballs, and ready-made meals like chili-non-carne and lobstah.
These substitutes are made with seitan and soy and mimic the taste and texture of meat from animals.
Rudy’s Butcher Shop; the First Vegan Shop in the UK
In this store, you can find all the things you need for a full-English all-vegan breakfast with meat- and dairy-free variants of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and black pudding.
Moreover, the shop also has a charcuterie isle where you can find vegan smoked ham, pepperoni, salami de provence, and pastrami. You can also find turkey for the holiday season.
The shop owners have tweaked some of their products’ names to accentuate their vegan nature, for example, the ‘chick’n lover’ pate.
This shop will make delivery to the other parts of the UK and every order that’s placed on their first working day will include a free-of-charge pack of ‘baycon’.
This butcher shop follows the success of its owners’ American style diner with the same name located in Camden area in London. This diner opened in April of 2018 and there, you can find delicious mozzarella sticks, buffalo wings, milkshakes, and hot dogs-all vegan.
Meat-Free Market in the UK Is Flourishing
According to estimates from Mintel analysts, the meat-free market of UK is blooming and sales have actually grown 40% between the years of 2014 and 2019 to around $1.05 billion per year.
This number is expected to rise to more than $1.41 billion by the year of 2024. Moreover, a quarter of all the new food product launches in the UK in 2019 were vegan, research notes.
However; despite these positive news, the number of Brits who’ve gone vegan isn’t impressive; only 1%. This higher demand has come primarily from the rise of popularity of the flexitarian diet, explains the global food and drink analyst Mintel.
It’s because consumers perceive plant-based foods as healthier and this is the main driver behind the reduced meat intake in the last years.
Sources: