Emirates Airlines Reports That Vegan Meal Requests Have Increased by 154%

Emirates Airlines mentions that the interest in vegan mean has significantly increased.

In 2014, the UK was home to "Veganuary". The month-long event promotes the famous vegan diet. The concept has gained widespread interest since its inception. This diet is gaining popularity among Emirates' vegan meal order. These meals were consumed by more than 280,000 passengers last year.

Emirates now has over 180 vegan recipes available to passengers. These Emirates vegan meals are available to you if you do not mind paying for train tickets. Instead, book an Emirates flight.

Emirates Flight Catering is a 90%-owned department that provides vegan meals onboard aircraft. The company opened its state-of the-art food service facility in 2007, covering more than 56,000m2. This facility offers 225,000 meals per day and is the largest and most efficient in terms of food service.

To meet the demands of customers, the airline's catering division expanded its offerings. The airline now has separate catering and airport food and drink services departments, as well as Emirates Flight Catering – Food Point. These are the ones responsible for all vegan meals on Emirates flights. You can book your meal and pay via mobile banking up to 24 hours before you fly.

The humble beginnings

Since 1990, the airline has been offering plant-based meals. It began as a meal option for passengers traveling on certain routes, such as Addis Ababa. It later offered meals to those who practice the Ethiopian Orthodox faith. The Indian subcontinent route routes saw a rise in demand for Emirates' vegan food.

People are increasingly being encouraged to live a plant-based life for ethical, health and environmental reasons. The demand for vegan meals onboard has increased. Passengers travelling to Australia, Taiwan, Cairo, Beirut and the UK are most likely to request Emirates meals.

Exciting offerings made from plants

Recently, the carrier announced that it will be offering a selection of vegan meals for its business-class and first-class cabins. The economy class menus were also updated to include fresh plant-based options.

Emirates Flight Catering in Dubai spent a year developing the first and business class menus. The menu was developed with inputs from chefs who specialize in Asian, Indian, and Arabic cuisines. Trusted company employees and vegan chefs were also included on the tasting panels.

Nestle predicted that plant-based diets would continue to grow in 2017, but this prediction was made only in 2017. Although there were doubts about its accuracy, the demand for plant-based diets continued to grow.

Plant-based milk and dairy products were worth more than $29 billion in 2020. This means that almost 8% of global "protein food" sales are made up of plant-based milk and other meat alternatives. Bloomberg predicts that sales of plant-based foods will grow by five times by 2030.

Nearly half of the top food companies like Unilever and Nestle have already established a plant-based division within their businesses. These departments will allow them to manufacture new products for their customers.

These statistics and facts about vegan diets show that veganism will be around for the long-term. Veganism is not a trend.

Do other airlines need to follow their lead?

During the 2022 Veganuary campaign, 620,000 people abstained for one month from eating meat or other animal-based products. Are the huge following and noble goal enough to inspire other airlines to do so?

There's no reason to force other companies to replicate the Emirates vegan airline food. China Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have all included plant-based meals in their menus.

Other airlines are slowly moving to non-meaty in-flight meals. Swiss International Airlines, for example, offers Beyond Meat Burgers on long flights. All Nippon Airways has partnered with Hideki Takayama, a chef to offer two vegan signature dishes in flight. Eurowings. Lufthansa's subsidiary started selling vegan gummy bears to its passengers. This route is also possible for other airlines.

 

Source: traveldailynews.com