Last year, when Cambridge city council voted to phase out serving meat and dairy at events and provide vegan alternatives, it was praised for leading the way on climate action.
But the plan has hit a big problem at the first hurdle: people do not want the food.
At the first civic event since the vote, a council report has revealed the vegan menu went down so badly that almost all of the food remained uneaten and had to be thrown away causing “significant food waste”.
It noted that only one in ten attendees tried the vegan options and some guests were left hungry because there was “an insufficient amount of food available that people wanted to eat”.
Some said they felt “under pressure to eat what they wouldn’t normally choose” because of posters near the vegan food showing the amount of greenhouse gases in the production of beef and lamb.
Cambridge city council used a Remembrance Sunday event to launch the new menu. It paid more than £579 to provide 80 guests with sandwiches and cakes. Half of these were vegan; the other contained meat or dairy.
But the report, given to the council’s environment and scrutiny committee, said that despite the food looking “very fresh, good quality and visually appealing” almost all the vegan options were untouched. “There was extremely low uptake of plant-based food options: under 10 per cent of people tried these options whilst the vegetarian options and meat/dairy options were all eaten,” it said. “The low uptake of the plant-based options resulted in an insufficient amount of food available at the event that people wanted to eat.
“Unfortunately the leftover plant-based food had to be disposed of.”
The report recommended cutting the amount of vegan food served to only 25 per cent. However, the council announced that it wanted to offer 100 per cent vegan food by 2026.
At a meeting last week Hannah Copley, of the Green Party, said the council had set the vegan menu “up to fail” by “othering” it. She suggested mixing it in with the meat and dairy range to encourage people to try it but this was rejected over fears of allergies and cross contamination.
Richard Swift, of Labour, said: “We cannot force people to eat food they do not want to eat, the task [for] us is to make it so good people want to eat it without being told.”
A spokesman for the council said it was “committed to tackling the climate emergency”.
>But the plan has hit a big problem at the first hurdle: people do not want the food.
Well yeah, this is the problem with most vegan food initiatives – which is why vegans are so focused on removing other options rather than giving people a choice.
It’s wrong these establishments introduce just vegan or whatever else, it should be offered along side traditional meat and dairy.
Most people want meat and dairy, its also good for us in a balanced diet.
Probably not the best event to get feedback from to be honest. Rememberance Sunday is mostly frequented by elderly people who were brought up on a meat heavy diet and have lived that way their entire life, probably quite reluctant to change now.
A rememberance Sunday meal probably attended mostly by old people isn’t the place to try and make a statement about vegan food.
This is beautiful
Its a massive illustration of the difference between the private and public sectors. You just know that they will plough on with this, no matter the cost or the food waste
How does plant based food do in compost ?
Seems this has backfired a wee bit if 50% of the food is vegan and only 10% are tying it. Make propper vegan dishes with propper ingredients and none of this “plant based replacement for x” you can make some fantastic meals that are vegan without using replacement foods which often times aren’t the best.
In the article it says people felt pressured because of the greenhouse gas posters.
I would like to see their claims of how much greenhouse gas comes from meat and dairy Vs plant based factoring in transport and such.
I’ll need a little more convincing than some labour councillors telling me “our task is to make you want it without telling you to”
> People too stubborn to eat vegan food
Lmao
Just lmao
Imagine choosing to go hungry because you ‘dont like vegan food’.
> some guests were left hungry because there was “an insufficient amount of food available that people wanted to eat”.
If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple then you’re not really hungry.
“Hannah Copley… said the council has set the vegan menu ‘up to fail’ by ‘othering it’”.
Ahh yes, the problem is that the council offered people other food that they actually wanted to eat. They should had only given them food they don’t want to force them to obey the vegan law.
People would rather doom their grandchildren than give up meat 🙄
Well obviously. The vast majority of people like meat and will go elsewhere for that option.
Maybe they should let people chose what they eat before they try and enforce food? That way everyone is happy and there is little waste?
[deleted]
People in this thread are fuming that some old people didn’t want to eat vegan food. Get a life
At a village party I attended last autumn, the vegan chilli and curry was more popular than the meat versions, with people queuing up for second helpings and there wasn’t much left for the vegans. This was caused by an unfortunate combination of more people turning up than planned, such as bringing friends, some vegans didn’t queue up promptly (I’m not blaming the vegans!), the vegan food was visually more appealing and we weren’t informed the vegan food was a smaller quantity for a reason.
I’d love to know what these ‘plant-based alternatives’ actually were. It’s very frustrating not to be told, because it’s hard to judge the menu without knowing what the fillings were.
There can be all sorts of reasons why people don’t choose a particular vegan option – it’s not necessarily that they don’t like vegan food.
I can’t eat a lot of the modern vegan meat substitutes, and I can’t eat a lot of legume based dishes, as they make me unwell, but I’ve got nothing against a vegan diet on principal and will happily choose a vegan option if it’s something I can actually eat. Quite often have a vegan meal without intending to, if I eat out at a Thai or Indian restaurant, for example.
There were cakes there apparently – I wonder what butter sub they used? There are some really good ones now apparently, I haven’t had the chance to give them a try. Or maybe they used an oil-base recipe.
Vegan food isn’t wanted but they’ll continue to force it on the rest of us regardless, in other news rain is wet.
Apparently it’s moral to attempt to dictate what people should eat and drink. Like most absolutist fanatics the concept of freedom, (choice and opinion) is given lip service only if not outight ignored.
Vegan food manufacturing and transport causes roughly the same level of pollution is the same as that of normal food. So any difference is minimal.
I’m vegan and these initiatives are fucking stupid. Provide vegan options. Let people try them.
The issue with vegan food half the time is it tries to replicate non vegan foods and sucks at it. It totally puts people off.
I’ve had way more success by introducing vegan food that isn’t a imitation of non vegan meals.
22 comments
[Archive Link](https://archive.is/xCxDf). Article text follows.
—
By Laurence Sleator
Last year, when Cambridge city council voted to phase out serving meat and dairy at events and provide vegan alternatives, it was praised for leading the way on climate action.
But the plan has hit a big problem at the first hurdle: people do not want the food.
At the first civic event since the vote, a council report has revealed the vegan menu went down so badly that almost all of the food remained uneaten and had to be thrown away causing “significant food waste”.
It noted that only one in ten attendees tried the vegan options and some guests were left hungry because there was “an insufficient amount of food available that people wanted to eat”.
Some said they felt “under pressure to eat what they wouldn’t normally choose” because of posters near the vegan food showing the amount of greenhouse gases in the production of beef and lamb.
Cambridge city council used a Remembrance Sunday event to launch the new menu. It paid more than £579 to provide 80 guests with sandwiches and cakes. Half of these were vegan; the other contained meat or dairy.
But the report, given to the council’s environment and scrutiny committee, said that despite the food looking “very fresh, good quality and visually appealing” almost all the vegan options were untouched. “There was extremely low uptake of plant-based food options: under 10 per cent of people tried these options whilst the vegetarian options and meat/dairy options were all eaten,” it said. “The low uptake of the plant-based options resulted in an insufficient amount of food available at the event that people wanted to eat.
“Unfortunately the leftover plant-based food had to be disposed of.”
The report recommended cutting the amount of vegan food served to only 25 per cent. However, the council announced that it wanted to offer 100 per cent vegan food by 2026.
At a meeting last week Hannah Copley, of the Green Party, said the council had set the vegan menu “up to fail” by “othering” it. She suggested mixing it in with the meat and dairy range to encourage people to try it but this was rejected over fears of allergies and cross contamination.
Richard Swift, of Labour, said: “We cannot force people to eat food they do not want to eat, the task [for] us is to make it so good people want to eat it without being told.”
A spokesman for the council said it was “committed to tackling the climate emergency”.
>But the plan has hit a big problem at the first hurdle: people do not want the food.
Well yeah, this is the problem with most vegan food initiatives – which is why vegans are so focused on removing other options rather than giving people a choice.
It’s wrong these establishments introduce just vegan or whatever else, it should be offered along side traditional meat and dairy.
Most people want meat and dairy, its also good for us in a balanced diet.
Probably not the best event to get feedback from to be honest. Rememberance Sunday is mostly frequented by elderly people who were brought up on a meat heavy diet and have lived that way their entire life, probably quite reluctant to change now.
A rememberance Sunday meal probably attended mostly by old people isn’t the place to try and make a statement about vegan food.
This is beautiful
Its a massive illustration of the difference between the private and public sectors. You just know that they will plough on with this, no matter the cost or the food waste
How does plant based food do in compost ?
Seems this has backfired a wee bit if 50% of the food is vegan and only 10% are tying it. Make propper vegan dishes with propper ingredients and none of this “plant based replacement for x” you can make some fantastic meals that are vegan without using replacement foods which often times aren’t the best.
In the article it says people felt pressured because of the greenhouse gas posters.
I would like to see their claims of how much greenhouse gas comes from meat and dairy Vs plant based factoring in transport and such.
I’ll need a little more convincing than some labour councillors telling me “our task is to make you want it without telling you to”
> People too stubborn to eat vegan food
Lmao
Just lmao
Imagine choosing to go hungry because you ‘dont like vegan food’.
> some guests were left hungry because there was “an insufficient amount of food available that people wanted to eat”.
If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple then you’re not really hungry.
“Hannah Copley… said the council has set the vegan menu ‘up to fail’ by ‘othering it’”.
Ahh yes, the problem is that the council offered people other food that they actually wanted to eat. They should had only given them food they don’t want to force them to obey the vegan law.
People would rather doom their grandchildren than give up meat 🙄
Well obviously. The vast majority of people like meat and will go elsewhere for that option.
Maybe they should let people chose what they eat before they try and enforce food? That way everyone is happy and there is little waste?
[deleted]
People in this thread are fuming that some old people didn’t want to eat vegan food. Get a life
At a village party I attended last autumn, the vegan chilli and curry was more popular than the meat versions, with people queuing up for second helpings and there wasn’t much left for the vegans. This was caused by an unfortunate combination of more people turning up than planned, such as bringing friends, some vegans didn’t queue up promptly (I’m not blaming the vegans!), the vegan food was visually more appealing and we weren’t informed the vegan food was a smaller quantity for a reason.
I’d love to know what these ‘plant-based alternatives’ actually were. It’s very frustrating not to be told, because it’s hard to judge the menu without knowing what the fillings were.
There can be all sorts of reasons why people don’t choose a particular vegan option – it’s not necessarily that they don’t like vegan food.
I can’t eat a lot of the modern vegan meat substitutes, and I can’t eat a lot of legume based dishes, as they make me unwell, but I’ve got nothing against a vegan diet on principal and will happily choose a vegan option if it’s something I can actually eat. Quite often have a vegan meal without intending to, if I eat out at a Thai or Indian restaurant, for example.
There were cakes there apparently – I wonder what butter sub they used? There are some really good ones now apparently, I haven’t had the chance to give them a try. Or maybe they used an oil-base recipe.
Vegan food isn’t wanted but they’ll continue to force it on the rest of us regardless, in other news rain is wet.
Apparently it’s moral to attempt to dictate what people should eat and drink. Like most absolutist fanatics the concept of freedom, (choice and opinion) is given lip service only if not outight ignored.
Vegan food manufacturing and transport causes roughly the same level of pollution is the same as that of normal food. So any difference is minimal.
I’m vegan and these initiatives are fucking stupid. Provide vegan options. Let people try them.
The issue with vegan food half the time is it tries to replicate non vegan foods and sucks at it. It totally puts people off.
I’ve had way more success by introducing vegan food that isn’t a imitation of non vegan meals.