From irishtimes.com
We take a look inside small Irish businesses catering to a growing demand for vegan food products across the State
The thread running through everything that It’s a Trap makes and sells is that it’s entirely plant-based and vegan. Since the shop opened in Dublin’s north inner city in late 2019 – it moved to its current location in 2022 – Nunez has noticed that demand for plant-based food has grown well beyond the vegan market.
“When we first opened, there were still many people who dismissed vegan food without even trying it,” says Nunez, who has been vegan for almost 12 years. “The label itself sometimes created a barrier. Our goal has always been to normalise plant-based food. We want people to come in for a cinnamon roll, sandwich or a drink, and simply enjoy it.
“Over time that approach has worked well – many customers probably don’t think of It’s a Trap as vegan, they just know it’s a place where they can get really good pastries and drinks.”
The openness in Irish consumers’ attitudes towards trying plant-based food and reducing meat consumption was apparent in Bord Bia’s most recent Dietary Lifestyles Report, which was published in 2021. It found that some 24 per cent of the population had a “flexitarian” approach to their diet, meaning they primarily ate plant-based foods but still incorporated meat and fish into their diet. This was up from 14 per cent in 2018. The same research found that 2 per cent of those surveyed strictly adhered to a vegan diet, but 14 per cent did have an association with vegan food.
Last February, the Vegan Society of Ireland (VSI) published its Eating Habits Report, which found that 3 per cent of people in the Republic followed a vegan or plant-based diet, while 14 per cent were flexitarian.
Bronwyn Slater, chair of the VSI, says vegan food options in Ireland are much wider then they were a decade and a half ago.
“Vegans are relatively well catered for here by supermarkets and health shops, as well as by many restaurants, hotels and cafes that offer vegan options,” she says. “We are always looking for more and better vegan options in supermarkets and restaurants, and we regularly reach out to businesses; however, having said that, the choice for vegans nowadays is huge in comparison to what it was, say, 15 years ago.”
On Middle Abbey Street in Dublin 1, Govinda’s vegan and vegetarian restaurant has borne witness to these changing customer preferences. When the restaurant opened in 2004, about half of the food it offered was plant-based, while the other half was vegetarian. Now, about 70 per cent of Govinda’s food is plant-based.
Govinda’s offers canteen-style dining, where customers pick their size of plate with a vegan base of rice and dhal, and then choose three vegan or vegetarian items to complete their meal. One of Govinda’s managers, Manu Martin Davis, who has been vegetarian for more than 40 years, says the vegan and vegetarian food in Govinda’s tends to sell in relatively even amounts, but this can fluctuate from day to day.
“Sometimes [our biggest seller] is tofu, and sometimes paneer,” says Davis, who estimates that about 20 per cent of Govinda’s customers do eat meat, but come to the restaurant anyway because they like the taste of the food.
“It goes between one or the other. We have vegetarian lasagne and vegan lasagne, we have vegetarian moussaka and vegan moussaka, and from day to day it’ll vary, and one will go out quicker than the other.”
One area where he has noticed a preference for plant-based food is in desserts. In 2016, Govinda’s decided to introduce plant-based cakes and desserts, and the range has since grown to meet demand – about 75 per cent of the cakes the restaurant’s chefs make are now vegan.
It sells some 150 vegan cakes and about 50 cakes containing dairy every week. But Davis has also observed that customers often pick an item purely because it appeals to them, and not on the basis of it being plant-based.
“There’s even vegan cream on some of the vegan cakes, so people will just go for that,” says Davis. “Or people bring their families in, and the kids make no differentiation [between vegan and vegetarian items].”
‘We’re finding that people are more health-conscious, especially younger people
— Manu Martin Davis, Govinda's
The increased acceptance of plant-based food can also be seen on shop shelves across the country, as vegan ranges have become a mainstay of supermarkets, but now have wider appeal.
In January this year, when some people engage in “Veganuary” and follow a plant-based diet for the month, sales of plant-based products in the State were up 34 per cent compared to January 2025. Shoppers spent an additional €838,000 on these ranges this year, according to data from consumer insights company Worldpanel by Numerator.
Among the many options in these ranges are the vibrantly packaged products from Dublin-based business Thanks Plants, which makes items such as plant-based sausages and meal pots that are stocked in major and independent retailers.
When Aisling Cullen founded Thanks Plants in February 2020, she made three hearty plant-based sausage products: the apple and sage, sundried tomato, and the frankfurter. Now, the business has 13 products in its range.
Cullen notes that many more people are now following flexitarian diets, which may be a factor in the popularity of plant-based foods.
“There are a lot more people who are flexitarian, rather than vegan,” says Cullen, who has been vegan for seven years.
“We introduced, about a year ago, our meal pots, which are high protein, thick and chunky soups, because previously we just had meat alternatives that are made with wholesome ingredients. I think there’s been a huge response to the meal pots – people are looking for plant-based foods but with more ingredients they know and understand.”
Thanks Plants sell about 3,000 units every week, and the meal pots comprise about a third of those sales.
“It’s not that meat alternatives aren’t known ingredients,” says Cullen. “We make ours with cannellini beans, pearl barley, vegetables, herbs and spices, and they’ve got their fanbase, but I think the meal pots have a wider fanbase of people like flexitarians, whereas maybe the meat alternatives are more for vegans.”
While the majority of people in Ireland do eat meat, and according to the Central Statistics Office the average consumption of meat per person in the Republic rose by 1kg to 100kg in 2024, plant-based food has more than established a foothold.
“I think there’ll be a wider acceptance [of veganism and plant-based food], and a lot more flexitarians where people will consciously not eat meat a few times a week, whereas now people only do it once or twice a week,” says Cullen. “I think it will become more of a 50/50 thing.”
Davis from Govinda’s sees similar trends. “We’re finding that people are more health-conscious, especially younger people,” he says. “If you look at their attitudes towards alcohol or other lifestyle choices, I think they’re making more informed and conscious decisions about what they consume, and I think that’s something very significant. So we will definitely be trying to cater for that, because that’s our philosophy as well.”
On Aungier Street, Nunez and his team are baking up their storm while also serving richly flavoured toasties and wraps, along with fresh coffees with plant-based milks.
“Many of our regular customers aren’t vegan at all; they simply enjoy the food, drinks and atmosphere,” says Nunez. “That’s actually the most rewarding part. If the food is good enough, the label stops being important. Our goal has never been to preach but to demonstrate, through good food, what plant-based cooking can be.”
No comments:
Post a Comment