Mike said, ‘’As a forward thinking, modern zoo we are committed to leading by example to reduce carbon emissions. Our food offering to guests is now fully vegetarian with meat substitutes taking the place of meat in our menu. The feedback from customers has been really positive. Our meat usage now only consists of the essentials required to maintain animal welfare.’’
First Fully Vegetarian Zoo
National Vegetarian Week kicks off across the UK today, with companies and communities coming together to promote the environmental benefits of plant-based foods. The annual week-long celebration of meat-free eating is organized by the Vegetarian Society. This year’s event is focusing primarily on how moving towards a diet which eliminates meat products. These tend to have a larger carbon footprint then plant-based alternatives and can contribute towards combating a ‘climate crisis.’ Businesses across Scotland have already thrown their support behind the campaign and we’ve become the first vegetarian zoo. We’ve embraced the ethos of a completely meat-free food offering to offer visitors “Coronation Chickpea” sandwiches and vegetarian bacon as meat alternatives. We also launched a full vegetarian brunch menu at the start of May.
You can find our full menu here.
The United Kingdom’s official food strategy suggests that the UK should aim to eat 30% less meat by 2030. This equates to people who eat meat eliminating meat products from their diet on just two days per week.
Richard McIlwain, Chief Executive of the The Vegetarian Society said, “In 2022’s campaign, we inspired people to switch over 70,000 meat-based meals for veggie and plant-based dishes, saving over 100 tons of carbon, equivalent to the emissions released by driving a car around the earth’s equator over 16 times!’’
National Vegetarian Week takes place from Monday 15th May 2023 to Sunday 21st May 2023 inclusive.
