How veganism went from a fringe food cult to a multibillion-pound industry

Once considered faddish, plant-based eating is now a huge movement. But has it drifted too far from its ethical roots?

When 19-year-old Olivia arrived for her 10:30am shift at the bakery chain Greggs on 3 January 2019, she walked into a “bomb site”. Her colleagues on the early-morning shift hadn’t taken the breakfast menu down and the drinks fridge lay empty. There were so many customers, Olivia says, that some cashiers had been unable to take their morning breaks. That day Greggs had launched its first vegan sausage roll in 950 of its 1,950 shops – Olivia’s Yorkshire bus station branch just happened to be one of them.

“It was manic,” says Olivia (a pseudonym). “The shop opened at half six in the morning and the demand didn’t go down until half five at night… We were all completely drained.”