Airlines are being urged to offer a vegan in-flight meal as standard to better cater for their thousands of plant-based and flexitarian passengers, and as a means to help offset carbon emissions. The FlyVe campaign launched today by Humane Society International/UK and The Vegan Society, provides consumers with the first ever online rating system for vegan inflight meals. Passengers can rate their inflight meals, post a photo, and read helpful reviews from previous passengers.
Jasmine Harman
Currently, the default meal options provided by most airlines are usually dominated by meat and dairy, meaning that plant-based passengers have to proactively request a vegan meal in advance from a dietary-requirement menu. HSI and The Vegan Society’s FlyVe campaign is hoping to change that by encouraging airlines to offer vegan meals as one of the default options on their in-flight menus, whilst at the same time improving the quality - both in taste and nutrition - of their vegan meals, to inspire more passengers to make the humane and environmentally friendly choice.
With animal agriculture producing around 16 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, meat, egg and dairy production is a bigger contributor to global warming than all forms of transportation combined, including aviation. Airlines serve an estimated one billion inflight meals every year, so actively encouraging passengers to swap meaty meals for plant-based options could help reduce the aviation industry’s carbon emissions. In fact, Oxford University scientists recently confirmed that eating a vegan diet is the single most effective thing an individual can do to help climate change.
Charlie Huson, Forward Food Programme Manager at Humane Society InternationaI UK, said: “In an era of climate crisis, we all need to be making more planet-friendly lifestyle choices. Reducing how often we fly is of course key, but so too is making sure that when we do fly we’re not further increasing our carbon footprint with our food choices. Experts agree that avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the best ways we can reduce our contribution to climate change. A plant-based diet is widely acknowledged to be the most sustainable off-the-shelf choice, wasting far less energy, calories, water and land than any other type of diet. Despite the compelling need for change, the ubiquitous ‘chicken or beef’ remains the unimaginative default choice on most airlines. If everyone flying out of Heathrow in just one day chose a vegan meal it could save around 33,592 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of driving 112,695,851 miles in an average UK petrol car.”
Huson added: “HSI’s Forward Food program provides vegan training to large catering companies and universities dishing up millions of meals every daily, and we would welcome the chance to similarly help airlines transform the way that vegan food is delivered on flights so that more passengers can enjoy tasty and more environmentally-friendly inflight meals.”
Elena Orde, Senior Campaigns Officer at The Vegan Society, said: “Currently vegan meals typically have to be ordered in advance from a special menu. Adding vegan options to every standard inflight menu would mean that all passengers can opt for a more environmentally-friendly meal. It would be fantastic to see airlines really embrace the variety and creativity that is possible with vegan food, and to create options which are suitable for vegans but appeal to everyone.”
She added: “We have launched FlyVe to allow us to see which airlines are flying ahead of the curve, and which could do with some extra support when it comes to embracing plant-based options. We encourage any airline to get in touch for advice and training.”
Providing a vegan option as standard would also help avoid the frustration felt by vegan customers who can find themselves without a vegan meal despite having ordered one ahead of time. One passenger on a 7-hour transatlantic flight reported being stuck on-board with just “crisps and nuts” whilst passengers being served ‘vegan’ meals that include meat and/or dairy is another common complaint seen on social media.
Vegan options are also inclusive of all dietary requirements as plant-based meals can also be eaten by vegetarians, people with dietary intolerances, and are often suitable for those with religious beliefs, as well as those who simply fancy trying something different.
FlyVe has been launched as part of The Vegan Society’s Vegan on the Go campaign, which aims to highlight the demand for good vegan catering and to show the many benefits of including plant-based options on standard menus. With consumers’ increased knowledge about animal suffering in the food industry and the ecological impacts of a meat and dairy-heavy diet, veganism is growing at an exponential rate. The Vegan Society found that the number of vegans in Great Britain has quadrupled in the past four years alone, with over 600,000 vegans currently living in England, Scotland and Wales.
Passengers can rate their vegan inflight meals at www.flyvegan.org now.
Airlines wishing to request more information or assistance in providing vegan options can email The Vegan Society at [email protected], or email Charlie Huson (HSI UK) on [email protected].
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