Somewhat unexpectedly, I find myself participating in Veganuary, the annual campaign encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for 31 days in January.
My decision to join in was partly inspired by the recent Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment. If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend watching it. Be warned, it is not comfortable viewing.
It seems I am not alone. Emirates has reported a surge of 40% in passengers requesting vegan and plant-based meals. The Middle East region, in particular, is showing a significant additional increase of 34% over and above what you would expect from flight growth.
In 2023, Emirates served over 450,000 plant-based meals onboard, almost double the 280,000 plant-based meals provided the previous year.
Plant-based and vegan meals onboard Emirates
I thought it would be interesting to share some of the vegan and plant-based meals Emirates is currently serving on board. Emirates has more than 300 vegan recipes in rotation across 140 destinations, up from 180 recipes in 2022.
This is a flavour of some of the dishes you can expect to eat on board across the four cabins:
Economy class
- Chickpea crepe stuffed with carrot, peppers, mushroom and tomato concasse
- Pumpkin frittata, tuck into a tofu tikka masala
- Chickpea kale stew with parsley pilaf rice and baby spinach
- Coconut mousse with mango compote
- Moist banana cake with chocolate crumble
- Chocolate pudding with cocoa soil
Premium Economy class
- Jackfruit curry with basmati rice
- Squash chestnut stew
- Chocolate tofu cheesecake
- Raspberry parfait with orange compote.
Business class
- Roasted cauliflower with ancient grains
- Caramelised pear and lovage pesto
- Ragout of Asian tofu and shitake mushroom with glass noodles
- Tropical coconut pineapple cake
- Chocolate cheesecake accented by a dark chocolate cigar and strawberry compote
First class
- Creamy polenta cake with thyme mushroom ragout, sautéed spinach drizzled in a rich root vegetable jus
- Aubergine curry with charred rice and turmeric potato, with a dash of coconut and mint chutney
- Tart rhubarb tempered with strawberry charlotte, Chantilly cream and raspberry tuille
- Warm chocolate fondant, dashed with salted caramel sauce and whipped cashew cream
New vegan and plant-based recipes in 2024
Later in the year, Emirates will launch a selection of new vegan main courses, new vegan snacks such as fruit muffins and vegan pizza, and an array of desserts, including chocolate pecan cake, pistachio raspberry and raspberry Tonka cake.
Update your profile to request vegan meals
These are obviously PR photos, but my mouth is watering as I read the descriptions and look at these delicious images. I am curious to try Emirates’ vegan options the next time I fly to see if they’re as good as they sound.
Remember, if you do want a vegan meal onboard, you must request it at least 24 hours before departure. Emirates offers 15 special meal options. You can select this by logging into your Skywards account and updating your Meal Preferences. Alternatively, you can do this via Manage My Booking if you do not have a Skywards account.
To sample Emirates vegan cuisine book your next flight with Emirates here.