November 1st is World Vegan Day. The range of purely herbal products has grown significantly, not just in the supermarket. More and more restaurants are also jumping on the trend.
Frankfurt / Main – ribs, meat sausage, liver dumpling soup – the menu of the Frankfurt apple wine bar “Zum Eichkatzerl” makes a very traditional impression at first.
Up to page 4, which also lists a “Vegan” Frankfurter Schnitzel “with green sauce and fried potatoes” among various meat dishes. Until a few years ago, such purely plant-based foods were looked for in vain in the long-established restaurants in the south of Frankfurt.
The “Eichkatzerl” has existed for at least 140 years, as junior boss Robin Böhm says. For about a year and a half, the restaurant has been serving up crispy breaded schnitzels made from soy flour – with increasing success. Around a quarter of all schnitzel ordered now consists of soy. Chef Claudia Voigt has also created a plant-based variant of the traditional Frankfurt green sauce. They are also often ordered by people who cannot digest milk, she says.
Great attraction for young people
It can be observed that the offer is increasingly attracting young people. “I think that’s good so that the cider tradition lives on,” says the junior boss. He had been vegan for a year, which was the decisive factor for the offer in the “Eichkatzerl”. Along with recurring requests for plant-based food. Böhm believes that people who are concerned about animal welfare shouldn’t be left out.
Elsewhere in Germany, too, there are now vegans in traditional restaurants. “The catering establishments in Germany are noticing that the demand for vegetarian or vegan dishes is increasing,” says the spokeswoman for the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), Stefanie Heckel. Corresponding offers are not only found on the standard menus, vegetarian / vegan courses have made it to gala or dinner events as an alternative to fish or meat dishes.
They also reacted to this when training to become a cook: The preparation of plant-based foods should take up a larger share of this in the future. The market is growing, albeit on a small scale. “Meat-free products are far from mainstream. In addition, it can also be observed that burger, steak and other meat concepts continue to boom, ”says Heckel.
Numbers increase significantly
According to the nutrition report of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture 2021, ten percent of German citizens describe themselves as vegetarian and two percent as vegan. The shares would have doubled compared to the previous year. On World Vegan Day on November 1st, organizations and initiatives around the world point out the advantages and reasons of purely plant-based nutrition, such as avoiding animal suffering and protecting the climate.
According to the ProVeg organization (formerly the Vegetarian Association), the growing popularity of meat and milk alternatives is primarily due to people who reduce their consumption of animal-based foods, so-called flexitarians. This included around 40 percent of German citizens.
The “Lafleur” restaurant in Frankfurt’s Palmengarten with two-star chef Andreas Krolik has also been offering a vegan menu with six courses since 2014 – as an alternative on equal terms, as managing director Robert Mangold says. “The customers were thrilled,” he remembers the reaction. Krolik was named one of the best vegetable chefs in Germany in 2016. According to Mangold, the demand for pure vegetable food is increasing. On some summer weekends, up to 45 percent of the guests opted for it. dpa
