It’s Veganuary! We’ve listed some lesser-known facts behind the plant-based diet followed by 80 million people worldwide.
It’s no secret… we love steak. But at Hunter & Barrel, we’re also huge fans of that vibrant,
flavour-packed, wholesome and nutritionally-dense nourishment that only our freshest, foraged produce can provide.
With a significant rise in the world’s population declaring themselves as vegan year-on-year (currently estimated at 80 million), rapidly increasing demand for innovative dishes for Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s vegan foodies to get excited about, and $24.3bn forecasted for the global vegan food market by 2026, we proudly place our plant-based menu on a pedestal at Hunter & Barrel.
But as with every choice we make to fuel our bodies, it’s important to know the facts. Here are a few interesting insights into veganism that might surprise you!
Avocados aren't vegan!
We hate to break it to you, but despite being the breakfast, lunch and dinner of choice for
the throngs of UAE fitness and health conscious – avocados aren’t actually vegan. Vegans
avoid any products that are associated with animals, and some avocados are produced by the work of bees. Honeybees pollinate many of our favourite fruits and vegetables, but there are often not enough bees to do this job naturally or efficiently. So farmers employ a system called migratory beekeeping, where hives are brought into their fields for bees to
pollinate the crops during the plants’ most fertile window. We know, it’s a biggie.
Vegans get plenty of protein
The idea that vegans can’t get any protein from a plant-based diet is probably one of the
biggest misconceptions around veganism. There are many plant-based sources of protein,
often with more protein per calorie than meat, which include lentils, beans, peas, nuts, mushrooms, broccoli, soya products and pasta. The same goes for calcium, which vegans get from pulses, green leafy veg, soya products and plant-based milks, rather than the more obvious cheese and dairy.
Veganism is nothing new
What year would you say veganism first emerged? 1990s? 2000s? Even more recent than that? The first vegan cookbook has in fact been traced back to 1874, which means veganism
has existed for more than 150 years! ‘The Hygeian Home Cook Book’ was published in New York by Russell Thatcher Trall, one of the founding members of the American Vegetarian Society.
It could have been called 'Dairyban'
The term ‘vegan’ was coined by Donald Watson, co-founder of The Vegan Society in 1944,
and is simply a combination of the first three and last two letters of the word ‘vegetarian’.
Other terms for a person who did not eat or use animal products that were being used at the time were neo-vegetarian, dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivore and beaumangeur…
which don’t quite roll off the tongue, do they?
Eating Vegan at Hunter & Barrel
Vegans join the feast at Hunter & Barrel. Our mains ‘From the Garden’ menu features Chiles
Rellenos – a zingy explosion of roasted bell pepper stuffed with a filling mix of black beans, rice, jalapenos, avocado and creamy ricotta, drizzled with our punchy house chilli-rancheros sauce – alongside our Emerald Dal, a flavour and comfort-packed spinach stew with dal lentils and basmati rice.
For a more ‘meaty’ vegan variation, head straight for our House Made Vegan Burger. This herbed kidney bean and quinoa patty, paired with red onion, mushroom and mustard is known for hitting the spot that only true burger aficionados will understand.
Then there’s our UAE-inspired Five Grains Kebab – a traditional falafel mix of quinoa and kidney beans, cooked to perfection over charcoal and served with hummus, harvest potato
wedges or house salad.
