The vegan fast food trend 纯素快餐的流行趋势

陈小将

英国人喜欢吃快餐。然而，越来越多的人正在转向素食和植物性饮食。这是否意味着这些人不能再享受那些美味的经典快餐？情况似乎不是这样 —— 欢迎加入纯素食快餐潮流。纯素快餐为什么如此受欢迎？它比普通快餐更健康吗？本期 “随身英语” 介绍纯素食快餐的流行趋势。
Vocabulary: food and nutrition 词汇：食品和营养
There are around 600,000 vegans in the UK, according to The Vegan Society. That's just over 1% of the population – an amount expected to increase to 25% by 2025. And if there's one type of food that Brits love, it's fast food. True, it's not the most nutritious, but there's nothing quite like the crunch of crispy chips, or that first big bite into a juicy hamburger. People in the UK love junk food so much that there was a 34% increase in the number of fast food outlets from 2010 to 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics. It's no surprise, then, that vegan fast food is also on the rise.
Vegan fast food has become big business. At Just Eat, an online food delivery company, vegan orders more than doubled in 2018, a spokesperson told the BBC. Greggs, a chain of high-street bakeries, named its vegan sausage roll the 'fastest-selling product in six years'. And big franchises such as McDonald's and KFC have announced meat-free chicken nuggets to come in the future.
What's driving this popularity? Katrina Fox, founder of Vegan Business Media, believes it's the result of social media and the breaking down of stereotypes. "Vegan food is no longer seen as a bit of lettuce and lentils – you can eat pretty much anything," she told the BBC.
It's also claimed that there are health benefits. John Marulanda, owner of Mooshies - a vegan burger bar in London – wants to implement "a change to a healthy version of fast food." Something, he claims, that comes as a result of the inherent nutritional value of the ingredients they use.
But, is vegan fast food actually healthy? Azmina Govindji of the British Dietetic Association says "not to assume" that is the case. "It's fine if those products have got vitamin B12, iodine or calcium added to them… but they can still be fried, it can still have lots of creamy, fatty sauces and lots of salt."
Given the current growth in orders, the trend for vegan fast food isn't likely to disappear any time soon. Health-wise, it may not be any more nourishing than regular fast food, but for many, the lack of animal suffering involved in the process is a big plus.

陈小将