Eating Greens at Mayfair Restaurant
Vegetarian and plant-based eating is on the rise in Spain. Lantern, a strategy and innovation consultancy, produced the fourth biennial edition of its Green Revolution research report late last year – and it showed that ‘the plant-based movement’ had grown from 9.9 per cent of the Spanish population in 2019 to 11.4 per cent in 2023.
The increase seems to be driven by women, who make up 59 per cent of vegetarians and an impressive 74 per cent of the vegan and vegetarian population. They say they’re motivated by health and well-being issues.
Chorizo and jamón Ibérico may be the first things that come to mind when you think about Spanish cooking, but actually Spain has always had vegetarian and vegan dishes. Think of the cold soup gazpacho, a healthy Andalusian mix of tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, garlic and onion. Or fried padron peppers, and vegetable paella.
Restaurant Tapas Bar Near to Buckingham Palace
Some restaurants even have specialist vegetarian menus and are often adding vegetarian dishes to cater to this increasing audience. Take the tapas restaurant El Pirata on Mayfair’s Down Street, close to Buckingham Palace, where you could already choose from a selection of salads, including broccolini and kale with flaked almonds and black garlic alioli, or vegetarian dishes such as artichoke hearts and wild mushrooms with garlic and breadcrumbs. This 30 year old hidden gem has recently added more vegetarian plates to its menu like heritage carrots with yoghurt, crispy kale and chia seeds, hispi cabbage with piquillo peppers, and roasted cauliflower, with flaked almonds and mint. They also do a vegetarian version of that tapas classic, patatas bravas – fried cubes of potato in a fiery bravas sauce.
The top five vegetarian countries in Europe, according to a Statista Global Consumer Survey, are Switzerland, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. Spain doesn’t make the top ten, but it’s getting there.
