15 March 2024 , 12:23
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The founder of the world's largest vegan charity said all restaurants should have at least to 50 per cent plant-based menus by the end of 2025.
Viva! founder Juliet Gellatley is calling for the food industry to "take responsibility" and curb their and their customers carbon footprints. She says this can be done by transforming their menus to include at least 50 per cent plant-based options. Viva! is an international charity based in the UK, Poland and Uganda.
Their latest campaign, 50by25, is about calling on restaurants to make their menu 50 per cent plant-based by the end of 2025. Juliet encourages the food business to understand their duty in urgently slashing emissions. She said: "We're in the sixth mass extinction, with one million species at risk, we're in a climate crisis, we're in an antibiotic crisis, we're in a health crisis, and so on. We need to be talking about solutions now and how we come together."
"Every restaurant in the UK should be minimum 50 per cent vegan now. It is imperative. Because if you've got a vegan dish, you're cutting your climate crisis impact by half - it is that powerful."
Juliet at the Ivy in Clifton, Bristol, where the restaurant has just over 30 vegan options (SWNS)According to the charity, switching to a plant-based option could cut a singular dish's climate impact by 50 per cent, land use by 74 per cent, water use by 50 per cent and impact on wildlife by 50 per cent. Wagamama are one of the first restaurant chains to have reduced their environmental footprint by launching a menu with 50 per cent plant-based options, with Wahaca leading at 59%.
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IKEA and Burger King have claimed to have committed to balancing their menus too. Juliet argues the change is a sign of the times: "Millions of people are changing, millions are reducing their meat consumption: it's a large market and what you do does make an impact. If Wagamama can do it - anyone can."
"They are aware it is about creating dishes people want that are very tasty, so why wouldn't you choose it?" Juliet says CEOs of restaurant chains are speaking out more about plant-based options and supermarkets are offering more meat-free alternatives.
Just last year she admits being "amazed" by the campaign run by some of the UK's leading supermarkets, "stating they were going to sell vegan products as cheap as meat alternatives for the sake of the planet". Juliet, who has been a leading voice for a plant-based world without animal cruelty for almost her whole life, said: "That is a big change and I don't think we should forget that."
"I know that the food industry has changed a lot in the last five, six years, I do recognize it. But it's just not enough. We need cooperation, food industry leaders and businesses speaking out food: every company that's related to food changing rapidly, just making it easier and easier for people to become vegan. A lot of the time people gets kickback from the meat industry, 'you can't say this, you can't say that'."
Juliet Gellatley with a rescued piglet (SWNS)"They should say no, the planet comes first. And we're gonna say much more loudly". This campaign is one of hundreds led by Juliet through the Viva! charity - which is now celebrating it's 30th year of leading change for animal liberation. Juliet recalls her first successful campaign in getting kangaroo meat off the shelves, to exposing an undercover investigation into horrific conditions within a UK pig farm - which was made into a Netflix documentary in 2020.
Amidst over 35 years in the industry, Juliet has seen animal abuse that still haunts her today - but holds hope for the future. She added: "I think we are in very rocky times right now and we need change to be very very fast but in societal terms it is happening quickly"
"In terms of dietary changes we've gone from absolute traditional Sunday roasts in the UK to something dramatically difference in a very short space of time. People are taking on board the need for change and veganism is finally getting on mainstream agenda and people more and more accepting that it is a solution."
"I believe people are inherently good - the spark has been lit and I am positive for the future. There is an awakening that we could do so much positive good together just through what we eat."