Tesco : What would Rabbie Burns have said? – now even the haggis joins the vegan food boom!

23 Jan 2019

It's one of the world's most famous and distinctive meat dishes but now demand for the vegetarian/vegan version of haggis is rocketing.

Thanks to the current vegan food boom sales of a non-meat version of the Scottish delicacy haggis have soared by 120 per cent at Tesco in the last year.

The demand - at Tesco's Scottish stores - is so strong that the supermarket will now trial the veggie version at stores across England and Wales, in time for Burns' Night on Friday Jan 25.

And it means that now more people than ever before will be able to address the haggis - the annual event created by Scottish poet Robert Burns.

Tesco's two top-selling vegetarian haggis', which have been only on sale in its Scottish stores, are made by Simon Howie and Macsween and have both recently been approved by The Vegan Society. Both companies say they plan to add the certification to packaging soon.

Tesco Scottish food buyer James Lamont said:

'The current clamour for vegan and vegetarian food has really helped send sales soaring for the non-meat version of the haggis.

'Even though vegetarian haggis has been around for a few years we've never seen anything like the current demand - and it's not just during Burns' week, it's all year round!

'Veggie haggis is a delicious meal in its own right not too dissimilar to a nutroast and we think vegetarians and vegans are buying them as centrepieces for roast dinners.'

It's not only demand for vegetarian haggis that is soaring - interest in Burns Night itself has taken off in England and Wales.

During Burns week Tesco last year saw demand for haggis soar by 700 per cent south of the border.

This year Tesco will be offering a Burns Week Meal Deal including a haggis (original or vegetarian), a sachet of whisky sauce, a side of neeps and tatties plus a bottle of either regular or diet Irn-Bru for £5.

ENDS

Note to editorsVeganism has been the fastest growing culinary trend in the last year and in 2018 demand for chilled and frozen vegan food at Tesco soared by more than 50 per cent, helping to swell the UK meat free market to £310 million.

Both Simon Howie and Macsween are long time Tesco suppliers. Simon Howie supplies Tesco with an extensive breakfast range including sausages, haggis and black pudding slices while Macsweens is Tesco's staple haggis supplier.

For more information please contact the Tesco Press Office on 01707 918 701
We are a team of over 440,000 colleagues dedicated to serving customers a little better every day.