Emirates elevate vegan offerings as demand for plant-based food surges

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Emirates elevate vegan offerings as demand for plant-based food surges

Emirates airline is perfecting its plant-based offering for nomadic vegans travelling to any of their 140 destinations worldwide.

To mark the well-known Veganuary 30-day challenge (which encourages people to try out a vegan diet for the month of January), a collective of the airline’s chefs gathered to workshop new dishes with innovative ingredients for passengers across every cabin class — not just those who sit at the front of the plane.

Emirates chefs trialled a new egg substitute made from legumes, to serve in spicy shakshuka sauce, and developed a pastry for savoury cannelloni.

The onboard dietary option has grown in popularity exponentially in recent years. The airline’s current offering of more than 300 vegan recipes has seen more than 400,000 plant-based meals served on an annual basis.

Emirates revealed that in 2024 vegan meal consumption grew in line with passenger volumes, but some regions such as Africa, South-East Asia and the Middle East, consumption exceeded passenger volume growth.

Camera IconEmirates chefs perfecting their vegan vision. Credit: Supplied

The airline’s menu features vegan ingredients sourced from around the globe, including plant-based proteins from Beyond Meat in California, soybean protein from UAE and Singapore brand Arlene, pressed tofu sourced from Japan’s Qian Ye, organic dark vegan chocolate crafted by Linnolat in France, vegan margarine from Meister Marken in Germany, vegan curry paste supplied by Pantai in Thailand and almond milk from Italy’s Koita.

It appears the demand for plant-based options isn’t limited to adults, nor food options.

The UAE-based airline recently introduced vegan meals for children across all classes of travel with dishes such as vegetable fajitas, sweet and sour vegetable casserole, chocolate pudding and strawberry crumble.

In addition, it introduced individual vegan milk servings for tea and coffee onboard economy and premium economy class and more than 30,000 travellers have since selected this option.

The rise in demand of plant-based alternatives is understandable for two key reasons; the first being that numbers of vegan-identifying folk continues to increase globally, and secondly, even those who aren’t “full-time” vegans, can occasionally opt for a plant-based dietary option when flying with the view that it may be “lighter” and “easier to digest”.

A class-by-class snapshot

Economy Crêpes filled with sautéed carrots and peppers served with roasted potatoes, mushrooms and tomato concassé, curried vegetable puffs, chocolate mousse cake with chocolate sauce and blackberry crumble.

Premium Economy Braised mushrooms with vegetables in five spice soy sauce with steamed jasmine rice and blanched pak choi, chocolate tart drizzled in apricot compote and raspberry tonka mousse cake with berry coulis.

Business Thai red curry tofu with aubergine, beans, mushrooms and taro in gravy with steamed jasmine rice, tropical coconut pineapple cake and chocolate pecan cake.

First Class ******* polenta cake with thyme mushroom ragout, sautéed spinach drizzled in a rich root vegetable jus, aubergine curry with charred rice and turmeric potato and a dash of coconut and mint chutney, strawberry charlotte, Chantilly cream and raspberry tuille, warm chocolate fondant with salted caramel sauce and whipped cashew cream.

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Camera IconEmirates is perfecting its vegan vision. Credit: Supplied

While voluntary vegans happily take on the daily challenges that come with abstaining animal products, it’s nice to see major airlines like Emirates strive for an inclusive menu. Plant-based travellers can finally forgo packing their own salad sandwiches and hummus.

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