The Daily Telegraph reports on an AGM members’ resolution supported by the Trustees to serve 50% vegan food in National Trust cafes.

National Trust set to make half of its cafe food vegan

Ben Riley-Smith, Political Editor and Emma Gatten, Environment Editor

The National Trust is set to make half of its cafe food vegan to support its efforts to reach net zero.

The charity is backing a resolution for its menus to become 50 per cent plant-based, which will be voted on at its upcoming annual general meeting.

It said limiting meat and dairy-based items on its menu could reduce the impact on the climate, saying animal agriculture was “inherently inefficient”.

The National Trust has 280 cafes at its historic sites across the country which serve millions of visitors every year.

Earlier this year, it was criticised for “secretly” making its scones vegan, after it emerged it had switched from butter to vegetable-based spread in the recipe several years ago.

National Trust catering is already about 40 per cent plant-based nationally, and the charity said it could increase to 50 per cent within two years if the resolution is passed, while keeping dairy, eggs and meat on the menu.

The National Trust members proposing this resolution cited Sir David Attenborough as saying: “The planet can’t sustain billions of meat-eaters” in their supporting statement, included the AGM booklet.

The supporting statement then adds: “Moving towards a majority plant-based food system would allow more than 70 per cent of farmland to be freed for nature restoration, a change that would capture massive amounts of carbon and increase biodiversity while still providing enough nutritious food for our growing population”.

The charity said that its own research had shown that providing a range of vegan and vegetarian options helped the charity appeal to families and younger people, and bring in more visitors and therefore funding.

Research by Ipsos in 2022 found that nearly half of British people aged 16-75 were considering reducing their intake of animal products.

The numbers of those classed as “flexitarian”, meaning minimal meat and dairy consumption, or fully plant-based, were highest in those under 45 in the same poll.

Last year more than 24 million people visited the National Trust’s 500 historic houses, castles, gardens, parks and nature reserves across the nation.

The charity’s 2.6 million members can vote on the resolutions online by Oct 25, or in person during the annual meeting on Nov 2.

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former North Somerset MP, criticised the decision by the National Trust.

“Surely beef cattle are a source of plant-based food as they eat grass?” he said. “It is a silly, attention-seeking proposal that won’t have any effect unless the National Trust decides to ration flesh-meat.”

The TV farmer Gareth Wyn Jones said the move was hypocritical, given the number of livestock farmers on National Trust land.

“Absolutely ridiculous from a massive land owner with so many livestock farming families living off these farms,” the star of The Family Farm said.

Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, said: “What we eat is a personal choice and not something which is imposed. Decisions should be made in an informed way taking into consideration the nutritional, environmental and biodiversity benefits that eating a balanced diet including meat and dairy provide.”

Such a move would see the National Trust follow in the footsteps of other organisations that have worked with varying degrees of success to offer more vegan options.

In August, the University of Warwick rejected a vote from its student union to turn its catering services vegan by 2027, citing cost issues.

The original vote was led by the university’s vegan society and was part of a wider push for vegan menus at universities by activist group Animal Rising

In February, sandwich chain Pret A Manger announced that it would close all of its vegetarian only cafes, after opening 10 in 2016.