Pukka's Vegan Chicken & Mushroom pie was a winner with PETA.
As 12 million Brits aim to be meat-free by 2021 – and one in five have already reduced their meat consumption during the Covid-19 pandemic – PETA is recognising the most exciting vegan offerings on the market today with its eighth annual Vegan Food Awards.
Nabbing the award for Best Vegan Pie is Syston-based company Pukka for its new Vegan Chicken & Mushroom Pie, featuring soya-protein chicken pieces, mushrooms, and a vegan creamy sauce encased in 144 layers of Pukka's signature golden puff pastry.
The pie-maker's plant-based offerings also include the Vegan Minced Steak & Onion Pie, and both are available from Morrisons nationwide.
Other winners include Nando's forBest Vegan Mayo, KFC for Best Vegan Chicken, Greggs for Best Vegan Pasty, Aldi for Best Vegan Ready Meal, Subway for Best Vegan Sandwich, Eat of Eden for Best Vegan Mac & Cheese, and Pret A Manger for Best Vegan Cookie.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to eat" – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
PETA's Director of Vegan Corporate Projects Dawn Carr said: "The pandemic has demonstrated that widespread societal change is possible, and that includes the explosive growth in the already booming demand for vegan foods.
"Pukka is making it easier than ever for Leicester locals and others to go vegan by offering satisfying savoury vegan pies."
Confining and killing animals for food has led to the emergence of swine flu, bird flu, SARS, and now Covid-19.
Raising animals for food also requires massive amounts of land, feed, energy, and water, and as a result, animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change.
Each person who goes vegan spares the lives of nearly 200 animals each year and lowers his or her risk of suffering from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
