Steak tartare, slow-roasted shoulder of lamb, venison burgers, chicken and tarragon pie. A quick glance at some of my favourite foods wouldn’t leave anyone in much doubt. I’m a carnivore, through and through. Yet, as of December 2015, I’ve done what I hadn’t countenanced since I was a teenager: I’ve gone vegetarian . It all started quite innocuously just over three years ago. I’d long been meticulous about not buying eggs from battery hens, yet while watching a particularly gruesome undercover video taken inside a Chinese hatchery, it dawned on me that the chicken I was eating was almost certainly from a similar source, albeit closer to home. Being that curious paradox of both meat-eater and animal lover, I knew I needed to be more responsible with what I bought. I didn’t want to fund or support battery farming in any way, if I could help it, so from November 2012, I resolved to eat only free-range organic meat, whether cooking at home or eating out. T his meat is harder to find – certainly in restaurants – so, consequently, we ate less of it, but it was a compromise that I (and, by proxy, my boyfriend, who eats whatever I cook) was happy to make. If I couldn’t trace it, I resolved, I simply wouldn’t eat it. My pact was thrown into stark relief when, a few weeks later, the horse-meat scandal erupted across Europe. Horse DNA had been found in frozen ‘beef burgers’ sold in several British and Irish supermarkets, turning the nation’s stomachs and raising questions about the origins of our meat. And that wasn’t all. In October 2015, a study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer – an offshoot of the World Health Organisation – labelled red and processed meats as ‘probably carcinogenic’. So last December, I decided to give up meat for good. No more cheeky chicken tikkas, no more kebabs straight off the barbecue. I was now a dedicated herbivore (or ‘herbi-bore’ as my very un-droll other half nicknamed me). I ’m not alone. While we may traditionally associate ditching meat with teenage rebellion, late-life vegetarianism is on the rise. According to data published by MORI in May 2016, I’m one of the 12 per cent of Britons who don’t eat meat. What’s more, over half a million in the UK are now vegan, up from 150,000 a decade ago . It’s a trend that looks certain to continue. According to research earlier this year by NatCen, Britain’s largest independent social research body, 29 per cent of us have reduced the amount of meat we eat in the past 12 months, while a further nine per cent are considering reducing their meat intake or cutting it out completely. Health concerns were the reason most often given and social media is fuelling the trend. A straw poll of my Facebook friends revealed almost 20 who’ve gone from omnivore to veggie or vegan in their late 20s or early 30s. ‘It’s not a big deal,’ said my friend Jess. ‘I just don’t like cooking it, I don’t know how good it is for me, it’s terrible for the environment and I really love animals. Plus, there’s never been a better time to be a vegetarian.’ She’s right about that. Cardiff-based proofreader Sarah Philpott went not only veggie but vegan when she hit her 30s and now runs a popular blog called Vegging It . ‘Until then, I would eat anything put in front of me,’ she says. ‘Initially, I made the change to be healthier and to feel better about myself. That was a year ago. I still drink wine and there’s plenty of vegan junk food out there.’ Indeed, from foodies such as chef Anna Jones to restaurants such as London’s acclaimed Vanilla Black, the award-winning David Bann in Edinburgh and Cork’s famed Paradiso, cutting back on meat is in vogue. If you need further convincing that being vegetarian does not equal being boring, just check out the stylish Green Kitchen Stories blog (300,000 Instagram followers can’t be wrong). Even chains such as Pret a Manger have noticed the trend. Last year, the company’s CEO Clive Schlee asked customers what the chain could do to make it more appealing to vegetarians or people who wanted to eat less meat. Almost 10,000 people responded, and as a result, the chain initiated its ‘Not Just For Veggies’ campaign, to highlight that ‘you don’t need to be vegetarian to enjoy eating meat-free food’. It’s also planning to replace more than 40 meat and fish dishes in its restaurants with veggie options such as cauliflower rice and courgetti pots. ‘Last year we noticed our veggie sales were showing double-digit growth,’ says Pret spokesperson Alice Clarke. ‘The beets, squash & feta superbowl became our number one superbowl salad, selling 17,000 a week and overtaking the chicken and salmon options. The same number of customers tuck into our kale and cauliflower macaroni cheese as our prosciutto option, and avocado is now our most popular ingredient. We don’t see any signs of the demand dying down this year.’ This summer, Pret opened a veggie-only pop-up restaurant in London’s Soho, serving 45 new recipes including an artichoke, tapenade and olive baguette, a Mexican avocado flatbread and courgetti pot. Despite the store having an initial lifespan of a month, soaring sales (up 70 per cent on the same period last year) have extended its month-long trial for a few more weeks. There is a ‘big internal debate’ in the company about what to do next. ‘There are some who would like to convert every fourth Pret into a Veggie Pret, ’ says Schlee. The reaction to my own decision has been underwhelming. My parents are baffled, of course, and my partner finds it disappointing that there’s no longer roast chicken every Sunday. Although he’s a pretty healthy eater, he would always opt for a meaty meal given the choice. That said, he is enjoying trying out the new dishes I’m creating from books such as the bestselling Happy Pear (written by strapping Irish twins David and Stephen Flynn, who were meat eaters well into their 20s until switching to a vegetarian diet). ther than that, going veggie has only made positive differences to my life. My wallet is fatter, for one thing, now I don’t fork out for expensive high-quality, high-welfare meat. I find I can create new and varied recipes using only the Abel & Cole veg box we get delivered every week, which contains nine types of seasonal organic vegetables and costs just over £15. And the health benefits are incontrovertible. A vegetarian diet helps to improve digestion and energy levels and is a simple way of lowering your intake of saturated animal fats, significantly reducing the risk of heart disease – providing, of course, you don’t live off cheese pasta bakes, as my veggie pal did at university. To top it all, I’ve noticed that my stomach is flatter, which I have put down to upping my intake of fibre (without getting too scatological). Consultant Katie Allsopp, 28, who went vegetarian last summer – ironically as part of a decision to eat a more varied diet – agrees it’s beneficial. ‘I watched a few documentaries about the food industry and the way meat affects the environment and they spurred me on to make more of an effort to be healthy and eat less processed food. ‘It’s been a year now and I don’t miss it at all. But I do exercise a lot, so I’ve had to find convenient ways to get easy, low-fat protein [meat is highly nutritious, providing a valuable source of protein and other key nutrients such as vitamin B12 and iron]. Usually I go for a protein shake. It is doable.’ Of course, vegetarians can still be tempted to cook with too much cream, butter and cheese, but cutting out meat takes you a giant step closer to a healthier diet. ‘The majority of processed meat products are extremely high in saturated fat, which is the worst kind of fat,’ says dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association Sioned Quirke. ‘Although they are processed, vegetarian or vegan alternatives to meat, such as tofu and Quorn, are not processed with a lot of added nasties. Vegetarian alternatives to meat are usually really healthy, lower in fat and especially lower in saturated fat.’ So what are you waiting for? If you’re looking for a fad-free way to eat honest food that will make you a slimmer, better- off and kinder human being, look no further than the fruit and veg aisle. Written by Nicole Mowbray for the Telegraph