The past year brought vegan Reese’s Plant Based Peanut Butter Cups, Vegan Crunchwraps and Nacho Sauce at Taco Bell, and a game-changing chicken-friendly egg (complete with a runny yolk). These innovations and others are shaping the future of the vegan food industry, and we’re excited to see what 2024 has in store.
Without further ado, here are PETA’s predictions for 2024’s top vegan food trends:
Veggie Focused and Futuristic Vegan Meats
We think the vegan meat market will expand in two directions: products made with whole-foods ingredients (such as beans, mushrooms, and nuts) and cultivated meat, which is real animal flesh produced without breeding and killing billions of animals. Actual Veggies’ vegetable-forward burgers and Wild Earth’s animal-free food for dogs are just two examples. Either way, we’re excited to see what’s to come.
Vegan Seafood Making Waves
We predicted this one back in 2022, and we think the fish-friendly seafood boom will still be going strong in 2024. While we’ll always love tried-and-true products like Gardein’s crabless Mini Cr’b Cakes, we’re also looking forward to trying new products like Seed to Surf’s tinned “snow crab” made with enoki mushrooms and “whitefish” made with smoked celeriac root.
Using AI to Revolutionize Food
Artificial intelligence (AI) was all the rage in 2023, and more vegan food brands are sure to put this technology to work next year. Vegan brand NotCo already uses an AI chef, Giuseppe, to develop products with the taste and texture of animal-based foods without using animals at all, while Climax Foods is using machine learning to develop a plant casein to make vegan cheese that stretches, melts, and browns just like cheese made with cow’s milk.
Fun, Good-for-You Drinks
Kombucha and sparkling water are great, but we think people will be looking for even more exciting, healthy alternatives to soda and alcohol in the new year. So many options are on the market with surely more to come, but some of our favorites are culture POP soda’s probiotic soda, Curious Elixirs’ nonalcoholic cocktails, and Rishi Tea & Botanical’s Sparkling Botanical Teas.
‘Quiet Luxury’ Foods
The “quiet luxury” trend is mainly associated with fashion, but we’ll be seeing it spill over into the food world, too. What will this look like? It means that people will splurge on the things that really matter: high-quality olive oils, locally made vegan cheeses, and unique items to help elevate the everyday—like this indulgent vegan Pistachio Cream made with Turkish pistachios (which apparently evoke quiet luxury on their own).
Celebrity-Backed Restaurants
We expect that more celebrities will support and open vegan restaurants like Crossroads Kitchen. Singer Billie Eilish and her brother, producer Finneas O’Connell, announced that they’re opening Argento, a vegan Italian spot, in Los Angeles. The restaurant is sure to be a hit, and we think more celebs will follow in their footsteps in the new year.
Make the new year one to remember by going vegan. When you do, you’ll spare the lives of countless animals, improve your health, and help fight the climate catastrophe. Start strong by ordering our vegan starter kit: