Middle Eastern airline Emirates has marked Veganuary by developing new vegan dishes to add to its range of over 300 plant-based options.
Chefs from the airline gathered in the Emirates Flight Catering Concept Development Kitchen to workshop new dishes and ingredients; these included savory vegan cannelloni and a lookalike solid egg substitute made from legumes that was trialed in a spicy shakshuka sauce.
Additionally, the airline has recently introduced a range of vegan meals for children, including pizza, sweet and sour vegetable casserole, vegetable fajitas, and cauliflower bites with sweet sauce. For dessert, options such as strawberry crumble and vegan chocolate pudding are available.
Emirates’ selection of vegan dishes is available on flights to 140 destinations worldwide, using ingredients from various global suppliers. These include meat alternatives made by Beyond Meat, tofu from Japan’s Qian Ye, and almond milk from Italy’s Koita. Many recipes also use fresh produce from Bustanica, the world’s largest hydroponic vertical farm and a joint venture with Emirates Flight Catering.
Increasing demand
Emirates first began offering vegan options on flights in 2022, though they were initially available to first-class customers only. By 2023, the airline had recorded a 154% increase in customers ordering inflight vegan meals and made them available to all classes.
In January 2024, Emirates reported that it had served 450,000 vegan meals in the previous year, with consumption exceeding the growth in passenger volumes on some routes. At the time, the company announced plans to launch new dishes such as vegan pizza and chocolate cake. Individual plant-based milk servings were also recently introduced onboard in Economy and Premium Economy classes, and are chosen by over 30,000 customers a month as an option in tea and coffee.
Vegan meals can now be requested on all Emirates flights and across all classes of travel up to 24 hours before departure. On high-demand routes, they are available as part of the main menu options.
