Tesco said the launch comes at a time when demand for vegetarian food is on the rise.
Over the past year, the supermarket said it had seen sales of chilled vegetarian ready meals soar by nearly 20%.
“Vegetarian customers have told us they often feel they can be an afterthought at bbq parties and if they’re lucky they might be able to find some corn on the cob or halloumi,” said Tesco food developer Alison Stokes.
“We’ve decided to help by creating the UK’s first ever cauliflower and Portobello mushroom steaks, which we believe is an irresistibly delicious option – not only to vegetarians but also to meat eaters.”
Popular in trendy restaurants
Stokes said that cauliflower steaks and Portobello mushroom burgers were already very popular in trendy restaurants around the country and in recipes from celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver. She claimed this was a first for the supermarket sector.
The steaks are being launched as part of Tesco’s new prepared vegetables bbq range, which include Halloumi Kebabs, and Mega Potato Wedges. They are priced at £2.
Serious environmental problems
The news from Tesco comes in the same week that a United Nations International Resource Panel report said that the world faced serious environmental problems if countries such as China emulated the amount of meat eaten by North Americans and Europeans.
It predicted a 20% rise in chicken and dairy consumption and 14% increase in pork and beef over the next 10 years.
The authors of the report called for governments to push people to eat less meat to help food sustainability.
Big food companies and supermarkets were also urged to provide better vegetarian alternatives that would help reduce meat consumption.
Vegetarian numbers
- Government estimates from 2012 showed that about 2% of Brits are vegetarian and 1% vegan, which equates to about 1.2M people.
- Research from Mintel in 2014 estimated that 12% of UK adults followed a vegetarian or vegan diet. This rose to 20% for those between the ages of 16 to 24.
- Mintel research from 2015 revealed that 35% of Brits are now considered semi-vegetarian or ‘flexitarian’.