Tuesday 02 January 2024 10:00 am | Updated: Tuesday 02 January 2024 10:09 am

Wagamama launches new vegan ‘steak’ dish for Veganuary

Features Journalist

Wagamama has launched a new vegan dish for Veganuary

Many of us are trying to stop eating meat or cutting back our intake this January, as the annual Veganuary campaign rolls around. From tomorrow 3 January Wagamama is launching their annual experimental dish for for Veganuary – this time a lion’s mane ‘steak’ bulgogi.

The dish will have lion’s mane mushrooms from Welsh supplier Real Fungy and be made up of udon noodles with aubergine and caramelised onion in a salty-sweet amai miso sauce.

The main feature is the smoky lion’s mane mushroom ‘steak’ atop the dish like tender cuts of sirloin. They’re served with barbecue sauce and the dish is finished with sesame seeds and kimchee, spring onion, red chilli and coriander.

Wagamama chief marketing officer Kay Bartlett said the dish was “broadening the conversation” about vegan eating.

Lion’s mane mushrooms, which have a shaggy appearance like their namesake, were named ‘ingredient of the year’ by the New York Times in 2022. At Wagamama, over 50% of the dishes are plant based.

Over 700,000 people from 228 countries signed up to take part in Veganuary 2023, a new record high for participants. The website offers meal plans and recipes and hopes to promote “a greener planet, lower food bills, better health and kindness to animals.”

Last year Veganuary inspired restaurants and chefs to create 1,610 new dishes nationwide to celebrate the diversity of vegan food.

Here’s more Veganuary inspiration: our list of the best Vegan restaurants to visit in London.