AS 12 million Brits aim to be meat-free by 2021 – and one in five have already reduced their meat consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic – PETA is recognising the most exciting vegan offerings on the market today with its eighth annual Vegan Food Awards.

Nabbing the award for Best Vegan Mac & Cheese is black-owned London eatery Eat of Eden for its moreish Macaroni Pie.

The oven-baked pasta pie with a rich cheesy flavour is available to eat in and for delivery from its four London locations in Brixton, Clapham, Lewisham, and Shepherd’s Bush.

Other winners include Pukka (Best Vegan Pie), KFC (Best Vegan Chicken) , Greggs (Best Vegan Pasty), Aldi (Best Vegan Ready Meal), Subway (Best Vegan Sandwich), Papa John’s (Best Vegan Pizza), and Pret A Manger (Best Vegan Cookie).

“The pandemic has demonstrated that widespread societal change is possible, and that includes the explosive growth in the already booming demand for vegan foods,” says PETA Director of Vegan Corporate Projects Dawn Carr.

“Eat of Eden is making it easier than ever for Londoners to go vegan by dishing up luscious, creamy, dairy-free mac and cheese and other satisfying Carribean-inspired vegan dishes.”

Confining and killing animals for food has led to the emergence of swine flu, bird flu, SARS, and now COVID-19 according to PETA.

Raising animals for food also requires massive amounts of land, feed, energy, and water, and as a result, animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change.

Each person who goes vegan spares the lives of nearly 200 animals each year and lowers his or her risk of suffering from heart disease, strokes, diabetes, obesity, and cancer.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.