UK’s first vegan butcher launches £79 Christmas dinner

It includes vegan pigs in blankets and ‘baycon’-topped Brussel sprouts

Rudy’s Vegan Butcher in London (Getty Images)

The UK’s first vegan butcher shop has launched a plant-based Christmas dinner for two – but it comes with a £79 price tag,

Rudy’s Vegan Butcher, based in Islington, London, sells a range of alternative meats including “baycon”, “ribz”, “soysage patties” and burgers.

This festive season, it has launched a “Royal Christmas Meat Feast Box”, including vegan turkey plus all the trimmings.

The box, which is still available for delivery before Christmas, also features plant-based “peegs in blankets” and charred Brussel sprouts garnished with “baycon“.

Also included in the box are carrots rubbed with warm spices, maple and thyme, six-hours slow cooked cabbage braised in vegan wine, roast potatoes, stuffing, mixed greens and mashed potato.

One review from a customer described the meal as “perfect”. “The meat lump is amazing and great in sandwiches with pickle,” they said.

“The potatoes were lovely and crispy, and everything was so perfect. And so easy too! Very pleased.”

At £79, the meal is significantly pricier than some meat-based Christmas dinners being sold by supermarkets. Tesco’s Christmas dinner for two from its Finest range retails for £35, while Asda is selling a frozen Christmas dinner bundle for £16.85.

The butcher is also selling a pared down version of the Royal Christmas Meat Feast at a slightly cheaper price of £55 which omits the “peegs in blankets”, mashed potatoes, greens and stuffing.

Earlier this year, a survey by The Vegan Society found that one in four people in the UK have reduced their consumption of animal products during the pandemic.

One in five said they had reduced their meat intake, while 12 per cent said they no longer eat as many eggs and dairy products.

Rudy’s Vegan Butcher first opened its doors in November 2020, when it sold out of all its products in one day.

In a post to Instagram at the time, the butcher said it had also received 100 online orders within the first 10 minutes of launching its website.

Aside from the butcher shop, Rudy’s also has two restaurants in Camden and Islington serving a variety of vegan dishes including a “chik’n” burger, buffalo “chik’n” wings and vegan hot dogs.