I was hoping that veganism was a minority fad that would go away and leave me in peace with my steak frites. Alas, not. The number of vegans in the UK quadrupled between 2014 and 2018. The Vegan Society has cited research saying that vegan meals are the UK’s fastest-growing takeaway choice, but then it would do that. Now Waitrose is offering store tours to help shoppers to go vegan and claiming that 13 per cent of the population is either vegetarian or vegan, although the implied equivalence annoys me. Isn’t there almost as big a gulf between vegetarians and vegans as there is between vegans and carnivores?

With the exception of the odd roast chicken, most of what I eat is vegetarian. I