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Whilst the benefits of going vegan are still majorly splitting opinion across the nation, demand for vegan food is apparently rising so rapidly that it has now become the UK’s fastest growing culinary trend of 2018.

In the last year, sales of chilled vegan foods at Tesco have soared by a massive 25 per cent, helping to swell the UK meat free market to £310 million.

To meet the soaring demand, the supermarket has just announced that it is more than doubling its own brand plant-based food range.

Dubbed Wicked Kitchen , the vegan range was only launched earlier this year, created by Tesco’s pioneering chef and head of plant-based innovation Derek Sarno, whose mission is to convert meat eaters to vegan food.

While two new products officially hit stores yesterday (Monday 15th), the rest of the 26 strong new range will be following gradually over the rest of the month.

Rather than salads and juices, the new items are seemingly a lot more winter food focused, including crafted pies, ‘sausage’ rolls, sourdough pizzas and deli foods, as well as chilled desserts.

Top items in the range include All The Rage rolls (kale, mushroom and garlic in flaky puff pastry), Packed Puff Pie (roasted cauliflower and oyster mushrooms in brandy gravy), pesto lasagne, spicy mushroom and veg sourdough pizza and for pudding: red velvet brownie for £4.50 and Charred Pineapple Dream cake (£4).

Tesco Product Development Director Kate Ewart said: “We know from our own data that flexitarianism is on the rise and many more customers are dabbling in cutting out meat for a day or so during their weekly diet.

“With the new range we’re now hoping to attract an even wider audience including customers looking for on-the-go delicious snacks such as a plant based sausage roll, pie or pasty as well as dessert lovers.”

Derek Sarno said: “This is a dream come true for us. When we launched Wicked Kitchen back in January, the response was just phenomenal. We’re excited to be able to announce the expansion of the range today.

“At the start of the year, I said that veganism was going mainstream, and – as plant-based options are taking over the supermarket shelves – that belief is fast becoming a reality.

The full range includes:

Charred Pineapple Dream Cake

Red Velvet Brownie

Smoked Carrot Celebration Sandwich

Bubble and Squeak Sandwich

Cali Roll Cold Cuts Sub

Mac Attack Salad Bowl

Citrus Noodle Salad Bowl

Tex-Mex Salad Bowl

Turmeric Cauliflower and Coconut Bites

Curried Protein Pot

Toasted Three Onion Dip

Hella’ Cold Cracked Corn Dip

Hipster Salad

Street Market Rainbow Slaw

Almighty Green

Painted Potato Salad

Packed Puff Pie

Pesto Lasagne

Big Bros Enchilada

Fiery Filthy Fries

Stir Fried Black Pepper Tofu

Chinese BBQ Shreds and Greens

Margarita Sourdough Pizza

Spicy Mushroom and Veg Sourdough Pizza, £4

All The Rage Rolls

Curried Cauli Pasty

The new Tesco range is beginning to be introduced in stores and online, alongside all the old classics from the rest of the range.

Back in September, Tesco won PETA's 2018 Vegan Food Award for ‘Best Vegan Range’ for its Wicked Food offerings.

Now let's just see if butternut squash mac and cheese is good enough to replace our old faithful...

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