Greggs Bakery will be selling a vegan version of the sausage roll, in what the brand says is its contribution to the 'Veganuary' movement. Emails leaked by animal welfare group PETA show that Greggs, which sells 1.5 million sausage rolls every week, was also responding to a petition it started that gathered 20,000 signatures calling for a plant-based alternative. The (non)sausage rolls are made of the same puff pastry (using vegetable oil), as well as a special Quorn-based filling. "We have been trying to develop a vegan version of our famous sausage roll for some time now," says Roger Whiteside, the chief executive of Greggs. "It has not been easy but our taste panel customers all love this one, so we have decided to launch it as our contribution to Veganuary."

Gregg's vegan sausage roll wins mainstream appealGreggs | Instagram (2017)

Today, one-in-eight Britons (13%) identify being vegetarian or vegan, while one-fifth (21%) say they're living 'flexitarian' lifestyles. What's more, now one-third of all British dinners are now meat-free. They're adapting their diets rapidly for several reasons, least of which includes health and environmental concerns, but for many veganism simply isn't accessible as it's either too expensive or too impenetrable from an educational perspective. Household brands such as Greggs are helping normalise the diet by not just offering consumers a choice, but by pointing towards its nutritional benefits, too. Other major retailers in the UK are helping to normalise veganism, via different methods. Tesco, for example, is stocking the Impossible Burger, an American brand that has created a fully plant-based burger that looks, smells, feels and even tastes like meat.

Matt McEvoy is an editor at Canvas8, which specialises in behavioural insights and consumer research. In a former life, he was a journalist working in the sports, music and lifestyle fields.