Future Food Quick Bites: Veganuary 2026, Stranger Things & Cage-Free Italy
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a wave of launches for Veganuary, a Stranger Things-inspired burger, and a HappyCow alternative app.
New products and launches
The annual Veganuary challenge is underway, which always brings a host of new products. In the UK, discount retailer Aldi has introduced vegan croissants, pains au chocolat, ice creams, spreads, and meat and cheese alternatives as part of its own-label Plant Menu brand.
On the other end of the budget spectrum, Marks & Spencer has launched its own Veganuary range, featuring plant-based meatballs, pulled mushrooms, flatbreads, yoghurts, cheeses and kefir.
In more Veganuary news, UK vegan meal kit startup Grubby has rolled out its biggest menu yet, featuring 144 recipes. This includes a Global Flavours range, a 10-recipe collaboration with plant-based influencers Bosh!, and a high-protein lineup.
Speaking of Bosh!, the brand has rolled out three new seasonings for Veganuary, available in BBQ, zesty, and umami flavours. They’re available on Ocado, with each 120g pack costing £3.75.
British vegan frozen food maker One Planet Pizza has gained a listing at all Aldi stores nationwide, with the retailer now stocking its Margherita Sourdough Pizzetta and Cheezy Garlic Sourdough Flatbread.
London-based tempeh brand Better Nature has refreshed its packaging to highlight its protein content, gut health benefits and quick-cooking properties in neon green boxes. It coincides with the rollout of its new peri-peri-flavoured block.
Allplants, now owned by Deliciously Ella founders Ella and Matthew Mills, has added tofu goujons and pea and golden lentil tempeh products to its lineup, stocking them on Tesco shelves.
In more tofu news, Cauldron Foods has unveiled a four-strong Express range of tofu at Tesco. The marinated pieces come in teriyaki and ginger-garlic flavours for £2.75 per 160g pack, and the grillable tofu is available in oregano-thyme and BBQ for £2.30 per 180g block. And they all cook in five minutes.
French plant-based meat maker La Vie, meanwhile, has launched vegan salami sticks in the UK. Available in classic and spicy flavours, they contain 27g of protein per pack, and 20% less saturated fat and 30% less salt than conventional pork. They can be found at Waitrose and Ocado nationwide for £2.85 per 75g pack.
La Vie also partnered with Burger King to release two veggie burgers in France, titled Upside Down and Hellfire Club, to celebrate the final season of Netflix hit Stranger Things.
Australian soy specialist King International has brought its Kingland dairy-free yoghurt range to Hong Kong, featuring 500g Greek-style versions in natural, mango-peach and apple-cinnamon flavours, and 250g fruit yoghurts in mango-peach and strawberry variants. They’re available at retailers like Wellcome, 3hreeSixty, and Market Place.
A former HappyCow employee has unveiled a rival app called Spinach, which uses artificial intelligence to help users find the best vegan food in their area.
And Singaporean chef C-Y Chia is launching a new vegan recipe book, Lion Dance Cafe Cookbook, referring to the eponymous San Francisco eatery she co-founded.
Company, policy and research developments
All these Veganuary launches in the UK come on the back of a YouGov survey revealing that 37% of Brits are planning to buy plant-based products this month, with 32% preferring whole-food options and 23% enjoying them and meat analogues equally.
Nil Zacharias, founder and CEO of Plantega, has joined Texas-based blended meat player Crossover Meats as co-founder and COO. He will continue to serve his role at Plantega.
Climate advocacy group Madre Brava has appointed Moritz Möller as its new director for Germany. He most recently served as CMO and executive board member at Planethic Group (formerly Veganz Group).
Dairy-free baby formula maker Else Nutrition, meanwhile, has hired finance executive Natie Zilberberg as its CFO and corporate secretary, who will replace Shay Shamir in the role.
As cocoa-free chocolate heats up, Argentina’s Abydos Bioscience has entered the space by using oleaginous bacteria (instead of yeast or microalgae) to produce a cocoa butter alternative.
Finally, the Italian government has announced a Cage-Free Fund as part of its 2026 Budget Law. It will set aside €500,000 to support the cage-free transition this year, and €1M annually from 2027 onwards. The move was welcomed by animal rights groups, who also criticised the parliament for significantly lowering the allocation from the initial proposal.
Check out the last edition of Future Food Quick Bites.