‘Peri’ Good News! Nando’s Introduces Vegan Chicken
PETA and our supporters have been urging Nando’s to add vegan chicken to its menu since 2016, and the day has finally arrived: meet the Great Imitator.
This vegan delight, made from pea protein, is available as a burger, wrap, and pitta – and you can pair it with Nando’s peri good Vegan PERinaise. Yum, yum, YUM!
By introducing a vegan option, Nando’s is helping to meet growing demand. Vegan eating is on the rise in the UK, as more and more people are choosing plant-based foods to protect animals and the environment.
What About Cross-Contamination?
Nando’s is calling its new offering “plant-based”, since it’s cooked on the same grill as chicken flesh, but as its website states, “[W]e do take rigorous steps to segregate our non-meat products from our meat products. We choose a specific part of the grill for our non-meat products and we use separate utensils for them too.”
Although the wrap may have some cross-contact with shellac from waxed lemons, as all the ingredients are completely animal-free – right down to the mayo – the Great Imitator is an excellent choice for vegans, vegetarians, meat-reducers, and chickens. And by supporting plant-based options like this, we encourage companies to expand their vegan offerings, making compassionate eating more accessible and appealing to new audiences. We have no doubt this will be a popular choice among the growing number of meat-reducers in the UK, bringing them one bite closer to vegan living.
Currently, the glaze Nando’s uses on its wraps contains trace amounts of shellac, so order your Great Imitator in a burger or a pitta for a bug-free dining experience.
The Great Imitator is produced without harming any sentient being – it’s a huge win for animals.
The Chicken-Meat Industry
Chickens raised for their flesh are farmed more intensively than any other land animal. Newly hatched chicks are sent into huge, dusty, windowless sheds with 30,000 or more other birds – who are all bred and fed to have such a large upper body that they can barely support their own weight.
At the end of this miserable life, they’re sent to slaughter without ever having roosted in a tree, taken a dust bath, interacted with their parents, or done any of the other things that are natural and important to chickens. They’re roughly shoved into crates and driven to the abattoir, where they’re shackled by their legs and hung upside down.
Their heads are plunged into an electric water bath that is supposed to stun them before their necks are cut – but this doesn’t always work, and the birds sometimes regain consciousness as they bleed to death or are plunged into tanks filled with scalding-hot water.
And these birds are typically just babies when they’re killed, as many reach what the industry deems “slaughter weight” at only 41 days old.
What You Can Do
There’s no need for us to eat the flesh of other animals. There are so many delicious plant-based options available that going vegan is now easier than ever. Order PETA’s free vegan starter kit to receive tips, recipes, and insight to help you make the transition to a compassionate lifestyle. Tell your friends about the kit, and persuade them to follow your example!
