The US’s biggest bagel chain has added vegan cream in select locations, according to animal rights charity PETA.
PETA petitioned Einstein Bros. Bagels last year – with almost 43,000 people signing up to request the dairy-free option.
In addition, vegan actor Lisa Edelstein teamed up with the charity to write to the bagel outlet, saying: “You only need to walk down a grocery aisle to see the result of the growing demand for all dairy alternatives, including plant-based cream cheese.”
Vegan demand at an all-time high
PETA added: “Demand for dairy-free foods is at an all-time high, and companies are responding. Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, offers almond, soy, and coconut milks at thousands of its locations and recently noted that ‘more than half (58 percent) of all U.S. adults consume non-dairy milk’.
“Ben & Jerry’’ has introduced vegan ice cream flavors, more than 40 pizza chains now offer vegan cheese, and according to Daiya, its animal-free’“products are now used by approximately 20,000 individual restaurant and chain franchise locations’.
As the vegan option is not available nationwide yet, it is not listed on the site. PETA advises vegans to contact their local outlet (which you can find the details of here) to see if it offers vegan cream cheese, adding ‘if not, kindly let it know how much you hope it will soon’.