Emirates Elevates Vegan Cuisine with Innovative Ingredients and Global Flavors

Emirates places a high priority on refined vegan cuisine, catering to the growing number of vegan customers worldwide. Many non-vegan passengers also choose vegan meals for their lighter, easier-to-digest options. To enhance its vegan offerings, Emirates is developing new dishes using innovative ingredients, such as a solid egg substitute made from legumes. This ingredient is both tasty and nutritious. Additionally, Emirates is introducing curated vegan meals for children and expanding its vegan menu both onboard and in lounges.

In celebration of Veganuary, Emirates' chefs gather in the Emirates Flight Catering Concept Development Kitchen to create new vegan dishes and experiment with the latest ingredients. During a recent workshop, chefs tested the solid egg substitute in a spicy shakshuka sauce and transformed a premade vegan pastry sheet into savory vegan cannelloni. They also reviewed some of the high-quality ingredients already used in their meals.

Emirates offers a diverse selection of over 300 vegan recipes on flights to 140 destinations worldwide. The extensive menu features high-quality plant-based products from global suppliers, including Beyond Meat's plant-based proteins from California, soybean protein from UAE and Singapore's Arlene, pressed tofu from Japan's Qian Ye, organic dark vegan chocolate from France's Linnolat, vegan margarine from Germany's Meister Marken, vegan curry paste from Thailand's Pantai, and almond milk from Italy's Koita. Emirates also emphasizes sustainability by incorporating fresh produce from Bustanica, the world's largest hydroponic vertical farm, which supplies pesticide and chemical-free leafy greens directly to Emirates' catering facilities. Recently, Emirates introduced individual vegan milk servings in Economy and Premium Economy Class, with over 30,000 customers choosing this option for their coffee and tea each month.

Emirates has also introduced vegan meals for children, offering dishes like vegan pizza, sweet and sour vegetable casserole, vegetable fajitas, vegan muffins, cauliflower bites with sweet sauce, and desserts like strawberry crumble and vegan chocolate pudding.

Vegan options are available to order and pre-order onboard, as well as in Emirates Lounges. Customers can request vegan meals on all Emirates flights and across all classes of travel up to 24 hours before departure. On high-demand routes, plant-based meals are also included in the main menu options.

Emirates serves over 400,000 plant-based meals onboard annually, offering vegan cuisine across all classes. Last year, vegan meal consumption grew in line with passenger volumes, with some regions like Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East seeing higher growth. Many Emirates Cabin Crew also follow a plant-based diet, and Emirates has offered vegan meals for Cabin Crew for the past nine years.

In Economy class, customers can enjoy dishes like crêpes filled with sautéed carrots and peppers, served with roasted potatoes, mushrooms, and tomato concassé, or curried vegetable puffs, and chocolate mousse cake with chocolate sauce and blackberry crumble.

In Premium Economy class, vegan cuisine includes dishes like braised mushrooms with vegetables in five spice soy sauce, served with steamed jasmine rice and blanched pak choi, followed by desserts like chocolate tart drizzled in apricot compote or raspberry tonka mousse cake with berry coulis.

In Business class, customers can enjoy elegant dishes like Thai red curry tofu with aubergine, beans, mushrooms, and taro in aromatic gravy, served with steamed jasmine rice. Desserts include tropical coconut pineapple cake or chocolate pecan cake.

In First class, customers are treated to elevated vegan cuisine like creamy polenta cake with thyme mushroom ragout, sautéed spinach drizzled in rich root vegetable jus, and dishes like aubergine curry with charred rice and turmeric potato, with coconut and mint chutney. Decadent desserts include rhubarb tempered with strawberry charlotte, Chantilly cream and raspberry tuille, or warm chocolate fondant with salted caramel sauce and whipped cashew cream.

At Dubai International Airport, Emirates has seven lounges in Terminal 3, offering a wide array of vegan options. These include soya and pea protein crispy pops at the Business Class Lounge Snack Counter, Baharat and turmeric spiced kofta in coconut gravy at the buffet area, and an à la carte breakfast of warm amaranth porridge with compressed green apples, red grapes, raspberries, and walnuts in the First Class Lounge. The most popular vegan dish in the lounges is the Emirates Green Burger, a soya and flax seed green burger with signature sauce and pickled cucumbers.