High street restaurant chain Wahaca have been blasted over their “virtue-signalling” after they opted to remove steak from the menu.
The popular Mexican chain, co-owned by 2005 MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers, took the decision in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint.
Wahaca may feel an impact from its decision given the popularity of one of its dishes, steak and cheese tacos.
Ex-Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney, however, feels the move represents little more than a “virtue-signal” due to the fact it is the only meat removed from the menu.
He questioned the decision on GB News, pointing out the carbon footprint avocados, a vegetable used for a variety of dishes, pose.
Daubney told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: “I think any Mexican restaurant that is meat free deserves to be customer free.
“It was even their best selling dish. This is a complete virtue signal, they’ve still got beef on the menu.
“And what about avocado? This is a staple of Mexican cuisine. 25 million cubic metres of water are used in the British avocado market, this creates monocultures, food poverty for locals, slave labour, they’re shipped 6,000 miles in refrigerated containers.”
High street chains like Greggs are embracing the vegan movement by offering more plant based alternatives
PA
“That in itself is creating a huge carbon footprint.”
Wahaca seek to educate their customers by including the carbon footprint of each dish on their menus, with the chargrilled steak burrito coming out the worst.
The meal will no longer be offered as the restaurant becomes the latest to adopt a vegan-friendly initiative.
Martin Daubney said Wahaca are attempting to turn more people towards a vegan lifestyle.
He told GB News: “This isn’t about cutting back the carbon footprint, this is about nudging us to become miserable vegans like Jeremy Corbyn,
“I think we can all agree, one Jeremy Corbyn is quite enough. When I go to restaurants I don’t want guilt to be on the menu.
“I don’t want to choose beef and be told ‘I’m burning children in the Middle East’, this is a guilt trip, it’s trying to change how we eat, we should be able to choose what we eat.”
Wahaca co-owner Thomasina Miers has defended the move, saying to The Telegraph: “We wanted to look at a way of reducing the amount of meat dishes while still offering truly tasty options for those that still enjoy eating it.
“Being conscious that meat and dairy products are among the biggest culprits from an emissions perspective has led to us expanding our vegetarian and vegan offerings in recent years.”
The Mexican restaurant chain will still be offering some meat dishes such as slow-cooked beef tacos.
Wahaca opened to much fanfare with more than 20 eateries launching since its first branch in 2007 in Covent Garden, London.
Some of its restaurants have been forced to close in recent years as a result of financial struggles that came about during the pandemic.
Miers has called on people to eat less meat and to be more environmentally friendly in the past.
She wrote in the Guardian: “I am much more for small-scale, community-driven farming because I believe in the potential of food to be a force for good, for human and environmental health.”