UK Vegan Cooking School Opens to Fill Shortage of Vegan Chefs

New vegan culinary school Vegan Chef Institute (VCI) launched in London last week with a fast-track course to help chefs attain certification quickly. “There’s a lot of really good chefs in the industry, but it’s really hard to find enough of them, because it’s so new,” VCI co-founder Chantal Di Donato told The Guardian. Driven by a 600-percent increase in its vegan population in the last two years, UK restaurant menus have increased their plant-based options by 237 percent within the last year. In January, culinary institute London Vegetarian and Vegan School will launch a similar program with workshops focused on upscale catering. “We have to. There’s so much demand for it,” owner Chico Francesco said. “We often get inquiries from restaurants and hotels asking if we have any students we can recommend to them.”