United Kingdom’s vegan soccer club Forest Green Rovers recently partnered with food brand Bovril to launch a vegan version of the popular beef-based half-time drink. Traditional Bovril is a thick and salty meat extract paste that is added to hot drinks. The new high-protein paste is made from beets instead of beef. The new Vegan Bovril will be available exclusively at Forest Green Rovers’ football stadium in Gloucestershire starting at the opening home game of the 2021/2022 season. In addition to the new drink, the stadium’s half-time menu also offers vegan Q Pies and beer.
“Bovril has long been known as traditional football fare. We’ve been warming the terraces since 1886. But times and appetites are changing, and we would never want to leave any football fans out in the cold,” Bovril brand manager Sophie Allan said. “Seeing Forest Green make major moves in the vegan space made us realize that there has never been a better time to explore the prospect of a new, one off formula that simply can’t be beet – ensuring that all fans can get in on the action.”
In 2011, Forest Green Rovers removed meat-based burgers from their stadium menu and in 2015 became the first completely vegan stadium in the world when they removed dairy, eggs, and honey. “We’re famously not fans of tradition but a pie and a mug of Bovril are for many people a football tradition and while we have great pies without animals in them, we [didn’t have a] Bovril alternative,” Forest Green Rovers chairman Dale Vince said. “That may be about to change, with the advent of plant Bovril. I think that would be fantastic.”
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