Photo: Martyn Wright via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Cadbury, the most famous name in British chocolate, has launched its first ever vegan chocolate bar. The Cadbury Plant Bar is on sale at Sainsbury's nationwide from this month, with other shops following in January.
It's taken a while. John Cadbury opened his shop on Bull Street in Birmingham on March 4, 1824, selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate, and for most of the 197 years since, milk has been the heart of the brand. Now owned by Mondelēz International, Cadbury has finally made a chocolate bar without it.
The bar comes in two flavors, Smooth Chocolate and Smooth Chocolate with salted caramel pieces, and a 90g bar costs £2.50. According to Mondelēz, the bar keeps that familiar Cadbury taste "by replacing the milk with almond paste", and "Almond paste provides a similar taste and texture to milk ingredients while offering a hint of nuttiness."
Both flavors are registered with the Vegan Society, the wrapper is 100% plant-based packaging made from bio-sourced plastics, and the recipe was developed over two years at Mondelēz's chocolate research center in Bournville. Ericka Durgahee, Vegan Trademark Marketing Manager at the Vegan Society, said the launch means:
anyone who misses Cadbury chocolate as a vegan can now enjoy their favourite delicious chocolate bar
Louise Stigant, UK Managing Director at Mondelēz International, said in the launch announcement, as Grocery Gazette reported: "At Mondelēz, evolving consumer demands have long informed our ambition to provide a wide range of products". Translation: you asked for it, and it worked.
Dairy is in serious decline. In the US milk consumption has plunged 25% in 20 years, and the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that dairy can be accurately described as "inhumane". Cutting out dairy also cuts out a major source of saturated fat, which the NHS advises we limit for heart health.
We've come a long way since searches for vegan Easter eggs jumped 70% in 2016. This year Veganuary smashed its record with 582,000 sign-ups, Oatly was valued at $10 billion and the vegan McPlant landed in UK McDonald's. It all echoes the London cafe that completely ditched dairy back in 2017.
Chocolate lovers, the future is looking sweeter.