While Veganuary is a hugely common way to start the year, it isn’t the only time to start cutting meat out of your diet.
A meat free diet offers health benefits as well as lowering an individual’s environmental impact, while some prefer to remove animal products from their diet simply for animal welfare purposes.
Whether you want to challenge yourself for a week or a plant based diet is something you are considering moving to full time, there are plenty of amazing sites across the North East offering incredible meals without the animal products.
As someone who has been vegetarian foe a few years now, let me take you through some of the best options I’ve found across the North East.
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5. Fat Hippo
With sites in Newcastle city centre, Jesmond and Durham, Fat Hippo is probably already known by many, but its meat free options are incredibly wide ranging for a group of restaurants which predominantly makes its trade with meat burgers. | Jason Button
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6. Mexico 70
For a range of inventive tacos, in both meat and vegan options, head to Mexico 70 opposite the Empire Theatre in Sunderland. It is rare for a vegan menu to be both as large and wide ranging as its meat counterpart, but the team do brilliantly to cater for meat free tastes. | Sunderland Echo
7. Super Natural Cafe
Searching for a city centre fully vegan cafe open into the evening? Look no further. Situated on Grainger Street in Newcastle, Super Natural is regularly open from 9am until 9pm offering meals and snacks throughout the day. | Google
8. Hive Coffee Company
Hive Coffe Company is based on the site of Jarrow's Anglo-Saxon farm in South Tyneside. It can get very busy on weekends, but if you can get a table you'll enjoy one of the best breakfasts in the region. Photo: Google