Do you know a veggie care catering hero? 

We’re on the lookout for 2022’s rising stars in vegan and vegetarian care catering. 

At VfL, we believe that care caterers who make a special effort to create delicious and nutritious vegan and vegetarian meals deserve special recognition. 

This year marks the sixth VfL Awards for Excellence in Veg*n Care Catering. With a rising number of older vegans and vegetarians, this annual award recognises those who are pioneering the way in modern care catering. 

We know how hard you work to cater for all dietary requirements and needs. And we’d love to shout about it.

2022's ceremony is expected to take place in the Houses of Parliament on the afternoon of Wednesday 23 November.
 
Get your nomination in today to help secure recognition at this year’s prestigious event. 

All we need from you is a quick and easy 200 words telling us who you are nominating and why, to be emailed over to:  veggiehero@vegetarianforlife.org.uk. Be quick though, because the deadline for entries is fast approaching. We need all submissions by  Wednesday 31 August. 

The categories for this year’s awards are:

• Veggie Care Chef of the Year. We want to find the care chef who is making the tastiest meals for older vegans or veggies.
• Veggie Wholesaler of the Year. Meals on Wheels? Food delivery service? Retailer supplying the care sector? Let’s celebrate that company that makes veggie meals easy and practical for everyone.
• Most Innovative Veggie Dish. A magnificent recipe – something that is original, and that we can recommend to care caterers around the UK.
• Hospital Caterer of the Year. To recognise the special effort made by hospital catering teams to provide a wide range of delicious and nutritious vegan and vegetarian meals for patients. 
• The Beulah Charity Trust Special Recognition Award. This is for that special someone who strives to make the UK a better place for older vegans and vegetarians. This could be a volunteer, a resident, a staff member or anyone pursuing this objective.

First launched in 2016, the Annual Awards highlight the importance of catering well for older vegetarians and vegans. We recently surveyed 1,000 care homes to find out how many residents are vegan or vegetarian. Since the survey was last commissioned in 2014, the number of vegans in residential care has increased by a whopping 167%!

With growing numbers of vegetarians being supported by the care sector, it is no surprise that news of the awards has been positively received by care organisations. Articles about the awards have been published by the NACC, Public Sector Catering, Care Home Catering, Hospitality Assured and many more.

It’s becoming impossible to ignore the demand for top-notch veggie care catering.

Visit our Veggie Heroes Past Winners page to see who has been honoured since the awards were first launched.