Martin Freeman quits 'processed' vegetarian diet after 38 years and turns back to pork pies and Scotch eggs

2 May 2024, 10:50

Martin Freeman has ditched vegetarianism after 38 years, citing concerns about "very, very processed" meat replacements.

The Sherlock star, 52, said he originally stopped eating meat as a teenager in 1986 because he had "never really been comfortable with the idea of eating animals".

Speaking on the Dish podcast with radio presenter Nick Grimshaw and Michelin star chef Angela Hartnett, he said: "I've now come off being a vegetarian."

He continued: "It's a funny one because I like meat replacement things, but my reservation about them is they can be very, very processed and I'm trying to eat less processed food."

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Describing his new diet, he said: "In the last several months, it's really new going back to being an omnivore, just sort of eating what I like."

The Emmy and Bafta award-winning actor said pork pies and scotch eggs were two of the foods he was enjoying under his new diet, calling them "food of the gods".

Listen to the Dish podcast on Global Player, the official LBC app.With this link https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KuUS/

"Scotch egg was one of the things I thought, 'It's a free country, I can do what I like,'" he said. "And also, do you know the other thing - a pork pie with the jelly and all that s***. A bit of mustard on a pork pie - oh man. It's the food of the gods."

Tucking into a bolognese on the show, he said: "This is the first proper bolognese I've had for 38 years... I've not had that good, honest staple for f***ing decades."

Alternative meat products have been hit with a slump in sales and revenue in the past few years. Last year, Beyond Meat announced sales of its plant-based products had fallen by a third, blaming "softer demand in the plant-based meat category".

The UN has warned that plant-based alternatives are often highly-processed and contain too much salt, while urging governments to provide more support to the industry to develop the technologies.

Meat-free options "can likely play a role in supporting a more sustainable, healthier and more humane system," the UN said.