Pork Scratchings. Perfect for pairing with a pint and considered a pub cliché.

However, there’s now a new take on the pork snack, and no, I’m not talking about simply adding a flavouring. Welcome the Vegan Pig – the meat-free alternative to the classic bar snack.

That’s right, meat-free scratchings.

The Vegan Pig has kicked up a fuss amongst meat-eaters which was epitomised when they found Piers Morgan waving a packet around angrily on Good Morning Britain during an anti-vegan rant. That coupled with a lot of PR and a successful Kickstarter campaign has generated some buzz around the brand. We spoke with co-founders Josh Pearce and Sean Johnson to find out how this almost ludicrous snack came about.

Josh said: “Two years ago, we were sat in the pub eating a pack of pork scratchings and joked whether it might be possible to make a vegan version of the dirty, hairy and delicious pork scratching sat in front of us. We were both trying to cut down on the amount of meat we were eating. So we thought, why not give it a go?”

Piggy in the middle

The scratchings are for those who love eating meat but are trying to eat less of it. On launch, meat-eaters who hadn’t tried the product were outraged, but vegans loved the idea said Sean.

Josh continues: “Vegan Pig captures the taste, the crunch and even those weird soft bits. It’s meaty, it’s filthy, but surprisingly it’s not that bad for you – which was an unexpected bonus.”

They’re cleverly using some of the hate they’ve received on social media, for content for their channels, with their favourite being, “generation idiot strikes again.”

“We’re thinking about getting it on a t-shirt” laughed Sean.

Their mission is to get Vegan Pig into every pub in the UK and they’re attending PUB20 which is a big step towards that. They’re on stand A32 so stop by and give them a try.

They assure us that you won’t be disappointed. (Unless you hate delicious pub snacks in which case you might be).