Martin Freeman says meat replacements are 'very processed'. Photo / Getty Images
Martin Freeman says meat replacements are 'very processed'. Photo / Getty Images
Martin Freeman has given up being a vegetarian after 38 years, blaming meat replacements for being “very processed”.
The Sherlock and Hobbit actor, 52, said he originally stopped eating meat as a teenager because he was “never comfortable” with eating animals, but is now trying to have fewer processed foods and is enjoying eating “what I like”.
Speaking on the Dish podcast with radio presenter Nick Grimshaw and professional chef Angela Hartnett while eating an Italian bolognese, he said: “I’ve now come off being a vegetarian. I started being a vegetarian in January 1986.”
Explaining the lifestyle change, he said: “It’s really new going back to being an omnivore, just sort of eating what I like.
“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.”
The Emmy and Bafta award-winning actor and father of two described scotch eggs and pork pies as “food of the gods”, saying that he had missed out on “good, honest staple” meat dishes for decades.
Actor Martin Freeman (c), in a scene from Sir Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Photo / Warner Bros
Freeman is not alone in adapting his diet back to animal products, with the fashion for some vegan products waning.
In August 2023, Beyond Meat, the poster company for vegan substitutes, announced sales had fallen by almost a third. It blamed “softer demand in the plant-based meat category”.
A few months later, the UN warned that plant-based alternative meat products, such as those made from soy or pea protein, were often highly processed with high levels of salt.
Radio presenter Nick Grimshaw and actor Martin Freeman on the Dish podcast.
However, vegan substitutes can contribute to significantly reducing the carbon footprint of animal products, which are thought to account for between 14.5 and 20 per cent of global emissions.
Freeman, who starred in the 2024 thriller Miller’s Girl with 21-year-old actress Jenna Ortega, described some of the meat substitutes available as “really lovely” but that didn’t stop his change of heart.
Martin Freeman in The Responder (2022).
He also revealed that he had not eaten a proper bolognese dish for almost 40 years.
“I was never really comfortable with the idea of eating animals,” he said. “So I’ve not had a really good bolognese since then – my mum was a pretty good cook.
“This is the first proper bolognese, maybe, I’ve had for 38 years.”
Discussing what he was already indulging in since reintroducing meat into his diet, he said: “Scotch egg was one of the things, I thought, ‘It’s a free country, I can do what I like’.
“And also, do you know the other thing – a pork pie with the jelly…a bit of mustard on a pork pie – oh man. It’s food of the gods.”
