Vegetarians - Joburg and Cape Town are your go-to cities, finds global study

When it comes to catering for the needs of those who do not consume meat, Johannesburg and Cape Town feature among the most vegetarian-friendly cities in the world.

International apartment search engine Nestpick.com compiled an index of the 75 most vegetarian-friendly cities, taking into account factors like the price of fruit, vegetables and plant-based protein products, as well as the number and quality of restaurants catering for vegetarian choices.

The study looked at more than 200 cities across all continents that are popular for relocation and have a good reputation with vegetarians.

Cities were removed where comparable data could not be obtained, resulting in an index of 75 of the most vegetarian-friendly cities.

Nestpick then considered which factors are most important for vegetarians to live a happy and healthy life. The first factor they assessed was the affordability of maintaining a balanced vegetarian diet in each city.

To do this, they looked into the price of fruits, vegetables and plant-based protein products, factoring in purchase parity and relative affordability for local residents.

They then considered the cost of eating out, calculating the number of affordable vegetarian-friendly restaurants in every city as a share of all restaurants.

Next, the study turned to the robustness of the vegetarian ecosystem in each city.

For this, they looked at the availability and quality of vegetarian-friendly restaurants, including the total number per population and average rank of the top 10 vegetarian-friendly restaurants in every city.

They also calculated the percentage of all restaurants which are vegetarian-friendly and vegan-friendly.

When it came to the the top cities for vegetarians, Johannesburg ranked an overall 52 out of 75. London ranked the highest in the world.

The city of gold came in the top 10 for average rank of top vegetarian restaurants. It did not score very high for reasonably priced vegetarian goods, however. With fruit and vegetable affordability, Johannesburg ranked 67 out of 75 cities, and for plant-based protein products it also came in at 67.

London again had the highest ranking in the index, scoring strongly for the affordability of fruits and vegetables and its number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants.

Johannesburg came in at 34 out of 75 as a city with vegetarian-friendly restaurants and 33 for vegan-friendly eateries.

Cape Town ranked in the top 10 for cities with the highest number of affordable vegetarian restaurants.

“With more and more people looking to reduce their meat consumption, cities must cater to these needs with diverse vegetarian offerings if they want to attract young talent, particularly Millennials, Gen Z, and the even younger generations to come,” said Nestpick CEO Omer Kucukdere.

“The rise of vegetarianism and flexitarianism is an irreversible trend that will continue to embed itself in the cultural fabric of cities in the form of restaurants, cafes and events specialising in these offerings.

“Our study shows which cities are leading the pack and are therefore the most attractive propositions for vegetarians looking to relocate.”