Ten or 20 years ago, most people viewed the vegan and vegetarian wine movement as a lunatic fringe, one that few wine buyers could be bothered with and even fewer customers were interested in. Of the supermarkets, only the Co-op showed any interest in catering for its tastes.

How things have changed. More than half of Waitrose’s wines, some 735, are vegetarian-approved, and 545 are vegan. Marks & Spencer lists 549 vegetarian wines, of which 474 are vegan, while Booths has 368 vegetarian wines, of which 271 are vegan. Sainsbury’s is some way behind with 230 vegetarian wines, of which 200 are fine for vegans.

The Co-op’s vegetarian-friendly credentials came not from deliberately courting vegetarians, but as a result of being the first supermarket to put a full list of ingredients on the labels of its own wines. From 1999 on, the Co-op has insisted on suppliers revealing every last little ingredient in their wine and every treatment used in its production, even though there are only the tiniest traces, if any, of these additives and fining ingredients left in the wine after bottling. These can include EU-approved but headline-grabbing animal-derived products such as chitin (crustacean shell fibre), gelatine, fish oil and isinglass (or fish bladders).

It may be tongue-curling to discover that sulphur dioxide, tartaric acid, potassium metabisulphite, carbon dioxide, potassium bitartrate, yeast and egg albumen were all used in the Co-op’s tasty, vegetarian but not vegan-approved 2013 Truly Irresistible Malbec from the excellent La Riojana winery in Argentina’s Famatina valley, but the wine within is a £6.99 Fairtrade cracker, with lots of bold, spiced plum and mocha fruit. And if I was sensitive to sulphur or allergic to eggs, I would want to know. Ditto if I was allergic to milk, or its by-product, casein, or simply hellbent on a healthy and sustainable existence at all times. Even as a carnivore, I don’t see why, in this increasingly transparent age, vegetarian and vegan drinkers shouldn’t be able to make informed choices.

So, go green and order Vintage Roots’ 2015-16 list (0800 9804992) with oodles of vegan and vegetarian-suitable gems, including Paul Mas’s bold, bosky, red-fruited 2014 Cuvée Secrète, Pays d’Oc red, a merlot-cabernet franc blend, £9.75. Vinceremos (0113 2440002) is also great for veggie wine. Among the supermarkets, the delicious, leafy, juicy, 2014 Feiler-Artinger Blaufränkisch from Austria’s Burgenland and the fine 2013 Domaine Font de Michelle Châteauneuf-du-Pape are vegan and vegetarian-friendly red triumphs (Waitrose, £11.29 and £25.99 respectively). If it’s a cheaper, vegetarian-suitable white you want, try Sainsbury’s 2014 Taste the Difference Godello, £8, a bold, grapey, unoaked, floral, peachy, Spanish delight.

More than half of Waitrose’s wines, some 735 of them, are vegetarian-approved

THIS WEEK’S BEST BUYS

Taste the Difference 2015 Fairtrade Rambling River Sauvignon Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa
Sainsbury’s, £6 (down from £8) until March 15 
Fresh yet punchy western Cape white full of zesty, floral elderflower blossom .

Taste the Difference 2014 Fairtrade Leap Point Pinotage, Western Cape, South Africa
Sainsbury’s £6 (down from £8), until March 15 
Another Citrusdal winery special: a 14.5 per cent oak-chipped giant, brimming with rustic, sizzling steak-friendly fruit.

2014 Montagny, Les Carlins Burgundy, France
Lidl, £11.99 
Lidl’s just-in Easter specials won’t linger, so grab this delicious, light, lively, apple and stone fruit-fresh white burgundy right now.

2015 Foremost Syrah, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
Lidl, £8.99 
Nab this limited parcel (under 3,000 cases) of starry Kiwi syrah bursting with gorgeous zesty, pepper and cedar-spiced forest fruits.

2014 Gaia Notios White, Nemea, Greece
Oddbins, £12.50 
Bring back summer with this gorgeous, spicy, floral, exotic Peloponnese white: new wave Greek winemaking at its finest.

2013 Domaine des Bosquets Gigondas, Rhône, France
Oddbins, £25 
Big-food-loving, brilliant Mother’s Day treat with all the cracked black pepper, liquorice and violets of a top southern red rhône.

 Refried bean tacosServes 4

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
230g can refried beans
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1-2 tsp hot chilli sauce (optional)
4 taco shells
40g cheddar, grated
1 little gem lettuce, shredded

To serve
Avocado, sliced
Soured cream
A squeeze of lime and lemon juice

Method
1 Gently fry the onion in the olive oil in a frying pan for 4-5 min, stirring until soft. Stir in the beans.
2 Add the chopped tomato and fry until heated through. Season with salt.
3 Warm the taco shells according to the instructions on the packet and half-fill with the bean mixture. Top with the cheese and lettuce, and garnish with the avocado and soured cream. If you like your tacos spicy, (which I don’t) add 1-2 tsp hot chilli sauce to the tomato mixture.

Crunchy summer coleslaw

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 medium-large carrots
½ small white cabbage
Handful of trimmed mangetout
6 spring onions
Handful of trimmed radishes
1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp roughly chopped toasted hazelnuts
2 tbsp freshly chopped flatleaf parsley
Juice of ½ lemon
3 tbsp hazelnut oil
Mustard cress, to serve

Method
1 Peel and coarsely grate the carrots into a large mixing bowl. Finely shred the cabbage and add to the bowl along with the mangetout. Finely slice the spring onions, and add along with the poppy seeds, hazelnuts and parsley.
2 Whisk together the lemon juice and hazelnut oil, and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the coleslaw and mix together. Spoon into a serving bowl and scatter over mustard cress to serve.

Super vegetable salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

28 cherry tomatoes
3 florets of broccoli
12 green beans, cut into 2cm pieces
2 carrots, sliced into 2cm pieces
1 lettuce (I like romaine)
3 spring onions, finely chopped
100g polenta
250g tofu, cut into slices
Olive oil for frying
Handful of chopped herbs

For the dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6 and roast the cherry tomatoes for 10 min.
2 Cover the bottom of a pan with cold water and place a steamer above it. Put the broccoli, green beans and carrots in the steamer, turn the heat on quite high and steam for about 15 min, occasionally prodding the carrots with a fork to see if they are done. Some people like them slightly crunchy, others prefer them a little softer.
3 While the vegetables are steaming, mix the leaves and spring onions.
4 Combine the polenta and herbs in a bowl. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan. Dip the tofu in the polenta mixture, then fry until golden.
5 Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, and set aside.
6 Assemble your meal by first putting the salad on the plate, then the warm vegetables and finally the tofu. Pour over the dressing, then add a little seasoning sauce, such as Bragg or a sauce of your choice.

Minestrone with pearled spelt

Serves 4

Ingredients

200g farro/pearled spelt
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium turnip, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch of crushed dried chilli flakes
400g can chopped tomatoes
800ml to 1 litre vegetable stock
400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 bunch cavolo nero, shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated vegetarian parmesan to serve

Method
1 Rinse the farro in a sieve under cold running water, tip into a bowl, cover with cold water and soak for 20 min while you prepare the soup base. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped vegetables and cook over a low-medium heat for 10-15 min until tender, but not coloured. Add the crushed garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a further 1 min.
2 Pour the tomatoes into the pan, add the stock and bring to the boil. Drain the farro and add to the pan. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and cook the soup for 25 min until the vegetables are tender and the farro is cooked.
3 Add the cannellini beans and cook for a further 2-3 min. You may need to add extra stock if the soup is too thick. Add the cavolo nero and cook for 3-4 min until tender.
4 Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve in bowls with a drizzle of olive oil, a scattering of grated parmesan and slices of toasted sourdough bread.

Deliciously nutty carrot cake

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

100g walnuts
375g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 large organic eggs
375ml groundnut or sunflower oil
450g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g carrots, coarsely grated
40g raisins
100g desiccated coconut
2 tsp juice from an orange, plus the zest
50g softened unsalted butter
3 tbsp honey or maple syrup
300g cream cheese

Method
1 Grease the insides of two 20cm cake tins and line each of the bases with a disc of buttered baking parchment.
2 Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
3 Tip the walnuts into a small roasting tin and toast in the oven for 5 min. Reserve a handful to decorate, and roughly chop the remainder and leave to cool slightly.
4 Sift together the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and ground cinnamon.
5 In another bowl whisk together the eggs, groundnut/sunflower oil, golden caster sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the toasted walnuts, grated carrots, raisins, desiccated coconut, orange zest and juice. Mix thoroughly until combined, then stir in the sifted dry ingredients until smooth. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins.
6 Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 min or until a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cakes. Remove the cakes from the oven and after a few minutes, turn them out to cool on a wire rack until completely cold.
7 Beat together the butter and honey until combined. Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth. Place one of the cake layers on a serving plate and spread with half of the cream cheese frosting. Top with a second cake and cover the top with the remaining cream cheese. Scatter with the reserved toasted walnuts to serve.

Beetroot, chicory and feta salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 bunch (about 5) golf ball-size beetroot, trimmed of stalk and leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
100g pecans
2 tbsp clear honey
2 red onions, chopped into wedges
3 garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled
2 ripe pears, quartered, cored and sliced
2 heads chicory, in separate leaves
Large handful of wild rocket
150g feta, crumbled

For the dressing
3 tbsp walnut oil
Juice of ½ lemon
1 rounded tsp dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method 
1 Preheat the oven to 180C /gas 4. Lay a large piece of foil in a small roasting tin, tip the beets into the middle, season and drizzle with half of the olive oil and the red wine vinegar. Seal the foil and roast for 1 hour or until tender when tested with the point of a sharp knife.
2 Tip the pecans into the roasting tin and drizzle with the honey. Stir to coat, then roast for about 10 min until sticky and glazed. Set aside to cool on a plate.
3 Bake the onions and garlic cloves, drizzled with olive oil, for 30 min until tender and starting to caramelise.
4 To make the dressing, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skin into a small bowl, add the remaining ingredients and gently whisk. Peel the beets and cut into wedges. In a large serving bowl layer the beetroot, onion, pears, chicory, wild rocket, crumbled feta and honey-roast pecans. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Spiced couscous with sweet potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 small sweet potatoes
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
150g giant wholewheat couscous
500ml light vegetable stock or water
Handful of raisins, preferably organic
1 rounded tsp za’atar
50g unshelled, unsalted pistachios, chopped

To serve

1 lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
2 tbsp freshly chopped flatleaf parsley
1 tbsp freshly chopped mint

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 200C /gas 6.
2 Scrub the sweet potatoes and cut each into 6 wedges. Tip into a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and black pepper and roast for about 20-25 min, or until the sweet potato is tender and is starting to caramelise at the edges. Add the pumpkin seeds to the pan for the last 5 min.
3 Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the couscous and cook gently for 2-3 min until starting to brown. Add half of the stock to the pan and cook for about 15 min (adding stock as you go), stirring frequently until the couscous is tender and has absorbed the liquid. Add the raisins, za’atar and pistachios to the pan, season and cool slightly.
4 Mix the lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil and pour over the warm sweet potato. Gently stir the freshly chopped herbs and roasted sweet potato wedges into the couscous and serve with extra lemon wedges for squeezing over.

Recipes taken from The Meat-Free Monday Cookbook by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney (Kyle Books, £15.99)