Vegan kids at school: lunches, snacks and party food

The objection

“It’s cruel to make a child feel different. They’ll be the odd one out at every party, left out at lunch, missing out on normal childhood.”

The answer

Little is known about young vegans’ experiences, as a 2022 doctoral study of 12 vegan 11 and 12-year-olds in England notes [17], and two surveys that put numbers on it pull in different directions. In an online survey run in 2020, researchers from the University of Pisa, a Swiss paediatric institute and the Italian Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition asked 176 vegan parents across Italy about 188 children, and the parents of 7 of them (3.7%) said their child had ever been socially excluded (Bivi et al., 2021) [1]. Most of those children were very young, though, with 159 of the 188 aged six or under and 78 under two [1]. The parents fared worse, with criticism from family, friends or teachers in 63% of responses, and the authors read the low exclusion figure as a sign that children pay little attention to what their friends eat while the stigma around veganism stays strong among adults and teenagers [1]. Vegan pupils in the UK describe something harsher. In a 2021 survey of more than 250 of them by the campaign group Vegan-Inclusive Education, 73% said they had been teased and 42% bullied at school because of their vegan beliefs, sometimes by teachers or other staff [16]. The Italian parents were recruited through vegan Facebook groups and could only report what they saw [1], and the report of the pupils’ survey doesn’t say how they were found [16], so neither sample can be taken as typical.

Food is the part to plan with a professional. Dietitians of Canada says “anyone can follow a vegan diet”, naming children and teens [2], and the British Dietetic Association says plant-based diets can support healthy living at every age and life stage, in a 2021 fact sheet now under review [3]. Paediatric experts are warier. A 2026 meta-analysis of 59 studies (Lotti et al.) found vegan children shorter on average and eating less of several nutrients, including vitamin D, with particularly low calcium intakes, lower haemoglobin and ferritin, and higher odds of B12 deficiency, though most group averages stayed within children’s normal ranges [4]. In 2025 Europe’s paediatric nutrition society, ESPGHAN, recommended a daily B12 supplement, regular advice from a dietitian and a paediatrician’s monitoring for every vegan child [5]. For 5 to 10 year-olds, the UK charity The Vegan Society advises a daily vitamin D supplement in autumn and winter at least, and all year for children who don’t get sun on their skin or have darker skin [6]. It also advises a reliable source of iodine, ideally a supplement, and considering an omega-3 supplement made from microalgae [6]. The studies on growth and deficiencies are set out in full in whether a vegan diet is safe for children.

How do schools cater for vegan children?

Schools cater for vegan children unevenly, depending on the country and the school, so tell the school in writing before term starts. In England, Department for Education guidance (2026) says schools should make reasonable adjustments for pupils with particular requirements, such as medical, dietary and cultural needs, and that pupils who bring food from home must be given somewhere to eat it free of charge [8]. In the US, the National School Lunch Program’s rules count tofu, soy products, beans, peas and lentils towards the protein part of the meal, and let schools offer, though they needn’t, a nondairy drink in place of milk when a parent asks in writing, provided it meets set minimums for calcium, protein, vitamin B12 and other nutrients [9]. In Italy, school catering guidelines oblige schools to provide substitutes for children who don’t eat meat or other animal products, the survey’s authors note, yet school was the place its parents most often named as the hardest to find a vegan meal, and the parents of 63 of the 188 children said their school did not cater for vegan pupils, against 44 who said it did, while the other 81 were not of school age or never ate school meals [1]. Where the school meal falls short, a packed lunch fills the gap.

What can a vegan child take in a packed lunch?

A vegan child can take much the same packed lunch as the NHS suggests for any child in the UK, with beans or other pulses standing in for meat and cheese, and a fortified soya yoghurt for the dairy [10][11].

• A starchy base, wholegrain where possible: a sandwich, wrap, pitta or bagel, or a pot of pasta or rice [10].
• A protein filling that also brings iron, since the 2026 meta-analysis found lower haemoglobin and ferritin in vegan children [4]: hummus and salad in a wrap [10], beans, chickpeas, lentils or tofu [6], or nut butter where the school allows nuts.
• Fruit and vegetables: carrot, cucumber and pepper sticks with a small pot of hummus, cherry tomatoes, halved grapes, satsuma segments or berries [10]. The vitamin C in peppers and fruit helps the body absorb iron from plant foods eaten at the same time [6][11].
• Something for calcium, since the 2026 meta-analysis found vegan children’s intakes particularly low [4]: a fortified soya yoghurt, with calcium-set tofu and tahini as other sources, and in the UK bread as well, because calcium is added to white and brown flour by law [11].
• A snack such as plain popcorn or plain rice cakes [10].

Vegan meals and snacks can be so high in fibre that they fill a small child’s stomach quickly, so for younger children British Columbia’s health service suggests adding energy-dense foods such as nut butters, seeds, avocado and fortified plain plant-based yoghurt [7].

What party food is vegan, and what should the host check?

Much of a children’s party spread is vegan as it comes, and the host mainly needs to check labels for milk, egg and gelatine. A message before the day lets the host plan, and offering to send your child’s own food takes the pressure off one who may not know where to start.

• Fruit, vegetable sticks with hummus, and plain popcorn need no changes [10].
• Jam or hummus sandwiches work with a dairy-free spread in place of butter.
• Vegan sausages and sausage rolls cover the hot food.
• A vegan cupcake sent along means your child has something when the birthday cake comes out.

A host who wants to cook can find the usual traps, such as stock, butter and glazes, in what to make for a vegan guest.

Labels do much of the checking. On packaged food in the UK, milk and eggs are among the 14 allergens that a 2011 EU regulation, kept in UK law after Brexit, requires to be emphasised in the ingredients list, for example by a different font, style or background colour, which makes them quick to spot [12][13]. In the US, the law requires milk and eggs to be named in the ingredients or in a “Contains” statement beside them [14]. Gelatine is on neither list, so jelly and sweets need the ingredients read in full. It is the main protein used in marshmallows [15], and most of the world’s gelatine is made from pig skin and cattle hides and bones, with pig skin the largest source, according to a 2026 review [18].