In London (UK) Veganism is a REAL problem to Vegetarians. I am not saying that it is the Vegan people's fault, but simply that currently Veganism is the lowest common denominator between Vegans and Vegetarians and 7/10 restaurants have mostly replaced their Vegetarian options with Vegan options and Vegetarians are getting really pissed off.
Vegetarian here (though often I end up going many days without eggs or dairy), I don't have any beef with Vegans.
I'm fine with eating vegan options as well, I only use eggs and dairy products at home because I can't replace everything yet. I'm currently looking at some new egg replacement products, which would allow me to get far closer to the ideal, 100% vegan, diet.
That said, I actually like Beyond Meat, Moving Mountains, Nestlé's Garden Gourmet's Incredible Burger, Rügenwalder's products, etc. When I started living vegetarian in 2011, all the replacement products were shit and I ended up just making all food from scratch instead.
I'm genuinely happy that all these options exist nowadays, while I don't use them every day, they've become a staple of our diet by now, as they make adapting omnivore recipes much easier. I can always adapt it further later.
And I know some vegetarians who get "meat cravings" every few months, which these products help with – they allow fulfilling the craving without resorting to actual butchered animal flesh.
This is an unusual point, and one that I've never heard before.
If anything, since veganism started becoming popular, the options in restaurants have increased. There are places that previously didn't offer any or many vegetarian options, and now have more options (Gregg's and KFC are two that come to mind).
