OKAY so you’re not going to crack one of those tired old jokes about plastic shoes to Serena Williams. Or to that boxer David Hayes.

They’re both apparently vegans. And therefore once-upon-a-time also seen as future inheritors of the earth.

Though somehow that meekness that vegans are always tagged with doesn’t fit anymore. And weirdly that, well, weirdness that veganism was also once labelled with is completely passe.

So what I hear you say? It’s not just that sales of Almond Milk have gone up by roughly 2,500 per cent in the last year or so. Yes I know that could mean they now sell 25 cartons or so, but somehow I don’t think it does. Or that Helman’s has created an egg free mayo and Flora a non-dairy marge.

It’s perhaps not that surprising either that Pret A Manger, pricey and faintly pretentious purveyors of posh sandwiches, now has a vegan range.

But it is surely surprising that generic middle market chains including All Bar One and Las Iguanas now have vegan options too.

What’s going on? Has veganism with its highly laudable non-animal, non dairy, consuming mantra spread like wildfire?

According to estimates anyway because how would you actually count these things, there are half a million vegans in the UK. But that’s surely not enough to justify these significant changes.

Could it be that there are more and more people like me who are inwardly appalled at the staggering scale of unbelievable horrors involved in bringing meat to our tables, yet still don’t turn down a good steak but…When given the option of a vegan meal are usually surprised by how tasty and light it is.

In fact such is the hassle involved in putting together a vegan meal at home - for non vegans anyway - that restaurants would seem to be the perfect place to eat them. Though it’s got to be mentioned that supermarket sales of vegan dishes are said to have jumped 1,500 per cent last year.

Or is veganism is simply becoming trendy? I mean the food and not necessarily the lifestyle. I don’t offer this as any proof whatsoever of that, but The Herald magazine Christmas party was in a vegan bar in the vegan central CCA.

Food was very good as well. It’s not that there was a lack of vegan restaurant choice either. Stereo, Mono, Ramjt’s Kitchen, Picnic (just opened), Soy Division, Hug N’ Pint and Saramago. That’s simply a fraction of the number of vegan restaurants in Glasgow in business today.

There are now so many that Glasgow is routinely mentioned as having the largest numbers of vegan restaurants in the UK. Curiously though I can’t think of a single dedicated vegetarian restaurant here. Figure that? Is there still a vegetarian image problem?

Anyway, we’ve come a long way since the No Mean City days. But that doesn’t mean anyone would recognise this city as being full of meek n’mild, sandal wearing types. Herald magazine personages including myself aside. It may simply be that like our continental neighbours we’re becoming choosier about what we put in our mouths. Or that vegan cooking has finally come of age. Probably both.