The zoo in Rotterdam surprised its visitors this week with a rather unique announcement: the standard kroket that they’ve been serving in their cafes and restaurants for the past three years isn’t made with meat - it’s vegetarian!

Diergaarde Blijdorp reveals its kroket is actually meatless

A number of restaurants and businesses across the Netherlands have recently swapped out their menus or dishes for vegetarian and vegan alternatives, and most of the time, customers know that what they’re ordering is veggie or vegan.

This hasn't been the case at one Dutch zoo, however. For the past three years, anyone ordering a broodje kroket at Diergaarde Blijdorp probably thought they were enjoying a regular kroket made with beef, but the zoo has confirmed that the standard kroket they serve has been vegetarian for three years. And now, they’ve swapped it again, making it vegan. 

Dutch zoo plans for all food served to be veggie or vegan

"With a green check mark next to the word "kroket", we let customers know that the snack is vegetarian," a spokesperson for the zoo told the Dutch news programme Editie NL, explaining that they want “visitors' first choice to be vegetarian."

According to the spokesperson, visitors didn’t even notice that what they were eating didn’t contain meat: "People really like it and sometimes can't believe that the kroketten are vegetarian.”

"We want to encourage visitors to make healthier and more animal-friendly choices. A zoo is the perfect place for that,” the spokesperson went on to say, adding that eventually, all foods served at the zoo would be vegetarian.