Marks & Spencer slammed for selling 'ridiculous' £2 cauliflower steak

Marks and Spencer are being slammed on social media for selling sliced cauliflower as 'cauliflower steaks' for £2.

The new veggie offering became controversial when it was spotted by Twitter user Rachel Clarke, who is vegetarian and was looking for new things to try.

After coming across the cauliflower steak, she tweeted: 'Marks and Spencer stores are selling sliced cauliflower as ‘Cauliflower Steak’ with lots of lovely plastic and charging £2 (normally £2.50). A cauliflower costs about 69p from a local veg shop. 😑'

Speaking to the Mirror, Rachel explained why she thinks the product is pointless: 'I think the price point is too high for what it is, and this combined with the unnecessary packaging is just annoying.

'Food innovation is important and there are some great veggie/vegan products out there. However I think the retailers could try being more innovative in-store, encouraging customers to buy vegetables as they are, using recipes and encouraging adverts or if they do have to sell them pre-chopped - to consider alternative storage and packaging.'

And she wasn't the only one taking to social media to express her frustration with the brand over the 'ridiculous' product.

One Twitter user said: 'M&S charging £2.50 for 1 #CauliflowerSteak + loads of plastic. We got 6 "cauliflower steaks" from 1 whole cauliflower. Stop cheating #vegans @marksandspencer. Folks want to eat more veg but don't accept overpackaged extortionately priced food #Veganuary'.

A second tweeted: 'Well I’m not sure anything else I read today could be more ridiculous than this!!!'

A third also said: 'Nearly £10 a kilo for cauliflower! You almost have to pat them on the back for getting away with that!', while a fourth wrote: 'I imagine most vegetarians are able to slice their own cauliflower.'

Another Twitter user couldn't tell if the product was a joke: 'Wait what? Cauliflower steak is this some sort of joke?'

A regular cauliflower is sold at Marks and Spencer for £1, half the price they're selling the sliced version for.

Marks and Spencer have responded to the criticism when contacted my Metro, releasing the following statement: 'We have launched a ready-to-cook Cauliflower Steak with a herb dressing as part of our new Veggie range. This is for customers looking for a quick and convenient vegetarian meal option.

Addressing the packaging issue, they said: 'The plastic tray protects the product and is widely recyclable. We continue to look at ways to optimise our food packaging and ensure it can be widely recycled.'