Local food worth trying
Laverbread, boiled, pureed seaweed traditionally gathered on the Pembrokeshire and Gower coasts, is naturally vegan and genuinely worth trying; it's usually pan-fried into a cake with oatmeal. The trap is how it's normally served . Losh's Pasties in St Davids makes proper vegan pasties and sausage rolls in the same Welsh baking tradition as the Cornish version along the coast, and several pub kitchens (the Harbour Inn, Solva; the Galleon Inn, Broad Haven) do a full vegan pub-food menu, meat-free chilli, curries, a nut roast, rather than a single marked substitution.
What to buy
The usual UK own-brand ranges apply, Tesco Plant Chef, Co-op GRO and Sainsbury's Plant Pioneers are the most consistently rated, but on this trail a village Co-op or Spar, not a big supermarket, is what you'll actually pass most days. Haverfordwest and Tenby are the two towns on or near the route with full-range supermarkets.
Good places on the trail
St Davids: Pilgrims Cafe (vegan breakfasts, vegan cakes), Grain (keeps a vegan pizza with dairy-free cheese), Losh's Pasties (vegan pasties and sausage rolls), The Bench Ice Cream Parlour (dairy-free ice creams and sorbets), The Really Wild Emporium (six-course vegan tasting menu) and Grub Kitchen just outside town (half the menu vegan). Solva: the Harbour Inn, a vegetarian/vegan pub menu (soups, meat-free chilli, curries). Broad Haven, on the seafront: the Galleon Inn, roughly 8 vegan mains and 6-7 vegan desserts, including a cashew nut paella and a cauliflower and red pepper curry. Newport (Pembs): The Canteen, build-your-own vegan and gluten-free pizza. Tenby: The Baytree (spicy bean burger, butternut squash pad Thai) and Fuchsia (vegan and gluten-free salads and mains). Narberth, a short detour inland: Plum Vanilla.
Trail treats
The Bench Ice Cream Parlour in St Davids does proper dairy-free ice cream and sorbet, not a single token flavour. The Galleon Inn's desserts in Broad Haven, carrot cake with ice cream, cherry lattice pie with custard, are both vegan and specifically called out by reviewers. Losh's Pasties in St Davids turns the vegan pasty into an easy grab-and-go trail snack rather than a sit-down meal.
Where to restock
St Davids, small as it is, has enough vegan-specific shopping (Losh's Pasties, the ice cream parlour) that it's worth treating as a proper stop rather than passing through. Haverfordwest, a short way inland, is the best full supermarket on the northern half of the route; Tenby covers the southern half before the quieter stretch towards Amroth.
Things that may not be vegan
Laverbread itself is vegan, but the traditional full Welsh breakfast serving comes with bacon and cockles on the same plate, and is sometimes fried in the bacon fat, ask for it as a starter or a laverbread cake on its own rather than assuming the breakfast version is meat-free. Welsh cakes, widely sold as a trail snack, are traditionally made with butter and egg and are not vegan unless a bakery specifically says otherwise.