Halal and kosher dinner guests account for a larger proportion of diners as vegans at the Christmas dinner table this year according to new research, despite members of Islam and Judaism not typically celebrating the Christian festival.

Leading savings site, VoucherCodes.co.uk, looked at dietary requirements over the festive period and reveals that 54% of Christmas dinners in London will host someone with specific needs, with halal being the most likely to need accommodating (12%).

But, despite its growing popularity, veganism is still a relatively insignificant barrier for those preparing this year’s meal. Just 9% of festive dinners will need to cater specially for vegan guests, while a higher number will need to provide either halal or kosher food.

Most common Christmas dinner dietary requirements this year:

The study also analysed people in London’s views on having to cater for guests with particular dietary needs, and it looks as though this could cause some family friction: more than one in 10 people expect dietary requirements to be the root of an argument on Christmas day (12%).

Across the UK, 12% of those responsible for cooking Christmas dinner consider it a “significant hassle” to accommodate guests with dietary needs – unsurprising considering respondents also anticipate an average extra cost of £12.99 to cater for each person with specific restrictions.

But, dietary-related concerns are also shared by a fifth of guests who fear being judged because of their requirements.

Brummies are most likely to need additional arrangements made for them, with more than half of meals in Birmingham (51%) having at least one guest with a particular requirement, such as allergies or a gluten intolerance. By contrast, Christmas guests in Liverpool are easiest for their hosts as just under a quarter of meals are likely to include someone who needs to be specially catered for (23%).