I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece.
Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.
The article is not funded by the meat industry the BBC is not PBS. The article is talking about a culture where junk food is ubiquitous (the UK) and where vegan junk food is being touted as a healthy alternative.
The British media pushes gastric bypass surgery before pushing plants.
The authors of these BBC articles (Worklife/Future) are quite independent. They are typically asked to research and write about a specific topic. Some times they can't help but bring their own bias to the discussion.
Parsley would have been a wonder food if not for all the oxalic acid (is that the correct english name?) and other anti-nutrients. Spinach is better, but not by that much. Beans and whole-grain grains are where it's at!