Brought up a lot of vegetarian food, sadly (4)
I believe the answer is:
alas
'sadly' is the definition.
('alas' is used to express regret)
I don't understand the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alas that I've seen before include "By bad luck" , "Sad expression" , "I'm sorry to say" , "Sadly, unfortunately" , "express regret thus" .)