Let it be known that I am not against vegetarianism, I have flirted with the idea myself over the decades; but have always returned to an omni-diet.
Someone (who shall remain nameless) left these veggie sausages in my fridge recently, so in the interests of gastronomy I felt obliged to give them a go.
They are described as 'Chorizo Style Bangers', and are made from 'pea protein', red pepper, mushroom, and seasonings. The pack assures me that they are suitable for vegans.
The ingredients would normally cause no alarm; everyday vegetables with seasoning. What they then do with those ingredients, I have no idea. Grind them up I suppose, and squirt the resulting 'product' into casings. They were made for, and sold by, Tesco (A wonderful store; I'm a shareholder).
So, yesterday morning I threw caution to the winds, went against everything I have learned over the past 50 years, and tucked-in.
I'm sure you already know what my verdict is going to be. Yes, they were awful. They were totally bland regardless of having been described as 'Chorizo Style', and had an unpleasant texture. I was not surprised that all but one had been abandoned in our fridge. Luckily I also cooked myself some Haggis and Black pudding at the same time, so my breakfast was not all lost. I'm afraid after one mouthful, the sausage went to ground.
Only having consumed some of the 'sausage', and taken a photo of the packet, did I turn it over to find that it had been reduced from £2.50 to 63p. Had I seen that before my product test, I wouldn't have touched them with a vegan bargepole.
Verdict: As expected. 0/10. Possibly the worst thing I've tasted for years..
54 comments:
Have never understood why a vegan would want to eat something that pretends to be a meat product.
I dont mind the Linda McCartney veggie sausages. They arent too bad. But if you dont like the texture of a Richmond sausage, then you wont like these as they are pretty much the same
Tigger, you nailed it in fewer words than available to me. Vegetarian/vegan sausages, burgers? Oh, the irony of it!
The other day, not that it's news to me, it was brought to general attention how some of that "healthy" imitation food is produced. It's shocking. Shocking not only in terms of nutritional value; shocking in terms of the often cited environmental impact it has. Good fresh produce is being deconstructed, put through some chemical processes, then put together again. Bon appetit.
U
Starting with the ingredients they had, and adding a few natural flavourings, one might have imagined that they could produce something quite pleasant; but NO.
I think I shall resist ALL sausages until I return to France in the Summer.
Consider yourself fortunate that you didn't find any vegan bacon to fry up with the sausages.
I use the vegan aisle every time I visit the supermarket. Here it's called the veg bit.
I've often wondered what those faux meat products tasted like. They have suddenly appeared in our supermarket but are so expensive there is no way I would think of trying them. Thank goodness for your review. The big question is always 'why would a vegan want to eat anything that's supposed to resemble meat'. If you want a meat product then eat meat for goodness sake.
Did Billy get a sniff?
When I eat veggie (about once or twice a week) I tend to buy vegetables or pasta or fish; all in their original form. I can't really see the point in taking good healthy foods, and making them into something that resembles meat; yet tastes ghastly. Bacon is another good example.
See my answer above. No I didn't give Billy any, I was honestly worried that it might upset his stomach.
Right there with you Cro. Tried vegetarianism {is that the correct spelling? Just looks wrong.) Best done yourself and not from a supermarket, and especially Tesco (sorry). Tried being a vegan...didn't work, although I have vegan friend who actually make their own food and it's absolutely delicious. Both try to make their food into sausages, burgers, steaks, why? If they miss meet, then just get a nice juicy leg of lamb. As you can probably guess, I'm a carnivore with a guilt complex. The answer for me is to just eat less meat. Difficult when you walk past the deli counter though.
They look ok, don't they.
While I've mentioned it before, we once bought Tesco's party pies in Hexham. It was hilarious. There was about a teaspoon of gravy in each pie. Ok, they were cheap, but still. We also bought English grown lamb loin chops there, and they were the best and sweetest meat I have ever eaten.
My favourite veggie meal is what we call 'Compost Fry-up'. It consists of whatever vegs are found in the garden. Cooked then fried, and lastly sprinkled with ground Cumin. It is totally delicious, and other than cooking, nothing has been done to alter or disguise their origins.
Anyone who would reject a good Lamb chop in exchange for a veggie sausage, must be crazy. Meat forever!
I am with Tigger on this subject!
Butcher's is best.
So am I. And I suspect are most people.
Mankind are carnivores, so for both health and taste, meat comes top.
Proper home cooked vegetarian food is delicious, I know I was a veggie for years but this stuff they are putting out there to try to get us all Vegan is disgusting.
Of course you'll always get the dimmies who will get tricked with all the advertising that is going on.
Briony
x
We rather like the Linda McCartney rosemary and red onion vegan sausages. There is always at least one pack in our freezer. Just follow instructions on the pack and do not overcook.
I taste tested some veggie products on my blog last November - some were OK some not so good but I didn't try sausages as I knew without even trying that they would be weird!
When you eat a salad you are being vegan. When you eat an apple or a banana you are being vegan.
Grinding up a dead pig and squirting the remaining 'product' into casings sounds far more disgusting than doing it to vegetables. If your introduction to vegan food is through processed food it's bound to fail. I'm vegan and I wouldn't eat those sausages.
But not if accompanied by a nice juicy steak.
We eat veggie once or twice a week, but the things I prepare are delicious; not tasteless faux-meat products.
I'd rather eat vegetables for their own qualities. Aubergines, peppers, courgettes, etc, why change them; they're superb as they are.
I should have known better, but the picture was very inviting.
I don't think many people would buy them more than once. They really were awful.
It's a good thing you only had a tiny taste of the sausages!
The 'use by' date was January 6th, and the pack was already opened, you could have given yourself food poisoning! I don't take much notice of 'use by', but you were pushing your luck with them!
Sausages should always be made with animal, preferably well cared for, lovely, chunky pigs, who have spent their lives snuffling around happily!
In this house, being Vegan is eating a piece of fruit, and I 'de-veganise' (did I just create a new word?) my 'Bang Bang Cauliflower' by serving it with a pork steak! X
I cannot understand why vegans cling to meat words like sausages, bacon etc when meat is supposedly so alien and wicked.
The best vegetarian and vegan products I have found are made by old firms Tival and Fry's, originally for the orthodox Jewish market. They've been at it for ages and make very good frankfurters, schnitzel and reasonable sausages. For some reason the 'best' vegan sausages taste like stuffing, which you can make for pennies from a packet or stale bread, rather than shelling out for these products, and the worst are like rancid paste in a plastic tube. As many people point out, good vegan meals start with the veg draw!
Urgh! Sirloin and banana! Sounds disgusting.
The other day I had my first McDonalds plant burger. It was delicious. There are many sound environmental reasons for reducing our meat intake.
We eat meatless meals at least twice a week here, but we don't try to disguise the fact. It seems to me that these 'chorizos' would fall under the heading of 'processed food' and isn't that something we're supposed to avoid?
Why if you don't eat meat, so they serve vegetables which are made to look like meat, I just don't get it, we eat meat free a couple times a week, we never try and pretend there is anything looking like meat in our meals.
As a veggie I can agree that some of the band wagon offerings are dire!!
We quite like Cauldron veggie sausages.
Not meant to taste like meat.. thankfully!!
No surprise. I've never tasted a meatless product that was even close to good. Eating lots of veg is wonderful and like you, I cook my own and make sure they are tasty.
I've been a vegetarian for 40 years but the rest of my household eats meat. Many, many times I've been dishing up dinner and realized I'd forgotten to prepare something to bulk up my own dinner plate. Those quick to heat up plant based products have saved my dinner many times. Vegan sausages have never been my thing but I find a good soy burger delightful.
I think you hit the nail on the head there. I think the ones Cro had were the rancid paste in the plastic tube it looks like it to me from the picture.
if you dont make them your self, cauldron falafel are the best premade if you ask me. In a wrap with a lot of good salad. Divine
Sounds good to me.
Agreed!
My daughter in law makes a good black bean burger. That being said, my husband's head would probably explode if I tried to duplicate that.
I have never even tried any vegetarian "meat" products. I don't even pick up the packs to read the ingredients. I know my body and taste buds prefer the real thing. I often do cook just a bunch of vegetables without any meat for my dinner though.
I've never eaten a bad falafel, but they've always been freshly made.
When we eat veggie, we never pretend we're eating meat. I'm surprised that so many do.
I often make Chickpea based burgers (not unlike falafel), which are delicious.
When I was at college it was trendy to be veggie. I can assure you that I ate many disasters!
There are always adverts on UK TV for veggie 'mincemeat'. They call it Quorn, and I would never touch it.
Had I seen the date, and reduced price, I wouldn't have touched them. Yes, I'm lucky I wasn't ill.
It does seem odd. I suppose it demonstrates their true yearnings!
We ate veggie last night, but it certainly wasn't disguised.
In this house, if it looks like meat, then it IS meat.
I find that much of this processed stuff is either tasteless or has a terrible aftertaste from all the chemicals or additives. And my soy sensitivity means any of those products are off the list. I'd rather eat the real stuff!
Seconded. They are quite light - a lot of pre-made varieties are rather solid. I also quite like the Al-Faz packet variety you make up with water as you can easily add a little more water to avoid the stolid lump falafels can be, and maybe some whole or coarsely mashed chickpeas for more texture, and shape them to whatever form you want for burgers, falafel sausage sandwiches, wraps etc.
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