This week on the podcast we discussed our favourite fake meats and reviewed some of the big brand plant-based burgers on the market.
The plant-based protein industry has really taken off over the past few years. We’re seeing fast food places releasing plant-based burgers and larger companies rushing to cash in the trend with their own versions of plant-based protein, in Australia alone the plant-based protein industry is predicated to soar to an esitmated 3 billion industry by 2030.
But not everyone is behind it, the plant-based protein industry is such a game changer it has emerged with critics on both sides.
Take the rebel whooper at Hungry Jacks for example, there was outrage from some vegans when they realised that the burger was being cooked on the same grill as the meat burgers.
On the other side of the fence meat eaters are up in arms that popular brands they identify with are jumping on the band wagon, 4’n’20 pies for example annouced a new plant based pie coming out in April and watched their socials blow up with stans and haters alike.
Now as a vegan I respect that some other vegans don’t want their food cross contaminated by animal products and but I also see that move by larger non-vegan companies to cater to plant-based diets is a win. Which is why we reviewed our favourite plant-based burgers. We have spilt the reviews up into three categories with a possible 5 points in each category: Texture, Taste and Price.
Beyond burger has a firm meaty texture, it holds it’s shape well when cooking and has great balance smoky flavour and mix of herbs, but at $12 for 2 patties it is a bit pricey.
Rochelle Texture: 5/5 Taste 4.5 / 5 Price 2.5 /5
Daniel Texture: 4.5 / 5 Taste 4.5 / 5 Price 2.5 / 5 total points 23.5 / 30
We found the Veef burgers to be a bit mushy, they don’t hold together as well and it made for more of sloppy joe style burger than regular burger, taste was okay, we differed on our opinons with this burger, Daniel felt it was unpretenious and I felt it just wasn’t as good. But at $8 it’s certainly more reasonable.
Rochelle: Texture: 2/5 Taste 2 / 5 Price 3.5 / 5
Daniel : Texture : 3.5 / 5 Taste 3.5 / 5 Price 3.5 /5 total points: 18.5 / 30
Unreal foods Italian style burgers
The Unreal foods company’s Italian style burger was is pretty fantastic, at less than $6 at the supermarket it’s competative pricing definately gives it an edge. But aside from the price the burger had a classic homemade kind of tatse, they incorporated a more complex palette of flavours and we both appreciated that. The texture held up during cooking and serving and though it was a little crumbly it wasn’t as firm as Beyond and it wasn’t as mushy as Veef, it wa just right.
Rochelle: Texture 4 / 5 Taste: 4.5 / 5 Price 4 / 5
Daniel: Texture 3.5 / 5 Taste 4.5 / 5 Price 4.5 / 5 total points: 26.5 / 5
V2 foods and the Hungry Jacks Rebel Whooper
We both love this burger, being able to go into a fast food place and order a plant-based burger is such an exciting moment for vegans. The texture is firm and taste is very close to the original meat whooper patty. And at $8 it is a pretty reasonable price for a fast food vegan burger.
Rochelle: Texture 4.5 / 5 Taste 4.5 / 5 Price 4 / 5
Daniel: Texture 4.5 / 5 Taste 4.5 / 5 Price 4 / 5 total points 26 / 30
The Unreal foods company beat out the Rebel Whooper with half a point! Our number pick from these four plant-based burgers is the Unreal Italian Style Burger.
Check out the episode to hear a little more about the each burger, streaming this week on Itunes and Spotify.
May Contain Traces of Soy 