One thing I thought I'd never taste is a _good_ vegetarian sausage. But the culinary world never ceases to amaze me.
It never ceases to amaze me how many “fake meat” products have burst onto the market. It seems the public has finally come around the benefits of soy protein and of cutting a little red meat out of the diet.
One food item I thought I’d never see is vegetarian sausage. Not breakfast sausage – that’s been on the market for a while, and anyone who’s ever eaten penne with sausage knows there is no substitute for the real thing – Italian, bratwurst, and my personal favourite – the cheddar-stuffed sausage.
Cheese plus sausage is a sinful combination. I remember getting samples of such foods Saturday mornings at Price Club with my mom, and her buying them only on special occasions because let’s face it – they are not exactly a health-conscious everyday kind of choice.
Enter Veggie Patch ovo-lacto vegetarian Jalapeno Cheddar gourmet sausages. I’ve tried other brands (Tofurky, Yves, etc.) but the addition of cheese to these things really brings back memories.
And what is more delicious than a combination of wheat gluten and soy protein? Sounds gross, right? In my experience, combination products like this have the best taste and texture.
Anyway, my expectations were not high for these sausages, especially when cooked in their suggested manner of “microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds”. But…these.sausages.were.amazing. If they were barbecued, they would probably pass for the real thing because they do contain some fat - though their 7 grams per link is dwarfed by the fat in a "real" sausage. Did I mention they are only 100 calories a pop? I will admit that the first time I tried them, I ate two.
The cheese may be processed and these sausages may not be vegan, but they are the darned closest thing I’ve had to meat since becoming vegetarian seven years ago. The texture and taste were perfect!
I will definitely be buying these sausages again, which is saying something as I’m sure I’ve passed them by dozens of times before trying them once. Come barbeque season, I will no longer be lugging along sad veggie burgers.
If nothing else, the advent of delicious meat-free delicacies such as these – neither healthy nor masquerading as such – indicates that vegetarians do not have to be “granola-crunching hippies” eating plain tofu and strumming on guitars. Vegetarianism is mainstream, baby! And I welcome it with open arms.
