Whether it’s in sarnies, fry-ups or – my own personal favourite – bangers and mash, Britain loves a sausage. But the meaty staple is now facing sizzling competition from plant-based counterparts, as a growing number of people attempt to cut down on their meat consumption.
Vegan and veggie diets are booming – not least in Veganuary – but many, like me, are leaning towards a more ‘flexitarian’ diet year round, eating mostly plant-based products but animal products on occasion.
This may go to explain the rash (ahem) of vegan meat replicas in our shops and food outlets. Facon bacon roll, anyone? And, sure, they can be divisive, but my goodness there seem to be A LOT of them.
Now the company that brought the UK its “first bleeding vegan burger” back in 2018 has come up with a new product – a vegan sausage. This isn’t your average vegan sausage, however. The unique selling point of the Moving Mountains Banger is... it has a skin.
Of the other veggie sausages I’ve tried (and I take this stuff seriously), Linda McCartney’s are my favourite. I’m also partial to a tub (yes, a whole tub) of Quorn cocktail sausages now and again. But while these companies continue to tweak their products, I’ve never encountered a vegan sausage with skin before and am all for giving it a go in a bid to eat less meat.
Like any ‘raw’ pink sausage – meaty or otherwise – the Moving Mountains offering does not look appetising as it hits the pan. But when it starts to brown (they’ve got that bit nailed), it doesn’t appear crumbly or ‘vegetably’ like other sausages you might have sampled. It looks like a proper juicy banger. It even smells meaty if you like that sort of thing. Which of course not everyone will.
But this is a sausage that makes me salivate. So can it really be meatless? I check the packet: 0% meat. The “raw plant meat” as it’s described is made from a mix of veg including oyster mushrooms and beetroot (for colour). The other ingredients include wheat and soy, oats, coconut and vitamin B12.
And that ‘skin’? It’s crafted from algae, apparently. The thought of this is less appealing, but then if you start to ponder a real sausage, with skin made from animal intestine or collagen, which really makes you feel more squeamish?
The blurb from Moving Mountains promises its product “looks, sizzles and tastes like pork” and I have to say, it’s the closest thing to a meat sausage I’ve tried. I’d say it’s best served with lashings of ketchup or mustard, according to taste, on a relaxing Saturday morning. I’m yet to try it with mash and gravy, but I’m sure it’ll be delish.
Moving Mountains products are now available to buy at Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
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