Meat seems, heura esHEURA FOODS
That the food industry never loses steam is something we already know: where there is a booming trend, there they are to get on the bandwagon. Even if it means falling into the most absolute incoherence, because you will tell me if not how we call the dairy lobby is on the one hand fighting in the EU that you can not call milk, yogurt or cheese to products of vegetable origin, while on the other they bring to the market their complete line of drinks and / or vegetable yogurts. We have Alpro de Danone, Vivesoy de Pascual, Vegetánea de la Central Lechera Asturiana or Begetal de Kaiku, without going any further.
Also the big meat companies, which after dedicating advertising campaigns to mock vegetarians, now have their own veggie line without any detriment that prevents them from giving everything so that they do not stick their heads out of vegetable products similar to theirs. They have vegetable lines Noël, Campofrío, Argal or La Piara, to give some well-known examples.
If that is not the graphic representation of the saying "to God begging and with the mallet giving" let him go down and see it. This situation means that the amount of vegan products available in large distribution does not stop growing – both with new brands dedicated exclusively to these products, and with the new veg lines of large corporations – and already covers several categories, and with it doubts arise about how to decide between the different options available. Let's do a review, to see if we clarify something.
Those who look like meat
For a few years, the challenge seemed to be to get the bloodiest burger and similar to a beef burger, the product with a texture as close as possible to chicken, the sausages most similar to the worst frankfurts or the vegetable nuggets more indistinguishable from those with meat. It was achieved, all that already exists: we even have those products already white label, who was going to tell us a few years ago, when tofu was a strange ingredient only locatable in herbalists.
If they are nugget type, better avoid them even if they are veganSEAN (FLICKR)
How do I choose a healthy product in the vegan meat imitation category? This category has already been analyzed a thousand times and being so broad today we can find products of good and poor nutritional quality in almost any format, depending on the manufacturer. To make a good choice, our only reliable ally is the list of ingredients: those products whose main ingredient is protein -soy or some derivative or pea protein are the most common- and the fat they carry is little and olive or rapeseed, will be the best options.
If in addition the product does not have more than one gram of salt for every 100 of product, then more points add. With these premises it is a little indifferent that it has been shaped into a hamburger, meatball or minced meat. In general, the best options are usually the wet extruded ones – those that imitate pieces of chicken – with which Heura broke into the national market a few years ago, but today they are also sold to us by Hacendado or the white brand of Aldi (the latter totally passed of salt, yes).
The battered precooked -that is, the nuggets-, are not a healthy option, not even in its vegetable version. The sausage format usually has a high fat content not especially interesting and would not be the most recommended options for frequent consumption. So generalizing, the ranking from most to least nutritionally recommended would be: products such as chicken pieces, some hamburgers, meatballs and chopped – here there are already many references of poor nutritional quality, so we must review the labeling – and closing the tail the sausages, nuggets and other similar batters.
Those that look like fish
For some time now, it seems that the new challenge is fish (which must be much more difficult to imitate than meat, I imagine). But it is already here, both in recognized brands and in private labels, with Lidl at the head that is making a big bet in the vegan food sector with its own brand Vemondo.
We have seen hake, canned tuna, roman 'squid', smoked 'salmon' or battered 'fish' fillets come onto the market, all with a vegan seal. And although the investment behind in R+D is undeniable, it is still striking – at least for nutritionists – that what is most imitated are the most unhealthy and lower quality products within the fish group. Battered and fried hake sticks are the worst nutritional choices we can make in terms of fish, in addition to being a product of low organoleptic quality.
Just as chungos as their fish colleaguesLike the Grand Canyon (FLICKR)
It is impossible not to wonder why invest in imitating such a product instead of imitating a sea bass fillet? I suppose it's easier to make an amalgam of fish masked by a powerful batter, sure, but is it worth it? Do you really miss the people who have decided not to kill fish, or who can't consume them, all that fritanga? It is clear that I am not the target audience for these products, but even so, it surprises me.
The same happens with tuna: the vegan product imitates tuna crumbs in vegetable oil, that is, the lowest category within that family of preserves. Not the belly in olive oil, which would have much more interest. Even so, this is less difficult for me to understand because it is true that canned tuna has a very characteristic and recognizable flavor, in addition to being very frequently consumed in the general population.
There are also vegan products that imitate fish and are not battered, Divina Teresa has a fillet of non-Atlantic fish (although it is not easy to find in supermarkets, it is rather from a specialized store). By the appearance it looks like a fillet of some white fish; Nutritionally it certainly improves the empanadas versions, but making them worse was complicated. The main ingredient is soy protein, and it carries konjac to give it that "pescadera" texture.
We also have the non-salmon fillet from Current Foods, which has pea protein, but the contribution remains low (about five grams per 100 of production). This same brand also has non-tuna dice, with a composition similar to that of salmon. They are preparations with enough water, which dilutes their nutritional contribution. Maybe they are worth it for their taste, I have not tried them: for their nutrients of course, no, for being a very low contribution considering the price (about five euros per 150 grams).
To finish we have the smoked salmon type products. Recently this product has come to Aldi from the hand of its white label; The truth is that it has no nutritional interest since it is basically starch and water. How do I choose a healthy product in the vegan category of imitation fish? The nutritional quality of the battered options is similar to the original: poor and not advisable for daily consumption, just like any precooked of that type. That they are vegan is not relevant in this regard.
Even so, it must be said in its favor that at least some references – those of Heura – use fats of higher quality than the usual precooked and their protein content is equal to or higher than the usual references of the market. With which, put to choose between a range of products of entry not recommended, there are better choices than others, both for nutritional profile -the differences are small, yes- and, above all, for being a more sustainable product that does not continue to perpetuate animal abuse. Lidl's private label alternative is nowhere to be taken, its nutritional profile is frankly bad and its protein intake negligible, and Findus' is also frankly unrecommended.
Something similar happens to us with canned "tuna", which at least uses rapeseed oil instead of sunflower and the rest of its composition is quite acceptable, as much as it hurts me to recognize a merit to Nestlé -Garden Gourmet-, who are the ones who have placed Vuna on the shelves of the super. Other brands at the moment are still available only in specialized stores. We cannot compare this product with a quality canned fish, nutritionally speaking, but it wins by not continuing to deplete the oceans, which is no small thing either.
Yes, that's vegan tunaNESTLÉ (FLICKR)
Now, the worst choice without a doubt within the fish-vegan range would be the calamari type preparations a la romana, since its nutritional contribution is very bad. They are usually made of konjac – a polysaccharide with almost zero nutrient input – because their texture is similar to that of the animal they imitate, so their protein intake is non-existent and basically it is like eating fried batter.
Current Foods' versions of diced tuna or salmon are not particularly bad nutritionally, but if they have a very low intake to be part of a main dish, although for a whim, they would pass the cut of "nutritionally acceptable". The "non-Atlantic fish" would be a little ahead, because it is more nutritionally dense. In summary: no product is really an option for frequent consumption, either because of its composition or because of its price and availability, but if you have to choose, let's compare and stay with those with a good protein profile and the best possible fat profile.
Those that look like cheese
With this category I have a divided soul since on the one hand there are several companies making vegan cheeses that are crazy, both in flavors and nutritional value. But they are brands that do not reach the large distribution, I do not know if because of their prices that are high or because their production does not yet give to supply the needs of a supermarket chain. They are still relegated to specialized trade and online sales.
But, beware: there is vegan cheese in supermarkets. Of another kind. It is a category that has taken over the Violife brand along with the white brands, especially Lidl that as we said goes for all in this trend. They are the opposite of the previous ones: a nutritional nonsense and a very deficient product in terms of gastronomic quality since, as happened with the category 'fish', again imitate the worst options within the cheeses: sliced cheeses, spreads or grated cheeses.
How do I choose a healthy product in the imitation cheese vegan category? Within the selection of vegan cheeses type slices or grated that we find in supermarkets, the truth is that I think there is none salvageable from the nutritional point of view. Its ingredients are basically coconut fat, starch and additives. That is, an amalgam more than dispensable in any diet.
Quite the opposite of what we can say about vegan cheeses made from nuts, ferments and some flavorings -herbs, paprika or spices-, which are not yet available in the large distribution. These are interesting both from the nutritional and organoleptic point of view, since in terms of flavor, texture and varieties, they are infinitely better.
We can find from the cured type, to camembert type, to smoked cheeses, soft cheeses: if you do not know them I am sure you will be surprised, they are small brands such as Väcka, La Carleta, Mommus, VeggieKarma .... I encourage you to discover them. As you can see, although both ranges of products are in the category of "vegan cheeses", their composition is nothing alike: it would be something similar to comparing a tranchete with an artisan cheese.
And yes, this is a vegan cheeseUNTO
Conclusions
In short: lights and shadows, and as almost always, there are great differences from one product to another within the same category, so we have to know how to choose. It is important that we do so, because when large multinationals have decided to invest in a range of products, it is very likely that it is here to stay. Of how savage capitalism appropriates a political option such as veganism, I am not going to give you the murga, because I already did it in this article for this same house (it is from 2018, and I can conclude today that its predictions were not left behind).
Allow me to rescue the last paragraph, aimed at the vegan consumer, which is much more necessary today: "And I tell you that we are settling for very little and that they are getting us as customers very easily, to us, who are the reservoir of the critical consumer and who reads the labels par excellence, they are winning us with a green uve drawn on the packaging". More and more packaging and more green grapes: that they find that there is also more and more criteria in consumers.
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