SALES of vegan products are soaring,, with 600,000 Brits claiming to have given up animal produce in a bid to boost their health and save the environment.
Shoppers spent £474million on meat-free items in 2019, an increase of 18 per cent on the previous year.
Everything from chocolate to cheese, pizza and chicken nuggets can be vegan, but how do they taste?
Mum-of-two Lynsey Hope did a blind taste test on a selection of best-selling vegan items to see if she could tell the difference between meat products and their alternatives . . .
Gregg's Traditional Sausage Roll v Gregg's Vegan Sausage Roll
THE giveaway was not in the flavour but the pastry.
The “sausage” in the vegan product was convincing. I could barely tell the difference.
But the pastry was a dead giveaway. The vegan version didn’t have the buttery flakiness of a traditional roll, with a texture feeling closer to cardboard.
The vegan “meat” is made using mycoprotein, a fungus, the pastry looks anaemic.
- Spot the difference? YES
Green & Blacks Organic Dark Chocolate v Keep It Raw Ombar Dark Choc
BOTH bars contained around 70 per cent cocoa and tasted quite bitter.
The Green & Blacks had a stronger, more bitter flavour.
I mistakenly thought this might have been something added to disguise the lack of taste so wrongly picked it out as the vegan chocolate.
Both tasted good, but I’m more of a milk chocolate girl and would miss Dairy Milk if I gave up animal produce.
- Spot the difference? NO
No Dough Pizza Company Vegan Margherita v Pizza Express Classic Margherita
PICKING up the vegan pizza, I could tell something wasn’t right.
It felt like one of those pizzas made on a wrap without a firm base. It was very floppy and I was immediately suspicious.
Taking a bite, the fake cheese was also easy to spot. It felt more like a sauce and tasted more like salad cream.
I was relieved to take a bite of the traditional Margherita to get rid of the taste. The vegan version definitely wasn’t for me.
- Spot the difference? YES
Waitrose and Partners Duck Spring Rolls v Asda Plant Based Duckless Spring Rolls
THE Asda spring rolls were quite tasty but they tasted similar to a veggie spring roll, rather than a duck one.
There was no mistaking the meaty duck taste in the Waitrose ones. It was easy to spot the difference.
I’m not sure the Asda vegan rolls are a replacement for meat, and they’re not necessarily healthier either, with 125 calories compared to 92 in the meaty ones.
- Spot the difference? YES
Birds Eye Fish Fingers v Totally Vegan Quorn Fishless Fingers
THESE two were quite hard to tell apart. I guessed correctly but only just. I think it may have been more by chance.
There was a bit more fish taste to the Birds Eye fish fingers, which felt like a slightly higher-end product compared to the vegan ones.
When I took my blindfold off, you could see the flaky fish inside but with your eyes closed it would be hard to know the difference.
- Spot the difference? YES
Sainsbury's Plant Pioneers Meat Free Burgers v Birds Eye Original Beef Burgers
THE Vegan burger was unmistakable. The texture was clearly like mushrooms.
However, when I took off the blindfold it looked quite appealing, so much so that I’m sure I would pick one over the the frozen Birds Eye burger.
A surprise to me was that the vegan burgers were higher in calories than the meaty alternative – 184 compared with 110 from Birds Eye.
- Spot the difference? YES
Naked Glory Vegan Sausages v Richmond Thick Pork Sausages
I WAS fooled here as the vegan sausage had lots of added flavour from herbs and spices.
It disguised the taste of the soya protein the sausages are made from and made them taste like one of those posh, higher-end sausages you see in the shops these days.
I’d say it’s not a bad option if you’re vegan. It also contained less fat, sugar and salt than the Richmond sausage.
- Spot the difference? NO
Conte Priuli Prosecco DOC v Thomson & Scott Brut Organic Vegan Prosecco
THE organic Vegan prosecco was delicious, and out of everything I tried today I’d definitely buy it again.
The manufacturer says no gelatin, albumin or casein were used to make it so it is suitable for all.
It tasted high end and came at a price, £15 on Amazon, so more than you’d pay for supermarket fizz.
It’s produced from grapes at the foothills of Italy’s Dolomites – a real treat.
- Spot the difference? NO
Ginsters Cornish Pasty v West Cornwall Pasty Company Vegan Green Thai Vegetable Curry
THE vegan pasty was very tasty, with lots of spices added, and I’d definitely buy one again if I needed lunch on the go.
With the Ginsters traditional one I could clearly taste the meat. It was easy to tell the difference but the vegan pasty was nicer.
It was full of red and green peppers, sweet potato and a light curry sauce – delicious. But I don’t suppose it’s a very healthy lunch!
- Spot the difference? YES
Birds Eye Chicken Nuggets v Totally Vegan Quorn Crunchy Nuggets
THESE two tasted virtually identical and I found it hard to choose which nuggets were meat.
In the end I guessed incorrectly. The Quorn nuggets tasted the same so the manufacturers have done a good job of replicating the chicken taste.
The fact it was hard to tell the difference made me wonder what was in the meat nuggets, though Birds Eye says they are 100 per cent chicken.
- Spot the difference? NO
We tried KFC’s brand new VEGAN burger
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