7 November 2019

Wait - This isn't Bacon?! Plant-Based Rashers - Vegan (from @Ocado) by @NLi10

I like to try things that bridge the gap between carnivores and plant eaters, and the one thing that no one can get right is bacon.  Proper bacon has to have so many different properties - including it's crispiness and smell that it's almost impossible to nail.  The closest i've had before was basically spam fritters (but vegan).


This isn't bacon aims to take the prize.  The fact that they put a window on the packet and it looks like something from a museum biology section is not a good first take.


These guys decided that what vegans actually want is pretend meat, then they admit that what they want is stuff that is like meat, but not sliced pig.  This is a good sign.

The fact it needs oil is a bad sign - the marbling of the 'meat' should provide that.


It looks like pickled herring or some other odd fish.


Yup - this is kippers.  Smells like bacon though.


And it goes quite crispy (note I added another one) but ends up basically like jerky.


My review in balanced meal shocker (yup - that's a chicken Pieminister as a side dish)!

And it's great.  Not 'oh this is all they had', but genuinely great!  It's not bacon, but if you had a slightly tougher salted fish in mind then this is basically the vegan version of that.  And I can fritz one or two up and add it to any meal I'm cooking for my veggie partner and have a guilt free meat-like experience while still secretly hugging the pigs.

I don't think it passes for meat (but in the same way the stuff off the Vegan Grindhouse food truck doesn't but no one actually minds), but I think it's something that has flavours that even the most blood-thirsty carnivore would enjoy.  Especially if it's next to a lovely pie.

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