At Quattro we’re committed to manufacturing top quality food products and equally passionate about listening to our customers. And that’s where a little bit of eavesdropping around the water-cooler can come in very handy…
Well-intentioned employee: “I really tried my best with Veganuary but I just couldn’t do it. Didn’t miss meat or fish that much, but eggs? Cheese? Milk? Craving. It just wasn’t working for me.”
Eternally patient, non-judgemental BFF: “Calm down. If you really want to do it, we’ll find a substitute for everything! Do you really want to do it?”
Me: “Find me a poached egg that tastes like a poached egg and I’m in!”
I’m not sure we can go quite that far but it’s fair to say that we can find an edible and even tasty substitute for almost anything. For those truly committed to a plant-based diet (even though it’s February and Veganuary is a long-forgotten magical marketing memory), Quattro’s talented and creative chefs believe that everything can be ‘faked’.
You name it. Meat, fish, milk, butter, cheese and yes, even eggs.
Meat: Ever heard of ‘fakon’? Fake bacon, obviously. Where have you been? Surely if bacon can be vegan, anything can! Generally made of tofu, bean or buckwheat, reaction amongst reformed meat-lovers has been somewhat mixed. But give it a go!
Jackfruit: Nutritious, sustainable and really delicious, our Mexican inspired Jackfruit Tinga is our creative Quattro way of saying, ‘Have some pulled pork, but don’t worry about the pig, he’s alive and well.’ It seems to work. Our customers love it.
Cheese: When our customers say ‘vegan’, we say ‘how high?’ Béchamel sauce was a challenge but we did it! Made out of beans with not a drop of milk or cheese in sight, our light and creamy sauce looks and tastes as dairy as can be.
Fish: Water, soybean and wheat starch (and often a little bit of sugar) are the standard ingredients in any plant-based product attempting to impersonate fish. Fishless fingers and faux-fish pie are appearing on trendy menus across the country.
Milk: This is an easy one. The market is flooded and the choice is mouthwatering. Ready available, packed with protein and other nutrients and increasingly popular, choose from almond, soy rice, cashew, coconut, hemp, oat, flax and so many more.
Butter: Too easy! Margarine and other traditional butter substitutes have been on the market for decades. It’s true some fall short on taste but oil, especially in baking, can be truly convincing and undetectable.
Eggs: Did you know you can make vegan chocolate mousse by whipping the water from a tin of chickpeas instead of egg-whites? And did you know it tastes flipping great?
So now you know it can be done. At Quattro we’re always ahead of the curve and our vegan and free-from range is continually developing. There’s nothing that can’t be substituted and we would never compromise on taste, so for the most convincing and delicious vegan substitutes on the market – watch this space!