The German branch of animal welfare charity PETA has announced the winners of this year’s Vegan Food Awards, set up to ‘honour outstanding innovations’ in the plant-based space. Scroll through the gallery to see who took out this year's best chicken, fish, and cheese alternative awards.
The German branch of animal welfare charity PETA has announced the winners of this year’s Vegan Food Awards, set up to ‘honour outstanding innovations’ in the plant-based space. Scroll through the gallery to see who took out this year's best chicken, fish, and cheese alternative awards.
Pic: GettyImages/NeonShot
The PETA Community Prize in 2020 goes to Oatly’s Barista Oat Milk. Voters were not only pleased with the Swedish company’s plant-based range, but loved the Barista Edition’s foaming capabilities.
According to Oatly, the product ‘performs technically beautifully when foamed’. The secret? Unsaturated fat, noted the firm.
Concerning ingredients, Oatly’s Barista Edition is made up of water, oats, rapeseed oil, acidity regulator, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphates, iodised salt, and vitamins D2, riboflavin, and B2.
This year, Unilever-owned The Vegetarian Butcher’s ‘Chickened Out’ Burger has taken the prize for the best chicken alternative on the German market.
According to PETA, the product doesn’t just look like chicken, it has the taste-profile to match. The Vegetarian Butcher itself backs up this sentiment: “Our vegan Chickened Out Burger tastes so much like the traditional meat that you so love, that you won’t be able to tell the difference.”
The burger alternative’s ingredients list includes soy structure, broad beans, sunflower oil, palm fat, spices and herbs, thickener, natural flavourings, bamboo fibre, tapioca starch, citrus fibre, heat-treated sugar, stabiliser, salt, iron, and vitamin B12.
With Vegan Zeastar’s range of seafood alternatives, ‘the next sushi evening can come with a clear conscience’, says PETA.
Vegan Zeastar makes its fish replacements out of tapioca starch and glucose from seafood. The range currently has two SKUs: ‘No Tuna’ and ‘Zalmon’.
The company claims to have made a ‘major breakthrough’ in the plant-based market with its sashimi alternatives. “Sashimi is known as a traditional Japanese dish made from fresh raw fish, which is cut into thin slices,” Vegan Zeastar explains. “Vegan Seastar brings a plant-based alternative to traditional sashimi of unsustainable and endangered fish such as salmon and tuna.”
Veganz's Bulgarian-made ‘Gourmet Mediterranean’ dairy alternative takes the prize for the best non-dairy cheese, according to PETA.
The product is made from cashews, coconut oil, sundried tomatoes, oregano, starter cultures, and pink crystal salt.
While Veganz is proud of the low amount of CO₂e emitted during its production, and commitment to animal welfare and rainforest protection, the company admits that cashews – the product’s star ingredient – require a lot of water.
“Our delicious dairy free cheese is vegan and organic so it’s already doing its part for the environment, but its fresh waster usage leaves something to be desired: the cashews it contains have a relatively high water footprint since they require quite a bit of the stuff to grow and the infrastructure of some of their cultivation areas has not yet developed adequately.”
German supermarkets Aldi Nord (headquartered in Essen) and Aldi Süd (headquartered in Mülheim) have taken out PETA’s ‘most vegan-friendly supermarket’ award.
According to the animal welfare charity, ‘weekly vegan shopping can be done for little money’ at both chains – and they go ‘far beyond’ vegetables, pasta and other plant-based staples.
“in addition to ‘die-hard’ vegans, curious people who just want to throw a vegan burger on the grill get their money’s worth here.”
Pic: GettyImages/yevtony
German supermarket Kaufland’s private label, ‘K-take-it-veggie’, covers oat milk to plant-based spreads and meat alternatives.
According to PETA, Kaufland offers a ‘particularly extensive’ vegan range, which is ‘constantly being expanded and refined’. “In this way, long-established plant eaters always discover something new.”
From Kaufland’s perspective, the private label range responds to growing demand for vegetarian or vegan offerings. “With K-take-it-veggie we offer you the right products for a delicious and varied veggie-style diet. Try the best quality at an affordable price.”
The award for the best frozen product 2020, according to PETA, goes to Iglo’s Green Cuisine Pulled BBQ Stripes.
According to Iglo, the stripes are ‘just as good in a hearty sandwich’ as they are pan fried with vegetables. In terms of nutrition, the SKU is has a ‘B’ Nutri-Score ranking.
The ingredients list includes: rehydrated pea protein, sunflower oil, pumpkin puree, pea fibre, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, beetroot powder, smoked salt, natural flavour, caramelised syrup, salt, spices, onion powder.
The full list of PETA’s Vegan Food Award winners is available here.
