Whilst I had read about vegan recipes and meals with great curiosity, it wasn’t something I’d really considered, not until the recent BBC One documentary Meat: A Threat To Our Planet?.
The programme investigated peoples’ desire for meat and the impact that it has on the environment. Which got me thinking about how some changes to our daily diet could actually not only help the environment, but also me and my families health.
My football loving husband, was quick to point out that one of his favourite (former) Swansea City players, and current Wales’ Captain, Ashley Williams has now gone vegan, with some impressive results!
So when the lovely people at HECK food asked if I would like to taste and review some of their vegan sausage range, the timing couldn’t have been better!
Some of you may remember my review of the HECK! Chickfurter Sausage, earlier this month and given how popular those bangers were in our house, the pressure was on for these veggie sausages to deliver.
According to HECK foods, all of their vegan sausage range are suitable for vegans and vegetarians, having been registered by the Vegan Society and approved by the Vegetarian Society. Plus they are dairy & gluten free!
But what would my fussy household of eaters think about this veg with the edge? Read on to find out…
The Beet Goes On Sausages
Probably not the best sausage to start on, especially given that I am the only one in the house who will eat beetroot… and that is not very often.
These Veggie sausages are unsurprisingly made from beetroot, carrot, horseradish and sunflower seeds and one look at the colour of the banger before, during or after cooking will tell you exactly what flavour it is! In fact the crimson red colour (as you’d expect from Beetroot) was enough to put the kids off without even tasting them sadly.
After a couple of mouthfuls, I can probably best describe the sausage as beetroot, beetroot and more beetroot.
Overall, not a good start to the vegan sausage taste tests!
Vegan Breakfast Sausage
As a family we love a good breakfast, so were intrigued to see what a plant-based breakfast sausage made from mushroom, carrot and tomato would actually taste like.
The general consensus between the four of us was the overriding taste was tomato and carrot, with a little hint of parsley and sage. The kids were unanimous that it wouldn’t replace the traditional English breakfast banger, but it was definitely more tasty than any of us thought it would be.
Bollywood Bangers
Now with a name like that you’d expect something special, and there’s a nice spicy kick to these bangers which most definitely lingers in the mouth after the first few bites.
The kick no doubt comes from chilli and ginger, which added a nice twist to the veggie banger with it’s cauliflower, green lentils and pulses.
My son, said the taste reminded him of an onion bhaji or maybe that was just his taste buds sending messages to his brain, either way it was a good tasting sausage, which got a thumbs up from us all!
Sweet Fusion Veggie Bangers
Stop the presses – this was our favourite veggie banger of the lot!
We are lovers of Chinese food, so little wonder perhaps that this vegan beauty made with fragrant thai pesto, sweet potato and sticky rice went down such a treat on our tasting table.
It really did remind me so much of a Chinese Spring Roll and there wasn’t a chopstick in sight.
This is one veggie sausage we would most definitely add to our weekly shopping list and I never thought I’d end up saying that.
The HECK Vegetarian sausage range also includes Super Greens Bangers, which are made with quinoa, spinach, kale and ginger. Unfortunately we didn’t get to try them on this occasion, although it does sound like an interesting mixture of ingredients.
For those of you wishing to try the sausages out for yourselves, Asda, Tesco and Waitrose are just some of the supermarkets that stock the various HECK Vegetarian food ranges.
You can also buy the sausages in 4 pack bundles direct from HECK and have them delivered to your door for just £2.99.
Overall, whilst we didn’t enjoy all of the different veggie sausages we tried, we were pleasantly surprised how good some of them tasted given the lack of meat. Which, when you consider that none of us had ever tried a vegan sausage before, was pretty amazing!
In terms of the bigger picture, at the moment I don’t envisage us as a family changing to a vegan diet just yet, but this food test has certainly made us consider adding some of the products to our weekly meal planner without a doubt.
With Veganuary just around the corner, now might also be a great opportunity for us to try and eat more plant based foods, especially when you take into account all of the health, environmental and nutritional benefits associated with veganism.
Thank you to the team at HECK foods for gifting us the various veggie sausage packs for review.