Field Roast mushroom deli slices

The Mushroom and Balsamic plant-based deli slices from Field Roast are pretty successful, in my opinion. They have an interesting flavor, good texture, and are nutritionally substantial – what else do you need? Oh yeah – social and environmental impact 🙂 – I’ll get to that later. I found several Field Roast items on a recent visit to the Grocery Outlet and these mushroom deli slices were the most interesting find. The Chao cheese slices (spicy version) are actually quite good too, while the Caramelized Onions & Beer Plant-Based Bratwursts were a definite miss for me. Field Roast’s deli slices and sausages are all made from wheat gluten as the primary ingredient but the bratwursts were just way too heavy for my stomach. I think their apple and sage sausages are right at the limit of how dense gluten-based meat substitutes should be – most likely the apple saves them.

The mushroom and balsamic plant-based deli slices (I’ll just call them mushroom deli slices from now on 😉 ) are not as heavy as Field Roast’s sausages. Mushroom is the third ingredient, after water and wheat gluten, and there’s a strong umami flavor to the slices. The savory umami kick is assisted by several other ingredients – yeast extract, balsamic vinegar, shiitake mushrooms and porcini mushroom powder. Because of their flavor intensity and nutritional density I usually eat less than the serving size of three slices – a stark contrast to most other products.*

They work well, as you’d expect, in sandwiches with tomatoes, avocado, (plant-based) cheese, or whatever else you like. I would buy these mushroom deli slices again and I also think Chao cheese is one of the better vegan sliced cheese products, so pop into the Grocery Outlet if you want to try them out.** The caramelized onion and beer bratwursts, however, will be a hard pass for me, from now on. 🙂

*A key strategy of the major processed food corps is to deliver products that are bland enough that we actually eat more of them. For more on this topic, see my GSP post on cooking as activism.

**This site does not earn any revenue, so my only motivation in recommending products is to help us to adopt plant-based diets and prevent the Earth from turning into an uncomfortably hot place.

Field Roast mushroom deli slices – Ingredients and Nutrition Facts

INGREDIENTS: Filtered water, vital wheat gluten, mushrooms, barley malt extract, expeller pressed safflower oil, yeast extract (yeast, natural flavor, salt), balsamic vinegar, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, onion powder, porcini mushroom powder, yellow pea flour, cultured cane sugar, vinegar, sea salt, spices, celery seed.

Field Roast Mushroom and Balsamic plant-based deli slices - Nutrition Facts. Next to an image of the product is a panel summarizing the nutrition facts, as described in the main text.

They are nutritionally interesting, with the only 6 g carbs per serving – 5 g of which is fiber! Then there’s 17 g protein per 55 g serving – these slices are 30% protein; that’s more than chicken or beef. The fat content is quite low at 3.5 g per serving (0.5 g saturated) – mostly from expeller-pressed safflower oil.

It’s nice to see a vegan product that incorporates mushrooms, which can be sustainable when managed well (e.g., responsible sourcing and of the substrate the mushrooms grow on and repurposing of the spent substrate, after use). Mushrooms can also help give us an immunity boost – a topic that’s getting more and more attention. I’d prefer to eat fresh mushrooms, but these slices are a helpful standby and have the added bonus of containing much more protein than mushrooms.

Field Roast ownership

Field Roast (aka, the Field Roast Grain Meat Co.), founded in 1997 and based in Seattle, was sold to Maple Leaf Foods in 2017. Maple Leaf Foods, which is actually one of Canada’s biggest meat companies, also acquired veteran vegan brand Lightlife in 2017. Maple Leaf Foods established an independent subsidiary, Greenleaf Foods that encompasses the two plant-based brands: Lightlife and Field Roast.

I’ve covered this topic in a post on Lightlife Tempeh, so I’ll refer you to that post for more on that topic. That post also takes a look at Greenleaf Foods’ claim of carbon neutrality.

For more on the topic of vegan brands owned by larger corporations, see the GSP post: should you always support vegan brands?

Ethical rating for Field Roast mushroom deli slices

I’m scoring Field Roast mushroom deli slices 4/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, for these reasons:

All Field Roast products are vegan. Adopting a plant-based diet is the top thing you can do to mitigate deforestation & climate change and to end animal cruelty and the insidious negative impact that the meat industry has on society.
Field Roast main ingredient is vital wheat gluten (take a look at this GSP post on sausages from No Evil Foods for more on gluten). Vital gluten is made from wheat flour by washing away the starches. While it’s certainly a lot more sustainable than meat, the estimated carbon footprint (around 2.3 kg CO₂ per kg of gluten) is a bit higher than that of the most sustainable proteins sources such as pea protein. I don’t worry too much about this, but it would be nice to see a statement from Field Roast on their gluten sourcing – for example, whether good use is made of the leftover starch.
Field Roast doesn’t provide a lot of information on company operations but their FAQ info on palm oil sourcing was much better than average, both in terms of information provided and the actual source. It’s not relevant to this product, which doesn’t contain palm oil, but it’s good to know that Field Roast has made some effort in sourcing this environmentally impactful ingredient.
Unlike Lightlife tempeh, Field Roast products are not made from organic ingredients. They are Project Non-GMO verified.
Field Roast’s parent company, Greenleaf Foods, is a carbon neutral company (as is Field Roast’s grandparent, Maple Leaf Foods). Maple Leaf Foods is mainly in the meat business – obviously not good, ethically – but you can argue that supporting Field Roast does support its move towards plant-based foods.
Packaging for this product – a plastic film and cardboard box, is fairly minimal.
Room for improvement: Field Roast and parent company, Greenleaf Foods could do a better job at communicating on social and environmental issues.