Miyoko Schinner is well known as a pioneer in the field of vegan cheese and butter. The company started small (in Sonoma, California) and is now one of the most respected vegan food companies, with products available across the US, Canada, and parts of Australia.
Discovering Miyoko’s vegan butter was an eye-opening experience as it made it clear to me that vegan alternatives were becoming as good as their animal-based counterparts. And that’s saying a lot as I love butter even more than cheese and I come from Ireland, home of Kerrygold butter.
Here’s a video of Miyoko accepting one of the many awards that Miyoko’s Creamery has won:
Review of Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar
I ended up trying both the block and sliced versions of Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar – they are exactly the same, nutritionally, so it’s really just a question of what format works for you. If you are mainly melting the cheese on top of burgers then the sliced version may make the best sense. However, I prefer the block as I like to cut the cheese thinner than these slices for putting on crackers, etc. I also prefer the texture of this Farmhouse Cheddar when it’s cut thin with a serrated knife and a little rough on the surface.
Texture is one of the key aspects that makes or breaks a vegan cheese. Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar has a much more complex texture than the So Delicious cheese that I reviewed recently, and at first I found it a little off-putting. However, in the right situation the texture (or mouthfeel – how I dislike that phrase!) actually becomes a benefit. On its own, the cheese was a bit grainy (almost gritty) for me, but on a multigrain cracker the textures of the cheese and cracker melded well and now I’m a fan!
Cheese (and tomatoes) on crackers is one of my all-time favorite snacks – I think I would be pretty happy on a desert island for a month with just that (and perhaps veggie fried rice) to sustain me. So, it’s really great to have found a vegan version of cheddar that’s just as delicious as the dairy version!
So, finding the right way to use these vegan cheeses is important – textures vary and some melt much better than others. Here’s a video review of Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar where kids try it in several formats (straight up, grilled cheese, mac and cheese) – the winner was the grilled cheese format (aka, cheese toastie).
One of the key factors that make Miyoko’s products good is that they are cultured (i.e., fermented by microbes) in a similar way to making sourdough bread, soy sauce, kombucha, yogurt and, in fact, most cheeses! Most of my favorite vegan dairy products involve some culturing – like Spero cream cheese, Violife feta, and Kite Hill butter. I’ll be reviewing Miyoko’s vegan cultured butter in a future post.
Compared to the So Delicious vegan cheese (American and Cheddar slices) that I reviewed previously, there’s more nutritional appeal here. The main ingredient is cultured plant-based milk that’s made from a mix of oats, navy beans and garbanzo beans (chickpeas). There’s also protein from fava beans, bringing the protein content to 3 grams per 1 ounce (28 gram) serving. Based on the ingredients, I presume that there are also some minerals and vitamins, besides the calcium, that aren’t listed here.
Ethical rating for Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar
Here’s a summary of how I feel about the social and environmental impact of Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar, which I’m scoring 5 Green Stars:
It’s a vegan product as are all Miyoko’s products.
Most of the ingredients are organic, except for a couple, like the navy beans. As I’ve mentioned in this post on Ripple milk, some legumes can be grown just as sustainably when not organic (because of rules on fertilizer).
Miyoko’s Creamery has been central in raising the bar on plant-based alternatives to dairy, encouraging customers to make the switch and reduce their impact.
Miyoko’s website (FAQs) provides nice info on ingredient sourcing. For example:
“Instead of fertilizers, farmers apply compost made from weeds, herbs, and wood chips resulting from tree pruning with no animal derivatives.” That’s interesting to know!
Also from the FAQs: “We do an internal review of our packaging and ingredients to ensure that they are free of animal products.”
I’ve also received comprehensive responses from Miyoko’s Creamery when I asked questions (about cashew sourcing). So, the company is good about transparency.
The packaging footprint is a little smaller for the block (my preferred format) than the slices.
Palm oil free.
Miyoko runs a sanctuary for rescued farm animals.
Woman-owned (& minority-owned) company.
Certified B-Corporation.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Miyoko’s Farmhouse Cheddar block:
4 gold stars for quality and value
5 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
So Delicious make several kinds of vegan cheese, so I picked up two kinds at the Grocery Outlet as part of my continuing mission to seek out the best vegan cheeses. I’ve already tried and reviewed some frozen products from So Delicious – their healthier “330” frozen desserts (vegan mousse) and a couple of So Delicious ice creams – and liked them (especially the mousse). The two products that I’m going to cover here are sliced vegan cheeses from So Delicious – American Style and Cheddar Style.
So far I’ve featured two kinds of vegan cheese that I thought were pretty worthy of your consideration – Violife’s vegan feta, made from coconut oil & potato starch, and Spero’s vegan cream cheese, made from sunflower seeds. While these cheeses were pretty solid replacements for feta and cream cheese, it has been harder to find a decent substitute for regular cheddar cheese.
Review of So Delicious vegan sliced cheeses
As mentioned above, the vegan versions of regular cheese (cheddar, Swiss, provolone, etc.) aren’t perfect substitutes yet, but they are getting better. I’ve tried several brands over the last year (Daiya, Miyoko’s, Chao, Violife) and I think that the So Delicious cheese were among my favorites. (This post isn’t sponsored in any way, by the way.) I’ll start with my favorite…
So Delicious American Style Slices.
Growing up, we referred to sliced cheese (like Kraft’s Easy Singles) as “plastic cheese” because it seemed like there wasn’t much distinction between the cheese and the plastic wrap. Easy Singles, which sounds more like an eighties rom-com or a college band than a kind of cheese, and sliced American cheese in general, aren’t exactly giants in the culinary world. So the bar is kinda low and perhaps that’s why I was fairly impressed with these So Delicious American Style slices!
(BTW, I’m just learning that Kraft’s product is just called Singles in the US – in Ireland they were Easy Singles!)
What impressed me the most was that the So Delicious cheese actually tasted OK on fresh crusty bread. Normally, vegan cheese slices are sufficient for situations when they are melted along with other ingredients (on burgers, in panini, etc.) but aren’t too appealing on their own. This product was actually pretty decent on freshly baked bread.
So Delicious Cheddar Style Slices.
To be candid, there’s not a massive difference between the American and Cheddar varieties, but I did slightly prefer the American style (the shame!). I should try them blind and see if I can tell the difference… OK, I compared them on crackers and there’s really not much difference. I think that you can assume that you’ll also find them to be similar, so buy either one if you want to give it a try.
So Delicious American Style cheese slices – ingredients
There’s not much to distinguish these cheeses. The nutritional breakdown is identical and even the ingredient lists are identical except for the colors! I imagine that there’s a slight difference in processing that results in minor textural differences and melting properties…?
The So Delicious ice creams that I reviewed previously were made with organic coconut milk, so it’s a pity that So Delicious isn’t using organic coconut oil here. There’s not a lot going on nutritionally – no protein, calcium, or fiber. Compared to conventional cheese these have the advantages of no cholesterol, no sugar (lactose), and perhaps a better fat profile. Most importantly, vegan cheese contains none of the growth hormones and other components that make dairy a bad fit for an adult human diet.
Still – I would prefer if there was something else in there (protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins) to make them more attractive, nutritionally. The Spero cream cheese is nutritionally the best of the vegan cheese products that I’ve tried so far and even the Violife feta contained vitamin B12.
So many vegan cheese products are made from coconut oil and starch and not much else. That would be fine if it produced an amazing product that persuaded people to switch from conventional dairy. I think that vegan cheese needs to improve some more but, in the meantime, these So Delicious vegan slices are one of the best-tasting alternatives to dairy.
Ethical rating for So Delicious vegan cheese slices
Here’s a summary of how I feel about the social and environmental impact of So Delicious vegan cheese slices, which I’m scoring 3.5 Green Stars:
These cheeses are vegan, as are all So Delicious products.
So Delicious uses plant-based plastic (from sugarcane) for some products and post-consumer recycled or FSC-certified paperboard for others. The sliced cheese containers are not recyclable.
Not individually wrapped, significantly reducing the plastic footprint compared to most conventional cheese slices that are each wrapped in a layer of film.
So Delicious is part of Whitewave Foods, which is now owned by the French multinational food company, Danone Group. Danone Group, like many multinationals, is a mix of good and bad. The negatives are similar to those of Nestlé – bottled water and pushing infant formula in developing countries. But, overall, Danone looks better than Nestlé to me.
Neither So Delicious nor Danone North America report very much on ingredient sourcing; Danone is making progress on some sustainability metrics (e.g., carbon and water footprints) but its reports are a little thin on detail.
Summary scores (out of 5) for So Delicious cheese slices:
4 gold stars for quality and value
3.5 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
I bought two kinds of Kiss My Face soap at the Grocery Outlet – both made from olive oil. There’s not a big difference between the varieties of Kiss My Face olive oil soap as they are all made with 86% olive oil. The unscented variety contains only three ingredients – olive oil, water, and salt – while the other versions also contain plant extracts: lavender, aloe, or green tea.
Soap made from olive oil is one of the oldest forms of bar soap, going back millennia, and it’s one of those staple products that haven’t needed any improvement. Of course, that doesn’t stop companies battling over market share with new formulations so that we now have an assortment of soaps that are way too complex and full of ingredients that are dubious in terms of sustainability and/or safety.
Kiss My Face Olive Oil Soap – review
I’ve used Kiss My Face soap on and off for years and consider it a good choice from most perspectives. I usually opt for the unscented or the aloe version, but I think they are all fine. They function well for both hands and body and don’t dry out my skin. Olive oil soap, sometimes called Castile soap or Marseille soap, is well regarded for its mildness.
If I was being fussy and trying to find a downside, I would say that the large 8 oz. bars are a bit awkward to handle. I sometimes cut these large bars in half, lengthwise, so I end up with two bars that are about the same shape as regular soap bars. Or I just buy the smaller 4 oz. bars 😉
A big factor for me in buying soap is that I’ll avoid soap made from palm oil, unless I’m certain that it’s sustainably sourced, which is rare. That was the main reason why the Tom’s of Maine soap that I reviewed recently only scored 2.5 Green Stars. Tom’s of Maine scored a medium (rather than terrible) rating because there are several positive aspects to the company – there are both worse and better soap choices.
Unilever’s Dove soap, made from palm oil, animal fat, and a bunch of other ingredients, is probably one of the worst soap choices, ethically.
There are several soaps on the other end of the spectrum that support communities and habitats, for example Alaffia (also known as Good Soap) which I wrote about on the Green Stars Project.
Bar soaps versus liquid soap
The first consideration when buying soap is whether to buy a liquid or solid soap. Liquid soap has a significantly higher footprint, requiring five times more energy for raw material production and nearly 20 times more energy for packaging production than bar soaps do. Liquid soaps also don’t last as long: on a per-wash basis consumers use more than six times the amount of liquid soap than bar soap.
Are olives a sustainable crop?
As Kiss My Face soap is made mainly from olive oil, it’s worth asking the question: how sustainable are olives? First off, I was surprised to see that the yield of olives can be really high!
A good consistent yield [of olives] would be about 4 tons per acre (9 metric tons per hectare) – University of California
The yield of oil per hectare is also pretty decent – typically higher than sunflower oil but not as high as coconut.
Besides yield, I also like that olives can be grown on land that wouldn’t be that useful for many other crops – like hillsides or dry, rocky ground. The trees provide stability that helps maintain soil health and get crops through droughts and water shortages. Of course, olives can also pose problems if farmed intensively. You would imagine that the olive oil used to make soap can also reduce waste, if it makes use of oil that wouldn’t sell for culinary use.
Kiss My Face – ownership
The company seemed to have a glitch in late 2018 and some (very loyal) customers had trouble finding their products. At that point, Kiss My Face was acquired by Aliph Brands and Aliph partnered with some new manufacturing partners. I’m not sure if there were financial difficulties or maybe the founders wanted to reduce their workload – they had been at it for over 35 years since establishing Kiss My Face in the 1980s. You can read about the founders in this blog post, or watch the short video, below:
The olive oil soap, mentioned in the video above, is still made in Greece, so perhaps not much has changed.
Ethical rating for Kiss My Face
Overall, I think that Kiss My Face deserves 4.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
This soap is vegan, as are all Kiss My Face products, except for a couple that include honey or beeswax.
Products were never tested on animals. Kiss My Face is PETA-endorsed as cruelty-free.
Kiss My Face use good ingredients for its whole product range – using olive or coconut oil for surfactants, combined with plant extracts and some organic ingredients.
The olive oil soap is packaged in paper that’s 80% recycled.
Kiss my Face are not as transparent about their operations as some companies like Dr. Bronner’s – it’s hard to find information on things like their energy use and whether ingredients are sustainably farmed or fairly traded.
Supporting LGBTQ and animal rights.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Kiss My Face:
4.5 gold stars for quality and value
4.5 green stars for overall social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, be excellent to each other.
I tried two kinds of Lärabar that I bought at the Grocery Outlet – I really liked one and the other is growing on me. First off, the ä in Lärabar is decorative – it’s not a Danish or Swedish company, but an American brand that’s now owned by one of the largest food corporations, General Mills. Lärabar founder, Lara Merriken, sold the company to General Mills in 2008 and remains an adviser (she wrote a letter at the time, addressing the sale). I’ll get to the social and environmental impact part later, but I’ll review the products first.
I don’t eat a lot of Lärabars as I’m not a big fan of dates and I’ve usually found that I’d just rather eat nuts or trail mix. The two bars that I tried for this post (all in the name of science!) are a bit more appealing for two different reasons. The first bar (Hemp Seed Brownie) is appealing mainly because it just tastes a lot better than other Lärabars that I’ve tried and in part because it contains hemp seeds. The second one (Apple Cobbler Protein bar) was attractive from a nutritional perspective more than taste – each bar contains 11 grams of protein (mainly from peas).
Lärabar – Hemp Seed Brownie
I love hemp for both health and sustainability reasons so I picked up a box of Lärabar hemp seed brownie bars a little while ago at the Grocery Outlet. The packaging and shape changed (see image below) and now they are marketed as a brownie rather than a bar. They’re especially good if they warm up a little bit in the sun (like in your bag while you’re hiking) because they become gooey and the chocolate flavor intensifies. It’s actually hard to find chocolate energy bars that really taste of chocolate, but these do : )
Lärabar – Apple Cobbler Protein bar
The newest products in the Lärabar range are high-protein bars that contain pea protein along with the usual mix of nuts and dates. I found them to be very compact and dense – even more than regular Lärabars – and it felt a bit like eating rations. Not that that’s always a bad thing – I actually like dense, high-energy food, especially for traveling or hiking. I also think that if we are going to buy packaged products then the product should be nutritious enough to justify the packaging.
LÄRABAR Original Fruit & Nut bars are made by a simple process in which fruit, nuts, and spices are ground and mixed together. They are not baked or cooked. We use a handful of ingredients, as close to their natural state as possible. – Larabar
Here are some of the Lärabar certifications / features:
Gluten free
Kosher
Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa and coffee
Vegan
Non-GMO (not made with genetically engineered ingredients)
Although the packaging changed, the ingredients haven’t, and each bar/brownie provides 370 mg of the omega-3 fatty acid, ALA, thanks to the hemp.
Apple Cobbler Protein Bar – Ingredients
Dates, Almonds, Pea Protein, Apples, Cinnamon, Sea Salt
These bars are 21% protein – that’s 11 grams of protein per bar.
Lärabar is owned by General Mills
Lärabar is now owned by General Mills and like some other companies owned by food giants (e.g., Kashi, owned by Kellogg’s) there are some discrepancies between the ethos of the smaller company and the parent. For example, Lärabar make a stance against GMO ingredients, while General Mills (and Kellogg’s too) funded campaigns to defeat labeling of GM food.
I’ve already reviewed a couple of products that are fairly ethical brands owned by a less-ethical giant parent corporation. For example, Sweet Earth pizzas (now owned by Nestlé) and Back to Nature cookies (now owned by B&G Foods). It’s good (if I’m thinking optimistically) that these multinational giants are attempting to include more ethical brands. The danger is that a smaller brand may become compromised if it switches over to using commodity supply chains of the parent company. So I try to take these factors into account when reviewing a brand that was once an independent company but is now owned by a larger corporation.
In 1999, General Mills launched a new division of its company called Small Planet Foods, dedicated to natural and organic products. You may have seen the brands in grocery stores: Muir Glen and Cascadian Farm. LÄRABAR will be part of Small Planet Foods, conducting business as usual and continuing to produce and innovate the healthiest foods possible. – General Mills
Ethical rating for Lärabar
Lärabar doesn’t seem to have changed much over the years – I actually wrote a review of Lärabar five years ago and rated the company 4 green stars for social and environmental impact. The fact that the company hasn’t changed is both good and bad – it appears to have maintained its standards but it would be nice if it had made some improvements on things like carbon footprint or agriculture.
Overall, I think that Lärabar deserves 3.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
Lärabar products are certified vegan (even those that contain chocolate).
Cocoa and chocolate chips are certified by Fair Trade USA.
Minimal processing of ingredients, which keeps the carbon footprint low, generally. A large part of the carbon footprint of processed food comes from the processing part, rather than the agriculture.
The box that that holds the bars is made of recycled cardboard and made with wind energy.
However, besides that outer box, Lärabar doesn’t report on carbon footprint or other metrics.
I’d be more supportive of Lärabar if they used organic ingredients and were more transparent on ingredient sourcing.
Lärabar was a woman-owned business, until sold to General Mills.
We would have to look to General Mills for reporting on sustainability – and General Mills has a fairly poor reputation for sustainability.
General Mills is, however, trying to improve this situation by starting a regenerative agriculture program, but it’s very small so far:
In the past year, we accelerated farmer adoption of regenerative agriculture practices on more than 70,000 acres in key regions where we source ingredients – getting us closer to our 1 million acres commitment by 2030 – General Mills 2021 Global Responsibility Report
Summary scores (out of 5) for Lärabar:
4 gold stars for quality and value (hemp brownie) and 3 gold stars (protein bar)
3.5 green stars for overall social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe.
Spero Foods sells a range of vegan cream cheese spreads that are made from organic sunflower seeds. Like everything else on this site, I discovered them at the Grocery Outlet – they cost $2.49, compared to the normal price of $5.99 at Whole Foods. I’m happy to say that they are now one of my favorite vegan cheese products, alongside Violife’s vegan feta.
About Spero Foods
Phäedra Randolph, a scientist who previously worked as a software developer, established Spero Foods in the Bay Area around 2017. Since then, the company has been attracting a lot of attention for a number of reasons. First, it’s a well thought out idea that has sustainability advantages over dairy and even compared to nut-based cheeses. Second, it’s a tasty and nutritious product and a significant step towards replacement of dairy with products that don’t compromise on flavor.
Spero Foods also have a vegan egg product called Scramblit but it looks like the company may be in the process of redeveloping and relaunching that product as The Egg.
Spero cream cheese review
Spero Foods currently make 8 flavors of cream cheese – three of which are sweet (strawberry, chocolate, and cinnamon). I bought three savory varieties at the Grocery Outlet – the original, the herb and the goat. I tried them in various scenarios – toast, crackers, and even tortilla chips, because they are light enough to scoop with a chip. I actually liked all of them about equally – even theoriginal had a good flavor – and I think my favorite would depend on the situation. For example, the goat, which is a little tart, goes well with a spicy tortilla chip : )
There’s some similarity to one of my other favorite vegan cheeses (Violife’s feta) in that a lot of thought went into production and secret flavors. Besides the natural vegan flavors that go into Spero’s spreads, there are also probiotics – i.e., microbes such as lactic acid bacteria. This makes sense to me – cheese should contain microbes as they typically add a lot of the flavor and they are also good for gut health, of course. The Spero products are only available in the US for now but will eventually be going international, starting with Canada.
Spero cream cheese – ingredients and nutrition facts
There’s almost no difference between the flavors in terms of nutrition – the main ingredients in each case are organic sunflower seeds, water, coconut oil, salt, natural flavors, and probiotics. The only difference is the composition of the natural flavors and possibly the probiotics.
Seeds are really amazing, nutritionally, because they contain everything required to start a new plant (besides sun, water, and soil!) and I always try to include them in my diet. Because sunflower seeds are the main ingredient, Spero cream cheeses are fairly rich in minerals and also high in vitamin E. Another aspect that I like is that the products are also fairly high in protein (around 10%, by weight) and lower in fat than most of the vegan cheeses that are primarily coconut oil.
How sustainable are sunflower seeds?
You can probably guess that sunflower seeds are a reasonably high yield crop – otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to use them as a source of cooking oil. Yield per acre of land is an important sustainability metric and others include agricultural inputs (water, fertilizer, pesticides), carbon footprint, and impact on soil health.
As you probably know, vegan cheese is generally a big improvement over dairy in terms of sustainability and ethics. Spero Foods goes beyond this by pointing out that cheese made from sunflower seeds is also an improvement over cheese made from almonds or cashews. Spero makes some bold claims when it comes to sustainability of sunflower seeds compared to the competition:
Sunflower seeds require 96% less water to grow than almonds.
Sunflower seeds require 97% less land to grow than cashews.
Sunflower seeds generate 99% less CO2, compared to dairy.
Spero doesn’t actually include a reference on its website for these claims (tsk tsk) and it would nice to see the assumptions – especially for the comparison to cashews for land use. It must factor in the fact that cashew trees need to grow for a few years before they achieve commercial yields but I’m not sure that it accounts for the higher yields of newer dwarf cashew varieties. The numbers for water consumption and CO2 emissions compared to almonds and dairy sound about right to me.
If you want to read more about the benefits of sunflower as a crop, check out this 2017 paper. One benefit of sunflower as a crop that Spero didn’t mention is that those big beautiful flowers, when grown without insecticides, are a great support to pollinators.
Besides the carbon, water, and land footprints, one thing that I’m especially glad about is that Spero chose to source organic sunflower seeds. If you’re familiar with my posts then you’ve probably heard me expressing disappointment when companies chose to use conventional sunflowers (or soy) as most conventional crops in the US are treated with insecticides known as neonics (neonicotinoids). My recent post on the Green Stars Project site that takes an in-depth look into the risks associated with imidacloprid, one of the most common neonic insecticides used on crops like sunflower.
Ethical rating for Spero cream cheese
Overall, I think that Spero cream cheese deserves 5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
Spero Foods products are all vegan
The main ingredient, sunflower seeds, is organically grown
The carbon, land, and water footprints are very low, compared to dairy – even compared to nut-based cheeses
Besides the low footprints, sunflower crops also support pollinators
The container is made from polypropylene, which may actually be slightly greener than PET.
I would prefer, however, that it was made from post-consumer recycled PET / polypropylene.
Woman-owned, mission-driven company
Summary scores (out of 5) for Spero cream cheese:
4.5 gold stars for quality and value
5 green stars for social and environmental impact
Three other products that have achieved a score of 5 Green Stars so far on this site: Alter Eco truffles, Nature’s Path cereal, and Endangered Species chocolate. There is still room for improvement in all of these products but all three companies have done something big (or several things) to address social or environmental issues and improve life on this planet.
I think that Spero’s products also leave a little room for improvement but are certainly in the top 10% (in the cheese category) and therefore deserve this score. Processed food is a luxury and, considering our planet’s situation, all products should be developed with sustainability as the main criterion (and nutrition, second). I think Spero Foods have achieved this pretty well in the vegan dairy space.
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
Violife has produced a vegan feta cheese, Just Like Feta, that’s probably the best vegan cheese product that I’ve had so far. It seems appropriate that Violife is based in Greece, where feta cheese originated. Typically, vegan cheeses like sliced cheddar and mozzarella are not really that appealing to eat on their own, but are alright when melted on toast or a burger. The Violife feta, however, is perfectly good to eat on its own, or (the way I’ve been eating it) in Greek salads. When combined with olives, tomatoes, etc., I really can’t tell that this feta is vegan.
The texture is about right for feta and, as it comes packed in a little brine, it tastes salty like regular feta. One of the ingredients is Glucono delta lactone, also known as gluconolactone, which is marketed for use in feta cheese because it adds a tangy taste. So, basically the cheese is salty, slightly tangy and approximates the texture of feta pretty well. If you’re not sure about vegan cheese, having perhaps tried some that feel like plastic and taste of nothing, I’d recommend giving it a try! It cost $1.99 at the Grocery Outlet, compared to a normal price of around $6.
In future posts, I’ll cover other cheese products such as spreads, cheddar, mozzarella, etc.
Plant-based cheese begins to take off
According to Forbes, in Jan 2020, plant-based cheese grew by 69% over the previous two years but still represents less than 1% of cheese sales. However, vegan cheese is getting better and it has been fun to try out the many brands that I’ve come across at the Grocery Outlet, from Miyoko’s Creamery to Violife, Daiya, So Delicious, and others.
Here’s how Miyoko Schinner (founder of the Miyoko’s Creamery, based in the SF Bay Area) describes it:
“Vegan cheese options were created for people who had become vegans or vegetarians who loved cheese and craved a replacement. While current offerings may have been reasonable substitutes that were ‘good enough’ for vegans, they do not taste and perform like cow dairy and have low if any appeal to omnivores,” she says.
Miyoko herself was one of the first people to market a cultured vegan butter that was head and shoulders above the kind of products that were available until then (like Earth Balance). Since then, Miyoko’s Creamery has produced pretty good cheese products that helped me kick the dairy cheese habit. Now I’ll include Violife’s feta too.
As mentioned above, the glucono delta lactone adds a tangy taste and is made by microbial fermentation of glucose. According to Violife’s FAQs, “the vegan flavouring in Violife is derived via simple extraction or fermentation of plant based sources.” So they are not giving much away there. I like that Violife went to the trouble to add vitamin B12 to the product, helping vegetarians who may rely on dairy for B12 to switch to this plant-based version. Like most vegan cheese (and regular dairy cheese, for that matter) the product is predominantly fat. Here’s some nutritional information along with certifications and a few of the awards that Violife has picked up:
Ethical rating for Violife’s vegan feta
Overall, I think that Violife deserves 4.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
It’s a certified vegan product as are all of Violife’s products.
The main ingredients (coconut, potato, olive) rank well for sustainability and there are no controversial ingredients like palm oil.
Being an EU product, the ingredients are a little more controlled than they would be in the US.
It’s a very good substitute for animal-based feta. As mentioned in my post on Fry’s BBQ pizza, this is important even as an ethical criterion because we aren’t so likely to move away from animal products unless vegan versions are actually tasty.
Packaging is about as minimal as it can be for this kind of product. See below for a note from Violife about switching to recyclable plastic for products such as its cheese slices.
Violife hasn’t done a very good job so far at communicating on sustainability. This is odd, for such a high-profile and award-winning vegan food company. However, I did get some responses from the company, which I’ll summarize after this video that introduces Violife.
Violife’s main ingredient: Coconut oil
Growing coconuts doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides. Furthermore as members of Sedex we procure ethically cultivated coconuts and our suppliers – also members of Sedex – forbid the use of monkeys and children for the collection of the coconuts. The coconut is harvested in Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea.
– Violife, personal communication
The first statement is not accurate: some coconut farms do use pesticides. Agricultural inputs such as pesticide, fertilizer and herbicide are usually quite low on coconut farms but it depends on the grower.
Violife Packaging
We are happy to say that Violife has already been conducting tests with recyclable materials in order to switch our packaging to eco-friendly materials and the time line for this is estimated for our tray packaging of slices to be March 2022 and for the grated bags, May 2022.
– Violife, personal communication
Violife company Sustainability
Regarding energy and water use, etc. please kindly note that we are currently working on the lifecycle assessment of Violife products in cooperation with an external agency. This project is very crucial for the company as in our notion is to hold scientific documentation for the evaluation of environmental impacts, such carbon emissions, use of water, land and energy, waste production and biodiversity.
– Violife, personal communication
Summary scores (out of 5) for Violife’s Just Like Feta:
4.5 gold stars for quality and value
4.5 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
Califia have recently brought out two Plant Butter products and they are both on sale at the Grocery Outlet. They’re named Sea Salt with Avocado Oil and Sea Salt with Olive Oil, and are pretty similar in most respects. The ingredients are almost identical except that one contains pressed avocado oil and the other is made with pressed olive oil. Coconut oil is actually the main ingredient in both cases, so you may not notice a massive difference between them.
I’ve been buying less and less dairy since lockdown began and I owe it in part to the large variety of plant-based alternatives that are now on the market. I’ve already covered one of Califia’s plant-based milks, Califia Protein Oat Milk, and just finished evaluating a vegan feta cheese from Violife that I really liked. At some point, I’ll write a summary post of my favorite plant-based alternatives to dairy products.
Review of Califia Plant Butter products
I’ve used these products over the last two months and find them to work well in most situations – fresh bread, crackers, toast, etc. They are fairly dense, which I actually prefer, compared to some of the lighter (whipped)products that I’ve bought before. Being denser means that they take a tiny bit more work to spread, but with the upside that each tub lasts longer. The latter is more important to me as I’m trying to minimize plastic waste.
The Califia Plant Butters are quite cheap at the Grocery Outlet – prices range from around $0.99 to $1.99 per tub compared to a normal price of around $5. It’s a good opportunity for omnivores or vegetarians (like me) to try out new products that may help them kick the dairy habit.
Califia versus Kite Hill butter
I already reviewed Kite Hill butter and think that the Califia butters are close to the Kite Hill product in terms of taste and spreadability, with Kite Hill having perhaps a slight edge. (Although, being more airy and spreadable, the Kite Hill product has the downside, mentioned above, of not lasting as long.) Both Kite Hill and Califia products include cultured (fermented) ingredients and I think that’s partly why both taste significantly better than older products like Earth Balance.
In terms of social and environmental impact I think that the Califia products are slightly better than the Kite Hill butter – see the ethical review later. Bear in mind, though, that both Kite Hill and Califia are much better than palm oil based products like Earth Balance.
The fifth ingredient in both products is tiger nuts – an ingredient that you don’t come across every day. Although they are called nuts, they are actually tubers that are found under the fast-growing yellow nutsedge plant. Also known as chufa, tiger nuts are grown across the world, particularly in Africa and South America, and are often eaten as snacks or made into a type of horchata.
“The tiger nut is between the tuber and the nut [in terms of nutrition],” says José Ángel Pérez Alvarez, a researcher at Miguel Hernandez University of Elche in Spain who studies tiger nuts. For instance, there’s less protein than a typical nut but more than the typical tuber. There’s more starch than the typical nut but less than the typical tuber.
Tiger nuts were revered by ancient Egyptians, featured in paintings and sometimes entombed along with Egyptians and their belongings. I like that Califia is including this unusual ingredient and that they are utilizing most of it – both the oil and also the fibers that contain beneficial prebiotics.
Take tiger nuts, or as they’re more poetically known – “earth almonds.” Not only do we use the naturally occurring oil they contain, but we use more of the nut in the spread, as well.
Resistant starch is a prebiotic. It’s the fibre that doesn’t get digested and makes its way to the colon to feed the microflora in our gut. Resistant starch also helps you feel fuller, longer.
The yellow nutsedge plant (left); dried tiger nuts (top right); and an ancient Egyptian tomb painting showing the preparation of tiger nuts (bottom right). Image credits: Wikipedia and NPR.
Ethical rating for Califia Plant Butters
Overall, I think that Califia Plant Butter deserves 4 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
They are certified vegan products, providing a more ethical alternative to dairy.
The main ingredient, coconut oil, is a sustainable crop, in general. Olives are generally better than avocados, so I would pick the pressed olive oil product over the avocado oil version.
Palm oil free.
Califia works on conserving water by working with farmers who use more efficient drip irrigation systems and also reclaiming all water from their manufacturing facility for use on nearby farms.
Califia makes a good effort at protecting bees and encouraging integrated pest management on supplier farms.
Califia did a decent job at using renewable energy in the past. However, the company missed the goal to transition to 100% renewable power by 2020 and now seems to be slipping behind.
I’d prefer if Califia sourced organic ingredients.
Packaging should be made with recycled plastic (rPET), as discussed in the post on Califia Protein Oat milk.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Califia Protein Oat milk:
4 gold stars for quality and value.
4 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
I normally only buy food items at the Grocery Outlet but on a recent trip I needed soap and decided to check their supply. There are plenty of not-so-sustainable products at the Grocery Outlet so I wasn’t surprised to see a whole lot of Dove soap. Dove, made from palm oil by Unilever is one of the worst choices when it comes to ethical soap. However, there were also two brands that I’ve bought before – Kiss My Face (to be reviewed later) and Tom’s of Maine. I bought one of each and tried out the Tom’s soap first – it piqued my interest because it’s something new: probiotic soap!
How does prebiotic soap work?
First of all – what are prebiotics? Well, you know how important the microbes in your body are? You can take probiotics such as live yoghurt that contain beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus, etc.) or you can eat food that contains prebiotics, which encourage the growth of these beneficial bacteria. In general the beneficial bacteria thrive on things like soluble fibers, which you can get from a diet of veggies, or as a supplement like inulin (not insulin – inulin is a form of soluble fiber). So that brings us to soap – what’s the deal with prebiotic soap? Because you don’t eat soap, right?
As a microbiologist, I know how important the microbes in and on are bodies are. Most of us know that gut health is really important, but we are only starting to think about the microbial population (microflora) on our skin. I first heard about this after reading about a couple of scientists who had changed their routine – David Whitlock, an MIT chemistry graduate who hasn’t showered for years and is now developing a microbial spray designed to break down ammonia on our skin. Then there’s James Hamblin, lecturer in public health at Yale who weaned himself off soap and deodorant and recently published the book, Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less.
I don’t think either of them will be using the Tom’s of Maine product, since neither of them uses soap, but I think they’d be interested in the results. The first questions you’d have to ask yourself are: Why put the prebiotics in soap? Aren’t you just going to wash them right off your body? Wouldn’t they be better in a spray or moisturizer?
Perhaps small amounts of the inulin that’s in the soap may stay on your skin but that begs a follow-up question: Is it known that inulin on your skin will have the same beneficial effect as inulin in your food? I don’t think this question has been answered yet (I did search the science literature but found nothing concrete) and my feeling is that the product received FDA approval on the basis that it’s safe, but that doesn’t mean it’s effective.
I guess the proof would be in the pudding (or in this case the showering) and this may be more obvious to people with skin conditions. I’ve used the Tom’s of Maine prebiotic soap for about two weeks now and have found it to be perfectly fine. I can’t really comment on the impact on my skin microflora but as far as soaps go, I quite liked it : )
Tom’s of Maine Prebiotic soap – Ingredients
Here are the ingredients for the Fresh Apple variety that I bought – the Rose-scented version is basically the same (just a different fragrance).
Note that sodium palmate is basically detergent made from palm oil – and as you probably guessed the sodium cocoate and sodium palm kernelate are made from coconut and palm kernel oil, respectively. I’m never particularly happy to see the word “or” in an ingredient list – it’s usually an indication of a larger company that’s switching between commodity ingredients based on market prices. So, let’s get to the ethical review!
Ethical rating for Tom’s of Maine Prebiotic soap
Here’s a summary of how I feel about the social and environmental impact of Tom’s of Maine Prebiotic soap, which I’m scoring 2.5/5 Green Stars.
Tom’s of Maine was a pretty responsible company that was acquired by a large multinational corporation, Colgate-Palmolive, in 2006. Sadly, Tom’s of Maine stopped reporting on corporate responsibility after that.
Tom’s of Maine is a certified B-corporation, achieving an OK score of 93.6 (80 is the minimum score to qualify).
Tom’s of Maine doesn’t test products on animals while Colgate-Palmolive still does, but is acknowledged by PETA to be working towards regulatory change to reduce requirements for animal testing.
100% of Tom’s energy usage was offset by wind energy credits, post-consumer recycled cardboard is used for packaging and vegetable-based inks for printing. Or at least that was true when Tom’s of Maine reported on sustainability and Corporate Responsibility. Now it’s all mixed into Colgate Palmolive’s reporting.
The primary ingredient of this soap is palm oil. It’s certified by the Rainforest Alliance but note that the next ingredient may be palm oil (Sodium Palm Kernelate) that’s not Rainforest Alliance certified (no asterisk).
As a subsidiary of Colgate Palmolive, I think it’s likely that Tom’s of Maine palm oil sourcing overlaps with that of Colgate. Colgate-Palmolive gets a mediocre score on the WWF palm oil scorecard – about a B–.
You can read about Colgate-Palmolive’s palm oil sourcing policy here – the policy states “no deforestation of High Carbon Stock (HCS) forest or High Conservation Value (HCV) areas” but doesn’t exclude deforestation in general.
Ethical Consumer gives Colgate-Palmolive and Tom’s of Maine their worst rating in the soap category.
Bottom line – I’d rather be cautious and avoid products made from palm oil where possible – unless a company provides a lot of information to assure customers that the palm oil is truly sustainably sourced. Soap can easily be made from sustainable vegetable oils, for example olive oil or coconut oil.
So, not a fantastic score, and that’s mainly because of the palm oil. Tom’s of Maine is a pretty responsible company in many other ways and some of their other products would get a much higher ethical rating. But I will only support products made from palm oil if I have a high degree of confidence in the company’s sourcing policy.
I actually thought that Tom’s of Maine would do a better job on palm oil sourcing (that’s why I picked up the soap) but now that I know more I won’t buy Tom’s of Maine palm oil soaps unless their policy improves. I hope they do tackle this because Tom’s of Maine tries to be a leader in some areas, like the development of its recyclable toothpaste tube. Its parent company, Colgate-Palmolive, has a track record that isn’t terrible – it’s just not good enough. This soap is still more responsible than several mainstream soaps like Dove soap, made by Unilever. However, I think there are much better options out there, as far as social and environmental impact goes, such as Kiss My Face olive oil soap, Dr. Bronner’s soap bars and Alaffia soap.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Tom’s of Maine Prebiotic soap:
4 gold stars for quality and value
2.5 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe : )
When I saw an entire freezer full of Impossible Burgers at a local Grocery outlet, I did a double take. I had not imagined seeing them on sale there – especially at a price of $2.50 per pack, each containing two of the plant-based burgers from Impossible Foods (compared to a regular price of $6). I’ve been vegetarian since I was 15, so I’ve eaten my fair share of meat substitutes but had not yet tried the Impossible Burger. Over on the Green Stars Project I’ve evaluated some of these substitutes, including Tofurky, Quorn, Beyond Meat, No Evil, and good old tofu.
A few vegetarian friends said that they’re not that interested in Impossible Burgers because they are too similar to meat. I do like some meaty things like Beyond Sausages, reviewed here previously, so I had an open mind.
How to cook Impossible Burgers
After thawing a pack of burgers, I cooked one in a preheated pan, coated with a very small amount of olive oil, for about 4 minutes per side until the middle looked cooked (viewed from the side). I can see why vegetarians/vegans may not be interested in this style of meat substitute – it is very like meat in taste, texture, smell, and even the way it cooks, turning from red to grey and then brown. After cooking, I had to smother it with ketchup and dill to give it a different flavor because on its own it just wasn’t appealing to me. With these additions, I thought the burger wasn’t bad and can certainly imagine people who love the taste of meat loving them. That was, after all, the whole goal of the company – to replicate the experience of meat in order to combat climate change.
I also tried making a burger into breakfast sausages (I did this for the Beyond Meat burger too), by mixing herbs and spices into the burger and then forming it into four small sausages. I added a lot of herbs and spice – around two tablespoons of herbs (sage, thyme) and spices (paprika, mustard, fennel seed) into that one little burger. The sausages weren’t bad, but not as good as the breakfast sausages that I made from the Beyond Meat burger.
Breakfast sausages (on walnut bread) made by combining an Impossible Burger with fennel and mustard seed, sage, thyme, and smoked paprika.
Impossible burger versus Beyond Meat burger
The Grocery Outlet is also currently selling Beyond Meat burgers at a steep discount, so it’s a good time to try out these two products and compare them. That’s exactly what I did, and here’s a summary:
As a vegetarian, I prefer the Beyond Meat burgers to the Impossible Burger, simply because the Impossible Burger tastes too meaty to me and I think that the Beyond Meat burgers have a more nuanced flavor.
However, if you’re used to eating meat then you may prefer the Impossible Burger – I’d recommend trying both.
In both cases I add a lot of dried dill and organic ketchup, along with tomato, napa cabbage, etc., to my burgers, particularly for the Impossible Burger, where I feel the need to mask the overly meaty flavor.
More about Impossible Foods
You may know the story already – Pat Brown, longtime vegan and professor of biochemistry at Stanford University, decided that the best way to combat climate change is to develop a plant-based meat substitute that would motivate consumers to move away from eating meat. That’s not new, but his research did turn up new ideas for making meat substitutes meatier. A key factor that gives meat its distinctive taste is hemoglobin – that iron-containing molecule that carries oxygen through our bodies, making our blood red. Dr. Brown didn’t imagine himself starting a food company but he came to the conclusion that it was the logical course of action if he wanted to use his biochemistry skills in the most effective way to mitigate climate change.
To make their vegan burger, Impossible Foods selected a plant-based substitute for hemoglobin known as leghemoglobin – it’s an iron-containing, oxygen-carrying molecule that’s found in the roots of legume plants. Impossible Foods makes leghemoglobin in yeast cells, by a process that’s not that different to making vegetarian rennet or insulin. So it’s a vegan product, although there was some controversy in the vegan community as the novel leghemoglobin product had to be tested in animals. Pat Brown issued a statement about that.
Impossible Burger – ingredients
The Impossible Burger that has been on shelves since 2019 is actually the second version of the product: Impossible Burger 2.0. The big difference is that the main ingredient was switched from wheat protein (gluten) to soy protein. More specifically, Impossible Foods sources genetically modified soy that’s engineered to be resistant to glyphosate.
Here are the ingredients in Impossible Burger 2.0: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals (Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12).
The Center for Food Safety (a San Francisco based nonprofit) filed a lawsuit last week, challenging the FDA’s approval of leghemoglobin, and it’s certainly true that humans don’t have a history of eating this molecule as it’s mainly limited to legume roots. However, is it any more risky than the artificial colors and preservatives found in other processed food items – or than meat itself, for that matter?
Genetically modified (GM) ingredients in the Impossible Burger
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed that two of the ingredients in Impossible Foods’ latest burger are genetically modified (GM): the yeast that makes the leghemoglobin and the soy plants that supply most of the protein for the burger. This will really require a whole separate post (probably over on the Green Stars Project) but here’s my quick take on it: I don’t have a problem with the GM yeast – it’s the same technology brought us vegetarian versions of rennet (for making cheese) and drugs like insulin (which was sourced from pigs before the yeast was developed). I do have an issue with the GM soy, and I’ll briefly explain why.
I don’t fear GM soy from the perspective of the gene itself – as a molecular biologist I know that the DNA editing in itself isn’t usually a big risk. I’m also not too worried about traces of glyphosate in the soy that Impossible Foods uses – here’s a summary of that issue. (I do, however, think that glyphosate levels in some foods warrant concern.)
What does concern me is the form of agriculture that goes hand in hand with the GM soy – usually referred to industrial agriculture. It involves the systemic use of increasing levels of glyphosate, a broad spectrum herbicide that kills all plant life, in combination with neonics, a class of insecticide known to harm bees. It also involves the worldwide use of a crop that lacks genetic diversity, coupled with control of the seeds, herbicide, and insecticide by a handful of corporations (e.g., Bayer Corp., which now owns Monsanto). But it’s more complex and nuanced than just those points so I’ll post a link to a detailed discussion of this when it’s published on the GSP.
Impossible Foods versus Kite Hill
Pat Brown is also a founder of Kite Hill, which produces a range of dairy alternatives that are made from cultured almond milk. I previously reviewed Kite Hill butter here on Ethical Bargains, having bought it at the Grocery Outlet. So, with a founder in common, I thought it would be mildly interesting to briefly compare my impressions of Kite Hill and Impossible Foods
I found Kite Hill’s vegan butter to be a very good butter substitute and have continued to use it, including for pastry. Like the Impossible Burger, it’s a very good reproduction of the original animal-based version. I ended up giving Kite Hill an ethical rating of 3.5 Green Stars as a balance between being a vegan product but falling a bit short on some sustainability metrics. For example, the Kite Hill container should be made from post-consumer recycled plastic instead of virgin PET and the company should be more transparent on corporate responsibility and ingredient sourcing. Impossible Foods is doing a better job on two out of three of these issues, which I’ll highlight in the ethical review.
Ethical rating for Impossible Burger
Here’s a summary of how I feel about the social and environmental impact of Impossible Burger 2.0, which I’m scoring 3/5 Green Stars.
It’s a vegan product, playing an important role in changing humanity’s eating habits by being, perhaps, the most meat-like burger to date.
The newest version of the Impossible Burger has a carbon footprint 89% smaller than a beef burger and also uses 87% less water, 96% less land, and cuts water contamination by 92%. – Data from Quantis. This is similar to the impact of other meat alternatives, e.g., products from Beyond Meat, Quorn, etc. To put it into perspective, most protein-rich plant foods such as peas, beans, etc., have even better numbers.
The packaging consists of a container that’s made from post-consumer recycled PET, a plastic film (to keep the heme from oxidizing), and a label made from polypropylene (why did they not use card for this?).
In Impossible Foods’ 2020 Impact Report, you can read about how the company has started initiatives on many issues, from waste minimization and food bank donations to gender and racial equality.
Most of the impact report describes fairly new initiatives rather than actual results, so it’s all early stage. One initiative that I do find exciting is to attempt recycling of the water (by reverse osmosis) that comes from their yeast/leghemoglobin fermentation. Success with that could be a big step forward in sustainability for the biotech industry.
What’s lacking in Impossible Foods’ reporting is meaningful information about the company’s sourcing of the main ingredients: soy, coconut, and sunflower.
On that note, by far and away my biggest problem with Impossible Foods is the use of industrially farmed soy and sunflower. I’m hoping that this is done for mainly economic reasons (Pat Brown stated that pricing is their biggest challenge) and that perhaps they will bring out a version 3.0 made from sustainably-farmed ingredients. Even if they sourced soy and sunflower that’s not treated with neonics, this would be a start.
Considering the points above, Impossible Foods does deserve credit for creating a meat substitute that has fooled food critics and won over many meat eaters. Right now it’s an Imperfect Burger rather than an Impossible Burger, until the ingredient sourcing changes, but it’s still a whole lot more sustainable than a beef burger.
Don’t forget that if you do eat meat, you’re most likely dealing with animals that were raised on GM soy and corn, thus combining the issues of industrial agriculture with even the larger ethical and environmental problems of the meat industry. So, although imperfect, the Impossible Burger is definitely an improvement on meat (just not as high-scoring as Beyond Meat burgers, in my opinion).
Summary scores (out of 5) for Impossible Burgers:
3.5 gold stars for quality and value – that’s very subjective and will depend on how much you like the meaty taste.
3 green stars for social and environmental impact.
I expect that there will be many different opinions on this product. Please share your rating in a comment below!
Having stocked up and reviewed Beyond Sausage previously, I was excited to see Beyond Meat Cookout Classicburgers on sale at the Grocery Outlet, recently. This is a 10-pack of their burgers on sale for $7.99, compared to a normal price of around $17. This was a limited release from Beyond Meat and they are no longer in stock on the company website, so at this point availability is probably very limited.
The Grocery Outlet is also currently selling Impossible Burgers at a steep discount, so it’s a good time to try out these two products and compare them. That’s exactly what I did, and I would summarize the comparison as follows:
As a vegetarian, I prefer the Beyond Meat burgers to the Impossible Burger, simply because the Impossible Burger tastes too meaty to me and I prefer the more nuanced flavor of these Beyond Meat burgers.
Conversely, if you are used to eating meat then you may prefer the Impossible Burger – but I’d recommend trying both.
In both cases I add a lot of dried dill and organic ketchup, along with tomato, napa cabbage, etc., to my burgers, particularly for the Impossible Burger, where I feel that I need to mask the overly meaty flavor.
Bottom line is that I really like the Beyond Meat Classic Cookout burgers and intend to stock up on more of them while they’re still at the Grocery Outlet. They’re also very light on packaging, but I’ll get to that later.
Beyond Meat Cookout Burgers – ingredients.
Water, Pea Protein, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Apple Extract, Pomegranate Extract, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin, Beet Juice Extract (for color), Carrot.
How to cook Beyond Meat Classic Cookout burgers
Basically you store the burgers in the freezer and take them out to thaw in advance of cooking. You can thaw them at room temperature for a few hours if cooking the same day or in the fridge overnight, where you can keep them for up to a week before cooking. I tried cooking one from frozen but it’s not recommended as you may end up with a cold or even frozen center, depending on how you cook them. So thaw and then cook in a pan (non-stick or regular) that’s pre-heated with a very thin film of olive oil – or you can omit the oil as the burgers have plenty of fat in them. I cook them as directed, for 4 minutes per side on medium-high heat and add sometimes a slice of vegan cheese to the top after flipping them (I’ll get around to reviewing that cheese someday!).
You can also take a raw burger and mix in herbs (thyme, sage, etc.) and spices (smoked paprika, mustard, etc.) and then shape the burger into breakfast sausages. The burgers are fairly large so each one can be turned into three or four breakfast sausages.
Ethical rating for Beyond Meat Classic Cookout burgers
I’ve previously written about the sustainability of Beyond Meat on The Green Stars Project, and also reviewed Beyond Sausage on this site. Overall, I think that Beyond Sausage deserves 4.5/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, based on these factors:
A 2018 Oxford University study looked at various metrics such as carbon and pollution footprints and land use. Peas and other legumes had the best scores on all fronts.
Legumes such as peas general require far less fertilizer because the plants fix their own nitrogen.
Packaging for these 10-packs of Beyond Meat burgers is nice and minimal. There’s a cardboard box and inside is one bag containing all of the burgers – that’s not a lot of packaging for 10 burgers. You can recycle the box and, for bonus points, you could repurpose the bag for something like kitty litter disposal.
I’d like to see corporate sustainability reports from Beyond Meat and more information on ingredient sourcing.
Summary scores (out of 5) for Beyond Meat Classic Cookout burgers:
4.5 gold stars for quality and value
4.5 green stars for social and environmental impact
If you have a different opinion, please share your rating! Until next time, stay safe and sane : )
Grocery Outlet Ethical Bargains 