Monday, 18 January 2010

VegiDeli Organic Brussels Style Pate





A vegan alternative to Pork Liver Pate.
I must say, I was a bit hessitant to try this, as I don't like fake meats that are too realistic (meaty), kinda scary. But as I've not seen this pate before, I thought I'd give it a try. Made some toast, buttered it, which I don't know if one would butter toast to spread pate on, or if one should just have the pate on toast, but I fancied mine buttered!
The pate spread quite thickly, which I guess is what it's supposed to do, after all it is a pate copy not a paste.
The taste, hmmmm, well, the taste was meaty. scarily meaty. I can't say I liked it. It left a fatty meaty aftertaste in my mouth. I suppose that if you like the taste of meat but don't want to eat it, or if you want to give your meat eating friends something vegan without them moaning they've not got meat, then this would be a good product to use. I can't remember ever having pate (pre vegan days), so I looked it up on the web, to see what brussels pate contains, the ingedients varied but the overall idea is pork liver, pork fat, some had chicken liver too.
here's a typlical ingredients list:
Pork Liver (35%), Pork Fat, Pork (17%), Cows' Milk, Water, Preservatives (Sodium Lactate, Sodium Nitrite), Salt, Onion, Pasteurised Whole Egg, Milk Protein (From Cows' Milk), Spices (Celery), Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Dextrose, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid). 
nutrient
per 100g

Energy kCal
390
kCal


Energy kJ
1,612
kJ


Protein
10.6
g


Carbohydrate
1.1
g


of which sugars
1.1
g


Fat
38.2
g


of which saturates
16.6
g


Fibre
Trace


Sodium
0.7
g


Salt
1.8
g
compared to :

Organic ham style pieces, water*, sunflower oil, textured soya protein, tofu, wheat starch & protein, yeast extracts*, sugar, onion powder, salt*, carrageenan* & locust bean gum, herbs & spices, iron oxide*
Energy:
1143.90kJ / 273.40kcal
Protein:
15.20g
Carbohydrate:
8.00g
(of which sugars)
1.80g
Fat:
20.40g
(of which saturates)
3.90g
Fibre
1.30g
Sodium
0.88g
Calcium
0.00mg

Both high in fat content, but there is a difference (if fat content counts for you), the vegan option has about half the fat compared the the animal one.  Also the vegan pate has higher protein content. so hey, when someone asks the silly question "were do vegans get their protein?" -  well from vegan brussels pate of course!!!!!!!!!!























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