Vegan Meals Information of the Week: Improved Unimaginable Burgers, 7-Eleven’s Musubi, and Extra

Plainly each week on the earth of vegan meals information is extra thrilling than the final and this week is not any exception. We’re firing up our grills for Unimaginable’s latest burger, made extra indulgent to fulfill the meatiest of meat-eaters. For seafood cravings, we’re turning to PLNT Burger’s latest limited-time providing: the New Bay Crab Cake Sandwich spiced, after all, with a sprinkling of Previous Bay. And in the event you’ve already booked a trip to Hawaii this summer time, cease right into a 7-Eleven for crispy Katsu Musubi layered with OmniFoods’ vegan Spam. Learn on for extra. 

1Extra indulgent Unimaginable Burgers

Whereas consuming a plant-based burger is at all times a greater thought than meat, it’s probably not purported to rely as a salad—as a result of it’s a burger in spite of everything. This week, Unimaginable Meals leaned deeper into that notion with a brand new Unimaginable Indulgent Unimaginable Burger. 

“Our burger put us on the map and it’s the core of our enterprise. However we’ve heard from our followers they’d like one thing larger and even juicier, so we after all mentioned sure,” Peter McGuinness, president and CEO of Unimaginable Meals, mentioned in an announcement. 

Every one-third pound patty is juicier and bolder in taste, shrinks much less on the grill, and is made to higher compete with beef on each degree. 

Unimaginable Meals

How does it stand as much as animal meat? Based on Unimaginable, 82 p.c of shoppers surveyed say they prefer it higher than beef. Well being halo, be damned. 

The brand new burger joins Impossible’s portfolio of plant-based meats, designed to be an ideal stand-in for animal merchandise for each event and palette. 

“Not solely do we’ve got our unique beef merchandise for versatile on a regular basis cooking, however we launched Beef Lite earlier this yr for extra nutrition-conscious shoppers who need a fair leaner various to animal beef,” McGuinness mentioned. 

“Our Indulgent Burger is the right addition, giving shoppers extra choices and methods to attempt to purchase Unimaginable,” he mentioned. “Making a extra differentiated portfolio permits us to higher meet shoppers the place they’re.”

The brand new Indulgent burgers can be found on the menu at Bareburger and Monty’s Good Burger, together with choose retailers, with wider restaurant and retailer rollout deliberate for the approaching months.  

2Hooray for vegan bacon 

Meal package providers Purple Carrot and Hungryroot simply received a significant vegan bacon improve. That’s as a result of Hooray Foods’ vegan bacon will now be supplied as a part of each meal kits.

Hooray Meals

At Hungryroot, prospects can now make BLT sandwiches, mac and cheese, and extra utilizing its step-by-step recipes. Purple Carrot can also be providing Hooray’s merchandise in its curated grocery kits, permitting prospects to to make their very own vegan bacon creations. 

“It’s a pleasure to companion with Hungryroot and Purple Carrot on empowering shoppers to discover new culinary horizons and scrumptious plant-based choices,” Sri Artham, founder and CEO of Hooray Meals, mentioned in an announcement.

“This launch displays the rising demand for extra sustainable and moral meals choices, and we’re honored to be part of it,” he mentioned. 

Exterior of those two partnerships, Hooray’s vegan bacon is on the market in North America at retailers corresponding to Complete Meals and Safeway. 

3Fish-free crab cake sandwiches 

This time of the yr, the craving at all times strikes for a bit seafood—of the plant-based selection, after all. Fortunate for us, celeb chef Spike Mendelsohn has simply the factor on his menu at vegan fast-food chain PLNT Burger.

From now till Labor Day, PLNT Burger’s seven areas within the DMV space (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia) are serving the New Bay Crab Cake Sandwich.

PLNT Burger

Seasoned with Previous Bay and layered with crisp lettuce, the sandwich is made with a Thoughts Blown crab patty by The Plant-Primarily based Seafood Co.—which was based by Shelly Van Cleve and Monica Talbert, who’ve 20 years of seafood business expertise below the Van Cleve Seafood Co. situated in Chesapeake Bay. 

“I’ve been enthusiastic about partnering with Thoughts Blown since I first tasted their shrimp just a few years in the past,” Mendelsohn mentioned in an announcement. “As a chef, I anticipate plant-based seafood to style simply pretty much as good as conventional, premium high quality seafood merchandise earlier than we are able to showcase them in our eating places.”

The mother-daughter duo ventured into vegan seafood to create alternate options that take stress off the oceans and planet, with out sacrificing taste or texture. 

“We’re thrilled to companion with PLNT Burger to convey our Thoughts Blown Crab Cake to life within the irresistible New Bay Crab Cake Sandwich,” Thoughts Blown CEO Monica Talbert mentioned in an announcement. “I can’t consider a greater companion to launch this limited-time supply with and the timing couldn’t be extra excellent forward of World Ocean Month.” 

To additional save fish and the oceans, The Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. donates one p.c of its income to assist the essential work of the Coral Restoration Basis.

4Banza’s chickpea bucatini

We’re followers of every little thing pasta and chickpeas however you place the 2 collectively, and our curiosity is piqued. Over at Banza, chickpea pasta is a lifestyle and its latest form, bucatini, is the primary gluten-free pasta of its sort available on the market. 

Banza

Bucatini is sort of a grown-up model of spaghetti, with a gap operating by way of the center to higher sop up sauces. In 2020, the form was briefly provide resulting from varied elements, together with elevated pasta demand mixed with how exhausting it’s to get that gap within the center. 

“Our mission is to encourage individuals to eat extra chickpeas and different beans, for his or her influence on human well being and the setting,” Brian Rudolph, Banza CEO and co-founder, mentioned in an announcement. 

“When the good bucatini scarcity hit, we knew we needed to make this elusive form from chickpeas,” he mentioned. “Seems bucatini is a difficult form to provide, however gratefully we pulled it off. We couldn’t be extra excited to convey bucatini to the Banza group.”

Banza’s new bucatini is completely accessible at Complete Meals and joins its number of 17 pasta shapes and different merchandise (which incorporates vegan mac and cheese and pizzas)

5OmniFoods’ katsu musubi at 7-Eleven Hawaii

Earlier this yr, 7-Eleven pulled out all of the stops when it launched a vegan breakfast sandwich at 500 areas throughout Canada. This handheld was made with all of the plant-based MVPs: Simply Egg, Violife cheddar, and Unimaginable Meals’ breakfast sausage. 

“Our mission is to supply scrumptious and sustainable plant-based alternate options to the general public, and we consider that this partnership with 7-Eleven Hawaii is a superb step in direction of attaining our mission,” David Yeung, Co-Founder and CEO of OmniFoods, mentioned in an announcement. 

This week, 7-Eleven has performed it once more, this time in Hawaii the place a brand new vegan musubi made with OmniFoods’ plant-based OmniLuncheon (suppose vegan Spam) simply launched. 

“We’re thrilled to companion with OmniFoods to supply our prospects a brand new plant-based possibility that’s not solely scrumptious but in addition more healthy for them and the planet,” Debbie Lee Quickly, Meals Innovation & Growth Supervisor at 7-Eleven Hawaii, mentioned in an announcement. 

The brand new Katsu Musubi is now at 66 7-Eleven shops in Oahu, Kauai, Maui, and Massive Island. Our summer time journey plans simply took a pointy flip all the way down to Hawaii. Who’s coming with us?

Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior Information Editor at VegNews and is at all times keeping track of all issues vegan in her dwelling metropolis of San Francisco, CA and all over the place else.