Fashion or substitute, the reality is that vegetable burgers are beginning to be more than present in our restaurants and supermarkets. Emulating the traditional meat burgers, the new options they use soybeans, peas, wheat or rice to try to resemble their carnivorous ‘cousins’ in taste and texture.
The reality, put on the table by the OCU, is that the gastronomic similarities according to their tasting panel are discouraging to say the least, after assessing 14 vegetable burgers that we can find in our supermarkets and that, except in a few cases, “are products that do not convince tasters: its color, smell, taste and texture are still quite different from meat”, with the exception of three products.
In addition, they clarify that the protein quality of veggie burgers is not the same than that of the proteins in a conventional hamburger. This nuance should not be surprising, since vegetable proteins are considered to be of low biological value (they do not contain all the essential amino acids), while meat proteins are of high biological value (with all the essential amino acids and more bioavailable).
For it, value both the nutritional quality of the product and its composition, especially additives. along with this, the hygienic information of the hamburgers in the presence of possible microorganisms and finally a tasting with a panel of experts who measure color, smell, appearance, texture and taste.
After passing the 14 representatives through the frying pan, the OCU only highlights three of the 14 representatives gastronomically: Beyond Burger from Beyond Meat, Meat free 4 traditional burgers from Fry`s and Vegan Burger from Next Level Meat. Curiously, they do not have to be the best valued in the rest of the aspects.
Product | score | Price/kg. |
---|---|---|
Garden gourmet sensational burger | 70 Very good quality | €19.42/kg |
Natursoy vegan burger 0% meat BIO | 63 good quality | €24.50/kg |
Beyond Meat Beyond Burger | 62 good quality | €25.97/kg |
Carrefour veggie hamburger red meat style | 61 good quality | €13.00/kg |
Original Heura Burgers | 61 good quality | €18.75/kg |
Soria natural burveg BIO original | 59 Medium quality | €18.35/kg |
Fry´s meat free 4 traditional burger | 59 Medium quality | €14.77/kg |
My veggie day (Aldi) The Wonder Burger | 57 Medium quality | €13.17/kg |
Next Level (Lidl) Vegan Burger | 56 Medium quality | €11.41/kg |
vegreen vegan burger | 54 Medium quality | €13.70/kg |
The integral barn like a burger | 52 Medium quality | €19.75/kg |
Findus Green cuisine | 51 medium quality | €19.47/kg |
Gérblé veggie burger BIO | 48 poor quality | €22.60/kg |
Biosurya very burger | 47 poor quality | €18.36/kg |
For this reason, although the best valued in general is that of Garden Gourmet, does not enter the podium of the tastiest, where Beyond Meat Beyond Burger does enter, where it is shocking that the Next Level (Lidl) Vegan Burger is well valued in taste, but not in the total analysis.
Beyond Meat Burger | 100% Vegetable Burger | Plant Based | Gluten Free | Soy Free | Vegan | 2 servings (227g)
Far from them they meet, closing in the caboose, three hamburgers that neither in punctuation nor in flavor managed to stand out as happens with the Biosurya Very Burger and the Gérblé veggie burger BIO, the only two hamburgers that are considered, according to OCU parameters, as “of poor quality” as they do not reach fifty points.
close though passing by the hair to reach the average quality (between 50 and 60 points) would be Findus Green Cuisine, a frozen vegetable burger option that reaches 51 points.
Images | unsplash
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