We're dishing you the finest in vegan food news of the week, from vegan chicken nuggets appearing at AMC Theaters to Lightlife's vegetarian tenders debuting at 7-Eleven.
Every week in the realm of vegan food news appears to be more exciting than the previous, and this week is no exception. Vegan chicken took flight, arriving at AMC Theaters throughout the country, 7-Eleven hot meals in Canada, and, of course, all 4,000 KFC outlets. Hot dogs had a good week as well, with Wienerschnitzel introducing three vegetable dogs to their national menus. This week, vegan seafood experienced a few breakthroughs. Continue reading to learn more.
Vegan chicken is now available at KFC, AMC, and 7-Eleven.
All of our vegan chicken fantasies came true this week. Not only did KFC add Beyond Fried Chicken to its national menu at 4,000 outlets throughout the country, but other segments of the convenience food industry joined in on the vegetarian chicken fun as well.
Moviegoers at AMC may now eat vegan chicken nuggets prepared by Impossible Foods while watching a movie. The new soy-based nuggets originally appeared in shops and restaurants last year, including select Burger King locations, and are the first plant-based chicken product made by Impossible Foods, widely known for its Impossible Burger.
This week, 7-Eleven outlets in Canada joined the vegan chicken bandwagon with the introduction of Lightlife's vegan chicken tenders. The vegan chicken tenders, which are available at all 600 of the convenience store chain's locations throughout Canada, are cooked in the oven and come out toasty in minutes. Lightlife's new vegan chicken is now available as part of 7-Eleven's Healthy To Go menu, which was created to assist Canadians in finding better plant-based alternatives.
Wienerschnitzel without meat
Wienerschnitzel is the world's biggest hot dog chain, and it just became the best by adding three vegetarian dogs to its menu throughout the country. The dogs are produced using Field Roast's Signature Stadium Dog, a smoked vegan sausage made from a combination of pea and fava bean protein. It gets its distinctive smokey taste by being twice smoked with maple hardwood wood chips and a mix of steam and dry heat.
Last February, Wienerschnitzel tested Field Roast's hot dog on select menus, and after selling a large number of vegetarian dogs, the company made them permanent additions to its menu. The chain now offers the Barbeque Veggie Dog (with barbecue sauce, a pickle spear, and onions); the Chicago Veggie Dog (with a pickle spear, tomato, sport peppers, onions, relish, mustard, and celery salt); and the Backyard Veggie Dog (with a pickle spear, tomato, sport peppers, onions, relish, mustard, and celery salt) (topped with dairy-based American cheese, a pickle spear, tomato, ketchup, and mustard). While the hot dog meat is vegan, these dishes are not served on vegan buns at Wienerschnitzel.
Innovations in vegan seafood
Industrial fishing is wreaking havoc on our ocean, and when it goes, we go with it. Fortunately, several major entrepreneurs are working to eliminate fish from the seafood equation by developing plant-based substitutes that are just as excellent.
This week, Good Catch Foods introduced salmon burgers to the vegan seafood market. The company currently produces salad-perfect tuna in pouches, breaded fish sticks, crab cakes, and fish burgers. The brand's six-legume mix serves as the foundation for its new salmon burgers, which also include a citrus squeeze to balance off the marine taste.
Plantish, an Israeli firm, presented yet another significant advance in vegan salmon this week. Despite the fact that the company is just six months old, Plantish has already accomplished the apparently impossible: a whole-cut vegan salmon fish filet that tastes, flakes, and cooks exactly like the genuine thing. The new firm just secured $2 million to grow its idea, which it will present at pop-ups later this year, with the goal of creating whole-cut vegan salmon filets at scale and at a cheap cost by 2024.
I'm in love with this new dairy-free ice cream.
While new vegan chicken, hot dogs, and shellfish are all exciting developments, we will never forget dessert. Magnum expanded their vegan ice cream range this week with the addition of a new Non-Dairy Hazelnut Crunch flavor, which boasts a delectable hazelnut ice cream base with salted caramel swirled throughout, coated in caramelized hazelnuts and non-dairy chocolate. Magnum also introduced miniature bite-sized vegan ice cream bars in Classic and Almond flavors in a variety pack, all enrobed in that crackly chocolate shell.
Magnum isn't the only company introducing new vegan frozen desserts this week. Ben & Jerry's got quite creative with their new range of pints modeled by iconic American ice cream sundaes, including a vegan flavor intended to commemorate Veganuary. The Non-Dairy Berry Revolutionary is made of raspberry ice cream, chocolaty sandwich cookies, and chocolatey cookie swirls, and is topped with soft whipped non-dairy ice cream with caramel swirls and chocolatey bits.
While this flavor is currently only available in the United Kingdom, when we inquired about a possible US rollout, Ben & Jerry's responded with an enigmatic (but maybe optimistic), "you never know." In the meanwhile, we'll settle with the two new vegan flavors (Bananas Foster and Boom Chocolatta) that Ben & Jerry's introduced last week in the United States.
We're dishing you the finest in vegan food news of the week, from vegan chicken nuggets appearing at AMC Theaters to Lightlife's vegetarian tenders debuting at 7-Eleven.