As Christmas approaches and festive gatherings get underway, the question of food IS a top priority.
As someone who leans away from traditional meat-eating, I wanted to examine my options at supermarkets for a vegetarian Christmas.
While a lot of the options found on a Christmas plate are, already in themselves, vegetarian - unless you’re rubbing lard on parsnips - you can't get by on sides alone.
But when searching for ‘vegetarian Christmas’ on supermarket websites, often you’re met with products that are neither strictly vegetarian nor Christmas.
For example, a Stella Artois gift set, Giant Wotsits, and many, many pages of alcoholic drinks.
So to make the search for vegetarian Christmas food truly authentic, the packaging had to be festive and there had to be similar alternatives at various shops.
I decided to shop at the big four and pick five three party favourites and two Christmas dinner staples to compare how vegetarian options compare with ‘the real deal’.
Spring rolls, mozzarella sticks, halloumi fries, pigs in blankets, and a meat alternative for the big day.
From checking the websites of the big four, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, this should have been an easy task.
Going in store - it wasn’t.
Spring Rolls
If you frequent a Christmas party, you would expect to find a plate of delicious crispy spring rolls on the buffet table, although their innocuous packaging could confuse a vegetarian into eating duck.
So, a safe option would be a delicious vegetarian friendly roll.
Morrison’s spring rolls were pre-sauced with hoisin already in them, taking away any wonder that this was not a meatified spring roll. This was the same again for Sainbury’s vegan selection hoisin roll, truly tasty options.
However, their Red Thai roll left a lot to be desired, unless you desire ginger and too much of it. Again this was the issue found with Tesco’s ginormous offering, it was not a dainty roll but a roll a child would need to clasp with two hands before they cried at the overwhelming taste of ginger.
Asda’s comes with its own dipping sauce, probably used to mask the fact that the roll itself was flavourless.
Halloumi Fries
Halloumi seems to be the cheese of the moment and is basking in its fame. However none of the halloumi fries tasted discernible from the next.
They all got it right: Breaded cheese, what could be bad about that?
Mozzarella Sticks
During cooking, both the Sainsbury’s and Morrisons’ mozzarella sticks exploded in the oven, meaning by the time of eating they were no longer stringy.
The parsley breading promised by Morrisons went by unnoticed with no festive kick. The Sainsbury’s mozzarella didn't seem much like mozzarella, and Asda didn’t offer any festive sticks.
Tesco won this round simply because theirs stayed in stick shape and had the distinctive salty taste and texture associated with mozzarella.
Pigs in Blankets
Sainsbury’s Plant Pioneers Shroompups in blankets were the only vegan or vegetarian pigs in blankets available. Despite asking in every supermarket I visited, all of the shop assistants shook their heads in sorrow at the lack of veggie alternative.
The very helpful worker in Morrisons told me how disappointed he was with their current vegan range and said he had been nagging his boss to get the not-sausages in stock soon.
Another told me to wrap Quorn bacon around Linda McCartney sausages.
Despite the disappointing range, Sainsbury’s Shroompup sausages were good, spiced and festive in flavour. The 'bacon' wrapping it however, tasted like a packet of smoky bacon crisps.
Turkey Alternatives
Sainsbury’s Plant Pioneer’s no turkey crown with sage & onion stuffing is an alternative to a traditional main platter meat.
The not turkey crown is made from mushroom and pea protein, which on its own is a tasty alternative to turkey, perhaps beating turkey at its own game as it isn’t dry as a bone.
However, the sage and onion stuffing is slightly over fragranced and as a whole creates an almost chemical taste.
Asda was the only other supermarket to offer a festive meat alternative with their vegan turkey style joint.
The succulent joint, made from soya bean protein fills all of the requirements of a turkey: white meat, slightly flavourless, delicious slathered in gravy.
But, on the whole, it was disappointing to see how limited the veggie festive options are.
Overall
Sainsbury’s comes out on top with the most available options - delicious spring rolls, and the option of a meat alternative that isn’t a nut roast.
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