From Wagyu Beef to Hen Shawarma, Vegan Meat Goes Past the Burger

Vegan meats have come a great distance in recent times. Living proof? New plant-based variations of wagyu beef and hen shawarma are hitting restaurant menus globally.

In Canada, Vancouver, BC-based plant-based meat firm Wamame Meals Inc. produces “Waygu,” a vegan take (and alternate spelling) of wagyu beef—a kind of extremely marbled meat from specific Japanese cattle breeds.

Wamame’s “Sukiyaki Fashion” plant-based teriyaki beef strips lately hit the menu of well-liked pizza chain Panago. With greater than 190 areas throughout Canada, Panago is one other main milestone for Wamame and the corporate’s first main market take a look at with a pizza chain. 

Wamame’s premium wagyu plant-based strips are featured on two revolutionary pizzas: the Kansas BBQ and Korean-Fashion BBQ, each of which at the moment are out there at Panago’s Ottawa, ON areas. 

Panago Pizza

The Kansas BBQ pizza options the vegan wagyu beef, Kansas BBQ sauce, jalapeños, caramelized onions, fire-roasted corn, and Daiya mozzarella and cheddar; and the Korean-Fashion BBQ pizza options the wagyu beef, sriracha ranch sauce, cabbage, jalapeños, caramelized onions, inexperienced onions, and mozzarella.

“The Waygu strip performs extraordinarily effectively at very excessive temperatures, curing and caramelizing simply sufficient to offer the stability of sweetness and smokiness and contrasting textures of crispy edges with meaty chew that nice pizza toppings have,” Blair Bullus, President of Prime Tier Meals (mum or dad firm of Wamame Meals), tells VegNews. 

“Panago was in a position to pair these flavors with Korean barbecue and Kansas barbecue impressed substances to make two excellent barbecue-themed pizzas for summer season,” Bullus says.

Vegan wagyu beef pizzas

Panago has supported and pioneered sustainable substances, introducing plant-based choices in 2008 and vegan cheese in 2014. The pizza chain additionally presents a big plant-based menu of specialty pizzas with toppings comparable to Past Meat sausage, meat-free pepperoni, and Daiya cheese; in addition to appetizers, together with Inconceivable Meals plant-based hen nuggets and tacky garlic bread.

Wamame says its merchandise are a superb match with Panago’s values on sustainability whereas providing the very best tasting plant-based pizza merchandise available on the market. “Panago has been my household’s most well-liked pizza chain for many years and effectively cherished by our employees at Wamame, so it was all the time our aim to associate with a model that we admire and revel in ourselves,” Bullus says. 

“As a frontrunner in plant-based pizza in Canada, Panago’s cooks know shortly what works and what doesn’t,” Bullus mentioned. “So once we received validation from the cooks seeing simply how excited they received with Waygu, we knew that this was going to be a fantastic partnership.”

Wamame is finest recognized for its signature Waygu, and says its merchandise are focused on the rising variety of flexitarians who need to substitute animal meat of their weight loss plan with plant proteins.

Mark Yuen

In 2021, Wamame collaborated with Protein Industries Canada and native meals firms to show Canadian plant-based protein substances into vegan meat merchandise that rival the extremely regarded Japanese wagyu beef. 

Since launching the venture, Wamame has discovered product partnerships on the 2022 and 2023 TED Convention, with the likes of Elon Musk, Invoice Gates, and Al Gore having the chance to check the product, in addition to listings with JW Marriot and Shangri La lodge chains. 

Mark Yuen

Extra lately, its wagyu beef has been featured in steak wraps at comfort retailer chain 7-Eleven Canada and Western Canada fast-casual road meals chain StrEats. Within the US, the model is working with nationwide chain Ace Sushi, which is rolling out Waygu at their California areas inside Mom’s Market and choose Vons Supermarkets. 

Over in Germany, Wagyu might be discovered on the menu of the nation’s largest sushi idea, Eat Glad Group.

Vegan shawarma goes past the burger

In the meantime, different new manufacturers are introducing revolutionary new vegan meat choices to eating places world wide. Singaporean plant-based hen model Shandi International lately unveiled the “world’s first” high-protein plant-based shawarma throughout a week-long occasion at Byblos Grill in Singapore. 

Often known as Perpetually by Shandi, the plant-based shawarma made its preliminary debut on the FHA Meals & Beverage 2023 occasion held in April. Following its profitable introduction, it was additionally lately featured at an evening market held on the College of Melbourne in collaboration with UMSU Worldwide and Melbourne Various Protein Mission.

Perpetually Meals

“We’re thrilled to have launched our plant-based shawarma to the worldwide viewers and sit up for persevering with to supply revolutionary and sustainable meals decisions to our clients and companions worldwide,” Shandi International acknowledged on LinkedIn.

Shandi International, based in 2019 by Reena Sharma and Gaurav Sharma, boasts one of many nation’s largest plant-based hen amenities. Its intensive product vary contains patties, chunks, shreds, breasts, drumsticks, and kebabs. 

With a deal with well being and offering alternate options to conventional meat, its plant-based hen merchandise have discovered their manner onto menus at colleges and hospitals, with bold enlargement plans on the horizon.

Perpetually Meals

CEO Reena Sharma revealed that Perpetually will quickly be out there at choose shops in Melbourne, Australia, with plans to increase nationwide. Supermarkets, meals companies, and canteens can anticipate to see the plant-based shawarma in July.

“After we created our plant-based meat Perpetually, our aim was to offer a scrumptious and sustainable various to conventional meals,” Shandi International mentioned on social media. “We wished to create one thing that will not solely style nice but additionally have a constructive impression on the planet. With Perpetually, we consider we’ve carried out simply that.”