Tuesday Reviews Day: Field Roast Vegan Sausage

Yesterday I stopped by my local natural foods store, Richmond Virginia's Ellwood Thompson's Local Market, to see what new and interesting vegan products have come on the market during my two-year hiatus from veganism. Turns out, there are a lot! But I wanted to try a fake meat product for dinner, and I really liked the packaging on the Field Roast vegan sausage. I also liked that they are made from wheat gluten - I've enjoyed seitan in the past, so it would make sense if these sausages were similarly tasty. I grabbed a package of the smoked apple and sage variety (they also come in Italian and Mexican chipotle) - four sausages for $5.69.

It was a little tricky getting these out of the plastic casings. In the process, one of the sausages broke in half. But once they were out, it was simple enough to wrap the sausages in foil and stick them in the oven to cook until they were hot and lightly browned on the outside.

I ate these with roasted root vegetables and braised kale with onions and red wine vinegar. The smoky, rustic flavor really rounded out the meal. I was impressed by the texture - I think wheat meat must be the "meatiest" textured fake meat. It was very pleasant, with bits of apple and potato in the sausage. And they are definitely more wholesome than ordinary sausage.

A blog that is primarily about tasty vegan food is not the place to discuss in detail how non-vegan sausage is made. But, if you are interested, look up some of the common ingredients in meat sausage and find out how they are derived and what they actually are - start with mechanically separated pork or mechanically separated chicken or turkey. Or, watch this video from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, in which he demonstrates how mechanically separated chicken is made.

These vegan sausages are by no means low-calorie, however. The smoked apple sage variety has 240 calories per sausage, so you'll probably only want to enjoy one banger with your mash. Luckily, they are a good size as well as being very rich and satisfying.

If I had to make a complaint, it would be that the sausages are a little on the salty side, as meat substitutes sometimes tend to be. I would also prefer if the sausages were easier to get out of the plastic casing, but that might also be a problem with my technique. All in all, I enjoyed the meal I cooked with Field Roast vegan sausages, and I would happily purchase this product again.