Seems it was such a runaway success that they’re expanding the range.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/23/greggs-to-develop-vegan-versions-of-all-its-bestselling-foods

Somewhere in the distance, I think I can hear the delicate sound of Piers Morgan exploding.

Gregg’s Vegan Sausage Roll: Reflux

FIFM

I prefer the veggie one to the normal. No bits of cartilage or gristle. Tastes very similar. Best not dwell on the fungal based protein it’s made of though 🤔

Must be quite a few things they could make vegan as standard. eg doughnuts or apple pies etc. Doesn’t need to be a separate vegan version. Quite a few supermarkets already have vegan doughnuts (though often not labelled as such).

I think sausage rolls are a sensible use of vegans.

That was faster than normal, we normally get to at least page 2 before the butt-hurt carnivores turn up **** on about bacon.

Mmmmmmmmm bacon……… 😉

Who mentioned bacon ?

Well, apart from him ♤

I love the Gregg’s sausage roll. You often hear about how it’s all made of nasty fungal protein etc, but seriously, it has nothing on the amount of manky stuff in factory farmed meat.

I had a Hogless roast yesterday at an event. I’m not a fan of things pretending to be meat normally, but this was lush.

What’s the problem with fungi based protein?

I don’t know, but it’s often referred to as if it’s a problem (as up there somewhere ^^^)

*gak* if they’re anything like their regular MRM pork/foam offerings 😝

But if you want some hot vegan-friendly tasty pastry +fat nosebag then all of the following are rated top notch in Rider Towers:

Morrisons vegan rolls (fresh from the counter)
Morrisons vegan pasties (again, from counter) – a recent find, turns out difficult to buy as they seem to sell out fast. I asked the baker-dude in the Hereford store and he told me to go early in the day. He also said that as a meat-eater himself he liked them ’a lot, and at first thought I’d mislabelled meat ones!’. I managed to get some for a birthday picnic a few weeks ago and veggies and meaties alike smashed them into their gobs in short order. Get some. Oven re-heat for top-notchness.
Cornish Bakehouse Spicy vegetarian/vegan sausage rolls Big long,fatty, satisfying bastards that taste a lot like herby sausage rolls. Very filling and moreish when hot,
Linda frozen sausage rolls Under a lot of radars but a hot delicious and addictively peckish option, if small. Like them what mom made in the 70s.

If had to choose just one I’d go either Cornish Bakehouse rolls and Mozzers Vegan Pasties for utter scoffage satisfaction depending on whether wanted roll or pastie.

The only thing that stops me buying lots of these things is a fear for my increasing girth/overworked heart and the typically unethical palm-fat content of nearly all baked goods these days.

Having actually read the ingredients in the Vegan version of meat things, I’ll just stick to the meat things. I’ll live longer. Fake-meat vegan stuff should be called chemical soup. If you want veggies, eat veggies.

^ Wow. Wondered how long it would take 🙄

Let’s do a snap comparison. Take Linda Macs frozen veggie rolls vs Greggs frozen pork sausage rolls:

Greggs 4 Sausage Rolls 427g
Ingredients (obviously not including the ‘extra’ ingredients that go into/with intensively-reared pork)
Water, Fortified Wheat Flour (Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Pork (20%), Palm Oil, Rusk (Wheat), Seasoning (Salt, Yeast Extract, Modified Starch, Pea Fibre, Sugar, Stabiliser (Diphosphates), Ground White Pepper, Barley Malt Extract, Acidity Regulator (Tartaric Acid), Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite), Spice Extracts, Rapeseed Oil, Herb Extracts), Rapeseed Oil, Glaze (Water, Sunflower Oil, Milk Protein, Modified Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Phosphates), Stabiliser (Carrageenan, Carboxy Methyl Cellulose, Cellulose), Colour (Carotenes), Skimmed Milk Powder), Isolated Soya Protein, Salt, Wheat Protein, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids)

Linda McCartney 6 Vegetarian Sausage Rolls342g
Puff Pastry (56%) ^Fortified Wheat Flour (WHEAT Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Palm Oil, Salt, Rapeseed Oil, Emulsifier: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids], Filling (44%) ^Rehydrated Textured SOYA Protein (56%), Water, Onion, FlavourinG, Rapeseed Oil, SOYA Protein Concentrate, Stabiliser: Methyl Cellulose]

I’m no scientist, and we’re not talking about health-food here – but cromolyolly maybe you can tell me which chemicals in the above ingredients I should worry most about?

I don’t give Greggs my money.

This is why:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-39443585

eg doughnuts

What on earth do you make then with? Vegan Yorkshires don’t work* because of the lack of egg, given its the same mix essentially cooked** the same way, I can’t imagine them being much other than a horror show.

Some things are best left alone, like sugar free cake. Some things work very well like vegan sausages.

*you can eat them but they taste like, well horrid.

**if your oil doesn’t fry the batter your Yorkshires will be rubbish.

What on earth do you make then with?

I don’t know but apparently the Lidl jam ones are vegan and they are the best I’ve tried from a supermarket by quite some way.

and we’re not talking about health-food here

True but I try to eat as healthy as I can without it being health-food. To be honest, I wouldn’t touch either of those with your barge pole but I am fortunate enough to be able to go to my local bakery-cum-cafe and buy reasonable priced sausage rolls that are made with, well, food. Meat, flour, butter, spices etc.

A lot of vegan stuff uses Soy. Soy appears to be good, despite some dodgy studies from 10 years ago. If you have thyroid issues or a family history thereof you might want to avoid. A lot of vegan stuff uses soya protein or protein concentrate. All of the not-so-good, none of the good.

Basically I do my best not to eat chemicals. I can take meat, add spice/flavourings that aren’t chemicals, cook and eat. I can make dishes with no meat the same way. I can buy some stuff premade, meat based, with minimal chemicals. I cannot buy non-meat things that are made to have the taste and texture of meat without a load of stuff that I try not to eat. Hence if you want veggies eat veggies, make channa masala, etc. Eating veggies that are supposed to be like meat seems a bad idea all round.

BTW, I assume you added the “without the stuff……intensively farmed” bit to the meat product. You didn’t add “without the terrible land use practices and chemicals involved in growing vegetables intensively, or the destruction of native plant and animal habitats to feed our need for various oils and extracts” to the vegetarian one though.

Gregg’s Vegan Sausage Roll: Ripper

Ftfy

Sausage rolls are boring. I’m waiting for someone to make a vegan macaroni pie.

I tried a vegan sausage roll a couple of days ago. No wonder those **** are always so miserable.

I don’t know, but it’s often referred to as if it’s a problem (as up there somewhere ^^^)

Never has the word fungal been used to make a dish more appetising. I’d challenge even and M and S advert to make it sound appealing.

What’s the problem with fungi based protein?

They’re gonna shit when they find out what mushrooms are made of.

Basically I do my best not to eat chemicals.

You do realise, right, that the entire universe is made out of chemicals? Good luck avoiding eating water.

my local bakery-cum-cafe

Organic specialities?

I tried a vegan sausage roll a couple of days ago. No wonder those **** are always so miserable.

It’s probably less to do with their diets and more due to having to put up with comments like this day in, day out for the last 30 years.

Nice bacon sandwich would cheer them up. It does me.

Thyroid and soy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16571087/

Basically I do my best not to eat chemicals.

What do you eat then vacuums?

Team cromolyollie –

Veggie version of the meat ones will shorten your life because their ingredients are a chemical soup

worried consumer-

Oh really? What ‘chemicals’, why are the vegan ones worse for my health? (lists comparative ingredients of two populare veg vs meat sos rolls)

Team Cromolyollie:

😐

Basically I do my best not to eat chemicals.

You do realise, right, that the entire universe is made out of chemicals? Good luck avoiding eating water.

I don’t eat water, I drink it. I might eat compounds that contain something with the chemical composition of water though.

I was using chemical in it’s defined by usage sense,not it’s strict definition

Substitute chemical substance or compound if you prefer.

my local bakery-cum-cafe

Organic specialities?

Orgasmic specialties, maybe. Organic is pretty meaningless.

I don’t eat water, I drink it

You do know it is chemicals dont you?

I was using chemical in it’s defined by usage sense,

I find anyone that does this is about to or has already said something really stupid

BTW, I assume you added the “without the stuff……intensively farmed” bit to the meat product. You didn’t add “without the terrible land use practices and chemicals involved in growing vegetables intensively, or the destruction of native plant and animal habitats to feed our need for various oils and extracts” to the vegetarian one though.

No, because (IIRC) all of the ingredient in the Linda Macs were also in the meat sos rolls, so it was kind of redundant for comparison, like for like. Greggs didn’t list the data for the pig feed-additives/hormones etc in their pork sos rolls so I noted that in good faith for the purpose of discussion/comparison – ie (lest we forget) comparing like for like ie ‘chemical soup’ (your words). You do seem to assume rather a lot?

Anyway, please, which chemicals (list as many as required) in the two ingredients lists are the most detrimental to people’s health/longevity? And sources to this info if you have them thanks. 👍🏼

I don’t eat water, I drink it

You do realise, right, that water is a major component of pretty much everything you eat? A steak is three quarters water, a tomato about 95% water. Christ, humans are made of like 60% water. It’s H2O all the way down, baby.

I was using chemical in it’s defined by usage sense,not it’s strict definition

I’m afraid you’ll have to elaborate on that, because I have literally no idea what you’re talking about. What are chemicals in their “usage sense” then?

Substitute chemical substance or compound if you prefer.

They’re all the same things but whatever. It’s not about what I prefer, you’re the one saying you don’t eat “chemicals.” How do you feel about sodium chloride?

Orgasmic specialties, maybe. Organic is pretty meaningless.

I fear you may have missed my rather lame joke here.

humans are made of like 60% water

In his defence I doubt he eats those.

I don’t eat water, I drink it

I think I’d like to see you ‘drink’ a cucumber* for being a po-faced veggie/vegan-bashing, goalpost-moving, holier-than-thou, scaremongering, tabloid-esque, meanie-beanie-baby!**

*Cucumbers and iceberg lettuce contain the highest amount because they’re 96 percent water. Ninety-four percent to 95 percent of celery, tomatoes and zucchini consists of water. You can choose from broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet peppers and spinach for vegetables composed of 91 percent to 93 percent water.

** Just teasing. No really 😉

I’m waiting for someone to make a vegan macaroni pie.

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/mac-and-cheese-pies/

PS store-bought vegan cheese is still 98% grim IMO. Waitrose mozzarella style is not bad at all for pizza etc, M&S vegan pizza slice or mac and cheese bowl are both good too, but you really have to make yr own cheeses if you want them to taste great/use in recipes.

In his defence I doubt he eats those.

Probably sensible. We’re almost certainly loaded with chemicals.

In the interests of not arguing on the Internet for the sake of it, I’ll throw you a bone here.

Avoiding foods because “chemicals” is pseudoscience, in the same way that vaccines are bad because mercury or we’re all gonna die from 5G because radiation. These are scary-sounding words but there are good and bad forms of all of these things. No-one ever died of radiation poisoning due to exposure to radiation from an infra-red TV remote.

Now, if you’re avoiding certain foods because of specific ingredients, that’s fair enough. Shout out and we can fact-check that for you, if you like. But avoiding them because “chemicals” is barking because, as I said previously, the entire universe is made out of chemicals. Salt is a chemical, water is a chemical, by any definition you choose.

Vegan threads in 2018 – “mmmm, bacon”

Vegan threads in 2019 – “ugh, water”

You saw it here first.

I was using chemical in it’s defined by usage sense,not it’s strict definition

I’m afraid you’ll have to elaborate on that, because I have literally no idea what you’re talking about. What are chemicals in their “usage sense” then?

Substitute chemical substance or compound if you prefer.

They’re all the same things but whatever. It’s not about what I prefer, you’re the one saying you don’t eat “chemicals.” How do you feel about sodium chloride?

Most people refer to things made in a lab or plant or what have you as a chemical it’s shorthand and everywhere outside the pedants corner of the internet people understand what they mean. “Chemical” engineers are often involved. Strictly speaking a chemical is defined as most of you suggest. For clarity in a stricter sense use chemical substance or compound as something made, synthetic etc. PETN, for instance is a chemical compound, made from chemicals. You might consume each chemical but you wouldn’t want to eat the chemical substance or compound.

I find anyone that does this is about to or has already said something really stupid

Okay, how would you suggest we distinguish between cyanide, chemical compound or substance containing oxygen and oxygen?

That study you quoted is 13 years old. Meta-analysis of more recent vintage has shown that soy correlates to an increase in the occurrence or severity people who have even undiagnosed thyroid problems or those with family history.

I think I’d like to see you ‘drink’ a cucumber* for being a po-faced veggie/vegan-bashing, goalpost-moving, holier-than-thou, scaremongering, tabloid-esque, meanie-beanie-baby!**

I’d like to see anyone drink a cucumber. I knew a girl who could almost – nevermind.

I’m not against vegan vegans or veggies. I eat a lot of them and am trying to eat more. I just don’t like mine with a side of whatever you want to call it that came out of a lab.

You do realise, right, that water is a major component of pretty much everything you eat? A steak is three quarters water, a tomato about 95% water. Christ, humans are made of like 60% water. It’s H2O all the way down, baby.

I do. I also know it’s the stuff that isn’t h2o in those things that make them impossible to drink. I’d say solids but someone will come along and say you do know what solids are right?

In the interests of not arguing on the Internet for the sake of it, I

First day here?

Avoiding foods because “chemicals” is pseudoscience, in the same way that vaccines are bad because mercury or we’re all gonna die from 5G because radiation.

That’s true for chemicals in the sense you are using it. I think the evidence is overwhelming that the other kind of chemical isn’t good for us in food, water, air, etc. Even medications can be troublesome but the pluses outweigh the minuses. Each must decide for themselves but I’ll keep trying to minimize my exposure.