Plant-Based Charcuterie Board: Pig-Friendly Alternatives!
La Vie Plant-Based Deli Sausage
There’s often an argument that vegans and vegetarians ‘should not eat fake bacon or ham’. But firstly, what we eat is our business. Many people like the taste of bacon and ham, but don’t want animals harmed.
And secondly, not eating bacon and ham is not ‘harming British farmers’. Because most bacon and ham eaten in England is from factory farms. And there is not enough land in England (a country of 60 million people) for everyone to eat free-range ham.
To complete your plant-based charcuterie board, read our posts on artisan vegan cheese and vegan crackers (with no palm oil).
What is real bacon and ham made from?
Lovely pigs, that’s what. It’s also very high in fat, sodium (salt) and nitrates (preservatives) that when cooked at high temperatures, form nitrosamines (a known cancer risk).
World Health Organisation classifies all processed meats as Group 1 Carcinogens (bacon is linked to increased risk of colorectal cancer).
The ‘ham taste’ does not come from the meat itself, but from how it’s smoked (hickory, applewood etc) and flavoured (maple etc). So once you know this, it becomes easy to replicate the taste.
For all these alternatives, you can recycle any packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not recycle.
La Vie: vegan bacon rashers and ham slices
La Vie Plant-Based Ham is a French company that is so popular, that it’s flying off the shelves worldwide. It’s made with pea-protein and great also for a vegan BLT. Just fry it up for a few minutes on the stove. The ham is coloured with radish extract!
In France, it also makes vegan deli sausage, thought this has not yet made it over the pond to sell in our stores yet. But it does now sell salami sticks in the UK.
Heura vegan ham (from Barcelona)
Heura is a young fresh Spanish company, based in beautiful Barcelona. Its plant-based ‘cold cuts’ are sold in sustainable packaging, and sold across Europe. Great in a sandwich or a spaghetti carbonara.
How to make your own vegan ham
This vegan ham (A Virtual Vegan) is made with seitan, a ‘wheat-meat’ popular in Buddhist cultures. When properly prepared and cooked with marinated ingredients, it looks and smells and tastes just like meat. This is a complicated recipe, but ideal for ambitious cooks (or chefs) wishing to offer ham on the menu for veggie diners.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
