Levain’s New Cookie, Gelatin-Free Gummies, and Extra Vegan Meals Information of the Week

Evidently each week on the planet of vegan meals information is extra thrilling than the final and this week isn’t any exception. NYC’s standard Levain Bakery simply launched its first vegan cookie (and you may get it delivered nationwide). A brand new vegan milk chocolate model—made utilizing Swiss experience—celebrates all the plant milks. Meati Meals’ whole-cut vegan hen breasts and steaks are coming to Sprouts nationwide. And there’s a enjoyable new line of gelatin-free gummies from Katjes. Learn on for extra. 

1NYC’s Levain Bakery’s first vegan cookie is right here

This week marks a historic second for New York Metropolis’s beloved Levain Bakery. It’s best recognized for its hearty, fresh-baked breads and treats and this week, for the primary time in its 28-year historical past, Levain is launching a vegan model of its hottest cookie. 

Founders Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald labored onerous to recreate the long-lasting Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie in a vegan and gluten-free possibility. As an alternative of animal merchandise, they used creamy butter comprised of cashews together with walnuts and semisweet vegan chocolate chips.

Levain Bakery

“As one in every of our core values is ‘welcome all,’ we need to invite everybody into our bakeries for a deal with,” the founders mentioned in an announcement. “With this new cookie, we’re making good on that imaginative and prescient for individuals who comply with a vegan and gluten-free life-style. Subsequent time you go to our bakery, we’re proud to give you this scrumptious possibility.” 

Not capable of get to one in every of Levain’s outlets in NYC, Boston, Washington DC, or Chicago? The decadent 6-ounce vegan cookies can be found for delivery nationwide. And the store is increasing to Los Angeles with its first West Coast outlet this yr. 

2Gelatin-free “She-roes” gummies

We’re smack dab in the course of Girls’s Historical past Month and European sweet model Katjes is celebrating with vegan gummies in shapes that honor “she-roes” (our favourite sort of heroes). The brand new gelatin-free gummies are available in shapes that put girls into roles similar to firefighters, astronauts, and scientists, together with messages that remember girls’s empowerment.

“The product celebrates trailblazing girls in all places,” Eliza Jahn, Head of Advertising and marketing at Katjes USA, mentioned in an announcement. “It’s a candy nod to the Sheroes everyone knows and admire: from our relations and colleagues, to girls within the public eye, and even ourselves. We hope to encourage and empower girls in our personal playful method. In any case, if she will dream it, she will do it!”

Katjes

VegNews tried a couple of (or extra) of those vegan gummies at commerce present Pure Merchandise Expo West this week and we should say, Katjes tribute to girls heroes is mostly a candy deal with. They’re additionally the primary time Katjes has explored layering gummy flavors atop a fruity foam which provides the candies an attention-grabbing texture and visible enchantment. 

Obtainable in Peach, Lemon, Orange, Strawberry, and Raspberry with white and pink Cherry foam, the brand new Katjes Sheros gummies simply hit retailers and might be bought by means of the corporate web site. 

3Vegan milk chocolate with many milks

One other nice product the VegNews workforce tried at Expo this week is vegan milk chocolate from newly launched model LOVO. Married couple Simon Lester and Courtenay Vuchnich created the brand new model with the concept of reimagining chocolate by changing dairy with plant milks utilizing strategies from Switzerland—the birthplace of milk chocolate. 

LOVO

What got here of their fashionable idea of milk chocolate is absolute decadence. We tasted LOVO in 4 completely different plant milk flavors. The Oat Milk bar had a creamy, lingering consistency that was comfortable on the palette. The Almond Milk had a nuttier taste, whereas the Coconut milk bar was lighter and smoother general. 

VegNews editors couldn’t get sufficient of the Hazelnut Milk, a vegan milk chocolate bar that tasted just like Nutella however with none of the dairy.

Your complete LOVO line is obtainable by means of the corporate’s web site or by means of Amazon in single taste or selection packs. 

4A Meati-er vegan meat is coming to shops 

We’ve informed you about Colorado firm Meati Meals for a while now. Keep in mind a couple of months in the past after we reported on its newly opened Mega Ranch in Thornton, CO the place it may produce 45 million kilos of vegan mushroom meat yearly? 

Properly, this week, we’ve eaten our weight in Meati, which lately bought an enormous thumbs up from forward-thinking chef David Chang. And we couldn’t agree extra with the chef in regards to the firm’s groundbreaking vegan hen breasts and steaks—which get their fibrous texture and chew from mycelium, the fast-growing root programs of mushrooms. 

Meati

Need a nibble for your self? You’re in luck as a result of Meati simply introduced its broad retail distribution with Sprouts Farmers Market which places its vegan meats in any respect 380 places of the grocery store throughout 23 states. 

“The excessive demand for Meati merchandise at our early Sprouts places in Colorado made it clear that individuals have been ready for a differentiated, animal-free protein that tastes nice whereas delivering an excellent dietary profile,” Scott Tassani, president and COO of Meati Meals, mentioned in an announcement.

“We stay up for persevering with to exhibit how nicely Meati enhances a broad spectrum of preparations, throughout the weekly rotation for meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters alike,” Tassani mentioned.

At Sprouts, Meati’s vegan meats are offered frozen in packs of two whole-cut filets in Basic Cutlet, Crispy Cutlet, Basic Steak, and Carne Asada Steak varieties. 

Meati

We thought the Basic Cutlet mimicked hen breast to a tee and discovered it may be marinated, sous vide, and ready in the very same method as its animal counterpart however with none downsides. 

5Correct vegan Butterbeer arrives at Common

Harry Potter followers, rejoice! This week, vegan Butterbeer topping dispensers had been put in at Common Orlando Resort and Common Studios Hollywood theme parks. 

Butterbeer has been a staple at Common’s Harry Potter sights however the topping might neither be ordered vegan nor left off (on account of licensing agreements). Nevertheless, now, the parks are shelling out a dairy-free topping that enables friends to take pleasure in an genuine butterbeer with out harming animals. 

Common

The transfer comes after nonprofit The Protego Basis launched a marketing campaign in 2018 to demand that butterbeer be made obtainable vegan. “​It’s surreal but gratifying to know that our onerous work campaigning for totally vegan butterbeer for 5 years has lastly made our dream a actuality,” Kathryn Henzler, Government Director of The Protego Basis, mentioned in an announcement. 

“Whether or not you’re vegan for the setting, vegan for the animals, vegan for well being, or have a dairy allergy, we will now all bask in essentially the most iconic Wizarding World deal with with out contributing to the cruelty that mom cows and their calves face within the dairy business,” she mentioned.