BBQ beet banger crowned New Zealand Vegan Sausage Winner - Vegan Society

The Beyond Sausage has done it again, coming in as the Supreme Winner for the second year running.

Hot on it's heels was our New Zealand Winner, Grater Goods with their Beet BBQ Banger. Logan McLean's Black Pudding was the winner in our breakfast sausage category and Ananda won the speciality category with their Bambino! Howler Hotdogs won the hotdog category for the second time, with their very realistic Vege Dog and Kaiaroha scooped the Sausage Roll winner with their amazing Cashew Cheese and Sage.

Sausages are big business and our winners have been in great demand and will be sold throughout a chain of butchers in Auckland. The Beyond Meats sales and shares have skyrocketed since the company was created, and they have recently signed up to be in business in China https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/01/why-beyond-meat-stock-jumped-today.aspx.

Even here in New Zealand, our vegan winners have grown from their single shops to be delivered to supermarkets, with Grater Goods all set to be in New World stores throughout the South Island, in the next six months. Ananda won the speciality category last year and this, and have been in hot demand, entering the Foodstuffs "Food Starter" competition. Their prize for winning is help for increasing their sales from one small outlet to New World stores nationwide! Howler Hotdogs have also seen their sales increase in supermarkets nationwide and with this latest win, will hope to see more of the same. From tiny cocktail sausages, giant chorizos are made!

Once again New Zealand leads the way in plant-based innovations by being the only country to have Vegan Sausage Awards, which take place annually at the end of June. This year the Awards were hosted with vegan restaurant The Butcher's Son, judging the country's best and to celebrate our growing love of and preference for resource-friendly plant-based foods. The stiff competition of some 30 entrants from around 20 different companies was judged by celebrity vegan comedian Tom Sainsbury and our stalwart, former Head Chef at Heritage Hotel Auckland, Gerrard O'Keefe, who was keen to define the best taste, consistency and appearance of the winners.

Why do vegans want to eat burgers and sausages anyway? Celebrity judge vegan comedian Tom Sainsbury said in response "Being a long time vegan, and long time sausage fan, I feel I am perfect to judge these (non) meaty tasty treats. I was so excited to be asked to judge a sausage competition! Have all my dreams come true?"

According to the 2019 Colmar Brunton poll, one-third of New Zealanders are cutting down or cutting out meat from their diets and products like vegan sausages are jumping in to take their place. Last year's supreme winner, the Beyond Sausage, has gone from strength to strength on the retail market both here and overseas. Their fat and calorific contents are similar to that of a meat sausage but the difference is, there is no cholesterol, no nitrates and no known carcinogens. And with the knowledge that 31% of Kiwis eat sausages at least once a week, despite the WHO placing processed meats in the group 1 carcinogen category in 2015, it is clear that the popularity of vegan sausages is likely to continue to increase.

See our full list of winners below and on our website https://vegansociety.org.nz/awards/vegan-sausage/results

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