Bring Out The Best Bangers

The Vegan Society of Aotearoa’s sixth annual Sausage Awards are being judged on Monday 24th June, at Khu Khu restaurant in Ponsonby. This year the Society announces 5 new categories to add to the usual fare of different sausages. As there has been so many New Zealand made alternative meats, fish, chicken and deli meats over the last couple of years, the awards now reflect this, including a specialist innovation category.

The new categories are

• Bacon Style
• Burger Patties
• Hot Served ‘Meats’
• ‘Seafood’
• Innovative

(Producers using innovative ingredients such as jackfruit, banana blossom, tempeh, congak, fungus etc, to create a unique vegan meat option.)

“We are so excited to bring in these new categories, which recognise the quality and care that goes into producing great plant-based alternatives for meat products. We urge all manufacturers to try their luck and see if their product has what it takes to win our judges over. With the rising cost of living, eating plants will always be a good thing, providing healthier foods with lower emissions, helping to look after our planet” said Media Spokesperson, Claire Insley.

The winner of the Sausage Roll category last year has enjoyed so much success that his bakery has been hard at work keeping up! Jason Danielson, owner and baker behind Kai Pai Bakery in Wanaka said “ I used to sell around 200 sausage rolls, but now I’m making 2 tonnes at a time!”

The judges this year are food and beverage industry experts, Aaron Pucci and Jasbir Kaur, both highly respected in their fields with a wealth of expertise between them. Favourite vegan funny man Tom Sainsbury, whose great love of vegan sausages has helped lend a voice of the public to the proceedings. Global chef Volker Marecek brings his high quality cheffing to the fore and finally Zach Duxfield brings his knowledge of fine dining to the judges floor.

Last year’s Supreme Award winner Plan*t said “We were absolutely elated to win the Supreme Winner award for the second year running with our amazing Plan*t sausages.  We put so much care into the recipe development and the creation of these delicious plant-based bangers and are stoked that the judges loved them too! Our sausages are packed with goodness and just the right amount of herbs and spices to deliver an incredible flavour, and we take extra care to craft a casing that delivers that all important snap when you bite into them, rounding off your eating experience.”

With so many categories to munch their way through, these judges will really be getting their teeth into it. To find out more about the awards go to https://vegansociety.org.nz/nz-vegan-sausage-awards/

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