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

It appears that evidently each week on the earth of vegan meals information is extra thrilling than the final and this week isn’t any exception. NYC’s fashionable 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 the entire plant milks. Meati Meals’ whole-cut vegan rooster 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 identified 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 arduous to recreate the long-lasting Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie in a vegan and gluten-free possibility. As a substitute of animal merchandise, they used creamy butter created from cashews together with walnuts and semisweet vegan chocolate chips.

Levain Bakery

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

Not in a position to get to considered one 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 12 months. 

2Gelatin-free “She-roes” gummies

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

“The product celebrates trailblazing ladies in every single place,” Eliza Jahn, Head of Advertising and marketing at Katjes USA, stated in a press release. “It’s a candy nod to the Sheroes everyone knows and admire: from our relations and colleagues, to ladies within the public eye, and even ourselves. We hope to encourage and empower ladies in our personal playful manner. In any case, if she will dream it, she will do it!”

Katjes

VegNews tried a number of (or extra) of those vegan gummies at commerce present Pure Merchandise Expo West this week and we should say, Katjes tribute to ladies heroes can be a candy deal with. They’re additionally the primary time Katjes has explored layering gummy flavors atop a fruity foam which supplies the candies an fascinating texture and visible attraction. 

Accessible in Peach, Lemon, Orange, Strawberry, and Raspberry with white and pink Cherry foam, the brand new Katjes Sheros gummies simply hit retailers and will be bought via the corporate web site. 

3Vegan milk chocolate with many milks

One other nice product the VegNews staff 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 methods from Switzerland—the birthplace of milk chocolate. 

LOVO

What got here of their trendy 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 tender 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 entire LOVO line is offered via the corporate’s web site or via 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 number of months in the past once we reported on its newly opened Mega Ranch in Thornton, CO the place it might produce 45 million kilos of vegan mushroom meat yearly? 

Properly, this week, we’ve eaten our weight in Meati, which not too long ago bought a giant 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 rooster breasts and steaks—which get their fibrous texture and chunk from mycelium, the fast-growing root methods 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 areas of the grocery store throughout 23 states. 

“The excessive demand for Meati merchandise at our early Sprouts areas in Colorado made it clear that folks 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, stated in a press release.

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

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

Meati

We thought the Traditional Cutlet mimicked rooster breast to a tee and realized it may be marinated, sous vide, and ready in the very same manner as its animal counterpart however with none downsides. 

5Correct vegan Butterbeer arrives at Common

Harry Potter followers, rejoice! This week, vegan Butterbeer topping dispensers have 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). Nonetheless, now, the parks are allotting a dairy-free topping that permits company 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 accessible vegan. “​It’s surreal but gratifying to know that our arduous work campaigning for totally vegan butterbeer for 5 years has lastly made our dream a actuality,” Kathryn Henzler, Govt Director of The Protego Basis, stated in a press release. 

“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 trade,” she stated. 

Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior Information Editor at VegNews and is at all times maintaining a tally of all issues vegan in her dwelling metropolis of San Francisco, CA and in every single place else.