Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Walkers Flavour Cup: Warning To Vegetarians

Ugh. No wonder the German Bratwurst flavour tasted so authentically meaty, I just read the ingredient list (or rather a colleague of mine did) and it contains "poultry extract". What the hell is that? Obviously it comes from poultry, but describing it as "extract" is a bit nondescript and rather vague. Probably intentionally so. To call it by what it actually was would probably sound even worse and more off-putting.

Well, that means that the remainder of the 6-pack of Bratwurst crisps that I had are going into the Tuck Shop for general consumption by people who don't care what they put into themselves!

This led me to check up on the other flavours and my other former favourite, English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding contains "Poultry Broth". I suppose that sounds a little better than "extract".

I guess the lesson to be learned (apart from always read the ingredients) is that the best flavours contain meat, so it must be difficult to make good analogues of meat flavours from non meat sources.

Gone are the days when the only non-vegetarian Walker's flavour was Cheese & Onion!

Footnote: The Scottish Haggis flavour is also non-veggie, containing the ubiquitous "poultry extract" and also "mutton broth".

1 comment:

Kirsty (boblog) said...

You know, I almost said to you yesterday 'wonder how they got the meaty flavour without using the meat' but assumed, since you'd consumed them that you'd checked the vegetarian status.

Oops. Poor Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud.