It’s time for another GreenGut Weekly Find! ? This week’s highlight: Actual Veggies, an NYC-based brand making its mark on the plant-based burger space with products made from — actual veggies. ? ????
Look around: There are a ton of products entering the alt meat/plant-based protein space right now. Enough that choosing one can actually be confusing, even before you flip the package over and read the ingredients.
Actual Veggies is bucking the trend with its “plant-only” ? burger patties. Every product is developed by an in-house chef and “starts from the ground” with sustainable farm-fresh veggies.
Crafted entirely from whole-food ingredients you can actually pronounce, burgers from Actual Veggies are:
- High in fiber
- Low in sodium
- Low in saturated fat
- Packed with nutrients
So what’s in them? Aside from veggies (of course!), Actual Veggies’ burgers feature grains like oats and quinoa, whole protein sources like lentils, and natural binders like flax seed and arrowroot. For flavor, you have old-school kitchen staples: ? lemon juice, vinegar, herbs and spices.
No oil, no additives, no preservatives. Just food.
It’s a simple, basic concept. And, if the pictures on their website are any indication, it’s also completely delicious. ?? Co-founders Jason Rosenbaum and Hailey Swartz are on a mission to make the healthiest meatless products on the market, and they’re off to a great start.
As a trained health coach who leans heavily to the whole food side of the plant-based spectrum, I find Actual Veggies to be a breath of fresh air. ? Taste and price are certainly top areas of focus for meat alternatives, but health is the next frontier. Brands like Actual Veggies are leading the way with products emphasizing the foundational elements of plant-based diets. ???
To be clear, I’m not putting down or discounting the “meaty” plant-based meats on the market and in development right now. I’m fascinated by the innovations in the industry. But the audience for plant-based food is wide and varied. It includes a whole range of people — from hardcore meat lovers who want more sustainable, cruelty-free options that taste like the “real thing” to people for whom health ??⚕️ is top of mind.
It only follows that we need an equally diverse range of plant-based products to serve everyone in the market, no matter where they stand or how they move along the spectrum as their diets evolve.
How about you? Are you looking for plant-based products that look and taste like meat, or are whole-food options like Actual Veggies more your speed?
