In our house we've got a little bit of a split. Amy has been veggie since she was about 10 isn't fussed by meat replacements and has no issue avoiding replacements. James on the other hand was a meat eater until he got a little shock from the doctor and decided to go plant based for the health benefits. For him though, he does miss the flavours and textures of meat, so whenever he sees an alternative he'll pick it up and give it a go.
So far, we've got a good selection of alternatives; This Isn't Chicken, Linda McCartney sausages, Green Cuisine burgers (although they've just changed the recipe to make them more onion-y and not as good in our opinion), but there's not been a good ham... until now!
In our part of Essex veganism is still quite a new thing and the supermarkets are a good 12 to 24 months behind those in the city in terms of the ranges they stock. We were delighted then that our local Asda has started carrying the Vegan Quorn Smoky Ham slices!
While the Quorn Ham goes great in sandwiches, we saw a usage for it on top of our homemade pizza breads which we make up from time to time. Since going vegan we've gone a little bit off pizza since the cheese alternatives still aren't amazing and, James especially, doesn't always fancy vegetable medley on top of his pizza. So we grabbed these and popped them on top of our pizza breads and here's what we thought.
The texture is really good on these. This style of ham was always a little bit slimy, stuck together and you get that smell when you open the pack. It's all the same here too and James was really pleased with that! Similarly the flavour is exactly as described - it's a smoky ham flavour and James was really pleased that it actually tasted like a meat replica. On the pizza it handled going in the oven without any issue and didn't immediately dry out either which was a pleasant surprise! We've since tried these in sandwiches and they are just as great in those too.
It's a very minor thing, but Quorn's packaging on these is resealable and that's brilliant. It keeps them really nicely in the fridge and it's such a minor touch, but it makes such a difference!
We think we've found our vegan ham and we'll definitely come back for more of these. PS. their vegan chicken slices are just as good. Rating: 9.5/10
They'd get a 10 if they were a little bit cheaper!