I didn’t even know the Phils were playing a home exhibition game on friday but my boy Ed asked me to tag along to the game so of course i went! First things first i went to section 128 to make sure they had veggie dogs. Bingo! They did and I snatched up two immediately because there was only a small pile there. I knew it was supposed to hit 35º that night so we bundled up but i was already cold and woofed down my dogs to warm my belly. Ed, his buddy and I perused the stands for the better beers as they were on the hunt. I was on the lookout for the veg food. The savages went to Planet Hoagie for some meat and i quickly remembered that they had some veg offerings. I checked the menu board to find the “vegetarian crab cake” hoagie. I quickly ordered one up and was informed that i was the first person ever to do so! At least 5 people behind the counter looked totally confused when my order came up. People were scrambling, there was a huddle and a break and after a good 5 minutes or so the item was in hand and i was wished “good luck”. To my surprise this thing wasn’t half bad. It was barely warm but i blame the weather, and it wasn’t over the top trying to be errr…”fishy”. I really don’t know how to describe the texture but it was reminiscent of what i guess crab cakes are like. I’m glad i got peppers and pickles to add because it truly made the sandwhich. It was a bit steep at $9.25 but fuck it the tickets were free and the lady at the counter was nice. I would rate it a solid B. Try it out but don’t be mad at me if you don’t like it. Also i think Labuda said that there are veggie schmitter’s but that turned out to be totally false. Oh and the Phils lost to the Blue Jays in a very boring and cold game.
1 response so far ↓
Bill Neilson // Apr 3, 2008 at 6:28 am
Article: Verified Vegans: SOI Foodservice Awards — November 2007
by William A. Roberts, Jr.
November 1, 2007
Foodservice operators are challenged to provide tasty new offerings for their vegetarian patrons, and the winner of the 2007 Spirit of Innovation Award: Foodservice worked with eateries to introduce a vegetarian crab-style cake.
“I have yet to feed the Vegan Crab Style Cake to people and have them suspect it is not crab cake,” notes Bill Neilson, president of Multy Grain Foods.
Vegetarian foods at the primary and secondary education levels around the country comprise a fairly substantial portion of offered items. According to the School Nutrition Association (SNA), 25% of elementary, 30% of middle schools and 36% of high schools offer daily vegetarian meals (they include eggs and dairy products). When it comes to meals with no meat, dairy or animal products (so-called vegan options), the number is a bit less: 5% of elementary, 6% of middle and 10% of high schools.
For students entering college life, vegan options become a much greater issue. According to a 2006 study by foodservice provider Aramark, 24% of college students report that vegan options on campus are important to them. Unfortunately, many of the personnel at these campus dining services are inexperienced with vegan foodstuffs, and frequently, the challenge for companies seeking to place their products in these locations is simply communicating the proper means of preparation, explains Bill Neilson, executive chef and president of Multy Grain Foods, winner of Prepared Foods’ 2007 Spirit of Innovation Award: Foodservice.
According to Neilson, several proteins are used in Multy Grain’s Vegan Crab Style Cake: wheat, soy and pea. He reasons that his early foodservice clients did not understand the product. “They thought they were working with chicken. This does not work like that. You need to over-season it a little bit, but just to the right point where the product is not over-flavored.
“If you are starting with the raw ingredient, you need to cook it to a certain temperature, in order to [clean it and cool it and bring it down to a certain temperature], so that you can further process it and work with the product,” he notes. “A lot of [campus dining personnel] couldn’t. Even though I had given them the product, they were not able to flavor it. I told them, ‘Take your crab cake recipe, and you’ll have a crab cake,’ and they couldn’t do it.” To help his customers, Neilson says he frequently demonstrates the proper way to use the product.
Such devotion to working with the end user and explaining the nuances of flavor creation is one of the many aspects of the Vegan Crab Style Cake that helped the company garner this year’s Spirit of Innovation Award.
You must log in to post a comment.