The UK’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, has launched an official sneak peek of its upcoming festive food range for the holiday 2018 season. Manchester Evening News reports that the supermarket giant will place a special emphasis on vegan options for this year’s release.
Tesco’s popular vegan cauliflower Wellington is returning this year, featuring a whole turmeric-spiced cauliflower with a butternut squash and minced mushroom stuffing flavored with red wine, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, then wrapped in a flaky golden puff pastry. The grocer will also offer a vegan butternut squash entrée as an additional plant-based alternative to the traditional Christmas beef Wellington.
Though Tesco has yet to announce other holiday options, the chain has been particularly receptive to giving its customers what they want. Last year, it announced that it would double its offering of vegan and vegetarian festive foods due to overwhelming demand for meatless and dairy-free products.
Tesco’s holiday 2017 menu included additional centerpieces such as a pecan and peanut roast served with maple-roasted root vegetables, a vegetarian portobello Wellington, and a vegetarian nut roast with a mulled wine and cranberry glaze. At the time, Tesco had recently appointed vegan chef Derek Sarno, creator of the supermarket’s “Wicked Healthy” readymade meal range, as director of plant-based innovation in order to develop new product launches, including the holiday range.
“These are changing times and vegetable dishes have now become centerpiece heroes in their own right on dinner tables up and down the country,” Sarno told Food Ingredients First. He noted that the brand’s plant-based wellington would likely tempt customers to try something “different.”
“This year, Tesco’s Christmas campaign celebrates the many ways we come together at Christmas, and with the quality of vegetarian and vegan food now so good there may even be squabbles across the dinner table over who gets what,” Sarno continued.
Though the chef was referring to last year’s menu, with nearly a year of experience as Tesco’s go-to plant-based innovator, customers can likely expect some of the same, along with new and exciting vegan Christmas options. Throughout the year, Sarno has worked with suppliers, farmers, and chefs to develop new launches to celebrate delicious plant-based food every day of the year.
Image Credit: Tesco
