“Vegan” and “butcher” are not two words you expect to see
side by side. But with the help of Grass Fed, a local purveyor of plant-based
meat alternatives, there’s no reason a vegan lifestyle can’t be compatible with
a BLT, some chicken schnitzel, or a Thanksgiving turkey. Co-owned by Rob Nipe and Nora Rubel, the new
business is the first plant-based “butcher” in the Rochester area, offering a
rotating range of meatless meats from bacon to cutlets and Italian sausage.
Grass Fed’s
operations are based inside the Hungerford building on East Main, near the
Rochester Public Market. It shares kitchen facilities with Eat Me Ice Cream,
which specializes in both dairy and vegan frozen desserts. Each week, Grass Fed
publishes an online order form from which customers can select the products
they would like to pick up the following Monday. The weekly order form is
accessible via Grass Fed’s Facebook or Instagram pages, and payment is
collected through PayPal. A separate pre-ordering form for vegan Thanksgiving
roasts (stuffed or unstuffed) is also available on Grass Fed’s social media.
I visited
Grass Fed on a recent Monday during its second week of business. It was pickup
day, and the week’s orders of vegan bacon, turkey slices, and Italian sausage
were neatly wrapped in paper and stacked on a table. I chatted with Nipe as customers trickled in to pick up their orders.
Nipe and Rubel have been vegan
for about four years; they made the switch primarily for health reasons. But
then, Nipe says, “I began to think it was the nicer
way to live.”
He says he
enjoyed the challenge of reinventing his old favorites and making them
vegan-friendly. After reading about The Herbivorous Butcher, a vegan meat and
cheese market in Minneapolis, Nipe reached out to the
owners for advice on getting started making and selling plant-based meats.
“I’m amazed
at how supportive the vegan community is,” Nipe says.
Eventually, he and Rubel hope to expand Grass Fed’s
operations in order to open a storefront and sell wholesale to restaurants.
Grass Fed
products are primarily made from vital wheat gluten (also known as seitan)
mixed with tofu or beans. Add-ins like soy sauce, miso paste, mushrooms, nutritional
yeast, and spices deliver savory, meaty flavors. Ingredients are listed
alongside the products on the online order form.
I went home
with a pack of turkey slices made from vital wheat gluten. The culinary use of
this plant protein can be traced as far back as 6th-century China, where it was
used as a meat substitute by vegetarian Buddhist monks. Vital wheat gluten is
made by washing away the starch from wheat dough until only the sticky, elastic
gluten remains. Today, powdered vital wheat gluten is available commercially,
and is much easier to work with.
“Essentially
you’re making a dense bread to get the texture you’re looking for,” Nipe says.
When cooked,
the finished product has a meaty appearance and texture and can absorb sauces
and seasonings. Vital wheat gluten is very high in protein and low in calories,
fat, and carbohydrates. Nipe says he’s also working
to develop gluten-free products to accommodate more diets.
This was my
first encounter with vital wheat gluten, and admittedly, I wasn’t sure what to
expect.
First, I
sampled the product on its own. The “turkey” slices were a little spongier than
actual deli meat, but the flavor was savory and salty just like the real thing.
On a sandwich with all the fixings, I could barely tell the difference.
According to
Nipe, most of Grass Fed’s customers thus far have
been vegan, but there is also interest from omnivorous consumers curious about
meat alternatives. Consumer familiarity with plant proteins and meatless meats
is growing, in part due to companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat,
which produce plant-based meat substitutes that are sold nationwide at chains
like Burger King, Denny’s, and TGI Friday’s.
“It’s no
longer something that’s hidden away in a health food store,” Nipe says.
Mary Rice is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on this article can be sent
to Rebecca Rafferty, CITY’s arts & entertainment editor, at becca@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2019.
