We first tasted Quorn's vegetarian product line almost a decade ago (the post is here). Since then, many changes in ownership. The founder, 50 years ago, was Arthur Rank, a quirky, idealistic philanthropist and movie producer; you may remember his films ("Doctor in the House," "Carry On Nurse," etc.) because they started with a brawny dude with a mallet taking a swing at a huge gong. Rank eventually sold all his business ventures to a pharmaceutical company, which spun off Quorn into a series of private equity deals.
In the UK, Quorn is a top-selling vegetarian brand, more popular than ketchup or Doritos. In the US, distribution has been a bit stickier, with competitors like Boca Burger, Garden Burger and Morningstar fighting to dominate the "meat alternative" category. So Quorn sent its sales team on a road trip to Seattle (naturally) to talk up the virtues of its menu: breakfast sausages, burgers, "chciken" patties (and cutlets, nuggets, and tenders) as well as "Grounds," which is what you want for chili and Italian-style "meat" sauces. "Mince," they call it in England.
There's no denying the basic argument: the world's population is growing, land is scarce, and new sources of protein are desperately needed. The notion of putting cattle into barns and converting their pastureland to soybeans (that you then feed to the livestock) simply makes no sense. An alternative that uses only one tenth as much water and land is clearly more sustainable, and Quorn sees itself as that alternative.
It's made from a single-cell organism, a member of the mushroom family (mycoprotein) with the scientific name of Fusarium venenatum. In a sense, the process is like fermenting beer or yogurt, but this particular mycoprotein has a fibrous texture that resembles meat. The basis is still wheat; Quorn converts the carbohydrate in the grain to protein, then uses albumen to bind the cells into "chik'n."
Not so fast, say the US food police. First of all, if you use albumen, it's not a vegan product. Fine, it's not vegan. But the insufferable scolds at the Center for Science in the Public Interest have it in for Quorn because it's made from a mushroom ... you know, mold. Guilty as charged, CSPI. Then again, could be you're allergic to albumen, or soy, or high levels of protein.
So the question is, really, how does it taste? Not quite "industrial" but "light industrial," like a Chicken McNugget or a frozen FishStick. I preferred the "Grounds" to the "Chik'n" dishes, but kudos to the kitchen at Staple & Fancy; the samples we were served last night were better than expected, demonstrating that a skilled chef can turn almost anything into edible fare. They're selling Quorn products at Fred Meyer, PCC and Whole Foods. A 14-ounce box of nuggets goes for about four bucks.
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