Vegan grilling goes mainstream
The bratwurst is considered the quintessential summer food. Yet increasingly, it contains no meat. The niche market for plant-based bratwurst and cervelat products is growing.
With the sunny temperatures, grills are sizzling again on terraces, at riverside fire pits and in mobile food trucks.
No neighbourhood festival or forest outing is complete without the simple bratwurst with a bread roll and mustard. Today, grilling enthusiasts more often reach for plant-based sausages – even if they do not live strictly vegetarian or vegan.
Because the openness to plant-based nutrition has grown. In Switzerland, five percent of people abstained from meat entirely last year, according to the current market report by Swissveg. The number of people living vegetarian or vegan has thus risen by around 14 percent annually since 2017.
Meat alternatives reach the mainstream
Particularly receptive to vegetarian options are young women with university degrees in German-speaking Swiss cities: According to Swissveg, over 60 percent of vegetarians and over 80 percent of vegans are female.
But according to the report, a broad majority is also increasingly warming to plant-based products: in 2022, meat alternatives were purchased for the first time by 57 percent of both genders. Two years earlier, fewer than half of men could bring themselves to consume meat alternatives.
Veggie sausages in fourth place
Retailers are feeling the rising consumer enthusiasm: According to the Plant Based Food Report by Coop, plant-based schnitzels, sliced meat dishes and burger patties were the top sellers in 2022. The latter accounted for as much as one fifth of total burger revenue. Sausage alternatives came in fourth place.
In the Swiss overall market, meat substitute products achieve an annual market turnover of 87.5 million francs. Vegan sausages alone generate 10 million francs.
Compared to sales of animal products, plant-based alternatives remain a niche market. Substitute products currently account for just under 3 percent of revenue from meat and meat substitute goods.
Animal sausages continue to generate many times more revenue, with annual sales of 500 million francs. In retail meat sales, their share of turnover amounts to just over 11 percent.
While the market for plant-based alternatives initially grew extraordinarily quickly — that is, between 10 and 20 percent annually — it is now in a normalization phase in this country, a Nestlé spokesperson told the news agency AWP on request. Since the beginning of the year, total Swiss sales of sausage alternatives have risen by 4 percent.
Protein content varies considerably
From a health perspective, plant-based sausages can offer advantages: meat products often contain high levels of fat, including saturated fatty acids that raise cholesterol levels in the blood, according to the Swiss Society for Nutrition (SGE).
A conventional St. Gallen bratwurst, for example, is made from a mixture of pork and veal, bacon, ice, salt and spices, filled into natural casings. To meet market standards, the sausage must have a protein content of at least 11.2 percent. An Olma bratwurst contains, for example, 13 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat per 100 grams.
Plant-based sausage alternatives, on the other hand, often consist of more protein and less fat: the bratwurst alternative from the brand Planted provides around 17 grams of pea protein and 14 grams of fat. The Garden Gourmet variant from Nestlé contains 14.6 grams of soy protein and 10.4 grams of fat.
Not all veggie sausages are alike either: the version from the Coop line Green Mountain contains just 5.8 grams of plant-based protein — significantly less protein than a meat sausage.
Significant CO2 savings potential
On the question of environmental potential, however, there is consensus: the production of meat and dairy products burdens the environment through the generation of large quantities of greenhouse gases and ammonia, as stated in the federal government’s current environmental report. “A more plant-based diet can help to significantly reduce these environmental impacts,” is the conclusion.
The resource balance of sausage substitute products is effectively remarkable: compared to a conventional bratwurst, the plant-based alternative from Planted saves up to 71 percent CO2 and up to 79 percent water, according to the company's own figures.
WWF Switzerland also calculates that the footprint of an average Swiss person is reduced by 24 percent with a vegetarian diet and by vegan diet even by 40 percent. So the enjoyment of a simple sausage can indeed have a major impact.
| You can help all animals and our planet with compassion. Choose compassion on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan. |
