Papa John´s has announced the simultaneous arrival to 70 of its restaurants in Spain of a vegan pizza, the first of its kind that serves a large chain at home.
Pizza, which has already been successfully tested in the United Kingdom and Chile, can already be ordered in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, at a promotional price of 9.95 euros at home and 7.95 to collect, in its medium size.
Although until now the vegetarian public could perfectly enjoy a pizza choosing vegetable ingredients, there are very few restaurants that have vegan cheese versions on their menu, such as Papa John’s.
The chain offers pizza in two versions: a natural tomato sauce, fresh tomato, onion, black olives, green pepper, mushrooms and vegan cheese and another, “plus”, to which the meat substitute manufactured by Beyond Meat is added, the most successful of those that can be marketed today in Europe.
Will it be good? We have not waited a few hours to check.
A very delicious pizza (to be vegan)
The first thing that surprises about pizza is its appearance. Although vegan cheese is very different from mozzarella, much more yellowish, the pizza looks good: it smells good and is appetizing.
When tasting it, we immediately notice that we are not facing another pizza in the chain, and that is that cheese is one of the basic ingredients of pizza, and we immediately notice that it tastes very different.
The vegan cheese is still far from emulating the taste of real cheese, and even more texture. We have not been able to know the exact recipe of vegan cheese that the chain uses, but these types of products usually carry texturizers or starches that make them much more sticky, which can be even unpleasant for the uninitiated. That said, it should be noted that the cheese that carries Papa John’s vegan pizza is much better than others I’ve tried. For an omnivore like me, it is still much worse, but it is not bad, and in conjunction with the rest of the ingredients the result is acceptable.
It is also a success that the Beyond Meat meat substitute can be added to the option with vegetables, which is very successful. It is impossible to think that it is made with vegetables but, in addition, it is rich.
One more help for the vegan public
We will not enter here in the eternal political debate about whether it is consistent to consume vegan products manufactured by a multinational that also sells a lot of meat, but surely this pizza is well received by many vegans who have many difficulties to order food at home and, like all world, they have days when they don’t want to mess in the kitchen.
The time has come to banish comments like “if you’re vegan eat salad.” This pizza is not healthier than the rest: it is still an ultra-processed product, “vegan” is not synonymous with “healthy.” But it is a snack that does not contain animal products, which for more and more people is a moral requirement. Vegans also want their little piece of fast food, and we’re not here to mess with anyone for choosing one diet or another.