Don't worry, no geese were overstuffed or otherwise harmed in the writing of this post. Today we are looking at Fontaine Santé's delightful, delectable végépâté!
In all my omnivorous years, I never actually consumed animal pâté, so unfortunately I'm not able to compare the veggie stuff to it. I do, however, have a wonderful and food-savvy friend who is a pretty good judge. She has been a vegetarian for several years longer than I have (and served as one of my inspirations for going veggie), and never liked most meat products anyway - save for pâté! (I can't help but imagine my friend as a prim and fancy little five-year-old, crooking her pinky and demanding pâté, as her parents scramble to bring out the good china, laden with France's finest. This is a ridiculously inaccurate imagining of things, but come on - so cute.) She says that she thinks it was actually the seasoning and texture that she liked about it, so of course she was happy to have encountered the veggie version, and she then turned me onto it.
My impression is that the végépâté is a little nuttier and chunkier than regular pâté, which makes sense since the bulk of it is a sunflower seed paste with other ground vegetables mix
ed in. I really don't think it was the company's intention to create an imitation pâté per se anyway... This stuff has its own groove and stands very well on its own. I have bought both the traditional and country-style varieties, and I personally prefer the traditional seasoning, but the other kind isn't bad either. I have shared this stuff with omni-friends (including Boy), and they really like it! It is frighteningly easy to scarf down a whole package with a baguette or two.
ed in. I really don't think it was the company's intention to create an imitation pâté per se anyway... This stuff has its own groove and stands very well on its own. I have bought both the traditional and country-style varieties, and I personally prefer the traditional seasoning, but the other kind isn't bad either. I have shared this stuff with omni-friends (including Boy), and they really like it! It is frighteningly easy to scarf down a whole package with a baguette or two.Aaaand you probably don't want to do that - not just for the fact that it's apparently a dumbass move to eat a whole baguette on your own (whaaat?). The végépâté is obviously intended as a snack or appetizer, not as a significant component of a complete meal. There's not a whole lot of nutritional value to it, though as with many other veg*n products, it is trans-fat free and has no cholesterol. One serving, which is equivalent to a generous 1/4 of a package, contains 100 calories. I'm going to let you all know now that I don't have any kind of formative background in nutrition (shocking, right?), so calorie values and the like mean nothing to me, but I'll let you do what you will with that information.
It's also not a bad price. I believe I paid about $4 Canadian for a 227g package. Since Fontaine Santé is a Canadian company (like Yves Veggie Cuisine), I'm not completely sure if their products are available in the US. Maybe my friends to the south will have to do as I did with the corn dogs, and make a trip across the border. Or we could do a trade! We'll meet in the middle. You bring the dogs, I'll bring the pâté. Awesome.
Product and nutrition info: http://fontainesante.com/wfs_En/Produits_En.php?M=Produit&C=30&F=33&P=90
Product and nutrition info: http://fontainesante.com/wfs_En/Produits_En.php?M=Produit&C=30&F=33&P=90
*Note* I wasn't able to load the official site's full nutritional information, but I found it here: http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/fontaine-sante/vegepate
Woohoo for vegetarian pate. It's so nice to have an alternative to hummus and soy products for sandwiches too. A natural delight. And goes well with tea on the fine china.
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