Snackspert tests Albert Heijn’s vegan calamari and the reactions are far from mild
I still remember the time I ate amazing calamari. It was in Cape Town, in Camps Bay to be precise, with a view of the beach. That calamari was unlike anything I had ever eaten: not rubbery or greasy at all, but crispy on the outside and unbelievably delicious. The words vegan calamari mainly fill me with dread—and I wasn’t the only one, as it turned out from the reactions to Albert Heijn’s vegan calamari test, which our Snackspert bravely undertook.
Calamari is a dish made from fried squid. Incredibly delicious with a squeeze of lemon, or in a Thai salad. Besides vegan calamari, there are more horror stories about those cheerful rings. Apparently, what’s on your plate is often not fish at all, but a pig’s anus. This rumor surfaced a few years ago after CDA Member of the European Parliament Esther de Lange said during a presentation on food fraud that she only ate squid rings by the sea, because elsewhere they were supposedly regularly made from pig anus. Complete nonsense, as it turned out.
AH’s vegan calamari
Back to Albert Heijn’s vegan calamari. What did Snackspert think of it?
‘Years ago, I ate the grossest vegan calamari ever (I honestly don’t even remember what brand it was) and have encountered it in a nightmare seven times since, but as brave and heroic as I am, I simply tossed Appie’s vegan calamari into my shopping basket because, well, I once learned from Harry Potter that you should face your greatest fears head-on. So! I just did it. A few minutes in the oven or air fryer and voilà, cooked and ready. With the first bite, I immediately thought of that nightmare, but after several more bites, the fear started to fade. It’s really not too bad and has quite an aftertaste that resembles the real thing. Nice! An important caveat is that this is actually its biggest plus, but otherwise I wasn’t completely won over by this snack. Just a decent snack, for those who like it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️’
Three stars?
Indeed, a solid pass. But his Instagram friends weren’t so impressed with this snack:
‘Onion rings are better’, ‘Firstly: a squid ring should be fried in a deep fryer, and secondly, get rid of that disgusting vegan rubbish’, ‘I can’t think of a reason why you’d want to eat this as a vegan 🤔 seems to me there are tastier things’ and: ‘A perfectly good snack to leave on the shelf… Look, that saves another 2.39 😂’.
Pre-fried vegan rings
That’s how Albert Heijn describes the vegan calamari itself. ‘Pre-fried vegan rings made with 32% rapeseed oil and a 14% batter coating.’ The list of ingredients is endless, so no thanks: I’ll pass for now.
Read also:
- Chef bans vegans from restaurant: ‘Eat your rubbish somewhere else’
- Recipe: vegan pink pasta
- Recipe for a Spanish tortilla with serrano ham and mushrooms
