South Africa has a new fake meat braai record after government tried to ban it

Vegan braai on Heritage Day (Image supplied: ProVeg South Africa)

• Food awareness group ProVeg
  South Africa, along with several partners, cooked more than 1,200 plant-based
  burgers during a Heritage Day braai.
• The record-breaking event
  comes amid government’s bid to seize plant-based burgers, sausages, nuggets,
  and mince from shelves across South Africa.
• These plant-based products
  have no right to use names “prescribed for processed meat products”,
  says the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
• For more stories, go to
  www.BusinessInsider.co.za.

The South African government wanted to
seize plant-based burgers. In retaliation, a food awareness group cooked more
than 1,200 plant patties on Heritage Day, breaking an unofficial world record
for the largest vegan braai.

There’s a war in South Africa over plant-based
foods with meaty names.

Products sold as vegetarian burgers,
sausages, nuggets, and mince should be outlawed, according to the Department of
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), for using names
“prescribed for processed meat products.” These are referred to as
meat analogues, foods designed to mimic the appearance, flavour, and texture of
meat products.

Food awareness and vegan
organisations, like ProVeg South Africa, have been especially critical of
government’s attempts to ban plant-based foods that are named after familiar
meat products. These products, offering South Africans a meat-free, yet still
familiar, alternative are well established in supermarkets across the country
and banning them would hurt consumers and the economy, argue government’s
critics.

Vegetarian burgers, and similar
plant-based foods, were already scheduled to have been stripped from shelves,
with the DALRRD instructing South Africa’s Food Safety Agency to seize products
in contravention of the Agricultural Product Standards. These seizures were due
to start on 24 August 2022.

But a last-minute interdict halting
the Food Safety Agency from stripping shelves bare of veggie sausages was
granted by the Johannesburg High Court. ProVeg South Africa, the local branch
of a broader international organisation on a mission “to transform the
global food system by replacing conventional animal-based products with
plant-based and cultured alternatives,” welcomed the reprieve.

And while the warring factions prepare
to reconvene in court later this year, plant-based food producers, vegetarians,
and vegans have gloated at government’s failed attempts to ban meat analogues
with meaty names.

The latest in a string of jabs aimed
at government – following Fry Family Food’s feisty social media campaign –
occurred on Heritage Day, with ProVeg, and several partners, hosting a braai.
The “rebellious” event, held in Cape Town, saw thousands of plant-based burgers and
boerie rolls cooked on open fires.

“This event allows us to prove to
non-vegans that a braai can be just as delicious if it’s plant-based. This way,
it is also better for the environment and animals,” said Donovan Will,
ProVeg South Africa Country Director, in a statement on Friday.

Vegan braai on Heritage Day (Image supplied: ProVeg South Africa)

More than 1,200 plant-based burgers
were cooked on the day, “breaking an unofficial world record for the
largest vegan barbecue.” The Fry Family Food Co. set the previous record
by handing out 1,000 plant-based burgers in Birmingham, England, in 2018.

“What makes breaking this
informal record very special, is that this was a record achieved by a community
of brands, like Infinite Foods, Fry’s, Woolworths, Urban Vegan, Outcast Foods,
Veggiewors, B-well, Pesto Princess, and many more, who all believe in a common
cause and not just a PR opportunity,” said Will.

“Next year we’re excited to have
more partners on board and break the record again.”