Last year’s Oktoberfest, a traditionally extremely meat-centric beer festival, saw an increased shift towards plant-based offerings, with chef Sebastian Copien hired to develop vegan options, a partnership between the festival and German alt-meat brand GREENFORCE to offer a vegan Weißwurst (white sausage) for the first time, as well as Redefine Meat presenting its new Redefine New-Meat™ Bratwurst.
The first announcement in the plant-based space for this year’s festival comes from Planteneers, which reveals its capabilities to offer caterers favorites like Bavarian veal sausage, Thuringer, and Nuremberg bratwurst, and an entirely plant-based liver loaf.
“Our fiild-Meat flexible stabilizing system is based on pea and fava bean protein, hydrocolloids, and starch,” explains Dr. Pia Meinlschmidt, Team Leader Product Management at Planteneers. “It lets manufacturers use conventional processing and filling lines to make a wide variety of products simply and easily.”
“We can supply the systems either as all-in compounds including seasonings, flavorings, and colors, or as purely functional systems to which the customer then adds their own seasonings,” says Dr. Meinlschmidt.
Alongside the sausage alternatives, Planteneers offers a plant-based version of obazda cheese spread that can be ready at short notice: “If caterers need to add plant-based products to their lineup for Oktoberfest, it’s no problem for us. We can supply the systems for sausage, liver loaf, and obazda alternatives very quickly,” Meinlschmidt explains.
Oktoberfest 2023
The Oktoberfest 2023 website states in terms of its meat-free offerings this year: “Vegan dishes are […] available in a wide selection at the Oktoberfest . For example, you have access to organic sauerkraut strudel, pan-fried vegetables with tomato puree, and lamb’s lettuce on a kohlrabi carpaccio.
“Popular meat replacement dishes such as quinoa (on a pea and mint puree) or a soy steak (with caramelized onions) can be found in the large and small tents, and are likely to please even Oktoberfest visitors who haven’t dedicated themselves to a meat-free diet.”
Watch a video here related to the festival’s meat-free offerings.