I know there was a lot of excitement about the vegan Terra booth when it was announced. I know there are plenty of vegans that often find options at the World uninspired, although that appears to be changing. Food & Wine would be a great time for guests to try sample vegan options and the chefs to get feedback.
While I was interested in at least trying an item or two from the kiosk, Matt was by far not enthused. I had used the Gardein Beefless Tips once before in a stir fry, and while the overall dish was fine, the texture of the “beef” wasn’t to pleasing on its own.
Still, I wanted to try the Chili Colorado with House Made Chips & Cashew Cheese, featuring Gardein Beefless Tips if only to see if there was a dish that made the product taste and feel more like meat.
Upon receiving the dish, I wasn’t too impressed by the way it looked. The chips looked tasty, but the “beef” was a bit dry looking and the cashew cheese seemed very grainy. There were three or four pieces of the tips, and I ate one. The flavor wasn’t too pleasing to me, and added to the texture of the tips themselves, I wasn’t a fan. Matt tried a bite and felt the same way.
The house-made chips, on the other hand, were quite good. They had a nice thickness and crunch, and we gladly ate them. Unfortunately, I didn’t spend $3.75 for a few chips.
I’d still be willing to try the Trick’n Chicken Curry, but it may be one of the last on my list for the festival. If you’ve tried any of the items from Terra, let us know what you thought!
I take issue with all the fakery at the Terra booth. Fake meat, fake dairy. There are so many good foods that are naturally vegan. I would have rather seen dishes focusing on veggies and grains, not just using those ingredients to make something resembling the foods that vegans don’t eat. That said, I’m sure we’ll try something from the Terra booth. We have to hit them all!
I am not a vegetarian but find some vegetarian dishes to be quite tasty so I was quite excited as I read the title of this post… How disappointing that their options are not good… Hoping they’ll do a better job next time.
I’m a vegetarian and I tried both of the main dishes at Terra. Neither blew me away, but it was great to have a vegan booth at the festival. Now the cheese/pistachio dish in Greece… yum!
Melissa – I completely agree and would have loved to see vegan recipes using natural ingredients – not a frozen nugget of soy protein solids or whatever it is they use. But yes, trying all the booths is important!
Ricardo – There are many fantastic vegetarian and vegan dishes that can be made that even carnivores like me enjoy! Why couldn’t they sub hearty vegetables or high protein beans for the faux meat? I can’t recall if the booth was sponsored by Gardein.
jaelach – I’m glad there was a vegan booth, too. I was just hoping for something more. I’ll still give the other items a try, and I hope they’ll be better than the “beef!”
Adam and I are both vegetarians and have been since we war young children. Though I worked in a “fake meat” style vegetarian restaurant in NYC for seven years, we hardly ever eat the stuff. It truly is a novelty food, and a poor representation of what a vegan eats on a normal basis. With that said, I do enjoy it from time to time…so I will at least give these items a chance in a few weeks.
I’m a former vegetarian and vegan and have eaten my fair share of fake meat, and I too enjoy a chik patty and such from time to time myself.
I hope you give them a try so I can hear what your thoughts are on them, and hope those who are curious to try the food do to form their own opinions. Fortunately, I haven’t been deterred from the one dish to not try the others! 
I keep vacillating between wanting to try this and being very leery about it. I’m not a vegetarian but with my dad being buddhist we do have several veggie days during each month and we’ve never used the fake stuff. I agree with Disney Hipster Andrew that there could have been other choices with a healthier representation of vegetarian/vegan foods. Although, if you’re trying to convince a meat eater, this is probably the best way to get them to “dip their toe in” so to speak. I will say this, I really hope that no longer available sign for the chocolate cake goes away.
Don’t worry about that “No Longer Available” sign – It was covering up a few of the items on the preview day (Thursday) before the festival. It was also on the spanikopita at Greece that day but it was available the next day!
Oh, and I also wanted to let you know that the lounge menus at WDW now offer non-alcoholic specialties!
Thank goodness! I love spanikopita and am happy it’s back. I’ll definitely have to hit some of the lounges now at WDW.
I’m not a vegetarian, but we do eat Gardein chicken now and then, just because I really like it. When my daughter was small and in her “chicken nuggets and mac & cheese only) phase, the thought of feeding her those nasty frozen chicken nuggets made my stomach turn. So I started buying Quorn nuggets and we got hooked. I’m looking forward to trying the Trick’n Chick’n curry, though maybe will pass on the beef. Does not look appetizing at all.
One of the good things about faux chicken is that it’s texture, especially in nugget or “processed” form, is a lot easier to fake than red meat. I’ll have to give the Quorn nuggets a try. I’ve seen their products in the freezer case but haven’t heard any thoughts on them. The beef certainly does not look appetizing, and you eat with your eyes when you receive the food. Still need to try the Chick’n, though!
I only really like the breaded Quorn…the ones that try to look like grilled chicken are sort of dry.
I think the only version I’d want to try is the breaded – I don’t care for grilled chicken in general because it’s typically dry.
OK, so I just got back from Disney, and tried both the Trick’n Chick’n and the Chile Colorado. I actually thought they were two of the best dishes I had at the festival! I particularly loved the “beef” chile – the depth of flavor from the toasty spices was out of this world, and the “beef” was really tender. I was just trying to find a recipe when I came across your review again.
Maybe the booth was just inconsistent and you got a lousy batch. We lucked out!
I have yet to try the Trick’n Chick’n and likely will, but I’ve found the Chili to be hit or miss among many people visiting the festival. Maybe some bad batches were made, but I’m glad you enjoyed what you received!
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with the chili Colorado. I’ve been veg for 4 years now, and never cared for Gardein products. The texture of them always reminded me too much of real meat, and it grossed me out. When we came across the Terra booth at food and wine my meat-eating fiancé and I decided to try the chili Colorado. Our serving was not at all dry. In fact it had the same moistness of regular chili. We both thought it was fantastic. Even the Gardein Beefless tips! We scooped the chili up on the Terra house made chips and indulged to our hearts content. It was delicious. Maybe you just had an off day?
I’m going to guess we had it on an “off” day. I really wanted to like it!