Meat Free Alternatives

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Meat Free Alternatives

Quorn and Linda McCartney products are available in Barcelona, but only a few limited items and at a hugely inflated cost. The only two places where you can purchase them (both of which are outside Barcelona), are The New British Market in Castelldefels, and A Taste of Home, a place where you can buy British Food Products who also deliver.

In Barcelona, there are many meat free alternatives such as Tofu and Seitan. These come in a number of different varieties, and are also produced by numerous manufacturers. Given what they both are, you would expect to pay very little for these products, but you'd be wrong. Prices of seitan vary from around 2,50€ up to nearly 4€ per 300g chunk - so why so expensive?

Why is Seitan so Expensive?

I asked this question to some of the representatives at the recent BioCultura Trade Fair at Palau St. Jordi in Barcelona. I was told that as these products are elaborated by hand, this accounts for seitan costing around 3€ per 250-300g piece. In fact, you can make your own seitan, and whilst time consuming, one would think that a major producer/distributor of such a product would have overcome these barriers and automated the process so as to achieve minimal unit costs. This is perhaps the case, but the consumer still has to pay an elevated price for what is essentially, in the case of seitan, gluten.

Where is the Cheapest place to buy Seitan and Tofu?

So, I find myself asking where (if you don't wish to make tofu and seitan yourself) is the cheapest place to buy these products? Experience tells us to avoid the brands in the Health Food Shops and go for the Chinese Supermarkets for Tofu, and the Fair Trade Shops in the case of Seitan.

For more information about the various brands and manufacturers, below is a list of resources (it must be noted that these are manufacturers and they distribute to the Health Food Shops who serve as outlets, with the corresponding increase in prices). Also, most of these sites are in Spanish:

Barcelona Meat Free Manufacturers
Meat Free Manufacturers in the Rest of Spain

I have included this list, as these producers supply to the Health Food Shops in Barcelona.

Meat Free Resources

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