Sophie's Kitchen Sea Salt Vegan Toona

I'm always excited to see another Vegan Tuna on the market! I loved real tuna back in the day and I've been hopeful that there would a perfect Vegan analog. Sea Salt Vegan Toona from Sophie's Kitchen is the newbie and I scooped up a can from Vegan Essentials asap. I wish I could stop this review right now and tell you Vegan Toona is awesome and you should buy it. Unfortunately, I cannot...

My first red flag was the smell. It had a beefy aroma which was off-putting to me. But you know, once you mix it with Vegan mayo it should be fine, right? No, not really. Still smelled. The Toona looks like cat food, dark and unappetizing. The taste was kinda' indescribable. Sulfur-like with a beefy taste. I'd like to believe I got a bad can, but I don't think so. Maybe Sophie's Kitchen has a different idea of what canned tuna tastes like? I took one bite and had to throw it all away. I'm a cheap bastard and never toss stuff, but I had to do it.

In closing, if you've had Vegan Toona and you love it, please make your voice heard. I hated it, but maybe I'm in the minority. This review has been harsh, but I stand by my opinion. What makes it hard is Sophie's received another negative review from me over their Vegan Breaded Shrimp. I have no problem with Sophie's Kitchen, in fact, I wish I could support their all-Vegan line of seafood analogs. I hope the next thing I try from them is a home run.

Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Vegan Shrimp

I posted a pic of Sophie's Kitchen Breaded Vegan Shrimp on the Laziest Vegans Facebook page a couple weeks ago and it got some pretty strong responses! I decided to buy these because I liked shrimp back when I ate meat and I was curious about how a fake shrimp would taste. I could care less about the connotations of eating "fake" meat. If it gets someone who loves seafood to go Vegan, I'm all for it.

You can either bake or fry the shrimp. I baked them because, shockingly, I don't have a deep fat fryer. The first bite was a little interesting. The breaded part of the shrimp is delicious but the shrimp part was tough, kinda like rubber. Perhaps if I fried the shrimp it might have been softer. I hate to diss a product, but Sophie's needs to work on the consistency of the actual shrimp. I didn't end up finishing my plate because eating became too cumbersome. My hope is that they can reformulate their recipe and I can leave them a glowing review.