Vegan meat available at the awards. Photo: RNZ/Symone Tafuna'i
A group of tasting professionals met at Khu Khu restaurant in Ponsonby on Monday to sort the tofu from the tempeh.
Judges at the Vegan Sausage and Deli Meats Awards came from the fine dining and food industry to find out whose vegan sausage and plant-based deli meats are the best.
Comedian Tom Sainsbury was the only vegan on the panel, and said his perspective was a bit different.
"I'm like, it tastes just like a meat sausage but then the other judges or people I eat with, they're like, 'no, it doesn't taste anything like meat'. So, I think my gauge on a meat substitute is warped."
He said the bangers category was full of winners.
"It just blows my mind that there's all these people making sausages out there. I think what's blown me away, our first category, which was bangers. I liked every single banger. For me it was really hard to choose."
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Fellow judge Jas Kaur was more impressed by the category requiring special ingredients such as jackfruit, banana blossom, or fungus.
"For me it was the innovation category. It was very true to innovation. The carrot was pretty interesting."
Behind the scenes, Chef Micheal Khuwattanasenee was cooking all the food and said he loves seeing it all come through.
"I can see a lot more variety, a lot more innovation in the flavours. I managed to taste some before the judges as well because I'm in the kitchen, so [it's] a really exciting new wave of vegan sausage and vegan food in general."
He said one specific spicy sausage stood out to him.
"I think the chorizo category is the bomb, so a hard decision for the judges for sure."
The winners of the vegan food awards will be announced soon.