When Christchurch musician Flip Grater couldn't find gourmet vegan food products to have with her glass of pinot, she decided to make some for herself.
Now she and her husband Youssef Iskrane produce a range of vegan meats and cheeses under the label Grater Goods.
Photo: Flip Grater
Listen to Flip Grater on Nine to Noon
Flip has been vegan for 23 years but says that she didn't really have a kitchen or a domestic life until after her daughter was born.
On maternity leave from her music career, Flip realised she wanted to do something more immediate and beneficial for the planet.
She started making vegan chorizo, then expanded into vegan versions of many other European-style sausages, cheeses, pates and spreads.
"I felt like there was a real gap in the gourmet area … [My husband and I] really enjoy apéro [a drink before dinner] and it's just not appropriate to have a glass of pinot with hummus, so we just wanted to fill that gap and make foods that we wanted to eat with a glass of wine."
When Flip is cooking at home, one of her favourite things to cook with vegan chorizo is an easy, hearty and delicious dish of Spanish braised beans.
Grater Goods is meeting the demand for tasty vegan products by private customers but also supplying bars and restaurants who want to use high-quality vegan protein but don't know how Flip says.
"We're really about making a luxurious delicious product and it tends to happen to be healthy.
"We realised quite early on that a lot of what we enjoy about these products is not their base protein, it's the spices … the smokiness and the texture.
"We're just using a different protein base for ancient techniques of making food."
The Grater Goods 'butchery' is in the industrial suburb of Sydenham and there's also a deli and a vegan bistro which doubles as a weekly music venue on site.
This kind of venue, which caters to 30 to 40 physically distanced people, fills another gap in the market, Flip says – it's a rare place you can sit down with a glass of wine, a platter and listen to live music.
Grater Goods products will be available at selected New World supermarkets in the next couple of months.
- Recipe: Spanish braised beans