Pizza Today - August 2022 - 14

MAN ON THE STREET SCO TT WIENER
plant-based products are ending up on
plant-based menus, which makes vegans
extremely happy.
Th e big splash has been all the meat
substitutes that boast the fl avor and
texture of the real thing. Some vegan
meats even claim to " bleed! " Th e problem
here is that some customers don't want
something that looks and tastes like the
thing they're trying to avoid. Products like
these miss the point for some vegans, who
would prefer straight talk over marketing
gibberish. Th ey want you to call it jackfruit,
not " vegan pulled pork. " Instead of
" vegan ricotta, " they want cashew cheese.
Th e even bigger missing market are
those stuck between the animal-free and
animal-full. My friend Amy is a vegetarian
who feels left out when she sees a list
of pizzas with all the meats and cheese
followed by a secondary menu with only
plant-based substitutes. She would love to
try your meatless sausage or pepperoni on
a pizza with real dairy cheese.
Pizzerias that off er a build-your-own
The Many Faces of Plant Based
W
e all know that plant-based
pizza is one of the fastest
growing segments in the
pizza biz today. Anyone who attended
Pizza Expo either this year or in 2021
remembers running into another plantbased
meat or cheese company every
20 steps. People are turning to plantbased
diets for health reasons, environmental
reasons and animal cruelty
avoidance. Even though I'm an omnivore
myself, I'm well aware of how industrial
meat and cheese operations are not good
for our bodies or the planet. Th at's why
I love seeing so many pizzerias adopting
plant-based options for their menus.
My only fear is that restaurants making
the leap from animal-full to animal-free
might be soaring past the wide gap of
consumers in between.
At the far end of the plant-based
spectrum are people like my brother,
who avoid any and all animal products.
Th at includes meat, cheese, eggs, milk,
honey and sometimes even refi ned sugar.
Compared to fi ve years ago, the market
for vegan meats and cheeses has exploded
to such an extent that vegans like my
brother have less and less of an issue navigating
through restaurants. All these new
program don't have such a problem, but
the pizzerias that are quickest to adopt
alternative ingredients tend to be those
that serve 12-inch architectural artisan
pizza. Th ese are the pies with punny names
that each have a pre-set ingredient list.
Th ere are pizzas with meats and cheeses,
then pizzas with 100-percent plant-based
ingredients. Nothing in the middle. It also
goes the other way. Dairy-free customers
who do eat meat might not want plantbased
cheeses with their pepperoni pizza.
We run into situations like these all
the time on pizza tours. Companies do
team outings with us and there's always
someone who became gluten free, vegan,
vegetarian, dairy-free or any combination
of the above on the morning of the tour.
Th e pizzerias we work with are incredible
at managing all the diff erent combinations.
If they can do it in their tiny New
York City kitchens, so can you!
SCOTT WIENER is the founder of Scott's Pizza Tours in New York City and SliceOutHunger.org Instagram: @scottspizzatours
14 / PIZZATODAY.COM / AUGUST 2022

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Pizza Today - August 2022

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