BRAND STORY
l’herbivore – the seitan specialists
Delicious food for “plant eaters”
In the animal world, there are the carnivores: the meat eaters. And then, there are the herbivores: the name given to plant eaters. The company l’herbivore has chosen to use the French term as its tongue-in-cheek brand name. Read on to find out what the company’s founder, Johannes Theuerl, has to say about which plants the company uses, which delicious variations are available, and why their products might appeal to you even if you aren’t a vegan!
VELIVERY: Hi Johannes! We’re really excited to hear what you have to tell us and our customers about your young company. Who is behind L’HERBIVORE?
Johannes: The task we have set ourselves as a company is to make plant-based food more diverse and varied. We believe that cooking healthy, balanced food should be fun!
Organic produce with a regional focus – pure, unadulterated goodness
VELIVERY: When and how did it all start, and how have things developed since then?
Johannes: L’herbivore was established in Berlin in 2016. To begin with, the focus was on being regional: as a specialty business with our own production facility for vegan alternatives to meat, as well as a bistro, we were planning to become a regional supplier in our area. The idea of being a “vegan butcher’s” drew a fair deal of attention to us. Thanks to the fact that we also focused on our products being exclusively organic, a Berlin chain of organic shops, Bio-LPG, expressed an interest in collaborating. Very soon, this brought us our first listing as a specialist organic retailer. Since then, we have sold mainly through organic shops, but also online 😉. Then the pandemic happened, and our focus shifted. We moved to the countryside, converted a disused butcher’s that had specialized in game, and have since been producing our seitan here, as well as other vegan products.
VELIVERY: What motivated you to start l’herbivore, and what are you all about? Do you have a company philosophy?
Johannes: We don’t want to bring the umpteenth vegan schnitzel onto the market or create an extra-realistic liver sausage substitute. At l’herbivore, we want to give vegan cuisine a new product category, and introduce our own take on traditional dishes. And to do so, we use the product seitan.
Plenty of plant-based bite
VELIVERY: “L’herbivore” is French for “plant eater”. Which plants, or which raw ingredients, do you use?
Johannes: Our seitan is mainly made from products with a link to the region, and which can be sourced regionally. Our main ingredients, which can be found in nearly all our products, are sunflower oil, wheat protein and lupin flour, as well as onions and tomato puree. Of course, when it comes to seasoning, it’s difficult to stick to products which can be sourced regionally.
VELIVERY: What properties do seitan and lupins have? And what makes them so valuable for people who want to eat more plant-based food?
Johannes: Both are excellent protein sources. On average, the products contain 27-34% protein.
Many products still made by hand
VELIVERY: You see yourselves as a small-scale manufacturing business, more like a cottage industry. What does that mean, and what quality criteria are important to you?
Johannes: For us, the difference between industrial production and a small-scale manufacturing business lies in proximity to the product, and in the way it’s processed. Many meat substitute products are produced with the help of highly complex thermo-mechanical extrusion processes so that a particular texture can be achieved. Our processes are less energy-intensive and are purposely kept more artisanal so that the end product is more natural, and it’s easier for customers to understand how it’s been made. As such, our production facility looks much more like a (large-scale) kitchen than like an industrial facility.
VELIVERY: What does sustainability mean to you at l’herbivore?
Johannes: Sustainability is a holistic philosophy that affects all aspects of a company. At our production location, we get green energy from a sustainable supplier, and have solar panels on the roof. When selecting suppliers, we check their sustainability credentials. We use foldable boxes made from recycled materials, and try to buy in regionally to keep supply chains short. But there are, of course, many areas where we can improve even further, and which we are working on. So, for us, sustainability is a fundamental concept with which we try to align all our processes – now, and in the future.
1001 serving suggestions
VELIVERY: What’s your favorite dish to make with your products?
Johannes: It depends on the season. In summer, I really like making quick, easy wraps with our frying strips, or chucking a vegan fillet on the barbecue. At Christmas, I can’t get enough of our festive seitan 😊.
VELIVERY: What does your range have to offer?
Johannes: We offer a wide range of quick-to-use products seasoned to perfection which are great for every day, as well as basic products for cooking with. The former, which include products like our fillets, just need to sizzle in the pan for a while, and they’re ready to serve. The latter, which include products like mince or frying strips, give you a lot more scope to let your creativity run riot! Have fun trying out different recipes and ways of preparing our products!
VELIVERY: What do you see as being the current trends in the world of food?
Johannes: It’s not easy to give a succinct answer. I think that, besides short-term trends and small-scale, relatively stable niche trends, there are three consistent tendencies that can be observed in the long term when it comes to people generally being more conscious about what foods they buy: 1. plant-based diets, 2. organic farming, and 3. buying regionally. These are also the cornerstones of our company philosophy.
Vegan cuisine that’s quick and fun to prepare
VELIVERY: What other goals do you have as a company? What kind of thing can our customers look forward to in the future?
Johannes: We want to continue to broaden our product range, and focus more on products that are quick and easy to prepare. Even though most of us really like cooking and trying out new, complicated recipes, let’s face it: most of us don’t have time to do this during the week. So it’s great to be able to prepare something quick and easy. We are planning to expand in this area, so that these quick and easy dishes can also be healthy and fun. We are also working all out on a new range of snack sausages in an edible skin.
VELIVERY: Many thanks for the interesting conversation!
If that has whetted your appetite, we can only encourage you to try out l’herbivore’s diverse range of products. And, by the way, you can try them even if you’re an omnivore, i.e. someone who eats everything! We prefer to call them flexitarians, and they are just as welcome here as all our vegan and vegetarian lovers of good food!
