My Love affair with Quorn Chicken Nuggets
These days there is rarely a moment when I’m preparing a meal, where I don’t ask myself ‘hang on, could I add a Quorn Chicken Nugget to this?’
For months now my partner and I have been slowly developing an obsession for the Quorn Chicken Nugget, picking up two or three packets every bi-weekly food shop. Thinking that this was specific to only us, I was excited to learn from friends, that they, too, harboured this same passion for The Nugget. Then, having been denied the Nugget in our last three online orders due to lack of stock, (and once having overcome the initial devastation of this), I pondered that the love of the Quorn Nugget might be even further reaching. Are we part of a larger wave of mid-thirties all moving towards this vegetarian alternative?
Quorn Chicken Nuggets have developed a small cult following, and I believe their following is yet to grow. Why is it, though, that the Quorn Nugget, out of all the Quorn and meat free products is the one to be causing such waves? I’ll look at the move towards vegetarianism in general, and then look at the Quorn Chicken Nugget in particular, explain my own love of it and outline why I believe that this particular meat free product is so popular.
The Quorn range began in 1985. As meat consumption begins to drop as a result of people becoming more environmentally aware, the popularity of Quorn and other Meat based products is increasing.
Even within the last five years, vegetarianism itself, has become a sort of cultural movement, and the spread of vegetarianism has inevitably come hand in hand with the spread of vegetarian cuisine. Within the movement there has been a growth in terms of the sorts of scenes and crowds that have adopted vegetarian food. Ten years ago, it was only really consumed within the more alternative ‘hippy’ scene. At this time East London hipsters, foodies amongst them, would turn their noses up at the very concept of vegetarian food, holding onto snobbery around the taste of meat. Perhaps over the last five years, though, vegetarianism has infiltrated more the hipster scene, and the creatives of Hackney. Naturally, as demand for vegetarian food increases, so too does the number of vegetarian restaurants that line the high street. The call came, and Hackney and Brixton answered: while there used to be only the odd vegetarian restaurant such as Blue Legume, in Stoke Newington, there are now far more lining the streets of Hackney, and Brixton Village also.
Not only more abundance of restaurants, but the sales and popularity of vegetarian recipe books has also grown. There is Ottolenghi that, while not specifically vegetarian, consists mostly of vegetarian recipes. You would be hard stretched these days to find a household just slightly interested in food that doesn’t have an Ottolenghi recipe to their name. Then there is Anna Jones, a student of Jamie Oliver, whose branding of her recipe book, echoing a sort of Minimalist Industrial Style, has placed vegetarian food more in the land of ‘edgy’.
It would appear that ‘The Vegetarian Age’ is firmly upon us, and, if David Attenborough’s ‘Perfect Planet’ series is anything to go by (which I think it is), then a further shift towards vegetarianism will literally be imperative for the existence of the planet! (Not to be dramatic!).
So, vegetarianism has taken its hold, but why the Quorn Chicken Nugget specifically? Why some meat alternatives more than others?
Offering up another example is the Greggs ‘Vegan Sausage Roll’, which had people queuing outside when it was first released. The Guardian wrote a review about the Sausage Roll in May 2019, explaining how the new product alone was responsible for ‘fuell(ing) profit boom’, and Greggs then again received media attention from The Guardian when they wrote about the product in January 2020.
If the fact that the Quorn Chicken Nugget is regularly out of stock, is anything to go by, this delicious Quorn product is going in the same direction as the Greggs Vegan Sausage Roll. But what is it about this particular product that is causing such waves?
Perhaps it is the ease with which it is to make a meal from the Nugget? In my experience, the Quorn Nugget works with so many meals, so diverse and inspiring is it in its ability to match with other flavours. Recently I cooked up a grape, tomato, cucumber, red wine vinegar and sumac salad, and put a Quorn Nugget right there on the side with it. The flavours were immense. A recent favourite of mine is a dish of potatoes roasted with turmeric and cumin, and what d’you know, the Quorn Chicken Nugget sits perfectly on a plate with it!
Or, is their popularity owing to the fact that they are a sweet reminder of our youth — a time of no responsibility, no bills to pay, no meals to organise, only your mum cooking up a chicken nugget and chips on a Friday night? Millenials, unlike our parents’ generation, have an impossibly large house deposit amount to magic up if we ever want to get on the housing ladder, and a far more precarious job market field, where jobs and careers now move in a far less linear direction. Is the sweet taste of the Quorn Chicken Nugget maybe a reminder of when life was more simple?
Or, is it quite simply the taste? There is the crunchiness of the batter on the outside, which contrasts with the soft and tenderness on the inside. So easy to eat, with a bit of bite to them. So easy to cook up and feel replenished from. There is the soft texture; so easy to cut, and easy to hold in the mouth and chew, not too tough like say a lamb might be, but not too soft. The taste is salty, but not too much, sort of like a bland cheese, but without the sourness. It is, quite simply, what I imagine heaven might taste like.
There are many types of vegetarians — those who hate the taste of meat, and don’t like their foods to be reminiscent of it. Then there are the vegetarians who still, once in a while, crave the odd taste or slither of meat. The Nugget is marketing to the latter. Not born a vegetarian, but converted five years ago, I have my Achilles’ heel in the form of a cocktail sausage, dipped in honey and mustard, served each year by my friend at her glitzy Christmas party. For others, their Achilles’ heel is going all-out on the meat consumption — a cheeky and greasy Doner Kebab on a Friday night. The Quorn Nugget appeals to those of us with an Achilles’ heel for the taste of meat occasionally. It is that delicious texture, giving us the subtle reminder of meat.
The Quorn Nugget, because of it’s loveliness, has been met with great popularity since its conception. It is the Final Fantasy VII of the Quorn range — it is the one that all products after it will be compared to. When I first heard of our friends’ passion for the Nugget and began to discover our habits were part of a larger movement, it was like that feeling when you’re on your phone, alone, looking down your list of messages on Whatsapp, and you see the words ‘typing’ next to someone’s name — like that moment of a welcome friendly connection into a very private space.
It is the recent thing that has snuck up upon everyone — slowly, we realise we’re not the only ones to have discovered this treasure chest of culinary delight — but we are part of a whole wave all washing towards the Nugget. I believe that The Quorn Chicken Nugget will, soon enough, become today’s equivalent to the Nineties trend of platform shoes and sparkly blue eyeliner.
You might be reading this with a knowing nod, already a convert of the Quorn Chicken Nugget, or maybe you’ve not tried them before and are considering it. Do it — only good things will come!
