Where most of the best stories are told, is where the story of Veggiewors and the vegetarian sausage begins. Round the fire, in the company of good friends, with a drink in hand.
Picture the scene
If you’ve ever travelled through the Bavaiaanskloof World Heritage site in the Eastern Cape of South Africa you’ll have a sense of the scene; if not then imagine winding mountain passes with heart-stopping sheer cliffs leading to an idyllic river valley and a white sandy beach. There are no fuel stations or cell phone reception. No banks or shops. It’s the ideal place to escape from it all and spend time in good company, with good wine and enjoying the greatest of South African traditions – the braai. Simply perfect – unless you’re a vegetarian!
For a decade our founder Lisa followed her passion for travel. From diving uncharted coral reefs in an isolated Indonesian archipelago to tracking turtle nesting sites in the wilds of Madagascar, she came up against the same problem time and time again. What to eat when you don’t eat meat?
The lightbulb moment
It was on a road trip through the Baviaanskloof confronting yet another potato baked on the coals accompanied by some soy-based sausage she snapped. What had it come to when a cardboard box looked more appealing than the contents? Why was it so hard to make good, easy to prepare, vegetarian options made with real food?
In that moment the idea of Veggiewors was born.
This wasn’t the journey Lisa envisaged when she moved to South Africa in 2013 to study Marine Science. But not one to shy away from the road less travelled, she began researching and designing a tasty vegetarian sausage.
There were many twists and turns on the road to making the plant-based perfection we know and love today. Exploding sausages blighted early attempts, so very many exploding sausages; ‘clove-gate’ was the result of a very unfortunate slip of the spoon leaving eager dinner guests numbed as if they’d been to the dentist not a braai; 18 months of experimentation and error, balancing ingredients and blending spices sailed by before the very best vegetarian sausage emerged.
The Veggiewors Collection – find out more about our product range
Our Retail Partners – find your nearest Veggiewors outlet
