Coles and Maggie Beer to launch vegan and vegetarian meals

Beloved Australian cook Maggie Beer’s company has become the latest to align itself with the booming plant-based food market in Australia.

The food icon, behind a host of much-loved Australian products, is set to join forces with Coles in launching a range of culinary delights suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Customers will be able to purchase pre-made meals with a signature Maggie Beer edge including Boston-style smoky beans, creamy coconut curry with mild Indian spices, and eggplant and cannellini bean caponata.

The range, to be launched under the name Maggie's Food For Life, is set to hit shelves in about 400 Coles stores across the country in mid-October.

Beer said she was one of thousands of Australians moving towards a more plant-based way of eating and had come to “celebrate” non-animal sources of protein.

“I’m so pleased to be able to launch the Maggie’s Food for Life range of plant-based meals with Coles, so consumers can now enjoy a convenient, nutritionally balanced and great tasting meal from my family to theirs,” she said.

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“Being plant-based, they are perfect for vegetarians and vegans — though I often add dairy such as ricotta or goat’s curd to make it indulgent for myself, or you can serve as an accompaniment to any other protein that you choose.

“I’ve come to celebrate plant protein as the way I want to eat much of the time, whether I cook from scratch, or have these in my fridge for when time is of the essence.”

Beer is set to feature in a host of Coles videos closer to the launch demonstrating how the range can be prepared.

The packaged vegan food market in Australia was predicted to reach a whopping $215 million by 2020.

This is unlikely to come as a surprise given the number of companies now offering vegan products and plant-based versions of normally animal-based food.

Fast food outlets including Hungry Jacks, Domino’s, Subway and Oporto have launched menu items specifically labelled as suitable to vegan customers.

Specialty shelves inside supermarkets have also exploded in the quantity of packaged plant-based products being offered like sausages, burger patties, cheese, pizza and even faux egg.

Between 2015 and 2020, Australia's vegan food market was projected to be the third-fastest-growing vegan market in the world with a growth rate of 9.6 percent, according to Statista.

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