Restaurant convinced to bring back vegan pie

SACRILEGE or sensational?

That is the burning question as an award-winning Tayside restaurateur releases a vegetarian mince pie.

The Scottish classic has been reimagined as “vince and tatties”.

As Veganuary accelerates to full speed, Hayley Wilkes, of the WeeCOOK Kitchen at Barry Downs, near Carnoustie, introduced the treat.

The pie – a version of which was tentatively released last year after local producers were used as taste testers – follows on from the award-winning cauliflower bhuna curry vegan pie.

Hayley, who was named Resilient Woman of the Year at the 2020 Business Women Scotland Awards, said: “It is the vegan little brother of our popular mince and tatties pie. It tastes great.

“The whole point of vince was that it’s not fake meat or meat substitute stuff. We’d experimented with vegan and veggie haggis, neeps and tatties pies. Then Greggs and KFC came out with their vegan sausage roll and ‘fake’ chicken burger – we thought it a bit faddy just for the sake of being on point.

“We have a lot of repeat regular vegan customers who buy our pies so we wanted a quality alternative as opposed to an artificial meat substitute.

“Also, a few of our fellow Angus producers are vegan so they got to be

Guinea pigs when we were testing our first batches of vince last year.

“Our plan had been to enter vince and tatties into the various pie awards, but alas Covid stopped those plans. So we parked vince up early last summer to focus on other pies.”

However, the popularity of the vegan offering has seen Hayley and her hardworking team bringing vince back for Veganuary.

“People had missed it,” added Hayley. “The feedback from our vegan customers is that there wasn’t much in the way of quality comfort food and so our cauli bhuna or vince pies are a real treat!

“We’re feeling positive for the year ahead, so we’re bringing vince and tatties back. Our vince is a secret recipe but is essentially just roasted vegetables, walnuts, pulses and gravy, cooked and seasoned exactly the same way we do our mince.

“Our pie shells and lids are made with plant-based margarine, not butter, so that gives us a great base for continuing to develop and introduce more special flavour combinations and fillings if we find there is demand in future.

“Also with an ever-increasing focus on allergens, such as lactose or dairy intolerance, the vegan pies are a great offering.”