We tried Del Taco's meatless Beyond Taco - and it revealed why vegan substitutes are sweeping fast food
Del Taco serves two tacos made with Beyond Meat products: the Beyond Taco, which simply substitutes ground beef for plant-based proteins, and the vegan, cheese-free Beyond Avocado Taco.
Both tacos look like they could fit in among Del Taco's fast-food fare. Neither is aiming to be a gourmet Tex-Mex product — just a standard taco sans meat.
Frankly, if we didn't know that the Beyond Taco uses a mixture of plant-based ingredients instead of beef, we would not have even noticed that difference.
While it can be difficult to capture the texture of a steak or burger, Beyond Meat handily imitates the goopy yet granular mouthfeel of taco meat.
In terms of flavor, it hits all the important benchmarks, capturing the spice and mix of crunch and mush that have won fast-food hardshell tacos a legion of fans.
The Beyond Taco, in particular, captures the classic Del Taco flavor with the mellow — almost bland — cheesy topping.
The Beyond Taco is a perfect representation of where meat substitutes are going in 2019. They aren't an upscale replacement toppling fast-food infrastructure in favor of gourmet, vegan options.
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are providing meat substitutes that infiltrate the existing fast-food ecosystem. And, the Beyond Taco succeeds in being a fast-food taco — nothing less, nothing more.
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