Anna Marie Cesario and Jennifer Vahalik 2025-01-23 07:01:41
A pizza for EVERYONE?
OUR TESTERS WERE SPLIT ON THE CREAMINESS OF THE ALT-CHEESE AND THE SALTYSPICINESS OF THE PLANT-BASED PEPPERONI, THOUGH THEY AGREED THAT THE SERVING SIZE WAS A BIT ODD.
Many appreciate the convenience of keeping a pizza in their freezer as a quick, go-to option for a snack or meal. Daiya recently introduced a “new and improved” frozen pizza line “now paired with Daiya’s reformulated cheese made with Daiya Oat Cream Blend.” Daiya Dairy-Free Meatless Pepperoni Pizza features a gluten-free thin crust and “new meatless pepperoni slices that offer a spicier, meatier flavor.” Let’s see what our tasters thought about this plantbased, dairy-free, gluten-free frozen pizza option.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Tasters included a vegan, a family who is gluten- and dairy-free, a few vegetarians, a few who want to cut back on their meat consumption and pizza lovers.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
A mom shared, “Daiya’s former cheese recipe was not our favorite, but I heard good things about their new Oat Cream blend.”
“The box was colorful and made the pizza look good. I easily found all the important info, including clear instructions with an air fryer option,” said a 30+ adventurous-eating male. “But I wasn’t expecting it to be so small, especially at almost 400 calories for 1/3 of the pie!”
A Gen X female noted, “The box and description make the pizza appear mouth-watering.”
A female vegan told us, “The image was extremely appealing, and I wanted to cook it for lunch! The plant-based and dairy-free claims are all over the box, and as a vegan, I appreciate the redundancy as this is reassurance that it’s not an animal-based product. It is clearly marked with the vegan symbol as well.”
APPEARANCE, FEEL, TASTE AND TEXTURE
“The vegan pepperoni is interesting, but the color was a little pale,” observed a mom whose family has been gluten- and dairy-free for about 10 years. She added, “The texture was good, but we wanted a bit more pepperoni on each piece. The crust is crunchy and chewy at the same time — a good thing — and the vegan cheese is ok. It’s exactly what I expected.”
Our couple explained, “The crust was like a cracker; crunchy. Where’s the pepperoni? There were seven measly pieces, and they had a strong, spicy aftertaste. May have been better with plant-based pepperoni crumbles. The cheese was better than other plant-based cheeses, but not stringy.”
An adventurous 30-year-old shared, “It smelled good while cooking, and it crisped up nicely. I liked the crust, sauce, pepperoni flavorings and even the cheese didn’t taste bad. But the consistency was weird. It was very creamy and left a ‘coating’ all throughout my mouth as I ate it. I enjoyed the taste, but the texture was too creamy. The meatless pepperoni was well done and had a good taste.”
A Gen X female said, “There is an aroma of spoiled pork or chicken — I don’t taste it when I eat each component separately, but altogether it has that taste. The sauce is too tangy, and the pepperoni is unnecessarily spicy. The cheese is the closest to normal of the whole product.”
A female vegan described, “This product looks way more appealing after it is cooked as the cheese melts and the ‘meat’ appears to resemble the real deal. For me this pizza is considered a treat and not something I would eat on a regular basis since it is a processed food.”
A mom who didn’t care for the original Daiya Pizza product told us, “This is the perfect size for my husband and me for dinner. The cheese melted better than I anticipated. We enjoyed the crunchiness of the crust, which was the perfect complement to the creamy cheese. The meatless pepperoni was good and similar in taste to meat pepperoni, but it didn’t crisp up like meat pepperoni. We missed this texture.”
A vegetarian female added, “It cooked up well and looked good. I really couldn’t tell the difference between a real cheese pepperoni pizza and this.”
“I can’t get past the look of fake cheese that hasn’t melted,” explained a 49-year-old female. She continued, “The sauce is over-seasoned and orange. And forget the pepperoni! It looks processed and doesn’t taste like pepperoni.”
A vegan said, “It’s odd that one portion is 1/3 of the pie. When would you ever cut a pizza into uneven slices? I cut my pie into quarters and enjoyed 1/2 of the pie. With 16g of fat in onethird of the pie, this portion had me doing some intense math. But this could be dangerous. The pizza was so delicious that if I did not have a hold on my portion control, the whole pie would be eaten in one sitting!”
CONCLUSION
A vegetarian said, “I would likely not buy this again. It’s just not something I’d keep on hand for the price point and number of calories.”
A health-conscious 30-year-old male concluded, “Not a product I will be buying or seeking again in the future. When I eat ‘meatless’, I don’t want or need pepperoni alternatives.”
A Gen-Z male remarked, “The pepperoni is impossible to bite through and too spicy. I would rather never have pizza again than have this a second time.”
“I’d eat this in a pinch but would go for a traditional ‘real’ pepperoni pizza first,” stated a millennial male.
A mother said, “I would buy it again at this price. I think my daughter, who is allergic to dairy, would love to try this.”
A female vegan concluded, “I would definitely buy this for a ‘family pizza night’ and would be satisfied eating this while my family eats the ‘real’ version. But I would not use this for an everyday lunch or dinner because of the long list of ingredients. The ‘meat’ is delicious, giving it that salty kick desired by the typical pizza lover! Considering this is a delicious pizza alternative, it is something to be enjoyed in moderation and a wonderful replacement for the real deal.”
Daiya Meatless Pepperoni Pizza’s tried to cast a wide net with its bold front-of-package claims of plant-based, gluten-free and dairy-free. However, those who ultimately indicated an intent to purchase did so to accommodate specific dietary restrictions such as dairy allergies. For all others, taste and a high price point overrode any initial interest. Additionally, there were quite a few health-related dislikes including nutrition and ingredients, limiting its broader appeal. Daiya is trying to do it all but may need to thoughtfully reflect on both the identity and needs of its true target audience.
by Anna Marie Cesario and Jennifer Vahalik, U&I Collaboration, LLC.
Food product development and consumer research veterans, Anna Marie Cesario and Jennifer Vahalik, join Alt-Meat magazine as contributors to our regular “Taste Test” column. Here’s how the program works: The alternative meat item is distributed to consumers, including the core demographic, for preparation in their own homes. No instructions are provided to the consumer, other than to write their overall impressions of the product, as well as to evaluate the flavor, texture, packaging and ease of use. Cesario and Vahalik look for common threads by using Getting It!®, a system developed to listen to consumers about products. The sample of people is not intended to be a “taste test” in a controlled setting, nor is it intended to simulate a focus group. Others are doing both. Rather, the intent is to interpret the response of the people who might purchase a product like this and use it, simply based on their encounters with the product in their individual, unique home environment. That is how U&I has been developing cutting-edge product and people understanding since 1999.
PRODUCT: Daiya Meatless Pepperoni Gluten-Free Thin Crust Pizza
PRICE: $7.68 - $11/16.7 oz. package
NUTRITION PER SERVING (1/3 PIZZA): Calories 390, Total Fat 16g, Saturated Fat 8g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 760mg, Total Carbohydrate 56g, Protein 4g.
What the body craves
Meat alternatives
FAVORED BY VEGANS AND VEGETARIANS
Do vegans and vegetarians dream of meat?
In a survey of more than 1,000 American vegans and vegetarians, most (64%) said they regularly crave chicken, while fewer crave steak (40%), beef (36%) or bacon (32%).
Though burgers didn’t make their “real meat” cravings list, 96% of surveyed vegans and vegetarians said they regularly eat plant-based burgers — no word on why, though the ubiquity of plant-based burgers may have something to do with it.
Rounding out the respondents’ five most-eaten alt-meats were plant-based chicken, plant-based sausage, tofu and plant-based bacon.
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