Come for the gemusewurst, stay for the health benefits

Stare it straight in the bun, this surrogate sausage slathered in stone-ground mustard, and prepare to give it a bite.

Admit nervousness. After all, this bratwurst has all the wurst and none of the brat. This is gemusewurst, made of veggies, and this lunch is a test after talking to Marianne Roberts and Cavell Kopetzky of the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival.

The festival cranks up at 11 this morning in Lee Park and features food, fun and games, a pet adoption fair and real musicians playing real music. It also features information on eating vegetarian, being vegan and booths manned by various nonprofit agencies and organizations.

“We’re not trying to convince people to become vegetarians, but we’re celebrating living a healthy and humane lifestyle,” Ms. Kopetzky said. “It isn’t meant to be a workshop but a fun family event.”

Something to chew on

Ms. Roberts and Ms. Kopetzky are vegan, the far-end of the vegetarian spectrum in which no animal products are consumed — no cheese, milk or fish. For them, the decision to go vegan was purely humanitarian.

“I believe that all life, human and nonhuman, is equally exquisite and equally valuable. I view creation as an all-embracing web, not an anthropocentric hierarchy,” Ms. Roberts said. “I believe that humans do not have the right to kill sentient beings except in cases of mercy or self-defense. I also believe that humans do not have the right to induce fear or pain or suffering in sentient beings.”

Most people, and pigs, fear bratwurst. It’s made from unknown porkish parts ground beyond recognition, mixed with spices and stuffed into a clear casing. This gemusewurst is made from plant products processed in a similar manner.

Bratwurst is best cooked in beer and smothered in sauerkraut. The jury is out on gemusewurst, but the veggie counterpart wins points for its few fat grams and lack of cholesterol.

Although life without meat is an acquired taste, vegan and vegetarian diets are nutritious and safe, providing they are properly planned, said Carole Havrila, a registered dietician with the University of Virginia Cancer Center.

“Vegan is a little more of an extreme diet in that there are no animal fats, but meat provides protein in a diet and there are other foods that provide that protein. Those include beans, legumes, seeds and soy,” she said.

“The main thing with a vegetarian diet is to plan what you eat to make sure you are getting the right mix,” she said. “That’s true whether you eat meat or not.”

Plenty of options

Eating like a vegetarian has never been easier, Ms. Kopetzky said. A long-time vegan, she remembers when foods were not as readily found and dietary information almost as scarce.

“For people who are becoming vegetarians, there are products now that substitute for foods they’re familiar with,” she said. “You can buy vegan products now at Food Lion and other grocery stores, something you couldn’t do in the 1980s.”

This veggie bratwurst is a prime example: Go ahead and bite it. Sure, the texture is different and the flavor bears little resemblance to an actual meat-based sausage, but with kraut and mustard, it’s pretty good.

Best of all, no animals were hurt in the eating of this lunch.