Plant Based Food Coming to Regent

[Travelcat2]

Thought that this was a very interesting article from Cruise Industry News.  I've wanted to try the Impossible Burger and will now have a chance.  Any thoughts?

 

"Regent Seven Seas Cruises today announced the debut of plant-based cuisine on menus across its fleet.

 

Beginning October 1, 2019, more than 200 plant-based selections will be offered at breakfast, lunch and dinner, with the company citing demand.

 

“For luxury travelers who are increasingly adding more plant-based cuisine to their meals, we’re offering even more imaginative selections of bold, flavorful appetizers, entrees and desserts, with craveable tastes and mouth-watering presentations,” said Jason Montague, Regent Seven Seas Cruises president and chief executive officer. “Our expanded plant-based cuisine sets the highest benchmark in luxury cruising.”

Of note, lunch offerings will include the trending Impossible Burger.

 

New dishes like Wild Mushroom Tart with Brittle Pie Crust, Mushroom Duxelles and Red Pepper Coulis; Falafel Fritters with Harissa Mayo, Cucumber, Mint, and Capers; Spiced Potato & Green Pea Samosas with Tamarind Chutney; and Summer Berry Pudding Chantilly showcase a range of cuisines including Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Italian, Malaysian, and more. Other menu highlights include nourishing Power Bowls and Poke Bowls, hearty pastas and noodles, light and refreshing salads and soups and items like an Impossible Cheeseburger, and a Peach and Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal-Almond Topping.

 

Regent’s 200 plant-based selections will be fully integrated into the daily menus on Regent ships, instead of being offered on a separate menu, the company said.

 

The new offerings were developed by Regent’s culinary leadership team under the direction of Bernhard Klotz, Regent’s vice president of Food and Beverage, in concert with chef, culinary instructor, and author Christophe Berg.

 

“Plant-based cuisine appeals to a broad audience of luxury travelers,” Klotz explained. “This is an emerging, modern specialty cuisine that allows our guests to enjoy more flavorful foods that are in harmony with their current tastes and pushes the boundaries on Regent’s acclaimed culinary creativity and imagination.”

 

Among the offerings at dinner are Caramelized Apple Tart with Fresh Feta-Cashew Cheese, Balsamic Caramel; Wild Mushroom Tart with Brittle Pie Crust, Mushroom Duxelles, Red Pepper Coulis; and Baked Porcini & Spinach Cannelloni, with Toasted Hazelnuts, Tomato Sauce, Béchamel."

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

Sounds good.  Though I had to laugh as isn’t all food ultimately plant based.  Our cows eat grass.

[UUNetBill]

8 minutes ago, RachelG said:

Sounds good.  Though I had to laugh as isn’t all food ultimately plant based.  Our cows eat grass.

Probably better off not asking what grass 'eats', especially in the cattle fields...

 

It's a great circle.

[HotRoot]

They introduced the breakfast menu on our cruise.  Tried the avocado toast.  Salsa was delicious.  Avocado tasted like lime.  Next was the banana bread.  It was too dense for us.  Fruit on the side was delicious.  Our final try was a peanut butter chocolate smoothie.  It was very grainy.  We were not impressed and went back to the regular menu.

[wcsdkqh]

As long as they don't drop the foods that are "bad" for you, I couldn't care less 🙂

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by wcsdkqh
Spelling correction

[ronrick1943]

The photos looked good, if it taste the same-good for Regent.  It's one thing in a test kitchen and another to bring it to the table mass produced for your cruise.  Let's give it chance, it's a good idea if done right.

[CruisetheCs]

I can already see the marketing hype:

 

”Free Pre-paid Impossible Burgers” 😋

[flossie009]

2 hours ago, RachelG said:

Sounds good.  Though I had to laugh as isn’t all food ultimately plant based.  Our cows eat grass.

Yes, we love a "plant based" diet as long as 50% of the plants have been processed into something yummy by animals or fish first 😉

...... but, seriously, it is good to see Regent moving with trends and offering some interesting vegan alternatives into their menus .................. as long as they do not drop any of their delicious meat & fish dishes

[Kwaj girl]

I look forward to trying many of these new menu items as an alternative to a heavy meat-based diet.  I often select the fish of the day but some of these descriptions sound really good right now.

[JMARINER]

Sadly, this is not "Planted Based" way of eating. This is nothing more than Vegan Junk Food and really no different than the vegan menu that have had for years. Full of fat, oils and processed crap.

 

The so called chef that is advising Regent, Christophe Berg,  is not any kind of authority in the Plant Based world. His menu suggestion are just awful. He has no education in nutrition nor health sciences and according to his bio his claim to fame is a video games and computer programing. He runs some sort of health spa in Thailand that no one has heard of.

 

I can not understand how a 6 star luxury product such as Regent would team themselves with someone with no credential and no education to run their restaurant program. Your attempt to jump on the "Plant based" bandwagon in this manner is amateurish and would give anyone who is remotely familiar with  subject a very poor impression of your efforts.

 

I strongly suggest that you look into aligning your restaurant product with a recognized "Plant Based" restaurant certification program such as  PLANT PURE COMMUNITIES RESTAURANT CAMPAIGN link .

 

Their program is recognized by the Worlds leading Doctors and Medical professionals including:

• Dr. Michael Greger
• Dr. Michael Klaper
• The T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS)
• Dr. Joel Kahn
• Dr. Robert Ostfeld
• Dr. Neal Barnard/Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
• Dr. Ron Weiss/Ethos Health
• Gene Baur
• Julieanna Hever, The Plant-Based Dietician
• Dr. James Marcum/Heartwise Ministries
• Plant Based Health Australia

 

You guy need to rethink your program.

 

J

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by JMARINER

[Pinksunset]

As a vegetarian I applaud Regent for moving in the right direction!  I respectfully disagree JMariner; this may be more than vegan junk food depending on the preparation.  Let’s support Regent in this incredibly positive move!   Perhaps more “carnivores” will delightfully realize plant-based diets are actually tasty along with being humane.  

[cruiseluv]

I dont really care about these "plant based"  PC fads being included, as long as the normal food offerings are not diminished.  And before any of you attack me, my daughter is vegan, so I know all about this . Just dont try to curtail my choices.

[SWFLAOK]

i never order a real burger anywhere, so I would never order a vegetable version of it with an unknown concoction of vegan ingredients that resembles a burger .I try to  avoid artificial foods, which is what I consider  some of these new  menu items.  I want to know exactly what I'm eating. I eat a small amount of red meat at home, but don't order it if there's an alternative on board. I'm looking for seafood or entrees that contain real vegetables in their natural form.

I had no problem finding good selections on our previous cruise, so we'll see how we do on our next cruise. I work hard to get my husband to enjoy vegetable entrees at home,  and an artificial meat burger isn't going to fly. A black bean burger works OK for him at home.

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, cruiseluv said:

I dont really care about these "plant based"  PC fads being included, as long as the normal food offerings are not diminished.  And before any of you attack me, my daughter is vegan, so I know all about this . Just dont try to curtail my choices.

 

As mentioned, out daughter is "almost" vegan (she eats some cheese so technically isn't vegan).  She loves the Impossible Burger and is in the process of setting up a food cart that will serve vegan products.  She lives in Burbank, CA that is where the "studios" are.  To have these products available for lunch may be a successful.  While she has a "regular job", she wants to make vegan products more available to the masses (hope that she is successful).  

[cruiseluv]

6 hours ago, HotRoot said:

They introduced the breakfast menu on our cruise.  Tried the avocado toast.  Salsa was delicious.  Avocado tasted like lime.  Next was the banana bread.  It was too dense for us.  Fruit on the side was delicious.  Our final try was a peanut butter chocolate smoothie.  It was very grainy.  We were not impressed and went back to the regular menu.

Sorry, this sounds painful to me. Whats next? Mystery meat? If regular menu will be reduced to accommodate these experiments I'm not cruising with them. Hopefully they'll have many vegans eager to sail with them. 

[JPR]

The Impossible Burger is indeed tasty, but healthy it’s not. Very high in calories, salt, fat, etc. and expensive. Just no meat.

[sita]

All for more plant based choices but impossible burger is an industrial, engineered product made with gmo ingredients... yuk

[Hambagahle]

8 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

I dont really care about these "plant based"  PC fads being included, as long as the normal food offerings are not diminished.  And before any of you attack me, my daughter is vegan, so I know all about this . Just dont try to curtail my choices.

Totally agree!   I want my Eggs B, Corned Beef hash etc for breakfast.  "real" Hamburgers at lunch and a steak or roast beef in the evening.  I am willing to try some of these vegetarian things but I do want my choice!!

[hypercafe]

This all sounds like fun. We feel a vacation is a great time to try different things, especially on a all inclusive line such as Regent. If it turns out you don't like it just move on to something else.

[kjbacon]

This is an exciting move forward! The Avocado Toast was on the Compass Rose menu in April and it was absolutely delicious. It was appreciated to have a less deadly option for breakfast. I wished it was available in La Veranda because we are early risers and it opens earlier than CR.

 

While many of the veggie burgers on the market have more sodium than I’d like, I guarantee you that they have less sodium than the typically seasoned beef burger. 

 

Junk food shows up in every cuisine and every style, be it plant based or not. People want a cheeseburger and fries served with their Lipitor and blood pressure meds. There is very little demand for truly healthy food, especially in a cruise environment, so I’m with the others who say let’s applaud these steps!

[HotRoot]

Glad you liked your avocado toast.  Our bread was so hard we could not cut it with a knife much less with our teeth.  The avocado had so much lime on it (I assume so it did not turn brown) that all we could taste was lime.  The salsa on the side was delicious.  I put it on my eggs.

 

The next day we tried the banana bread.  Too dense for us.  The fruit stick on the side was delicious.

 

[kjbacon]

15 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

Glad you liked your avocado toast.  Our bread was so hard we could not cut it with a knife much less with our teeth.  The avocado had so much lime on it (I assume so it did not turn brown) that all we could taste was lime.  The salsa on the side was delicious.  I put it on my eggs.

 

The next day we tried the banana bread.  Too dense for us.  The fruit stick on the side was delicious.

 

 

Were you on the Explorer? It’s possible that the preparation differs ship to ship. Another thread was saying on their (non Explorer) trip that Sette Mari was terrible when ours was fabulous, best restaurant on the ship. There’s also the option that different people have different tastes 🙂 the bread was a thick, dense, seeded multi grain but I enjoy that and my Avocado was well seasoned. I don’t remember the banana bread or the other items you mentioned but it certainly wouldn’t be the first thing that I forgot!

[MalbecWine]

We have tried the impossible burger and meat loaf.  Three restaurants that are very popular have introduced these items.  Actually the burger was very good and only 250 calories including the plant based bun.  What you put on it of course will increase the calories.  It looks like a burger and tastes like one.  The bean burgers are messy and taste does not resemble a hamburger.  This is great for vegans and glucose diets.

 

They will introduce this in stores later this year.  We have tried the Boca Burger which you can find in major supermarkets and they are awful.

 

We also love the avocado toast as well. 

[HotRoot]

1 hour ago, kjbacon said:

 

Were you on the Explorer? It’s possible that the preparation differs ship to ship. Another thread was saying on their (non Explorer) trip that Sette Mari was terrible when ours was fabulous, best restaurant on the ship. There’s also the option that different people have different tastes 🙂 the bread was a thick, dense, seeded multi grain but I enjoy that and my Avocado was well seasoned. I don’t remember the banana bread or the other items you mentioned but it certainly wouldn’t be the first thing that I forgot!

 

We were on the Navigator.  And, agree, food consistency is different between ships and between cooks.  When somebody goes home the food changes.  We had delicious garlicy whole escargot.  We had chopped escargot.  We had escargot with chopped vegetables.  We even had escargot in cream.  The menu description did not change.  The dish served changed as the cooks changed.  Sorry, escargot is not plant based, but it does support my comment that dishes change as cooks change whether the dish is plant based or not.

 

Our bread with the avocado was dark.  It would have made a great hockey puck.  But, we felt that way about most of the bread served.  We prefer soft bread.  Made it easy to just not eat the bread.

[UUNetBill]

3 hours ago, HotRoot said:

Our bread with the avocado was dark.  It would have made a great hockey puck.  But, we felt that way about most of the bread served.  We prefer soft bread.  Made it easy to just not eat the bread.

This discussion reminded me of some of the denser dark breads I used to eat when I lived in Germany - the vollkornbrot especially comes to mind - that I loved while I was over there but no one else here in the US would eat if and when I could find any.  Certain foods are definitely an acquired taste (escargot comes to mind  🐌)