What does a "Vegan steak" look like?

We had the best Vegan “Filet Mignon” at Disney, and no this is NOT a “lab generated” or fake meat. It is a portobello mushroom and it tasted like the real deal! I had not eaten beef in decades so I checked around the table with those who were with us who had and the answer was affirmative, tasted exactly like a really nice steak.

Seriously, if one organization has figured out the vegan dining experience it is Disney. This was not oil-free to be sure, but it truly was “Whole Food Plant Based” given it was just a giant mushroom.

We got this, believe it or not, at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue…which if you have not ever attended is best know for the family style Southern fare. It is a really fun family show and we are always laughing so hard, we used to barely eat anyway!

For years our oldest son and I, being both vegetarian, had gone annually (sometimes more because this is where we stay for conferences and often we get a twice a year opportunity to go) and we used to suffer through the meal there which consisted of buckets of fried chicken and a heavy Mac-and-cheese (we always requested a vegetarian option). All of us really just went for the show because the food was not something that ever resonated with us.

This attraction was one thing we missed when we first returned in 2021 and it was still closed, as we went every single trip and now that the plant based option was available we looked forward to the show even more. The food trucks they got in the Round Up there by the Hoop-Dee-Doo were good for Vegetarian Food, but not totally Vegan as this meal had been.

Turns out if you only just “ask and you shall receive”. We simply asked the Chef to make something Vegan once most of us went all in Plant-based (our daughter held out as “not Plant-based” until COVID as you can read about in an earlier post here) if they could accommodate and this was what they presented us with.

They even did a Vegan strawberry shortcake for the dessert for us, mind you we paid nothing extra for this they just did it to kindly accommodate our request (Southern hospitality;-). It totally blew our minds that we got to eat this amazing vegan food while most all the other diners were sucking on chicken bones…it was just unreal how good it was! You can make this kind of food at home, it is not hard.

Donna Mueller