Angus Kidman – anguskidman.show

Ham on toast has been a Christmas Day breakfast tradition all my adult life. As a vegetarian, that gets tricky. So I was mildly thrilled when I spotted a packet of Get Plant’d Meat Free Deli Style Ham Slices in my local Coles. For $7.50 (meat substitutes usually cost more than meat, alas), it was worth a try.

Like many a fake meat, the principle ingredient in this is peas, which impart their own distinctive (though not unpleasant) odour. Straight out of the pack, we’re very much in bologna/devon/fritz territory.

But once you separate out the slices, it has just enough textural variation to not look completely ridiculous. Unlike, say, a fake hamburger patty, you’d never mistake it for actual meat though. Very machined and shiny!

A single 100 gram packet sufficed nicely to cover four slices of toast. Your greed and mileage may vary.

Toast made, I happily wolfed all four slices. It doesn’t have the grainy texture you’d get from actual ham, but the flavour is accurate enough. And I’m not left with reams of ham to eat over the holiday break.

My one gripe? It could have been a tad saltier for the complete ham experience. That said, a full packet already has about 40% of the recommended daily salt intake for an adult. But next year I’ll be seasoning it a little.

VERDICT: Good for the Christmas breakfast tradition, but I won’t be buying it to make toasties the rest of the year.