Mosgiel’s Agora butchery and deli owner Ross Hutchison this week won a Devro Great New Zealand Sausage Competition gold medal for his lentil, kumara and masala sausage.Mr Hutchison said there was more interest from the public in healthy eating.
Vegetarian food was more popular, from masala burgers to dairy-free cheese and tofu.
"There’s a huge demand for that.
"Everyone’s got some sort of allergy these days, if it’s not dairy-free it’s got to be gluten-free."
The winning sausage was developed in conjunction with "a very good friend" who was a chef, and came together "reasonably quickly".
The sausage would sell better in Dunedin than in Mosgiel, but vegetarians were everywhere.
"Because we’ve got more exposure to vegetarians these days, we can see the trend."
When the opportunity came to enter the innovation section of the competition, "it was a given we should do the meat-free sausage".
Of the medal, he said: "You need to have a win now and then, so it’s bloody good to have a bit of a pat on the back."
Zamora in Queenstown won gold for its picante salami sausage, and Raeward Fresh Queenstown won silver for its free-range pork, apple and toasted fennel seed sausage.
