renaissance sausage

This past weekend, I took my usual early Sunday afternoon trip to the Headhouse Square Farmers' Market. I purchased some beautiful rainbow chard, a couple honeycrisp apples, some striped eggplant, a few heirloom tomatoes, a couple tiny summer squash, and my most surprising find: A vegetarian sausage sandwich!

I never would have guessed that a sausage truck offered a vegan sausage if my friend Chelsey hadn't alerted me. Thanks, Chelsey! Renaissance's vegetarian sausage is a tender, home-made sausage that appears to be made with beans, vegetables, and a bit of wheat gluten. The texture is similar to the "beanballs" from everyone's favorite cookbook, Veganomicon. It is pan-fried so the outside is pleasantly crisp, with a delicate, almost-mushy inner. The sausage would have been nothing without the killer toppings, though. It was served with a generous helping of caramelized onions, a chipotle vegan mayo, and a sprig of cilantro..all inside a delightfully crusty roll. Fucking beautiful. At eight dollars, it is surely overpriced..but I'm not going to lie: I'll probably be back for more. You can get your very own vegetarian sausage sandwich from the Renaissance Sausage truck several days a week at various farmers' markets.

-beka