#WorldVeganDay - An insight into Katharina Sch?fer’s plant-based lifestyle

World Vegan Day is celebrated around the world every November 1st to encourage people to change their eating habits. At Planteneers we're on a mission to empower the world with delicious plant-based food solutions. We're fortunate to have colleagues on board who aren’t just passionate about plant-based products at work, but also live the lifestyle. Understanding it from a consumer perspective is a huge benefit for what we do, and also helps us drive things forward with special motivation.?

Our Product Manager Katharina Sch?fer has been eating vegan since a while. She gave us some insights into her lifestyle, and even reveals her favorite vegan recipe.

Katharina, since when have you been eating vegan??

I’ve been eating vegan for 2 years now, and I also try to make sure as far as possible that other products I use, like cosmetics, don’t contain animal ingredients.?

What are your reasons for a vegan diet??

For me it was a gradual process, starting when I stopped eating meat about 8 years ago and became more open to alternatives.?Through my studies and my work in the food industry, I’m close to the products and correspondingly curious, while at the same time I’m very aware of issues such as health, the climate impact of diets, and animal welfare. So I have gradually replaced more and more animal products with plant-based alternatives - simply because for many products there are already very good alternatives on the German market and because it feels right for me.

How do you integrate veganism into your everyday life and job? Are there any problems, for example when you want to eat out or with friends??

Fortunately, as a product manager for dairy, delicatessen and egg alternatives at Planteneers, I deal with new plant-based alternatives on a daily basis and can also contribute the consumer perspective here. Even though I belong to a rather small target group, I believe that the days when "vegans actually eat everything after all" are over, at least in Germany. Having said that, it’s naturally also part of my job to taste-test the animal originals in the context of my work, to compare them to the plant-based alternatives. Here I consciously separate professional from private life.?

In everyday life, I usually have no problems finding vegan products, although the to-go category is still limited, even in Germany. Unfortunately, things often look different when traveling, because in some countries it’s difficult to find even vegetarian alternatives, let alone vegan ones. So there is still room for improvement everywhere when it comes to the availability of vegan alternatives.?

Are there products that you feel are missing from your vegan diet, or vegan alternatives that you wish were on the market??

I wouldn't say missing, but I would be happy to see a vegan Snickers that actually tastes like the original. Otherwise, I’d like to see more products such as cheese alternatives that are improved in particular with regard to nutritional aspects like protein content. Of course, through my work I know about the challenges in this area, but I’m also personally committed to making sure that we keep getting better here. Ultimately, this is something that many consumers of these products want and is therefore also of importance to our customers.

What's your favorite vegan recipe?

That's easy: Lasagna. I can eat it 3 days in a row. If someone wants to try a vegan lasagna, here is one of my favorite recipes - it's even been tested and approved by critical meat eaters:

Many thanks for your insights, Katharina, and happy World Vegan Day to everyone!