Vegan Practically

[Feature photo is an abstract of green glass because I couldn’t find any Yves products to photograph for this post. The green glass represents the nostalgia factor :)]

With all the closures of vegan restaurants and many favourite products no longer being produced, there is a sort-of good news story this summer. Yves vegan cuisine is back! Maple Leaf Foods purchased the abandoned vegan brand and relaunched it a few weeks ago. They didn’t go full-out to revive the entire product line. Maple Leaf is focusing on the deli slices and the ground round.

It’s great that a familiar brand is coming back. Anyone who has been vegan or vegetarian for awhile and in Canada will be familiar with Yves burgers and dogs. They were making vegan burgers and hot dogs at a time when no one else did. The very first veggie dog I ever had was Yves. So there’s the nostalgia factor. Some say that Gusta tried to capitalize on Yves’ departure by adopting a similar look to their packaging and introducing deli slices almost immediately after Yves left the scene.

It’s hard to know how hard Maple Leaf Foods is trying. I have two reasons for questioning their commitment to the brand (well, actually three). First of all, I’ve heard reports that though the products and packaging are the same, the recipes are totally different. That makes it sound like they bought the name and logo, but aren’t producing what we have come to think of as Yves’ versions of these products. Maybe that’s okay — I for one never loved Yves products even though I recognized their important part in the history of veganism in Canada and have lasting nostalgia for the jumbo dogs. But then why bother?

This brings me to my second reason for questioning Maple Leaf’s commitment to the brand: they are the conglomerate behind two other popular vegan brands: Lightlife and Field Roast. Both probably rank higher in most people’s estimation than Yves does for their meat alternative products. Lightlife bacon is the clear winner in my view. And though I do have nostalgia for Yves jumbo dogs, my favourite two at the moment are both Field Roast products — the Stadium Dogs and their Classic Smoked Frankfurters. Their sausages are also really good. And their Chao slices are good and melty for when you want a grilled cheese sandwich.

And let’s not forget (third reason), that Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has a lot of animal products among its brands. Considering they already have two successful plant-based product lines, it’s not clear that they’re going to put too much effort into a third. So it could just be a lark — how much can we ride on the coattails of brand loyalty to Yves?

A simple internet search for Yves products in my area (and I live in Toronto, so it’s not as if it’s an unlikely market) turned up NOTHING. Not even at Farm Boy, which is where local sightings have been reported.

Maybe there is a comeback story tucked into the return of Yves. But it’s not as obvious a comeback as it seemed it would be when first announced.

Meanwhile, I’m happy to be proven wrong. It would be great to have some good news!

Bon appétit!