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A vegan café in Wales has created a Lion’s mane burger, thought to be the UK’s first. The patties are made with a mix of the mushroom, seitan, and tempeh. The burgers have become a bestseller ay Ground Plant Based Coffee in Brynmill, Swansea, since they debuted on the menu at the start of October.
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Chef and café co-owner Helen Wilson sourced the mushrooms from Welsh mushroom grower Madarch Ty Cynan Mushrooms. The café already served “medicinal” mushroom drinks. Wilson had been on the hunt for a local Lion’s mane supplier for a long time. “When I found out [Lion’s mane] was being grown in Carmarthenshire I couldn’t wait to experiment with it and see if it could be made into a burger,” she said in a statement.
In addition to tempeh and seitan, the mushroom patties are made with 11 herbs, spices, and “other top secret ingredients.” The double cooked burgers are served with sriracha mayonnaise, pickles, and tomato in a vegan brioche bun. They come with a side of roasted Welsh baby potatoes and salad.
Burger benefits
Lion’s mane appealed to Wilson as an ingredient for the mushroom’s health and environmental benefits. With its distinctive furry texture, the mushroom has been linked to improved cognitive and nervous system function.
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Being versatile, with an umami flavor and meaty bite, Lion’s mane mushrooms are becoming an increasingly popular replacement for meat from animals. Mushrooms have a vastly smaller environmental impact than meat, using less land and water and with few carbon emissions. As mushrooms feed on decaying matter, they can also help cut food waste by upcycling it into nutrient-rich meat alternatives.
“Our motivation is to produce food and drink that is not only good for people’s health but is also better for the environment and sustainability and a Lion’s Mane Burger produced in Wales, by us, is just this,” said Wilson. “Reducing or stopping consumption of animal products is the single biggest thing anyone can do to reduce their carbon footprint — this is what we are passionate about.”
