Chef and restaurateur Paul Rivas found himself back in his kitchen during the pandemic, experimenting.

He鈥檇 noticed customers ordering more vegetarian items in his restaurants.

For health and environmental reasons, Rivas wanted to cut his own meat consumption, but didn鈥檛 want to sacrifice his carnivorous palate.

So instead of going all plant-based, he came up with a transitional burger: a patty that鈥檚 half beef, and half plant-based products that mimic the taste and texture of meat. It鈥檚 things like beets, pea starch and tomato powder.

鈥淲hen I eat this burger, I don鈥檛 feel that same meat coma,鈥� said the chef who used to eat two to three meat burgers in a row. 鈥淚鈥檝e tried this out on a lot of counterpart chefs who are carnivores, and they say the same thing, that it doesn鈥檛 make them feel heavy.鈥�

He鈥檚 also developed a crumble (a.k.a. ground beef) and meatballs.

鈥淭he other day I made Bolognese for me and the kids, and they couldn鈥檛 tell they were eating vegetables, so that鈥檚 always a win.鈥�

He鈥檚 named the line Holy Cow! Everything is gluten-friendly, soy-free and pronounceable. Holy Cow! is carried locally by the Market at Millstream, Western Foods Sooke and Village Foods Sooke.

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