To say: M&S, it's not a "pesto wrap" without pesto!

[amoreoamicizia]

I grabbed a mozzarella and pesto wrap from M&S yesterday as a little treat (normally I don't buy preprepared stiff as I'm on a budget). Was excited to have a mozzarella and pesto as an option that wasn't yet another "cover all bases" vegan option (I like vegan food, that is another post- I'm sure you all know what I mean).

Anyway, it turns out the "mozzarella and pesto wrap" doesn't actually contain pesto at all, but rather a gloopy, unappetising "basil mayonnaise" concoction. I was so disappointed! 😐😒 Or did I get this wrong? What would you expect from a "pesto and mozzarella wrap"?

I agree pesto should be pesto. Can you get vegan pesto though?

What I mean is if it’s vegan maybe tha5s why it was different? They are recreating (badly) a vegan pesto. But proper pesto won’t be vegan as it has to have the cheese in.

Neither mozzarella nor pesto are vegan. Or mayo.

So confused.

I don’t think you can get vegan pesto either. Although gloopy basil mayo sounds awful. Surely they could do better? It’s probably cheaper though. Live and learn

I quite like mayo mixed with pesto though.

I think op is saying that she found a vegetarian option which wasn't also vegan in order to cover all bases (which is often the only choice for vegetarians)

This, I assume both the ‘mozzarella’ & ‘pesto’ are vegan alternatives as neither are vegan and this would explain it.

Yes this.

What did the ingredients say? Does it allege pesto is included?

This is what I meant exactly.

This, I assume both the ‘mozzarella’ & ‘pesto’ are vegan alternatives as neither are vegan and this would explain it.

Vegan alternatives aren't as nice typically as just vegan food, which starts vegan! Pesto is made magical by Parmesan (the most naturally occurring glutamates of any food - mmmmmmm).

Yes you can, though it shouldn’t really be called pests, but it uses cashew nuts instead of cheese. No mayonnaise.

Pesto isn’t vegetarian either though.

It's called a "mozzarella and pesto wrap", I think that means it should contain pesto and not a gloopy, horrible mayonnaise with basil

To be fair though, pesto, made properly with parmesan is not vegetarian either.

It is if it's made ith vegetarian hard cheese, which is easily done.

Was it labelled as vegan/vegetarian or did you just opt for a meat free option?

This thread has gone off at a tangent through people misunderstanding my original post.

What does that matter?

But it's made with Parmesan, not veggie cheese. OK I sound like a nobber but pesto has a very very few ingredients. They should all be perfect. That's the basis of Italian food; simple, done excellently.

Start buggering around with it, it won't be good any more.

It had neither vegetarian pesto made with Italian hard cheese nor pesto made with parmesan, though.

Because if it was labelled as a vegetarian or vegan ‘mozzarella & pesto’ then it would be vegan/vegetarian alternatives to those ingredients and that might explain why it wasn’t what you were expecting.

I’d have been disappointed too, I love mozzarella & pesto!

I've see this wrap. It's clearly labelled as vegetarian.

All pesto debates aside, I actually just wanted to warn fellow veggies that this wrap is not that nice and definitely not worth the price tag (and I do like mayo, just not gloopy basil mayo). If it were made with pesto it would have been delicious. A local café near me used to make exactly that wrap (mozzarella, sun-dried tomato, spinach, pesto) but it closed during covid ☹️

Parmesan isn't vegetarian if it contains animal rennet.

This has been covered, vegetarian pesto is made with Italian hard cheese. That is how vegetarian pesto is commonly available in supermarkets. The point is that didn't contain pesto but "basil mayonnaise".