by Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
VRG Research Director
Convenience store 7-Eleven® told The VRG in October 2011 that they now offer four pre-cooked vegan meals at one hundred locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. The ready-to-eat meals are manufactured and distributed by UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America, Inc. ®, in Swedesboro, NJ.
UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® offers a wide variety of pre-cooked meals and distributes them widely. At this point, its vegan dishes represent a small, but growing, segment of their product offerings. UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® purchases ingredients from other companies then prepares meals with those ingredients according to recipes that it has developed. A senior staff member at UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® told The VRG that the vegan meals are prepared in a kitchen free of meat and dairy products.
The culinary team at the company is in the process of developing several more ready-to-eat vegan meals for 7-Eleven® and expanding their distribution to grocery stores such as Giant® in Maryland. “In the first quarter of 2012,” according to this staff member, customers may begin looking for vegans meals composed of, for example, a noodle component, a meat analog, and a vegetable, as well as ones like those currently offered at some 7-Eleven® stores in the northeast corridor (see below).
Many patrons enjoy the UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® meals eaten cold, but they may be heated as well. Heating them in the original containers is not recommended, according to the UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® staff member.
The VRG also spoke with Margaret Chabris, the public relations specialist for 7-Eleven®. She told us that the convenience store chain is “involved in intensive marketing research” and “moving positively in that direction [of offering more vegan meals at more 7-Eleven® stores.]” She stated that “it will be in select locations,” but that “it is too premature to say anything more at this time.”
Ingredient information about the four vegan dishes prepared by UNIVEG/Hot Cuisine America® and available at select 7-Eleven® stores is as follows (note: processing method of brown sugar is undetermined at this time):
Vegan Spinach Noodles with Vegetables
Ingredients: Spinach Pasta (durum wheat semolina, spinach powder, water), carrot, mushroom, sesame oil, onion, brown sugar, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, naturally brewed soy sauce, sea salt, spices. Contains: Soy, Wheat.
Vegan Pad Thai Noodles
Ingredients: Cooked pasta (durum wheat, water), cabbage, brown sugar, carrot, green onion, garlic, tomato, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, naturally brewed soy sauce, sesame oil, canola oil, sea salt, spices. Contains: Soy, Wheat.
Vegan Linguine Tikka Massala
Ingredients: Cooked pasta (durum wheat, water), water, spinach, red pepper, cilantro, sesame oil, tomato, brown sugar, garlic, spices, salt. Contains: Soy, Wheat.
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Vegan Asian Linguine
Ingredients: Cooked pasta (durum wheat, water), cabbage, mushroom, naturally brewed soy sauce, carrot, brown sugar, green onion, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, cilantro, salt, spice. Contains: Soy, Wheat. The 7-Eleven® stores carrying the vegan meals are as follows (7-Eleven® directed us to this list found on the PeTA® website and described to us as “accurate” by 7-Eleven®):
Location Name | City | State |
1837 Old York Rd. | Abington | PA |
150 E. Champlost St. | Philadelphia | PA |
7607 Ridge Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
811 New Rodgers Rd. | Bristol | PA |
2981 Welsh Rd. | Philadelphia | PA |
2364 Street Rd. | Bensalem Township | PA |
3224 Byberry Rd. | Philadelphia | PA |
3508 Street Rd. | Bensalem Township | PA |
932 Street Rd. | Southampton | PA |
5401 Neshaminy Blvd. | Bensalem Township | PA |
320 E. Street Rd. | Feasterville | PA |
220 E. Street Rd. | Warminster Township | PA |
11 Maple Ave. | Southampton | PA |
2711 Easton Rd. | Willow Grove | PA |
6622 Rising Sun Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1830-38 Stenton Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1823 John F. Kennedy Blvd. | Philadelphia | PA |
4201-59 Walnut Street. | Philadelphia | PA |
7720 Ogontz Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
5259 Oxford Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
2144-48 Lombard St. | Philadelphia | PA |
3401 Lancaster Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
6919-27 Torresdale | Philadelphia | PA |
6101 Ridge Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
7329 Elmwood Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1 N. York Rd. | Hatboro | PA |
1401 City Line Ave. | Wynnewood | PA |
2300 S. Broad St. | Philadelphia | PA |
4701 Mascher Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1900-10 Welsh Rd. | Philadelphia | PA |
106 S. 38th St. | Philadelphia | PA |
2301 W. Passyunk Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1034-38 Washington Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
2101 S. 10th St. | Philadelphia | PA |
2900 S. 70th St. | Philadelphia | PA |
9901 Frankford Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
362 Easton Rd. | Glenside | PA |
1056 Easton Rd. | Willow Grove | PA |
5231 Harbison Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
527 W. Lincoln Hwy. | Langhorne | PA |
9001 Frankford Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1912 Liacouras Walk | Philadelphia | PA |
1201 Chestnut St. | Philadelphia | PA |
800 Walnut St. | Philadelphia | PA |
1500 JFK Blvd. | Philadelphia | PA |
1501 Cecil B. Moore Ave. | Philadelphia | PA |
1215 Filbert St. | Philadelphia | PA |
150 N. Broad St. | Philadelphia | PA |
3440 Market St. | Philadelphia | PA |
2511 Lincoln Hwy. | Trevose | PA |
226 W. Rittenhouse Sq. | Philadelphia | PA |
226 Rt. 9 | Pine Beach | NJ |
2603 Atlantic Ave. | Atlantic City | NJ |
1500 Pacific Ave. | Atlantic City | NJ |
7 W. Water St. | Toms River | NJ |
1681 Lakewood Rd. (Rt. 9) | Toms River | NJ |
100 Lindbergh Rd. (at the ramp) | Newark | NJ |
722 Huntington Ave. | Boston | MA |
2002 Beacon St. | Brighton | MA |
566 Washington St. | South Easton | MA |
1306 Washington | Boston | MA |
200 Seaport Blvd. | Boston | MA |
600 Technology Sq. | Cambridge | MA |
1633 Beacon St. | Brookline | MA |
1441 Beacon St. | Brookline | MA |
532 Commonwealth | Boston | MA |
426 Main St. | Hyannis | MA |
20 W. Central St. | Franklin | MA |
121 June St. | Worcester | MA |
750 Massachusetts Ave. | Cambridge | MA |
1224 Main St. | West Concord | MA |
475 Merrick Rd. | Oceanside | NY |
103-01 Queens Blvd. | Forest Hills | NY |
3342 Nostrand Ave. | Brooklyn | NY |
2247 Utica Ave. | Brooklyn | NY |
254-02 Hillside Ave. | Floral Park | NY |
65-07 Woodhaven Blvd. | Rego Park | NY |
72-01 Eliot Ave. | Middle Village | NY |
66-04 Queens Blvd. | Woodside | NY |
31-31 Thomson Ave. | Long Island City | NY |
953 Kings Hwy. | Brooklyn | NY |
67-21 Freshpond | Ridgewood | NY |
57-01 Myrtle Ave. | Ridgewood | NY |
6920 Myrtle | Glendale | NY |
763 Central Park Ave. | Scarsdale | NY |
101-04 Metropolitan | Forest Hills | NY |
107-24 Corona Ave. | Corona | NY |
61-19 Northern Blvd. | Woodside | NY |
307 Central Ave. | White Plains | NY |
167 Martine Ave. | White Plains | NY |
1740 Hylan Blvd. | Staten Island | NY |
59-01 Roosevelt Ave. | Woodside | NY |
395 Flatbush Ave. Ext. | Brooklyn | NY |
100 Sunrise Hwy. | Valley Stream | NY |
97-07 Queens Blvd. | Rego Park | NY |
557 Grand Concourse | Bronx | NY |
99-49 Horace Harding Exp. | Corona | NY |
218-01 Northern Blvd. | Bayside | NY |
1200 Victory Blvd. | Staten Island | NY |
1705 Richmond Ave. | Staten Island | NY |