Next month, vegan corned beef from Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli will debut at 58 Whole Foods Markets in the Southern Pacific Region (Arizona, Mid-Southern California, and Southern Nevada). The Unreal Corned Beef will be sold in the grab-and-go section on a pre-made sandwich with Mrs. G’s vegan Russian dressing and green leaf lettuce on a whole-grain seeded roll. Unreal Deli founder Jenny Goldfarb—whose great grandfather owned several delis in New York City—created the plant-based sandwich meat after going vegan six years ago and now sells it to a number of traditional delis in Los Angeles, including Canter’s Deli, Art’s Deli, Factor’s Deli, and Izzy’s Deli. “The recipe took about a year to come together,” Goldfarb told VegNews. “When folks started tasting it, we were able to fool many into thinking they were eating real meat. That’s when we knew it was more than just a recipe, but a business.” In the coming months, Unreal Corned Beef will be available at 27 Gelson’s Markets and other health-food stores in California on a pre-made sandwich (with vegan Russian dressing and sauerkraut on gluten-free rye bread) and will make its way into delis and restaurants in New York, Boston, and Washington DC. Goldfarb also plans to launch sandwich boxes featuring Unreal Corned Beef that will soon be available for shipping nationwide.

Photo shows the Unreal Deli corned beef but does not represent the sandwich sold at Whole Foods. Photo credit: Kathleen Lantos Photography