The Gardenburger

In 1981 Paul Wenner opened The Gardenhouse, a vegetarian restaurant in Oregon, after becoming aware of his poor eating habits in the 1960's. After debating what to do with his leftovers, he experimented with a mixture of vegetables, rice, and cheese which he then baked into a loaf. He began serving the loaf between two hamburger buns and thus the Gardenburger was born. The Gardenburger was an enormous hit in his restaurant so in 1982 he began offering it to other restaurants and at festival food stands. With financial backing, Wenner started his company and named it Gardenburger Inc. in 1985. The Gardenburger won accounts from numerous restaurants but its big break came in 1986 when it was served in the Natural Food Expo Show in Los Angeles.

The company went public in 1992 and has grown ever since, making it one of the "fastest growing publicly traded companies in the U.S." Wenner has since written a vegetarian cookbook called Garden Cuisine and he's added vegetarian meatballs and other meatless items to his product line. Today, Gardenburgers are sold in 14 countries and more than 400 million have been sold. As food production laws and policies have become more stringent, the public is allowed to know more and more about how their food is prepared and the nutritional information it possesses. This knowledge has allowed consumers to make choices about their eating habits-choosing to not eat certain products for the sake of others. Whether for ethics, health, or allergy reasons consumers now have choices thanks to the Gardenburger and products like it to avoid meat without sacrificing nutrients. As the number of vegetarians and other health conscious consumers began to rise a need for meatless products continues.

Posted By: Jessica Lantz

Sources:

undefined. (November, 2004). Inventor of the Week. Gardenburger. Retrieved October 9, 2009, from http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/wenner.html.

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