There are few things in this world that I love more than Trader Joe’s. I won’t say exactly what those things are, but I will tell you that one of them is bulgogi. Good lord, I love bulgogi. If you haven’t even heard of it before, it’s a Korean dish that’s basically thinly sliced beef (or other protein but usually beef) marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger pureed onion, pureed pear, some other stuff, and grilled to glistening caramelized perfection. In short, it’s divine.
But, alas, there is always the issue of not being able to enjoy Korean BBQ with your vegetarian and vegan friends. Well, now we can all do just that from the comfort of our own home thanks to a new Trader Joe’s product: Korean Beefless Bulgogi. This honestly looks fantastic. I’m not saying it’s going to beat the bulgogi at a Korean BBQ restaurant in your city’s Koreatown, but if you don’t happen to live near one of those (like me) this sounds like a pretty passable substitute, at least according to all the positive reviews I’m seeing online.
Someone on Reddit described this frozen offering as “One of the best meat substitutes I have tried.” Another jokingly asked how much of this they would need to buy to keep it from getting discontinued, while another person commented: “This post led me to buy some today and holy shit, it’s amazing. I will join you in buying to make sure they keep it stocked.” Never once have I seen such an overwhelmingly positive reaction on Reddit to a new Trader Joe’s food. Or any food for that matter. Well, except for the egg appreciation thread I joined (those people do NOT have anything bad to say about eggs).
Point is, this sounds dope. It is apparently not available in every Trader Joe’s yet, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for it in my local TJ’s. And if I don’t see it soon, (Trader) Joe and I are gonna have some serious (beefless) beef.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!