Gardenburger is the brand name of a veggie burger sold in the United States. It was developed in the early 1980s by Paul Wenner, the owner of the Gardenhouse, a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

restaurant in

Gresham, Oregon Gresham ( ) is a city located in Multnomah County, Oregon, in the United States of America, immediately east of Portland, Oregon. It is considered a suburb within the Greater Portland Metropolitan area. Though it began as a settlement in the mid ...

. It is currently owned by the Kellogg Company.

History

The Gardenburger was developed by Paul Wenner around 1981 or 1982 in Wenner's vegetarian restaurant, The Gardenhouse, in

. The company was incorporated as Wholesome & Hearty Foods, Inc., in March 1985. Initial funding was given to founders Paul Wenner and Allyn Smaaland as part of a venture capital investment program of

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, commonly known as "LP", is an American building materials manufacturer. It was founded in 1973 and is currently based in Nashville, Tennessee. LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels ...

, whereby L-P took immediate controlling interest. A second round of

venture capital financing Venture capital financing is a type of funding by venture capital. It is private equity capital that can be provided at various stages or funding rounds. Common funding rounds include early-stage seed funding in high-potential, growth companies ...

was provided about a year later. In 2005, Gardenburger filed for bankruptcy, though it continued operation by becoming privately held. In 2006, Gardenburger announced that it had taken eggs out of all of its products except for one private-sourced item, which now contains

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

, cage-free eggs. In 2006, the company changed its name back to Wholesome & Hearty Foods. In 2007, the Kellogg Company purchased the Wholesome & Hearty Foods company.

Products

The company makes a variety of

and

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

products and

meat substitute A meat alternative or meat substitute (also called plant-based meat or fake meat, sometimes pejoratively) is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qua ...

s. According to the company's website, the original Gardenburger was made from

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

brown rice Brown rice is a whole grain rice with the inedible outer hull removed. This kind of rice sheds its outer hull or husk but the bran and germ layer remain on, constituting the brown or tan colour of rice. White rice is the same grain without the h ...

, rolled oats,

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

, garlic, and

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spice ...

s. Gardenburger is a

registered trademark The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or wor ...

of the Wholesome and Hearty Foods Company, a subsidiary of Kellogg Company. Although all Gardenburger products are vegetarian, some of them are not vegan and include animal-derived ingredients such as eggs or

dairy products Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in ...

, such as

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...

and cheese. In 2012, Gardenburger sold five types of veggie burgers: Veggie medley (vegan), The Original (vegetarian), Black Bean Chipotle Veggie Burger (vegan), Sun-Dried Tomato Basil (vegetarian), and Portabella (vegetarian).

References

External links

* Food product brands Meat substitutes History of Gresham, Oregon Kellogg's brands 1985 establishments in Oregon Food and drink introduced in the 1980s {{Food-product-stub

History

Products

See also

References

External links