Vegetable Nduja

Symplicity Foods' Vegetable Nduja is a rich, spreadable, intensely savoury condiment inspired by the traditional Calabrian original, made entirely without meat. The fermented vegetable base, built on slowly lacto-fermented mushrooms, onions, and beetroot, is blended with tomatoes, rapeseed oil, miso, tamari, red chilli, and spices to create a fiery, umami-forward paste with a depth of flavour that rivals anything in the conventional category. The slow fermentation process unlocks natural complexity that no additive or flavour shortcut can replicate.

The brand was founded in 2019 by Neil Rankin, a Scottish chef and trained butcher who set out to prove that vegetables could deliver deep, satisfying flavour using time and technique rather than ultra-processing. Alongside co-founders and restaurateurs Alan and Mark Wogan, he built a brand that first earned its reputation in some of the UK's most discerning professional kitchens, supplying the likes of Dishoom and Gordon Ramsay's restaurants before making its retail debut at Waitrose in 2026. Everything Symplicity makes begins with vegetables and is fermented slowly, finished with simple, natural ingredients and nothing else.

In the kitchen it is extraordinarily versatile, working in the same way as conventional nduja but bringing its own fermented, vegetable-led character. Stir it through pasta sauces, spoon it onto pizza bases or flatbreads, fold it into shakshuka, simmer it into ramen, or use it to build a richly spiced, meaty-tasting ragù without a trace of meat. A genuinely exciting and flavour-packed ingredient for cooks who want restaurant-quality depth from entirely plant-based sources.