12 October 2023 · Press
Biosurya and the origins of plant-based flavour
By Laura Mata, Marta Ortiz and Rubén Lara · Zero Grados (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Vegetarianism and veganism are trending. But being vegan or vegetarian today is not the same as it was forty years ago, when Juan López and Teresa Madurga decided to promote this kind of food. That is how Biosurya was born.
Back in the 1970s, when nobody spoke of «plant protein», a couple of chemical engineers started cooking their own recipes with 100% organic ingredients in a garage in the Torrero district of Zaragoza. Little did they know that their small artisan workshop would grow into Biosurya, one of Spain's leading plant-based food producers.
They started selling door to door, in a time when few people knew what tofu, seitan or chickpea flour were. As their food became more popular, more and more people added it to their diet — to the point of pushing the couple to leave their jobs in chemistry.
«This is not chorizo»
Today, Ahimsa products — their flagship brand — are present in shops all over Spain and exported to countries like Germany, Portugal or Cyprus, with over four million euros in annual sales. The company is against automating its line and in favour of the care its nearly fifty workers give the food. It also keeps donating its surplus to the Food Bank.
Innovation, in Biosurya's DNA
«Innovation has always been at the core, and the key to success has been listening to the consumer's taste», explains Alain Fernández, commercial director. That philosophy gave birth to, among other novelties, family-size burgers in roll format: a 750-gram cylindrical mass to slice as you like, available in nine flavours.
A family business
Although Teresa and Juan are now retired, Biosurya remains a family business: their son Enoch López, current managing director, grew up watching the production processes and started working at the factory at sixteen. Under his leadership, the medium-term goal is to keep growing under the same motto that has guided them from the start: «To offer a product respectful with the environment and the animal world».