“Avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on our planet”

- Bread and Jam (2019) 

Mergulo was founded with the simple idea that if butter is a staple ingredient in most meals, shouldn't we begin with the very best… 

Mergulo founder, Mairi Hilleary, having trained as a Ballymaloe chef, used to work in restaurants and in catering for upscale private events. She noticed the rapidly growing interest in plant-based diets among her customers. Increasing numbers of her clients were requesting that her menus should not contain dairy. Some were driven by environmental awareness, while others were pursuing health benefits.

However, when she looked for butter alternatives to meet these needs, she was bitterly disappointed. All the vegan and dairy-free margarine alternatives seemed to be full of nasty ingredients and cheap substitutes, or they offered very little in the way of flavour – and she could find nothing that could form a decent base for her cooking.

As a result, she was forced to create her own plant-based alternative, that matched the indulgent taste of the best dairy butters and also delivered the health and sustainability benefits that her customers were looking for.

We believe to be the best you need to start at the very beginning. Butter as a staple ingredient is the foundation to hundreds of delicious meals. However, in growing light of the plant based movement we realised we needed a healthy alternative that could still provide exceptional taste.

‘Our industry faces one of the biggest issues for climate change as meat and the production of meat products continues to be unsustainable. Providing just 18% of calorie intake, meat and dairy require 83% of global farmland and produce 60% of the world’s greenhouse gases.’ 

- Bread and Jam (2019)