Future Food: A Very Plant-Based Fourth of July, Plus a Glimpse Into Our BBQ Future

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If you live in ‘Merica, it’s very likely that you will be partaking in some grilling at some point today. Maybe there will be some meaty plant-based meat options on the menu? You’ve got plenty to choose from, but if you’re bringing Beyond burgers or sausages to the party and aren’t exactly sure how to cook them, don’t worry — we’ve got the guide.

If you’re one of the lucky ones that already has Beyond Beef in their local grocery store, you could even form your own burger patties, maybe stuff them with cheese (vegan or otherwise) to make a Jucy Lucy? For those that do, be sure to send us a Tweet or a photo and let us know how it goes.

Impossible burgers aren’t available in retail yet, so you won’t be able to toss one on the grill today. But if you’re craving that “bleeding,” heme-heavy umami flavor, you could order one for delivery (assuming all the restaurants around you aren’t closed). According to a recent Grubhub report, Impossible Burgers are experiencing a huge boom in popularity for delivery — especially on late-night orders. Plant-based nightcap, anyone?

4th of July, 2025

Grilling meatless meats is about as radical as we’ll get in 2019 in terms of futuristic food ingredients. But looking ahead to a few years down the road, what sort of newfangled foods will be tossing on the barbie then?

It seems safe to assume there will be even more realistic plant-based meat options in the future, priced roughly on par with (or even cheaper than) traditional meat. We’ll also probably see some better vegan cheese, since the options available now are… not amazing. I’m really excited for the day when I can taste cheddar made from dairy by Perfect Day or New Culture, two startups creating animal-free milk. Unlike current vegan cheese options, their offerings will melt and taste exactly like cheese because, well, they are cheese. Just without the cow.

But let’s consider an even more out-there vision of future Fourth of July barbecues. There’s a very real chance we’ll see alt-meats made with protein created from CO2. That’s what Finnish company Solar Foods is working on. They plan to have solein — their protein made through a technology called gas fermentation — to market by 2021. That timeline strikes me as overly ambitious, but by 2025 I wouldn’t be surprised if solein makes an appearance on our grills in the guise of alt-meats.

Then of course there’s cell-based meat. By 2025 at least a few cultured meat products will hopefully already be to market, so we could theoretically be barbecuing chicken, steaks, pork sausages and salmon filets grown entirely in bioreactors. Chances are, cell-based meat products will still be relatively expensive, but also worth it for the thrill of asking your BBQ guests how they like their cultured burger.

Protein ’round the web

• American BBQ chain Famous Dave’s is testing out Beyond Meat sliders, tacos, and bowls in five locations.
• This week a Mississippi law went into effect which stated that plant- and insect-based products can’t be labeled as meat. The Plant Based Food Association and meat alternative company Upton’s natural are suing them (h/t Food Navigator).
• Good Catch Foods, whose plant-based tuna is available in Whole Foods, just raised $10 million. It’ll use the new dough to develop more fish-free products, like “crab” cakes and “fish” patties.

Finally, if you’re feeling very ambitious you could try cooking a plant-based sausage in a Pringle’s can. PSA: We have not tried this and can in no way promise that it will turn out okay. But it is cool looking.

Eat well,
Catherine

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