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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

CrowdCow

Celebrate a FoodTech Fourth of July

It’s weird when a major holiday falls on a Wenesday, right? Do you take just the day off? The first half of the week? The last half? The whole week? Regardless of how much time you take off, we can help make your time at the grill a great one with these FoodTech finds.

FOOD
The Fourth–and most summertime grillin’–is all about the meat. Normally, we’d suggest you purchase your steaks and burgers through CrowdCow, which meticulously sources all of its meat from small ranches. But your guests will be hungry tomorrow, so here’s a twist, maybe try a meatless option this year?

I know! I know! “Heresy!” you cry! But really, we love the Beyond Meat burger patties available at many local grocers. The company says it wants their plant-based meat that “bleeds” in the supermarket butcher section, but I’ve only ever found it frozen with the other alterna-meats.

Personally, I think the Beyond Meat patty is a delicious replacement for the traditional meat burger, so much so that I stock up on extra when I’m at the store just to have it around when I crave it. Beyond Meat won’t fool any carnivores, but it’s a tasty substitute and perfect if you’re trying to cut back on your red meat intake.

BRING THE (CONTROLLED) HEAT
Everyone has an opinion about the best way to grill, we won’t waste your time with some obscure technique. We will however, recommend a pair of devices that can help make your steaks and other proteins turn out great.

Photo: Anova

Sous vide-ing your steak is a fantastic way to get juicy meat with no overcooking. There are a ton of sous vide wands out there that will turn any pot of water into a precision-heated circulating bath. We like the ChefSteps Joule and the new Anova Nano (review forthcoming). They are small, well built, and work with an accompanying mobile phone app to bring your meat to a desired internal temperature. Sure it takes a little longer, but it also helps remove the risks of over- or undercooking your precious steaks.

Stylish holder/charger.

Regardless of whether you sous vide or not, you can use the Meater thermometer to get just about any type of meat to the proper temperature. The Meater is kinda big (like a beefy nail) that sits in your protein while you cook it. Using the Meater app on your phone, you can keep track of both ambient and internal temperatures, and Meater will even tell you when to pull out and rest your meat to achieve optimal results.

If you’re going camping and want a greener experience, you could grab a GoSun portable grill that cooks food by simply harnessing the power of the sun.

BEER
The good news is, if you live in the right location, you can still run out and buy your own PicoBrew to make homebrewing much easier. The bad news is that even if you bought one today, there isn’t enough time to brew and ferment your beer before tomorrow. (Maybe just pop by Spoon founder Mike Wolf’s house for a bottle of his.)

PLAN FOR NEXT YEAR
It’s never too early to start planning for an epic Independence Day celebration next year. Here are some items to put a pin in and revisit next summer:

  • If it makes its crowdfunding goal, the Ambassador 5-in-1 grill features rotating cooktop that spins through flattop and grate surfaces.
  • The Bartesian cocktail robot (due out by the end of this year) can whip up delicious boozy concoctions on demand.
  • And for the truly adventurous, you can throw a slice of ketchup, yes, a “slice” of ketchup on next year’s burger.

No matter how much time you’re taking off, have a Happy Fourth of July, everybody! Be safe.

Meatme Raises Money to Trim the Fat Between You and Local Farmers

Plant-based meat alternatives are on the cusp of becoming mainstream. But until they actually do crossover, the USDA expects the average American to eat 219 pounds of meat per year by 2025, with Big Meat making a big, negative impact on the planet.

Meatme is trying to combat this impact by going small. Based in Vancouver, Canada, the company is making it easier for consumers to buy from local, sustainable sources of beef, chicken and other animal products.

Meatme transformed from co-founder, Victor Straatman’s side project into a full company a little over a year ago. “What we want to do is move towards a system where people source meat from small scale farmers,” said Straatman. “Small scale farmers struggle to get to consumers.”

The company works with local farmers to sell one animal at a time. Meatme only partners with farmers who raise their animals “ethically and holistically.” To reduce its carbon footprint, the company only delivers to areas local to that farmer. Meatme currently partners with eight farms in the British Columbia area. Customers in that Canadian province can go online and choose the cuts they like and have the meat delivered

If it sounds a lot like CrowdCow, you’re correct. Straatman applauds what CrowdCow has done to help people think about where their meat comes from, but says Meatme is different because it only sells meat from a consumer’s local farmer. Meatme won’t ship meat from anywhere else.

This is a lofty goal (one CrowdCow aspires to as well), and one that will require capital to achieve. The company has been bootstrapped thus far, but is currently securing $400,000 (Canadian) as part of a forthcoming $1.1 million seed round.

With the money, Straatman says Meatme is first going to expand further into Canada before tackling the US. But scaling on an international level will be a challenge. At each market it will need to find a sizeable enough customer base, farms that fit its sustainable criteria, as well as people to butcher, process and provide delivery.

But if it can rise to those challenges, and more people become interested in where their meat actually comes from, Meatme’s small farm approach could make a big impact.