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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Emergy Foods

I Tried Meati Foods Mycelium-Based Steak, it was Definitely Meaty

Usually, you serve steak with mushrooms. But on my recent visit to SALT Bistro in Boulder, CO, I ordered a steak made out of mushrooms. Well, fermented fungi to be exact.  

Emergy Foods, also based in Colorado, is the company behind the Meati Foods brand of mycelium-based steak. The promise of mycelium is that it can better mimic the look and mouthfeel of whole cuts of meat. Getting those textures and flavors right isn’t easy, which is why companies like Impossible and Beyond started with ground products like burgers. 

So when SALT added the “Bahn Meati Sandwich,” I had to make the trip to try it out. Coming in at a whopping $16, it was quite a stretch for my millennial budget. It is served on a house-made ciabatta bun, with a pile of pickled veggies and sriracha aioli. (I recommend ordering it with a side of the polenta fries.) 

When it arrived, I immediately noticed how juicy the thick slices of “steak” in the sandwich were. If I didn’t know it was plant-based, I easily would have confused it for real meat. As I took my first bite the word “succulent” popped into mind. It had a vague savory/umami flavor, and a flesh-like texture. This might be a turnoff for vegans who shun meat in the first place. But as a vegan myself, I was actually hoping for a little more of the fattiness and char of steaks I ate in my pre-vegan days. 

Mycelium-based meat alternative products are newer in the plant-based space but there are several companies offering up fungi as a meat alternative. Prime Roots uses koji, the same fungus used to make miso, to create a realistic plant-based bacon. AtLast is also creating an alternative bacon product by growing sheets of mycelium. 

Meati Foods initially plans to offer their steaks in upscale restaurants to build their brand and manage a young supply chain. On its Instagram account, Meati announced that they are working to get Meati in different cities by Fall 2020. I look forward to ordering it again, though my budget would much prefer to see strips of Meati on a $3 plant-based carne asada taco in the future.

Emergy Foods Makes Very Realistic-Looking Steak Alternatives From Fermented Mushroom Roots

Today Boulder, CO-based startup Emergy Foods announced the release of its first alternative meat brand, Meati Foods.

Meati Foods will focus on making whole cuts of meat from fermented fungi, also known as mycelium. Unlike most plant-based meats, Meati Foods’ offerings are free of pea, wheat, and soy. According to Emergy Foods CEO Tyler Huggins, who I spoke with over the phone today, opting for mycelium allows Meati to mimic the look and mouthfeel of whole cuts of protein, such as steak and chicken breast, which is difficult to do with other proteins.

In addition to better being able to replicate the texture of meat, mycelium has some inherent nutritional benefits. “It has the same protein profile of meat, and the same quantity [of protein] as chicken or steak,” Huggins told me. It also comes with fiber, which traditional meat doesn’t have.

Photo: Emergy Foods

At first Meati Foods will sell to high-end restaurants in order to build their brand. Huggins said that their products will likely be priced on par with traditional meat at these spots. As they scale he expects they’ll be able to match wholesale meat prices for chicken and beef, They plan to move into retail soon, but are currently limited by production capacity.

Founded in 2016 by two PhD students, Emergy Foods announced back in July that it had closed a $4.8 million funding round and currently has a team of 10.

If you want to try Meati’s realistic-looking steaks, you might not have much longer to wait (provided you’re in the Colorado area). Meati is preparing for a beta launch at the end of 2019 and is expecting to launch in restaurants in early 2020.

Emergy Foods isn’t the first brand to leverage mycelium as a magical ingredient to mimic meat. Prime Roots uses ‘shroom roots to make a variety of animal product alternatives, from bacon to crab cakes to chicken breast. Though it chiefly sells in Europe, alt-meat giant Quorn uses fermented fungi as the base for its wide array of products. There’s also Atlast Foods, a spinoff of Ecovative, which makes mycelium-based scaffolding for use in a myriad of meat alternatives, both plant-based and cell-based.

Based off of their product offerings and target demographics, it looks like Prime Roots will be Meati Foods’ biggest competitor. When I asked Huggins how he’ll differentiate himself, he said that Meati uses a “unique strain of mycelium” which can really accurately imitate meat.

Both companies are looking to begin selling their products in early 2020, so soon we might be able to put both products to a taste test. But with demand for protein alternatives on the rise, there’s plenty of room for more than one player in the fungi-meat game to put down roots.