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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

lightlife

How to Host a Meatless (and Delicious) Super Bowl Party

My eating habits have been on a roller coaster so far this year. From discovering I am gradually turning vegan to switching over (temporarily) to a full-on keto diet, my eating has certainly boomeranged.

With Super Sunday almost upon us, I thought it would be a fun exercise to meld the two opposing lifestyles and create a “beefy” menu of snacks for the big game without using actual meat. This is actually easier than ever, thanks to innovations in the alterna-foods category that make meat substitutes closer to the real thing.

Here’s what I would serve:

Get more out of those (expensive) Beyond Meat burgers by breaking them apart and forming li’l meatless sliders. Beyond actually has a nice video showing you how to do just that on its site. Sadly, Impossible’s killer new burgers aren’t coming to retail until later this year, so maybe they can be on the menu for Super Bowl LIV.

Staying on the “meats,” I really like the LightLife Smart Ground crumble. It’s pretty versatile and can be used in chilis and sauces, but I would load them up on some hearty nachos, smothered in something cheese-like. Check out their recipe section for directions and more ideas.

You could also use the Smart Ground as a topping for a CauliPower pizza to spice up the plain ole cheese version. I’ve become a huge fan of the cauliflower pizza. I don’t think this is actually healthier for me (especially since I could eat an entire pizza in one sitting), but it is just as tasty as other frozen pizzas and, you know, cauliflower. If you’re feeling spicy, you could also make your own tofu-based pepperoni.

For a more snacky-snack type of food, maybe grab a handful of Coconut Jerky. I haven’t tried it, and it would be hard to get in time for the game, but if you can find it, going coconuts might be worth a try.

You can also go the way of Swedish McDonald’s and serve up falafel nuggets instead of chicken ones. Falafel is delicous! It’s just too bad Frecious veggie spreads aren’t widely available in the U.S. (yet) to serve as a dipping sauce.

For something sweet, the JUST eggless cookie dough is fantastic. Serve it raw in little spoons or whip up a mountain of freshly baked cookies for all your friends.

And finally to wash it all down, give the Bud Light a break and crack open a bottle of Kombrewcha (see what they did there?), the alcoholic kombucha. Though, I can’t imagine drinking more than one of them.

Do you have any tips, tricks or hacks for making it a meatless Super Bowl bash? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Lightlife’s New Plant-Based Burger Looks a Lot Like the Beyond Burger…

Alternative protein company Lightlife announced yesterday the release of a new plant-based burger that, according to a press release, is meant to deliver “the sensory experience consumers crave from a beef burger.”

The so-called Lightlife Burger is made of pea protein, coconut oil, and beet powder. It has 20g of protein, no cholesterol, and is free from soy, gluten and GMOs. The burger will be the face of a new pea protein-based product line from the company, which meant to be more evocative of meat.

The launch is in tandem with Lightlife’s upcoming rebrand to mark its 40th anniversary. It’s also just a smart move on Lightlife’s part to try and compete with other meat-like burgers on the market, like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods — especially as Beyond prepares for an IPO and Impossible gears up for its retail launch. Composition-wise, the Lightlife Burger seems closer to the Beyond Burger, which is also pea protein-based and also uses beets for its “bloody” look.

But young upstarts like Beyond and Impossible aren’t Lightlife’s only competitors. Big Food has also been getting into the meat alternative space, releasing products that are more meat-like to capture flexitarians and cash in on the plant-based eating trend. Last month Nestlé released the Impossible  Incredible Burger, just a few days after Unilever bought Dutch plant-based meat company The Vegetarian Butcher.

Lightlife could have an advantage, though. Both it and Field Roast are owned by Maple Leaf Foods, a major packaged meat company in Canada. That means that the company has the advantages that come with being part of a Big Food company, including supply chains, sales channels, and retail partners. But, since it’s also a veteran in the meat alternative space, it also has more plant-based street cred than, say, Nestlé. This could lead to less blowback from consumers who don’t trust Big Food to make their vegan meats.

Recently I predicted that veteran plant-based protein companies, like Lightlife, Tofurky, and Boca, would rebrand from “vegan” companies to “meat” companies–just ones who happened to make meat out of plants. It seems that, at least in the case of Lightlife, that prediction is coming true.

In the U.S., the Lightlife Burger will start rolling out in foodservice this month and hit grocery shelves in late March. It will launch in Canada in April. I couldn’t find any information about pricing, but I imagine it will be in line with other Lightlife vegan burgers (around $2.50 per patty). We haven’t tasted the Lightlife Burger yet, but as soon as it’s available in Seattle grocery shelves it might be time for an alterna-meat burger cookoff.

With the Growth of “Bleeding” Burgers, How are the Tofurky’s of the World Faring?

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods forever changed the plant-based meat industry when they rolled onto the scene with vegan burgers that looked, cooked, and tasted like the real thing. A veggie burger used to mean a patty made of black beans, quinoa, and a few vegetables. It was usually reserved for vegetarians and vegans, and many carnivores didn’t see a reason to go near it.

But now there’s a new consumer group in town: the flexitarian. Flexitarians are working to cut down on their meat consumption, and, for a growing number, that means turning to plant-based meats to replace the real thing. That’s exactly who Beyond and Impossible are targeting. Their meat-like burgers (and, in Beyond’s case, chicken strips and sausage) are specifically meant to appeal to consumers who don’t want a black bean burger but something as close to a beef burger as you can get without the cow.

Recently I got curious: If meat-like meat alternatives are all the rage and catalyzing huge growth in the plant-based meat category, how are the OG, less “sexy” veggie burgers and soy-sausages faring? The Boca burgers? The Tofurkys? The Field Roast sausages?

According to Erin Ransom, Director of Marketing for Tofurky, these early vegan food companies are doing quite well for themselves right now. She explained that the growing popularity of plant-based foods, spurred by media darlings like Beyond and Impossible, has translated to increased demand for the veteran vegan meat companies, too.

Dan Curtin, President of Greenleaf Foods, which includes vegan meat companies Lightlife and Field Roast, also acknowledges the impact that Beyond and Impossible have had on the plant-based meat category. “What [they’ve] done is bring attention to this category and help support it,” he told me over the phone.

Photo: Field Roast sausages.

On one hand, that growth is great for the plant-based meat industry. It means that vegan proteins are more widely accessible (and appealing) to people across the country, not just in urban areas. On the other, that uptick in demand translates to pressure on the manufacturers to increase production. Tofurky, for example, is having difficulty filling their orders. They’re not alone: companies like Beyond Meat have also been experiencing difficulty keeping their products on shelves. “It’s a unique conundrum,” said Ransom.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for plant-based meat companies to fulfill demand. But, as Ransom told me, it probably won’t be a single solution. Existing players will build more production facilities. Supply chains will become more sophisticated, and technology more efficient. Investment will (continue to) pour into the space. More small startups will enter the market. So will Big Food, including industrial meat companies, who can help amp up production capacity for plant-based meats and also ensure good product placement on retail shelves.

Though they may be grateful for the influence of Beyond/Impossible, that doesn’t mean veteran vegan meat companies will try to copy their meat-like products exactly. “We’re not chasing the ‘bleeding anomaly’ [of the Impossible burger],” Ransom told me.

But the effects are clear. Tofurky is working to ensure their newer products, from shredded “chicken” to vegan ham, have the same taste, texture, and mouthfeel as animal protein. Earlier this year Boca Burgers reformulated and rebranded their classic veggie patty, making their burgers bigger and “meatier” to appeal to flexitarians. Lightlife’s website claims its products are “meat without the Middleman.” They may not be trying to make a bleeding burger, but they are definitely trying to make a meat-like burger.

One thing I wonder is how vegetarians and vegans feel about all this. If they don’t want to eat meat in the first place, will they want to eat plant-based meat that is trying to act like meat? Or are companies like Field Roast and Boca alienating their original consumers as they reformulate to appeal more to flexitarians?

As of now, most of these vegan meat veterans still offer classic products like black bean and quinoa burgers. But if flexitarianism continues to grow (and I don’t see why it wouldn’t) vegan meat companies will likely continue to shift their image to become meat companies. The meat just happens to be made out of plants.