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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

plant-based

KFC Canada to Sell Plant-based Fried Chicken for One Day Only (Tomorrow)

Today KFC Canada announced its new product, the KFC Plant-Based Fried Chicken sandwich. Launching tomorrow, November 27th, the sandwich will only be available for the day at a single KFC restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario. If sandwiches aren’t your bag, you can also try the Plant-Based Fried Popcorn Chicken bucket.

According to a press release from KFC Canada, the chain partnered with Canadian alternative Lightlife to develop its plant-based poultry offerings. The sandwich will be available regular or spicy and will cost $6.99. The popcorn chicken bucket is $3.99.

Lately Canada has been a testing ground of sorts for fast-food chains to try out plant-based meat offerings before deciding whether to bring them south of the border. At least that’s been the case with McDonald’s PLT and Wendy’s ‘The Plentiful’ burger.

In this case, however, it’s the reverse. KFC tried out plant-based chicken back in August in a similar one-day, one-location test in Atlanta. The launch drew huge crowds and the “chicken” sold out in less than five hours.

KFC Canada is clearly hoping to replicate the viral success up in the Great North. However, there are a couple of key differences. Firstly, KFC in the U.S. used plant-based chicken from Beyond Meat, while KFC Canada is tapping Canadian alternative meat company Lightlife. The Atlanta KFC also served nuggets and wings, while KFC Canada is focusing on a sandwich.

We haven’t tasted either of KFC’s plant-based chicken offerings, so it’s difficult to compare their finger-lickin-goodness levels. However, one thing to note is that KFC Canada doesn’t include the Lightlife name in its new sandwich, meaning it won’t be able to capitalize on brand recognition in the same way that the Beyond Fried Chicken did.

Customer response on the one-day trial run will determine whether the vegan chicken will be rolled out nationwide in 2020. Based off of the popularity of Beyond Fried Chicken in Atlanta and the general success of alternative meats in fast-food (barring a few notable exceptions), I’d say there’s a good chance that the KFC Plant-Based Fried Chicken Sandwich will be more than a one-day phenomenon.

Crikey! Australia’s v2food Raises $35M for Plant-Based Meat

Australian startup v2food announced late yesterday that it has raised a $35 million Series A round. The round was led by Main Sequence Ventures and Horizon Ventures (which has also backed Impossible Foods), with participation from Sequoia Capital China and Marinya Capital.

According to a press release, v2food will use their new dollars to expand R&D and build a new production facility in Australia, which they plan to open in 2020.

The startup claims that theirs is the largest Series A investment in plant-based food to date, and not just in Australia.

v2food works with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO to develop a range of plant-based meat products meant to accurately mimic the real thing. The company’s first product, a meatless patty, is currently sold in the Rebel Whopper at Hungry Jack’s, Australia’s version of Burger King. Next up, they plan to develop their brand and sell to more outlets, though the release didn’t specify if they would be targeting foodservice or retail.

Jack Cowin, founder of Hungry Jack’s, invested $1 million to help v2food and CSIRO develop the plant-based patty for the Rebel Whopper. When we covered the news back in May, I was skeptical that one million would be enough to actually create a good-tasting meat alternative. It seems that the other shoe has dropped, and it’s filled with lots and lots of money.

Right now the Australian alternative protein market is pretty sleepy. Beyond Meat and Moving Mountains are available Down Under, but the region doesn’t have many companies actually developing their own plant-based meat products. So v2food has a clear runway to become the biggest local alternative protein brand.

However, the startup has ambitions outside of its home country, too. In an interview with Smart Company, v2food’s CEO Nick Hazell said that he wants to expand into the Asia-Pacific region over the next 12 months. Considering how gigantic the market is there, and the impending meat price hikes in the wake of China’s African Swine Flu outbreak, that’s a smart idea. But it will require massive cash inputs for scaling and marketing, especially as players like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat make good on their promise to break into Asia.

In short, v2food will need every one of its new $35 million dollars to make it happen.

Quaker Discontinues Oat Beverage Line in Cautionary Tale for Big Food

Less than a year after launch, Quaker has discontinued its Oat Beverage product line. According to FoodNavigator, the product was made with oat bran concentrate and contained more fiber, less sugar, and fewer calories than competing oat milk brands.

We don’t know all of Quaker’s motivations for dropping their Oat Beverage line. Maybe the oat milk market was already too saturated. Maybe it was a miscalculation for Quaker to emphasize heart health, not taste — the number one purchasing motivator for younger consumers. Maybe consumers were already brand loyal to smaller companies like Oatly, which brought the oat milk craze to America.

Quaker is owned by PepsiCo, so it’s also possible that purchasers, especially younger demographics who are leading the plant-based dining movement, wanted to support smaller brands with stronger emphasis on the environment (like Oatly) instead of a gigantic food corporation. We’ve written about this conundrum — whether or not consumers will buy disruptive products from Big Food corporations — in terms of the plant-based meat space. But the issue is just as relevant for other animal alternatives like dairy.

There’s also a simpler explanation: maybe Quaker’s oat milk just didn’t taste that good. The Spoon’s Managing Editor Chris Albrecht tried the Quaker Oat Beverage earlier this year and said that the consistency was “super thin” and not as creamy as its competitor Oatly. At SKS 2019 (on a panel with Oatly’s Bjorn Oste!), Dr. P.K. Newby noted that taste is the “primary driver” for the success of a plant-based product, followed by brand authenticity.

Most likely, Quaker Oat Beverage’s fail was a result of all of the above. It goes to show that if Big Food creates fast-follower products to tap into disruptive trends, like plant-based dining, it’s got to be very strategic. It can’t just churn out a copycat product and call it a day. Consumers aren’t dumb and most of them will happily pay a few extra bucks or go out of their way to find their favorite brands if the ones from major CPG companies come up short in terms of taste.

If Big Food wants to attract buyers away from Oatly — or Beyond and Impossible, for that matter — they might consider putting more emphasis on sustainability, or just all-out purchasing smaller disrupter startups. Above all, they have to ensure that their offerings taste amazing. Otherwise there will be a lot more Big Food products joining Quaker Oat Beverage in the graveyard of plant-based fails.

Tyson Expands Raised & Rooted Footprint, But Will Anyone Actually Care about Blended Burgers?

On its earnings call this week, Tyson Foods gave some updates on its Raised & Rooted alternative protein brand which it announced in June. According to the call, the brand’s plant-based “chicken” nuggets, made with plants and egg whites, are now available in 7,000 stores. Tyson also stated it would begin shipping its blended burgers — made with a mixture of beef and plant protein — later this month.

Since there are already plenty of faux chicken nuggets in the frozen grocery aisle, it’s the blended burger bit that’s more intriguing to us at The Spoon. Especially since Whole Foods just named “blended, less beefy burgers” one of its top 10 food trends of 2020.

In theory, blended burgers seem like a good idea. Replacing part of the beef with plant protein is an easy way to cut down on animal products without being too radically “anti-meat” or alienating hardcore carnivores. And in settings like cafeterias, where people might not even know that they’re eating meat cut with plants, that approach might work out.

Blended meat is still pretty new so it’s too soon to say for sure how these blended offerings will resonate (or not resonate) with consumers. But I’m not optimistic. My guess is that in trying to appeal to so many people, companies making blended burgers might actually end up appealing to very few. Carnivores will continue to choose meat, health nuts will go with lower-fat turkey, and those with strong environmental or ethical motivations will likely opt for plant-based options.

All of which is to say, despite the stamp of approval from folks like Whole Foods, I’m not sure that blended meat is actually a juicy enough offering to draw in consumers. When we already have plant-based offerings like Impossible and Beyond that taste pretty darn close to the real thing, what’s the point of getting something that’s not quite meat but not quite plants? It seems like flexitarians would be more keen to choose one path or the other.

There is one edge that Raised & Rooted’s burgers have over Beyond and Impossible though, and that’s health. Tyson’s blended patties contain 40 percent fewer calories and 60 percent less saturated fat than typical beef burgers. Plant-based options from Beyond and Impossible, however, are comparable to beef in terms of calorie content and fat — something they’ve attracted a lot of flack about lately. Then again, if consumers want a meaty burger option with fewer calories than beef or plant-based beef, they could always opt for turkey or bison burgers.

Tyson isn’t the only Big Meat company betting on blended meat. Rival Hormel sells Blend Burgers, in both turkey and beef, under its Applegate brand. Chicken behemoth Perdue announced a line of blended chicken products — half white meat chicken, half plant protein — shortly before Tyson unveiled Raised & Rooted. Our Head Editor Chris Albrecht tried the nuggets (as did his eight-year-old) and liked them just fine, but said there wasn’t enough of a value add to entice him to purchase them again. Instead, he’d rather just feed his kid nicer chicken and vegetables, separately.

I think that ambivalence will hold true for the blended meat space overall. Blended burgers are just fine — but when so many companies are vying to be your protein pick in the grocery aisle, fine just isn’t good enough.

Omnipork to Make Plant-based Pork Debut in Mainland China on Black Friday

Black Friday often means slogging through crowded stores and feasting on Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches.

But this Black Friday will also mark a significant move for Green Common, maker of the plant-based product Omnipork. On November 29, the company will make its mainland China debut through online retailer Tmall during the site’s Black Friday event. Green Common founder David Yeung said over the next two months more than 180 restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing will begin selling Omnipork, according to the South China Morning Post.

Omnipork is a meatless ground pork product developed specifically to appeal palates in Asia, where pork is the most consumed meat. The plant-based pork is currently available online, in Green Common stores and in multiple restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau and Thailand. I got to taste it when I was in Hong Kong earlier this year, and while it wasn’t exactly the same as the real thing, it did a good job of mimicking pork when put in dishes like ramen or dumplings.

The timing is ripe for Omnipork to head to China. With the recent outbreak of the African Swine Flu, China’s pig population is estimated to drop by as much as 50 percent. But Chinese consumers still have an immense appetite for protein.

Green Common isn’t the only meat alternative company to set its sites on China. Just last week Impossible Foods’ CEO Pat Brown did its first product taste in the country at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. There he said that Impossible had developed a pork prototype and was working on scaling it with the intention of selling in China. Beyond Meat has also called out Asia as an area with high market potential for plant-based meat.

Earlier this year Yeung told me that once Omnipork entered China it would double its footprint from 5,000 to 10,000 outlets. It’s still too early to say if Chinese consumers will indeed flock to Omnipork to the degree which he anticipates, but with the prices of pork set to rise over the next few months, the time is certainly good for meat alternatives to enter the Chinese market. And now it looks like Omnipork has secured first-mover advantage.

A Win for Veggie Burgers: Mississippi to Table Rigid Plant-based Meat Labeling Restrictions

In a win for free speech and veggie burgers everywhere, yesterday Mississippi officially revised its restrictive labeling rules around plant-based meat. The original regulations restricted companies from using traditional meat terms like “burger,” “hot dog,” and indeed “meat” on their packaging, even when preceded by terms like “vegan” or “plant-based,” arguing that the lingo could confuse consumers. This despite the fact that we’ve been buying veggie burgers for decades.

Mississippi’s restrictive meat labeling legislation went into effect in July of this year. In response, the Plant Based Food Association (PBFA) and member company Upton’s Naturals immediately sued the state, claiming that the new rules were a violation of the First Amendment. As a result of the lawsuit, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture proposed a new regulation in September that would let plant-based meat companies use terms like “veggie burger” and “vegan hot dog.” Yesterday that regulation took effect.

Mississippi wasn’t the only state to institute such strict labeling rules over the past year or so. Arkansas, Missouri, and a dozen other states have also banned a myriad of meat labeling terms. Under many of the states’ rules, each “offense” could be punishable by a $1,000 fine or one year in jail.

But plant-based meat wasn’t going to take these restrictions lying down. In August of last year the PBFA, Tofurky, the ACLU, and the Good Food Institute formed a coalition to sue Missouri, arguing that the new rules violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The group also challenged similar laws in Arkansas.

Jaime Athos, the CEO of Tofurky and President of the Board of the PBFA, spoke with me about the labeling issue in depth at SKS 2019 last month. There he told me that these labeling bills are a result of pressure from meat lobbies, which are threatened by the recent astronomical growth of the plant-based meat sector. They don’t actually serve the consumer. In fact, he argued that they could actually end up confusing the consumer, since people have been buying veggie burgers and vegan hot dogs for decades.”It’s insulting to the consumer,” he said.

It seems that at least in Mississippi, Tofurky has successfully netted a win for plant-based meat. But there are still many other battlefronts they have to win. “We hope that other states that introduced similar legislation in the past year, including Arkansas and Missouri, take note of Mississippi acknowledging and accepting already-used, clear qualifying terms such as ‘meat-free,’ ‘meatless,’ ‘plant-based,’ ‘vegetarian,’ and ‘vegan’ to describe plant-based protein products,” Athos wrote in an email statement to The Spoon.

Months ago, Athos told me that he and the coalition were fighting to establish a precedent with one of their three suits which would eventually kill all plant-meat labeling laws. This latest win with Mississippi could be just the precedent they were hoping for.

Wendy’s is Semi-Secretly Testing a Plant-Based Burger in Canada

Wendy’s seems to be following in McDonald’s footsteps and launching a plant-based burger in Canada. In September McDonald’s began testing a meat-free burger in select Canadian locations. Earlier today, vegan advocacy sites LiveKindly and VegNews reported that social media picked up an outdoor Wendy’s advertisement in Toronto showing a burger called “The Plentiful” along with the words: “Where’s the beef? Not here.”

The fast-food chain hasn’t publicly announced the new burger yet, nor is it listed on its website. According to LiveKindly, The Plentiful is made from pea protein and is served with non-vegan cheese and mayonnaise.

And… that’s about all we know for sure. It’s unclear how much The Plentiful will cost, how many Wendy’s locations will offer it, or how long it will be available. Perhaps most importantly, we don’t know which brand of plant-based burger is on The Plentiful or whether it’s made from a patty developed internally by Wendy’s. Since we know the burger is pea protein-based, that rules out Impossible, which is made from soy and potato protein — but not Beyond.

If indeed The Plentiful is made with a Beyond Burger, Wendy’s would really be taking a page from McDonald’s book. The latter began testing a plant-based burger made with a Beyond patty called the P.L.T. (Plants, Lettuce, Tomato) in select locations in Canada this September. If this is the case, both Wendy’s and McDonald’s chose to omit the Beyond brand name from their new menu items — a move that I think is a missed opportunity to draw in new consumers familiar with the Beyond media buzz.

Regardless, it’s not a huge surprise that Wendy’s is hopping on the plant-based meat trend. During this year’s second-quarter review call Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor acknowledged the popularity of meat alternatives and said it was something that the fast-food chain would “look into.” Right after that Wendy’s fans gathered around 30,000 signatures on a petition calling the restaurant to add a plant-based burger to its menu.

Canada seems to be prime territory for fast food restaurants to test out new plant-based products. In addition to McDonald’s, 7-Eleven began selling a Beyond Meat pizza in the Great White North. Canadian chains Tim Horton’s and A&W were some of the first major fast-food chains to add Beyond Meat to their menus — though Tim Horton’s has since stopped serving the meat alternative in all but two regions.

We’ve reached out to Wendy’s and will update the post when we hear back. Until then, if you’re a Spoon reader in Toronto, give The Plentiful a try and tell us what you think!

 

Future Food: China is the Holy Grail for Meat Alternatives, Eclipse Foods Launches Ice Cream

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

Impossible Foods may be gaining territory, both geographically and market-wise, here in the U.S. But when it comes to the future regions, the startup has its gaze set on Asia — specifically, China.

You can read the full explanation of why Impossible is eyeing China in our post, but it boils down to three main reasons:

  • China has the largest population in the world
  • China produces the most meat in the world
  • China consumes the most meat in the world, and its hunger for protein is growing

In short, China is the holy grail for any alternative meat company. That’s especially true with the recent African Swine Fever outbreak, which threatens to massively deplete pig populations and drive up pork prices.

Photo: Impossible Foods

Which plant-based meat company will get to world’s most populated country first? Impossible is certainly in the running, as is Beyond Meat. And Asian plant-based meat company Omnipork, which has the advantage of selling a product developed specifically for Asian palates, has said it will start selling in China by the end of this year.

Big Food could also make a move. China-based WH Group, the largest pork company in the world, owns Smithfield. In August Smithfield announced it would be launching a “plant-based protein portfolio.” If WH Group decides to sell a new alt-meat line in China, either under the Smithfield brand or another one, the company’s massive supply chain and retail partnerships could help it quickly scale up across the country.

Then again, it could be time for China to embrace a lower-tech meat alternative. With all these newfangled, bleeding, uber-realistic faux meat options out there, it’s easy to forget that China has actually been making its own meat alternatives for centuries to adhere to Buddhist diets.

Ten years from now, we’ll likely see a mixture of all of the above in China. The country’s appetite for protein is immense and it’ll take multiple plant-based meat players to feed. Let’s just hope that if and when Impossible does land in China, they’re prepared for the inevitable demand.

Eclipse Foods x Oddfellows. Photo: ©Heidi’s Bridge

Eclipse Foods is (soft) serving up plant-based ice cream

If you want to know what’s cool right now in the food world, a good place to look is ice cream. A few months ago Berkeley, CA-based Perfect Day launched their flora-based dairy with an initial line of ‘screams (which were delicious, btw). Now, Eclipse Foods, a plant-based dairy company based literally down the road from Perfect Day, is following in their footsteps.

This weekend Eclipse Foods is debuting its proprietary plant-based dairy recipe in limited-edition flavors at high-end ice cream shops on opposite coasts: Humphrey Slocombe in San Francisco and Oddfellows in New York (thanks for the tip, Grubhub).

Unlike Perfect Day, which ferments actual dairy proteins using genetically modified microbes, Eclipse’s dairy is made from a combination of everyday plant-based ingredients that the founders claim do a much better job imitating dairy than plain old oat or almond milk. Their product is also free from nuts, coconut, soy, and other allergens.

I had the chance to try soft serve made with Eclipse Foods’ dairy during the Good Food Conference this year and thought it was overall quite good. While the flavor was almost there — it was a bit too salty and lacked the pure neutral fattiness of dairy — the texture was spot on. The soft serve was smooth and super creamy, without the iciness that often comes with plant-based ice cream.

The flavor issue might be irrelevant for now, since I’m not sure exactly how much people will actually taste Eclipse’s dairy base underneath the bold flavors of Oddfellow’s Miso Cherry and Humphrey Slocombe’s Mexican Hot Chocolate.

Given this initial partnership, Eclipse seems to be following the Impossible sales model, starting out with high-end B2B partnerships. Impossible debuted at David Chang’s lauded Momofuku restaurant, which instantly rocketed the product to fame. Eclipse is launching with two similarly trendy brands, ones known to attract droves of Instagram-ing hipsters who can start some buzz around the new brand.

This launch will be a test to see if Eclipse can follow Impossible in other ways. Can it reinvent the plant-based dairy space like Impossible reinvented plant-based meat? Or will it just be the flavor of the month?

Photo: Nestlé

Protein ’round the web

  • Nestlé is partnering with food and biochemical company Corbion to develop microalgae ingredients for use in plant-based foods.
  • Starting this week, Chicago-based Giordano’s is offering plant-based sausage from Impossible Foods as an add-on topping fo all of its orders nationwide.
  • Speaking of Impossible, taqueria chain Dos Toros is offering Impossible beef in all 21 of its NYC and Chicago locations.
  • Mooala, maker of dairy-free milks and creamers, announced it has closed a $8.3 million Series A funding round.

That’s it from me this week.

Eat well,
Catherine

What’s Next for Impossible Foods? Maybe Pork, Definitely China

Impossible Foods is gearing up to enter China, and it looks like they might launch in that country not with their signature “bleeding” beef but instead with a plant-based pork product.

In a Bloomberg TV interview at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai today, Impossible CEO Pat Brown told cameras that the company has “a very good prototype” of plant-based pork. “It’s really just a matter of commercializing and scaling that,” he added.

We already knew that Impossible was developing alternatives to pork and fish. At CES last year (we’re returning for FoodTech Live, join us!) Pat Brown told me that they were also tackling whole cuts of meat, like steak.

Brown also told Bloomberg that Impossible was eyeing an expansion into China, which he said has “always been the most important country for our mission.” It’s easy to see why. China accounts for over one fourth of the world’s meat consumption and is also the largest producer of pork globally.

Nonetheless, the most populated country in the world is primed to embrace plant-based meat. The Chinese government is aiming to reduce its meat consumption by 50 percent by 2030, and Allied Market Research reports that the Asia-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market for meat alternatives. There’s also added motivation thanks to the recent outbreak of the African Swine Flu, which could cut the country’s pig population in half by the end of this year.

Brown told Bloomberg that Impossible is way too small to fill the supply-demand gap created by the African Swine Flu. However, he noted that outbreaks like these illustrate the problems with food security associated with meat, and could help turn people towards more sustainable plant-based alternatives.

Indeed, once Impossible does enter the Chinese market, it would make sense they do so with a pork alternative, since pork is far and away the most consumed meat in China. But Impossible wouldn’t be the only one bringing plant-based pork to Asian audiences. Omnipork, made by Hong Kong-based Right Treat, makes a ground pork alternative developed specifically to appeal to Asian palates. Omnipork isn’t yet available in China but when I spoke to CEO David Yeung earlier this year he said they were aiming to launch in that country later this year.

Of course, with China’s massive hunger for pork there’s plenty of room for more than one player in the market. Especially if future food-safety scares nudge more Chinese consumers to look to plant-based alternatives to feed their hunger for pork.

The bigger point is that once it gets to China, Impossible Foods will have access to a brand new massive market. One that’s primed and ready to hop on the plant-based meat train. If Impossible can hook Chinese consumers — and with the popularity of the Impossible Whopper, the startup has shown that it knows how to stir up consumer demand — it could have a significant ripple effect on the global industrialized meat industry.

Want to keep tabs on the white-hot alternative protein space? Make sure to subscribe to our weekly Future Food newsletter!

Black Sheep Foods Makes Plant-Based Lamb to Target the Asian Market

Maybe it’s because of my last name, but I never took to lamb even before I became a vegetarian. It could have been the gamy flavor, the fact that it’s often dry, or just thinking too hard about what exactly lamb is.

But for much of the world, specifically Australia, New Zealand, India, China, and other Asian countries, lamb is a dietary staple. As these countries grow in population and become more wealthy, it’s likely their demand for all meat — lamb included — will only increase.

So it’s timely that a new startup called Black Sheep Foods is developing a plant-based alternative to ground lamb. Founded in June of 2019 by two former employees at cell-based seafood startup Finless Foods, Black Sheep’s lamb burger is made from soy protein, coconut oil, and natural flavors. Sunny Kumar, Black Sheep’s co-founder, told me over the phone last week that they’re eventually planning to develop a versatile ground lamb product that can be used to make everything from patties to curries.

Black Sheep has been working out of the MISTA food business accelerator program, which is run by Danone, Mars, and more. However, they’re packing up to move to Singapore to participate in the 5-month Big Idea Ventures accelerator program, from which they will also receive $250,000 in funding. [Ed note: The author is a mentor for Big Idea Ventures but is not directly involved with Black Sheep Foods.]

Their go-to-market plan is to sell the plant-based lamb through restaurants and foodservice, specifically targeting large office cafeterias. Kumar said they plan to launch product on a limited scale by the end of the Big Idea Ventures program in five months. In terms of price, the plant-based lamb will likely be on par with the cost of lamb in the U.S., where the meat commands a premium, but more expensive than lamb in areas like Australia where it’s cheaper.

Kumar hasn’t decided precisely where they’ll debut their plant-based lamb, but said that Singapore would be a natural choice because of the area’s love for the new wave of uber-realistic meat alternatives, like Impossible Foods’ burgers which debuted there last year.

Whether or not they launch in Singapore, Kumar was very specific that Black Sheep would initially target Eastern regions, like India and China. Not only is there less competition — the plant-based meat alternative space is not as crowded as it is in the West — there’s also a pressing need to find sustainable, tasty protein sources to feed booming populations in these areas. And while Asian consumers might have a plant-based burger every once and a while, to make a real difference there must be alternatives to everyday staple meats, such as like lamb.

Black Sheep isn’t the only company hoping to tap into the massive potential of the Asian alternative protein. Right Treat’s Omnipork makes plant-based ground pork, sold in both retail and foodservice, which target Asian consumer preferences. And on the cultured meat side, Singapore-based Shiok Meats is making cell-based shrimp and Integriculture is tackling cultured foie gras (and other meats) in Japan.

Eventually, Kumar does want to bring his plant-based lamb to the United States. “Ultimately, we can’t ignore the U.S. market,” he told me. There, Black Sheep’s focus on lamb could help them stand out from a sea of beef burgers, especially if they decide to branch into retail. Then again, lamb’s gamey flavor makes it a pretty polarizing meat for U.S. consumers, which may scare foodservice spots away from trying out Black Sheep’s initial product.

Regardless, I think Black Sheep would be wise to continue focusing on the Asian and Australia/NZ markets. Australia and New Zealand eat a ton of lamb, so they might welcome a high-quality plant-based alternative. And while the aforementioned startups like Omnipork do make faux meat for Asian markets, the space is relatively empty compared to Western markets. Plus nobody’s making lamb there yet.

However, if Black Sheep does make its way to the U.S., I’ll have to get over my lamb skepticism and give it a try. Last name be damned.

Future Food: Solving The Texture Problem

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

My dad is an extremely picky eater. He won’t eat coconut, or raw tomatoes, or avocado (I know!). Ask him why he avoids these foods and he’ll give you a simple answer: texture.

Texture is a major part of the eating experience, one which can make or break a food product. That’s why one of the biggest hurdles to creating realistic meat alternatives isn’t appearance, or even flavor — it’s texture.

So how do companies make plants — or cultured animal tissue cells — mimic the complex texture of animal products, especially whole muscle cuts like chicken breast or steak? There are a few strategies out there:

3D printing
Startups like Redefine Meat and Novameat use machines to print plant-based ingredients, such as pea protein, into fibrous strands meant to replicate the complex texture of animal muscle. They could also use the same 3D printing tech with cultured animal cells, though they haven’t branched into that space yet. Though a cool concept, 3D printing is a ways away from this being an affordable, widespread solution to mimicking tricky alt-meat textures.

Mushrooms — er, mushroom roots
A more affordable and scalable way to create meat-like texture is through mycelium, or mushroom roots made through fermentation. Atlast Foods grows mycelium scaffolding on which companies can either place cultured animal cells or plants, and Prime Roots and Emergy Foods (which just came out of stealth this week!) are developing their own meat alternatives based off of the fungi. Affordable and scalable, yes — but how well does it actually imitate the chew of meat?

Gelatin
The New York Times wrote about the latest in texture innovation this week. Harvard scientists reported they had successfully grown cow and rabbit cells on a scaffold made from gelatin. Yes, the same stuff that’s in the gummy worms you’ll hand out to trick-or-treaters tonight.

When it comes to texture, gelatin has two advantages. In addition to providing a flexible physical support on which the cells can easily grow, gelatin, which is protein, melts when cooked, which could help cell-based mimic the tender texture of, say, a seared steak.

Photo: JUST.

Be it through 3D printing, gelatin, mushroom roots, legos or something else entirely, companies will have to nail the texture problem before they can hope to entice everyday consumers to switch over to alternative proteins. And it’s not just about whether the ‘meat’ cuts and chews like the real thing. As Daniel Scharff, Director of Strategy & Analytics for JUST, mentioned at SKS 2019, alternatives to traditional animal products also have to cook in a way that’s familiar to consumers. “It has to replicate the experience that they’re used to,” he said.

However, once scientists do figure out the texture issue, it could open the door to a whole new group of alternative meat products (read: really good faux steak) and entice even more consumers to sample faux meat.

Even my picky pops might get on board.

Tapping into the Impossible Foods zeitgeist

Last week DoorDash unveiled a custom filter that users can click through to see all the restaurants in their area which serve the Impossible burger.

It’s clearly a bid by the food delivery company to edge out its food delivery competition by capitalizing off of a popular product that more and more consumers are ordering to be brought directly to their doorstep. And a smart move.

But DoorDash isn’t the only one profiting off of Impossible-mania. Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which owns Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Horton’s, released its Q3 Earnings Report this week which showed that the Impossible Whopper is driving major traffic — the strongest uptick since 2015 — to the fast-food chain.

All this to say, next time you use a DoorDash filter to order an Impossible Whopper from BK, you’re at the intersection of a few big trends. Pat yourself on the back.

Protein ’round the web

  • Diner chain Denny’s is adding Beyond Burgers to menus of all its Los Angeles locations.
  • The Awesome Burger from Sweet Earth Foods, which is owned by Nestlé, is now available at Costcos in Texas and the Midwest (h/t Vegnews).
  • Alternative protein company Shiru, which makes versatile protein that can be used in faux eggs, cheese, meat, and more, raised $3.5 million in funding, according to Business Insider.
  • Agronomics invested $500,000 in Shiok Meats, the Singaporean startup developing cultured shrimp (and other crustaceans).

That’s it from me this week! Please tell me someone is dressing up as this for Halloween tonight.

Eat well,
Catherine

SKS 2019: Plant-Based Foods Aren’t Going Anywhere, But Taste is Key

Ask almost anyone in the food space about the biggest trends they’re seeing, and odds are they’ll mention one thing: plant-based. From meat to dairy to eggs, plant-based alternatives to traditional animal products are becoming more and more commonplace — and tasting better and better.

Considering the ubiquity of plant-based dining, we invited a few experts to come speak about the trend at SKS 2019 earlier this month. Author and scientist Dr. PK Newby, Bjorn Oste, co-founder of Oatly, and Daniel Scharff Director of Strategy & Analytics for JUST,  took the SKS 2019 stage to unpack the plant-based dining trend: who’s catalyzing it, what products they want, and why is it gaining so much popularity right now?

If you’re curious about why ‘plant-based’ has suddenly become the buzzword du jour, it’s worth watching the whole video below. Here are a few high-level takeaways from the conversation:

Health is a big driver
There are many reasons that people shift towards a plant-based or flexitarian diet: ethical concerns, environmental motivations, etc. But according to Scharff, health is another big driver. “The number one reason for dietary change isn’t weight loss,” he said. “It’s health.”

Dr. Newby echoed this idea, siting studies which showed that plant-based diets are key to longevity and chronic disease prevention — as well as the health of our planet. Since millennials are motivated by health and sustainability, she said, they’re a primary driver for the adoption of plant-based food.

Mission matters
It may seem like new companies (of Big Food corporations) are popping up every day promising a unique twist on plant-based foods. But according to Oste, companies can’t just slap the term “plant-based” on their products and expect to see a loyal customer base spring up overnight. “Consumers care about companies on a mission that are authentic, transparent, and value-driven,” he said. In short: You can’t just talk the talk. You have to walk the walk, too.

Taste is king
All of our panelists agreed that, while mission and health are key, taste is still king. “Taste will always be first,” said Dr. Newby. “It’s the primary driver.” The others? Cost, followed by convenience. But the overall conclusion was no matter how sustainable, healthy, or affordable a plant-based product is, if it doesn’t taste amazing — it doesn’t have a chance.

Scarff went one step further. He said that animal product alternatives don’t only have to taste great, but also has to look, cook, and eat like the original product. “It has to replicate the experience that they’re used to,” he said, referencing consumers. That’s one of the reasons that JUST is so adamant that they sell their plant-based egg next to actual egg cartons in the grocery store.

Dr. Newby finished her talk with a bold claim. “The future is absolutely meatless,” she said. It’s too early to say if her prediction is correct, but there’s one thing we can be sure of: the plant-based revolution is here now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon.

If you want to hear the full conversation, check out the video below.

SKS 2019: The Plant-based Revolution