EDIBLES
F a ke i t t i l l yo u m a ke i t A vegan and a meat-lover sit down at a table, and what sounds like a set-up for a punch line becomes a fake-meat tasting from the opposite ends of the spectrum. Our office vegan, LAURA PITCHER, looks at the issue.
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s with reality TV and Uber Eats, New Zealand has been arguably slow at jumping on the fake meat bandwagon. I remember visiting the UK more than 10 years ago and being amazed at the meat alternatives that weren't available back home. This could be because meat is such a part of Kiwi culture and of our economy. Statistically, we’re big meat eaters. We rank number seven in the world, with our neighbours in Australia ranking first. The OECD calculated that in 2015 New Zealanders on average ate 72.8kg per capita of meat, which is more than double the world’s average. Still, slowly but surely, meat alternatives are making their way onto our shelves. There’s no doubt that meat production has serious environmental implications, which is why a meat-free diet has long been sold as an environmentally better choice. Growing plants to feed to an animal before eating the animal is less environmentally effective than eating the plant. The reality is, ultimately, not so simple. Not all meat has the same environmental impact, and neither do all plants. Lettuce, broccoli, rice, nuts and potatoes, for example, all have a significant carbon footprint. New Zealand is known for farming two of the most environmentally costly meats on offer: beef and lamb. A USA study estimated that beef requires 28 times as much land, and 11 times as much water, and produces five times as much greenhouse gas emissions as dairy, poultry and egg production. Agresearch had similar findings on the Co2 emissions of lamb farming in New Zealand. They found that lamb produces a whopping 19kg
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of Co2 per kg. Compare that with another popular New Zealand export, the kiwifruit, which only produces 1.77kg of Co2 per kg. In 2015, New Zealand farmed around 29.1 million sheep and 10 million cattle, and the effect on our rivers and other natural resources is becoming increasingly apparent. Over-farming was a frequently raised topic in relation to this year's election, but does that mean the New Zealand public is ready to give up their 72.8kg of meat a year for a plant based alternative? Winston Peters called for action against fake meat earlier this year, arguing that it is challenging the quality of our exports and calling it a ‘blatant mis-description’. And he is not alone. The thought of fake meat tends not to make the public’s mouths water. But perhaps the fear of the unknown could be overcome once fake meat becomes more, well, known. For vegans like me, fake meat is always going to be a win because it’s something we can add to the list of things we can eat. But for meat-lovers, it’s all about the taste. When customers who haven’t had meat in years claim that the alternative tastes ‘just like the real thing’ it is time to do a taste test. So I looked around the Capital office for the most meat-loving, moleskin-wearing man I could find. Griff likes hunting and fishing and his wardrobe has been described as ‘bush meets office’. We sat down to dine together and tried the New Zealand-made meat alternatives on offer, to see if any of them might be an authentic-tasting, ecofriendly replacement for the real deal.