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Plant Based, Animal Free and Incredibly Tasty By Mindy Kolof
Meatless, tech foods, plant-based protein or meat alternative all seem to share a similar mission: bring a delicious new choice to the market and to restaurants, that consumers (even carnivores) will crave, and the world can sustain. Taste and inclusive marketing set this new breed of burger shoulders above previous animal-free menu movements. “Nearly 90 percent of consumers say they would make healthier choices at restaurants if those choices tasted better,” explains Mike Kostyo, spokesperson for Datassential, a leading food industry market research company. “The meat-free burger has to look at least as appetizing as the other menu items. These companies will have to work hard if they want their products to become a core part of the menu and not just the token vegetarian option.” The cow-tipping point may be upon us. Just last year, several meat alternatives made their debut and earned rare praise. One of Fast Company’s 2017 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies, Beyond Meat brought a plant-based burger patty to market last year (in the grocer’s meat case), that starts pink, cooks and tastes and bleeds (beet juice) like a burger. On a similar quest to serve up a more sustainable beef alternative that meat lovers will devour, Impossible Foods’ burger is made entirely of plants, with an added secret ingredient, heme, a biological compound that gives beef, and the Impossible Burger, its authentic flavor and smell. Going in a different but equally intriguing direction, Memphis Meats unveiled a labgrown meatball, cultured and grown from beef cells, not livestock.
While there is plenty of compelling environmental, animal advocacy, food safety and nutrition arguments to make for meat alternatives, the missing ingredient for consumers, especially meat-eaters, gets down to taste and texture. “The Impossible Burger was made first and foremost for meat lovers,” explains Jessica Applegren, spokesperson, Impossible Foods, “We made this burger to provide the most delicious meat to meat lovers, with no compromises and a better health and environmental profile than traditional meat from cows. And you bet, meat lovers all over are loving this product. We recently launched in Houston at Chris Shepherd’s Underbelly, which along with Chris Cosentino’s Cockscomb in San Francisco, is one of the most meatcentric dining establishments in the country. At the end of the day, meat lovers want a delicious burger that they can feel wholly good about eating. We are giving them that.” Impossible Foods is scaling up to produce enough plant-based meat to serve four million Impossible Burgers per month with plans
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