Not your grandma’s veggie burger

This is the year we learned you can have your plants and protein, too Laura Brehaut

Today’s plant- based meats are shockingly close to the real thing. From bleeding burgers to faux ahi, 2017 saw several innovative products become more widely available. With benefits ranging from the environmental to animal welfare and health, the quality of meat analogues has improved drastically to satisfy an exploding plant-based market and create an expanded footprint that could have profound effects on the food we eat.

While the EU meat industry lobbied for plant- based food labelling changes this year – pushing for names like “soy breakfast strips” instead of bacon – forward-thinking companies are jumping on board. Canadian packaged meats company Maple Leaf Foods recently acquired Field Roast Grain Meat Co. for US$ 120 million, while American multinational Tyson Foods has increased its stake in Beyond Meat.

Food behemoths such as Maple Leaf and Tyson see the writing on the wall, says Lisa Kramer, Professor of Finance at the University of Toronto. Meat consumption in North America, their primary market, is relatively flat while the appetite for meat substitutes is booming. In the business of producing protein, they’re happy to fulfill a need for plant- based options if that’s what consumers are seeking.

“I hear some vegans on occasion lamenting the change in ownership and worrying about what it means. But for me this is winning; this is success. This is plant- based products becoming widely accepted and mainstream. And it shows me that they really are the wave of the future,” Kramer adds.

Likewise, high- profile investors – such as Beyond Meat’s Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates and Twitter cofounders Biz Stone and Evan Williams – suggest this movement isn’t going anywhere. These investors are “trying to do well and do good,” Kramer says. They see promise in plant-based products and hope to see them increase in popularity.

Brad McMullen, owner of Toronto’s Summerhill Market, is the first Canadian retailer of Beyond Meat products. Since he started carrying the plant- based burgers in late October, he says there’s been a steady increase in sales. He’s since brought in Beyond Chicken Strips (made with non- GMO soy and pea protein) and Beyond Beef Crumble ( made with non- GMO pea protein).

“Everyone that tries it has a similar reaction. It’s stunningly close. I read that it’s ‘ freakishly similar to beef.’ I would agree,” McMullen, an omnivore, adds. “I had a burger and it tasted like a burger … Everyone that tries it is genuinely surprised by how good it is.”

Until recently, the appeal of meat substitutes has been a major barrier to widespread adoption. With taste and texture becoming increasingly convincing, Marta Zaraska – author of Meathooked ( Basic Books, 2016) – sees meat’s cultural significance as the main obstacle left to overcome.

Meat has been part of our lives for the past 2.5 million years, she says. Replacing it is a huge task to undertake. Animal flesh plays an integral role in celebrations around the world – look no further than the Thanksgiving turkey or lechón (spit-roasted whole hog) – and is deeply symbolic.

“( Meat substitutes) definitely have a difficult job to do because meat carries so much symbolism with it. It’s not just about the taste,” Zaraska says. “But we can adapt and we can change. And I think that one very i mportant component to changing people’s perception is simply by taste.”

Whereas many people would give beef another go after a negative experience with an exceptionally tough steak, often one run- in with a sub- standard meat analogue is enough for consumers to swear them off forever. But people should be open to giving them a chance, Zaraska says.

Technology is changing rapidly; if you last ate a nomeat patty even five years ago, you would likely be very pleasantly surprised by today’s offerings. Zaraska f avours The Vegetarian Butcher in the Netherlands, which sells its products to 3,000-plus stores in 16 countries. Meanwhile, Kramer is a fan of Gardein, a line of meatfree foods based in Richmond, B.C., among others.

“Until a couple years ago, there was no Beyond Burger,” Kramer says. “Now there are more alternatives and I think that that will continue to accelerate. To me, they pose the promise of a rosier future. One where we can use the world’s resources more efficiently and feed everybody, If we just reallocate our resources more sensibly using this emerging set of technologies, we can do a lot of good.”