HEALTH & WELLNESS
Taking a closer look at the fast diminishing gap between plant-based meat and dairy alternatives and their original counterparts, one food at a time.
Make sense of the plant-based trend and find out which products are suitable for you and your family.
It’s no secret that eating less red meat, and more fruit and vegetables is good for both people and planet, thus making plant-based foods and a flexitarian diet are some of the most used trending buzz phrases today.
What is a myth though, is the fact that a plant-based diet is synonymous with being vegan or vegetarian. In reality, a flexitarian approach allows for natural inclusion of diverse protein sources, in which regular meat and dairy are still permissible occasionally in smaller quantities, putting a greater emphasis on plant-based alternatives. The key to making this supposedly healthier and more planet-friendly lifestyle change sustainable and more enjoyable in the long run, is to simply include more plant-based foods to an already healthy diet rather than making drastic diet changes, most of which will be unsustainable on a long-term basis.
Nigel Moore, Accor’s Senior Vice President F&B, SE Asia, Japan & South Korea said at the Accor collaboration with Green Monday last December, “A recent study of 27,000 people across 27 countries confirmed that three out of four people want to reduce their impact on the environment by a large amount, and a significant number of meat eaters would be willing to switch to plant-based alternatives if they taste equally good, and have the same price and nutritional value.”
While nuts, lentils, beans and chickpeas are table staples when it comes to plant-based building blocks, easy-to-cook alternatives such as Impossible, Beyond Meat and Quorn’s meatfree burgers, mince and sausages, are becoming increasingly popular with the younger generation, even while technically they are still considered to be ‘highly processed foods’. On the dairy side, plant-based milk, egg and ice cream alternatives are already very popular, but cheese and yogurt alternatives still have some way to go before becoming widely accepted.
“A recent study of 27,000 people across 27 countries confirmed that three out of four people want to reduce their impact on the environment by a large amount, and a significant number of meat eaters would be willing to switch to plant-based alternatives if they taste equally good, and have the same price and nutritional value.”
Nigel Moore, Accor’s Senior Vice President F&B, SE Asia, Japan & South Korea
Asia might only just be catching up to this fanatic plant-based trend, but it’s already proving to be a region to be reckoned with. “Asia is currently still behind markets like the USA and Europe with regards to the rise of flexitarianism, so we see it as just the beginning of a new paradigm,” says Andre Menezes, Co-founder & COO, Next Gen Foods.
We take a look at the different players offering alternative meat and dairy options doing their part to protect the planet and to leave a lower environmental footprint as the world struggles to feed its population sustainably and nutritiously.