3Mins Read Californian startup Finless Foods has closed a $34 million funding round ahead of specialist facilities construction. The round was led by Hanwha Solutions, with Dainichi Group, At One Ventures and Sustainable Ocean Alliance all participating. The sustainable seafood company already manufactures plant-based tuna analogues out of Emeryville, which it plans to release to the U.S. […]
3Mins Read In a move that comes after shareholder pressure, multinational food giant Unilever has announced that it is the first major food company to publicly report on the performance of its product portfolio against at least six government-endorsed Nutrient Profile Models. Unilever, parent company to brands including Hellmann’s, Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, and The Vegetarian Butcher, […]
3Mins Read Indian plant-based dairy startup Goodmylk has acquired domestic nutrition brand PRO2FIT. The two have cited a shared vision of food security and plant-based goodness for all as the foundation for the merger. Making sustainable food choices affordable and widespread is the ultimate goal for Goodmylk. News of the acquisition comes as India’s plant-based sector continues […]
3Mins Read Kroger has announced a new strategic partnership with Impossible Foods that will see the two companies work together to create a line of proprietary meat substitutes for sale within the retail giant’s numerous locations. Kroger, the largest US supermarket chain,s will put Impossible in front of a wider demographic of consumers as it continues to […]
Not every alt protein cream cheese is made equal and that’s a great thing!
If you poll every one of your friends on what their favorite cream cheese is, you will not get anywhere near consensus. There’s an array of choices on the market these days from mild to tangy, spreadable to whipped, and savory to sweet. Not all cream cheese is made equal, so why should it be any different when it comes to alt protein cream cheese?
To prove I’m right, I tried as many different kinds as I could get my taste buds on. Tough job I know, but I’m just the gal for it! Not one cream cheese on this list is 100% like the other, which is exactly how it should be since you have your dairy-free, animal-free, fermentation-based, nut-based, hemp-based…. Clearly, gone are the days when the only vegan cream cheese option was Tofutti and I, for one, am pretty psyched about that. So even if you don’t agree with my reviews, I hope you will be inspired to branch out of your cream cheese comfort zone and try something new.
Editor’s Note: Some of the below products and brands are very new to the market and are only available at select retail and/or online locations in the U.S., and these can change frequently. Please check with the brand website for the most up to date information.
Source: Modern Kitchen
1) Modern Kitchen’s Animal Free Cream Cheese Spread ($30/3 pack)
Being a huge fan of everything Perfect Day, I was really excited to get a sneak taste of Modern Kitchen’s line of animal-free cream cheese.
Unless you live under a rock, you already know how Perfect Day revolutionized the alt protein industry with its bio-identical dairy proteins made via precision fermentation. You may be familiar with their ice cream sold under The Urgent Company brand. But what you may not know is that Perfect Day’s 2nd animal-free dairy brand, Modern Kitchen has launched a line of cream cheese currently selling DTC. It is the first animal-free dairy cream cheese on the market and how can it not be perfect, pun intended, when it’s dairy cream cheese, right? Well, spoiler alert, it is perfect. You get the exact same mouthfeel you get from eating dairy cream cheese down to the flavor and texture, aka how creamy and spreadable it is. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to have to sacrifice one iota in taste when it comes to your plant-based eating habits, this is most definitely the cream cheese for you. It’s animal-free, in other words, guilt-free with the same great cream cheese taste we all know and love.
Modern Kitchen’s cream cheese comes in three flavors: Spring Onion & Chive, Harissa Pepper, and Strawberry – and I tried them all. I really thought Spring Onion & Chive would be my favorite, but I was impressed with the other two flavors too. The Harissa Pepper cream cheese has just the perfect amount of spiciness to allow the pepper flavor to really come through and win over folks who can’t handle spicy foods like me. And then there’s Strawberry. I mean I love strawberries and I love cream cheese so match made in heaven truly. This strawberry cream cheese has got me thinking of all types of baking possibilities, like a vegan warm butter cake or a strawberry cheesecake.
I will say that I feel these guys should be in a category of their own because it’s almost unfair to compare animal-free dairy with plant-based dairy. It’s also really important to underline that if someone has a dairy or they allergy, this product will not be suitable for them.
Bonus Points: Modern Kitchen has really cool and innovative packaging- I love the vibrant green, orange and red colors, which will definitely stand out from the sea of whiteness on the supermarket shelves. Typically, cream cheese packaging is mainly white because cream cheese is, well, white. Not very imaginative if you ask me.
Cons: This is definitely the priciest of all the options on the list. Plus, they don’t currently offer an original plain version but hopefully that’s in the works.
Overall Score:10 out 10
Source: Nature’s Fynd
2) Nature’s Fynd Dairy Free Cream Cheese ($5.49)
I was really looking forward to trying Nature’s Fynd. The fact that they make plant-based food using NASA-inspired technology and volcanic microbes from Yellowstone makes the sci-fi nerd in jump up for joy. They currently have 2 flavors out: Original and Chive & Onion and I tried both.
Nature’s Fynd cream cheese is smooth, creamy, and tangy. It is a very very close second runner-up, which says a lot since it’s 100% plant-based. The Original is cheesy with a nice tang and you can really taste both the chive and onion in the Chive & Onion. It’s fungi-based and made via fermentation, aka the same process that’s been used for centuries to make all real dairy cheese.
Ingredients: Dairy-Free FyTM Milk (Water, Nutritional Fungi Protein), Coconut Oil, Sugar, Contains less than 2% of Mushroom Extract, Salt, Lactic Acid, Guar Gum, Cultures.
Bonus Points: Nature’s Fynd is allergen-free since it’s not made with any nuts or soy, and Fy is grown using a fraction of land, water, and energy of traditional protein sources.
Cons: if you don’t like your cream cheese with a pronounced tangyness, this may not be the one for you.
Overall Score:9 out 10
Source: Upfield
3) Violife 100% Vegan Just Like Original Cream Cheese ($5.99)
Violife is one of the biggest plant-based players, especially since it was acquired by Upfield, so their line of cream cheese is readily available and much easier to find in stores. As a fan of Violife’s Epic Mature Cheddar, I was expecting to love their cream cheese just as much, and indeed love it, I did! A little back story to explain why.
Being born and raised in Brazil, my first experience eating cream cheese was when I was nine years old on a trip to the US with my parents. We were at the airport with a friend of my mom’s and her daughter and had some time to kill before boarding the plane back to Brazil, se we decided to grab a bite. This was back in the day when there were no fancy eateries at airports and the only option was your regular old-fashioned diner. I sat next to my mom’s friend’s daughter on the counter and when her bagel with cream cheese came I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I had never seen a bagel either. Long story short, she said I couldn’t leave the US without trying it and so I did. The bagel was toasted and warm, topped with a thick layer of slightly melting cream cheese on both sides. It had a very mild but distinct cheese flavor that reminded me of Brazilian requeijão, only richer and creamier. I remember the taste of that bite vividly to this day and it’s the standard by which I judge all cream cheeses. Violife cream cheese tastes just like that, it has the mouthfeel of traditional old-fashioned Philadelphia cream cheese. It spreads nicely on the bagel giving you that thick creamy layer that takes me back to when I was nine years old eating it for the first time. Fair warning, if you like your cream cheese with a lot of tang, you may not enjoy it as much as I did.
The Violife cream cheese range includes Just Like Cream Cheese Original, Just Like Cream Cheese with Chives, Just Like Cream Cheese Garlic & Herbs, Just Like Cream Cheese Cheddar, and Just Like Cream Cheese Strawberry.
Grounded Foods cream cheese only comes in one flavor currently, Onion & Chives, but I am told by co-founder Veronica Fil that a plain/original version is due out this year. It’s got the creaminess texture you want and it’s slightly tangy, but not off the charts tangy, just enough to make it the opposite of mild in flavor. For comparison’s sake, it lands somewhere between Nature’s Fynd and Violife on the tanginess scale. Grounded Foods cream cheese was my favorite for a long while, but with so many new players in the alt protein cream cheese scene, I have to give it a slightly lower ranking. It may no longer be #1 but it’s certainly still among my top 3.
Bonus Points: This vegan cream cheese is allergen-free, since it doesn’t contain any nuts or soy, and it’s the only vegan cream cheese made with hemp. I also dig the sleek classy look of their black & white packaging.
Cons: They didn’t use to offer a plain version, but it seems like they will very soon!
Overall Score: 8 out 10
Source: Vertage
5) Vertage Cream Cheese (Not available for retail purchase yet)
I got a sneak taste of Vertage’s line of gourmet cheeses including their cream cheese, which comes in a plain version only currently. Vertage’s cream cheese is among the ones with the most tang that I tried for this review and it would likely be an 8 for folks who like tangy cream cheese. It has a good smooth spreadable texture and you definitely get a foodie mouthfeel with every bite. According to their website, their cheeses are ”cultured & fermented, with a chef’s sense of flavor.” It’s worth noting that as of this month, Vertage will be the only cheese used by chef Tal Ronnen in his Crossroads restaurant here in Los Angeles.
Bonus Points: The gourmet approach and Vertage’s fermentation process, which makes it more sustainable than animal-based and even many alt protein-based cream cheeses.
Cons: It’s not as close to the animal cream cheese as the ones above.
Overall Score: 7 out 10
Source: Kite Hill
6) Kite Hill Cream Cheese Alternative Made with Almond Milk ($6.49)
I’m a big fan of Kite Hill’s ricotta, yogurts, and sour cream, but I wasn’t completely over the moon about their cream cheeses. The texture is a bit softer and less dense than what you’ve come to expect from cream cheese. I tried the plain and it really was plain, as in it lacked the cheesy flavor of cream cheese. Kite Hill does have a pretty sizeable cream cheese line though, with flavors ranging from Plain, Chive, Everything, and Garden Veggie, to the seasonal Pumpkin.
Miyoko has said herself many times that unlike a lot of players in the alt protein space, her goal is not to mimic the flavor of animal dairy. And when it comes to being a vegan, you’re on usually on one side of this argument fence and not looking to jump over anytime soon. You’re either a vegan who is repulsed by the way animal-based foods taste and doesn’t want your vegan food to be anything like it, or you’re a vegan who is in search of cruelty and animal-free foods that resemble their animal counterparts the most because you miss the flavor of what you used to eat pre-veganism days. I fall in the latter category.
Even though I love Miyoko’s European Style butter and Liquid Moz, it makes me sad to stay that I really don’t care for their cream cheese. It scores points when it comes to texture, but it does not give you the same mouthfeel you get when eating real dairy cream cheese. The plain flavor was the one I least enjoyed while the Fish-Free lox did taste a lot closer to real lox cream cheese. Flavors include Everything, Classic Plain, Savory Scallion, Fish-Free Lox, and Cinnamon Raisin.
3Mins Read Californian food tech startup Lypid has scored $4 million in a seed funding raise to scale their vegan fat. Green Generation Fund led the round, with Big Idea Ventures and SOSV’s Indie Bio participating, amongst others. New investment will be used to, hopefully, scale and commercialise the company’s flagship fat development, PhytoFat. More data is […]
4Mins Read In a newly published statement, the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe has outlined the role plant-based and cultivated meats have to play in future food security based on inclusion in the just-released IPCC report. The GFI declaration is framed by tangible pressure on food production as the world’s population grows. Increases in food-borne diseases and […]
4Mins Read The Russian attack on Ukraine is being felt around the world as world leaders, businesses, NGOs, and concerned citizens rush to support the besieged country. Its implications though stretch far beyond just a humanitarian crisis; it’s already led to increases in oil prices, and it’s taking a toll on food prices, too. Ukraine, also known […]
3Mins Read VFC, a UK-based vegan fried chicken brand has taken marketing to a new level. Instead of creating new campaigns with activism at their core, as is expected, the company has curated some of its harshest critics. Using negative social media posts and troll responses to its posts, VFC has posted a series of “humane troll […]
3Mins Read Mumbai startup Evo Foods has added a new product to its plant-based egg portfolio. A heat-stable plant-based boiled egg follows on from the successful unveiling of a liquid whole egg substitute last year. Similarly, the new development is designed to mirror conventional eggs in terms of nutrition and price. The new “heat and eat” vegan […]
3Mins Read A study published last December has highlighted a growing unease amongst European farmers. A number interviewed revealed increasing moral concerns surrounding the practice of animal agriculture, alongside an inability to voice them for fear of ‘betraying’ the industry. The peer-reviewed report, published by Elsevier, revealed other surprising trends. Avoidance of meat products by those working […]
3Mins Read Global conglomerate Nestlé has made another step towards increasing its plant-based portfolio with a new partnership with Netherlands-based Corbion. The two will work to develop microalgae-based ingredients that can be added to animal-free foods to improve nutrition, taste, and sustainability for new products. Microalgae have been identified as offering significant health benefits to vegan food […]
3Mins Read Non-profit think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC has released a report documenting the alt-protein sector’s growth within the APAC region and globally over the past year. Highlights include a 60 percent increase in funding into the sector on a global level, with fermentation and cultivated projects claiming more funding than ever before. Overall, […]
3Mins Read Singaporean cellular agriculture startup Umami Meats has closed a $2.4 million pre-seed investment round. The company specialises in “cultivated, not caught” seafood production. Funding has been earmarked for continued plant-based serum development and manufacturing cost auditing. Minimised costs and maximum outreach are top priorities, to make Umami a leading sustainable seafood supplier. Pre-seed funding was […]
4Mins Read Australian Plant Proteins (APP) is leading a project to quadruple the animal-free protein manufacturing capability of South Australia (SA). Three new production plants will be constructed, at a cost of AU$378 million, to supply domestic and international partners. The entire project falls under an AU$1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative. The endeavour will transform SA into […]
4Mins Read Startups around the world are now leveraging the power of chickpea protein to craft meat, egg, and dairy alternatives, and the latest to do so is a company out of Israel called CHKP Foods. Elsewhere in vegan news, iconic department store Harrods has new plant-based desserts and IHOP just unveiled a new breakfast sandwich that […]
3Mins Read Eat Just has announced a significant first. It will provide its cultivated GOOD Meat products to hawker stalls across Singapore, for consumers to buy alongside longstanding favourite dishes. Select hawkers will alternate approximately every two months for limited runs. The first Eat Just collaboration was with Loo’s Hainanese Curry Rice. The stall has been in […]
3Mins Read Swedish startup Mycorena has announced the closure of a successful Series A funding round. Netting €24 million, it represents the biggest investment into alternative protein, within the Nordic sector. The raise will support taking a proprietary plant protein innovation from concept to commercial release stage. Promyc is a fungi-based fermented foodstuff that Mycorena wants to […]
4Mins Read Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown has revealed his confidence that the company can overcome disappointing market performance in 2021. In a recent earnings conference call, he discussed factors that impacted revenue, including Covid-19. A regression towards comfort food was identified as a stumbling block to brand adoption. Looking ahead, Beyond has lowered its annual revenue […]
3Mins Read Audra Labs, the plant-based meat enterprise that’s an offshoot from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), is headed by former principal researcher Dr. Andrew Wan. Formerly of the Bioengineering and Nanotechnology division, he has experience in the creation of fibres for tissue engineering. The process of tissue engineering led to Wan being inspired […]
3Mins Read Betterland foods, a brand new Californian company from Think! Founder Liz Falsetto, has launched Betterland cow-free milk made using Perfect Day’s animal-free whey protein. The product was developed using precision fermentation and the company claims it is “virtually indistinguishable” from conventional cow’s milk. The milk, which comes in two varieties- whole and extra creamy- is […]
4Mins Read Germany startup Keen 4 Greens, which makes vegan meat products including nuggets and burgers has announced a €1.8 million seed in funding to pursue whole meat cuts made using fermented mycelium. The round was led by Berlin-based FoodLabs, with Ryan Bethencourt’s Sustainable Food Ventures and Shio Capital participating as well, amongst others. “The consumption of […]
3Mins Read American consumers have new meat-free chicken options for the dinner table thank to U.K.-based vegan fried chick*n brand VFC, which has officially expanded into the U.S. market via online retail partners including. The announcement comes after the company closed a $10.2 million seed round last month earmarked for global growth. VFC’s products, included fillets, bites, […]
4Mins Read Miyoko Schinner, founder and CEO of California-based vegan dairy product maker Miyoko’s Creamery, said in a social media post on Friday that the company has removed its full range of plant-based cheese shreds and slices from the market. She called the products “compromises to the values and product guardrails” of the brand. The move is […]
3Mins Read Biodesign startup Geltor has revealed completion of the first commercial run of its animal-free collagen product, PrimaColl. The vegan collagen was produced in partnership with Arxada, over a five-month period that ended in Autumn 2021. The run proved Geltor’s capacity to scale its developments, within set deadlines, and with no loss of precision. PrimaColl is […]
3Mins Read Californian startup Yali Bio was founded in 2021 to help improve the taste of plant-based food by focusing on fat. The company says that tempting meat eaters away from their favourite dishes is hard and this is because they expect a level of authenticity that many products can’t offer. The company’s hope is that their […]
In the quest for increasingly realistic meat alternatives, one particular item has remained frustratingly out of reach: the filet.
We’ve conquered burgers, mince, and sausages to a large extent. Bacon is getting there, though there is still work to be done. And let’s face it, cheese is still a work in progress. But the holy grail? Beef steak. Thick-cut, tender to the touch, bouncy steak that melts in the mouth and feels realistically succulent. Juicy Marbles, a startup from Slovenia, is committed to tackling this gastronomic injustice — and. wow, have they ever triumphed.
There are other players in the plant-based steak sector, notably Indonesia’s Green Rebel and Spain’s Novameat. But Juicy Marbles says they were first to market with a marbled filet mignon, in animal terms, the tenderest part of the beef loin. The startup recently raised $4.5 million to scale and this earlier this year, it made 1,000 of its filets available for e-commerce.
I was sent a care package featuring two plant-based whole-cut filet mignons (full disclosure: these were gifted to me). Below, I share my full Juicy Marbles tasting review. TL;DR? The filets are everything they claim to be and more. Which is why I’m not sure I can ever eat them again.
Appearance
To look at, the vegan filet mignon looks like expensive little rounds of premium beef. The right shade of pink, swirled with fat marbling and vacuum-sealed as you’d expect, nothing gave away the meat-free composition. It does state ‘plant-based’ on the label, but I was too busy giving the cuts a tentative pressure test to check if they felt bouncy, like real meat. They did. I was startled.
The steaks are made from non-GMO soy protein and sunflower oil and Juicy says their patent-pending technology offers the marbling that is their trademark.
Taking the mignon out of the packet, the experience got even more surreal. I had to keep checking that this was a vegan alternative. Especially when the iron-rich aroma hit my nostrils. That smell that raw beef gives off? The packaging breathed it out in one big sigh and again, had me double-checking the ingredients.
Plated and ready to eat.
Cooking
It’s been a while since I cooked meat. Over 10 years to be exact, so I read the instructions carefully and did some research online about steak. Everything married up nicely, so I got my pan on the Aga, added some salted vegan butter and dropped my gently-seasoned filet mignon in. The iron-like smell started transforming into a richer meatier aroma. Our dog was instantly excited! Once the first side had reached a suitable crust stage, I flipped. I then gave the sides a little attention, basting them with the browned butter before checking the centres had reached the requisite 165°F.
I chose simple flavours to accompany the steaks. I had lofty ambitions of peppercorn sauce or red wine jus but realised I needed to test these in their natural form. Anything tastes great with the right accompaniment, these needed to stand alone. A serving of simple skin-on mashed potatoes and griddled vine tomatoes seemed like a good choice, so I plated. That’s when we (my long-term vegan husband and I) got nervous.
The steaks looked, smelled, and cooked like meat. They were so tender they didn’t need cutting because they pulled apart like perfectly aged beef that had been cooked reverently. Fork in hand, we couldn’t delay the moment any longer.
Flaky texture.
Taste
If I said that the Juicy Marbles filet mignon steaks were better than almost every real beef steak I remember having, it would not be an exaggeration. The meat felt rich and luxurious. It had the right amount of chew that, I thought, only comes from sinew. It released juices as I chewed and I had to stop. Yes, for another, final, packet check. My husband and I both felt as though we had been pranked with real meat and had a moment in silence, just looking at each other. Had we eaten beef? Thankfully no, but an existential crisis was just around the corner.
I’ve eaten beef that tasted less like beef than this beetroot-infused soy protein did. The simple truth is, anyone saying they could never go vegan because they love steak have zero excuses now. This IS steak, it simply hasn’t required an animal to die for it. Nothing about the presentation, cooking or flavour made me nod sagely and think “nice try but this doesn’t taste like meat”. The only thought I had was that Juicy Marbles have created something that has the power to change everything.
Pull-apart texture.
Why it’s a yes/no from me
For anyone looking to try the most realistic, spectacularly well-conceived vegan steak, this is it. It will fool seasoned meat aficionados and I daresay anybody that flatly refuses to even try vegan food because “meat is life”. As a tool for bringing about an end to the factory farming and animal slaughter system, I cannot praise this product enough. It can replace conventional beef with ease, and it should.
However. As an ethical vegan, I can’t bring myself to eat the Juicy Marbles steaks again. I had what I think was a small panic attack almost immediately afterward. I assume this is what vegans who have accidentally eaten meat feel. That moment of being unable to reconcile what has just entered their bodies with their long-held beliefs. That’s how both myself and my husband felt. It’s a testament to the product that I felt this way. I have no beef with this beef successor, I just can’t put it back on my plate because I don’t miss the original. I’ve given nothing up in my quest to be an advocate for animals, so I’ll leave the filet mignon for people that still crave the real thing or those that need a final push.
3Mins Read Finnish VTT Technical Research Centre offshoot Onego Bio has closed a €10 million seed funding round. Agronomics Limited and Maki VC participated in the round, which was opened to secure funding for commercial scale-up. The startup’s ‘bioalbumen’ product is an animal-free egg white, manufactured using precision fermentation. Onego Bio predicts a future surge in demand […]
3Mins Read California’s Prime Roots has announced its new range of vegan meats and pâtes. Designed to mimic animal-based alternatives in appearance, taste and carving ability, the selection caters to varied tastes. Pepperoni, smoked ham and black pepper turkey are some of the initial launches. Each can be ordered as a whole joint, ready for slicing and […]
4Mins Read A new report neatly summarizes the state of regulatory approvals for alternative protein products around the world in just a few pages. Spain’s Amgen, which provides regulatory advice and consulting to companies working in the alternative protein space, recently unveiled a new report that tracks the status of alt-protein regulatory approvals in various parts of […]
