In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Burger King’s in-demand veggie burger, Armored Fresh’s vegan cheese tour, and Oatly’s withdrawal of its plain yoghurt from the UK.
New products and launches
Veganuary is here! Burger King is bringing back what is its most demanded menu item ever in the UK: the Ultimate Black Bean burger. Launching on January 3, it comes after online petitions and posts imploring the fast-food giant to reintroduce the veggie favourite. Nix the cheese and mayo if you want it vegan.
Also for Veganuary, UK brand Applewood is relaunching its vegan snacking cheese, changing from a circular Mini format to new sticks called Applewood Vegan Bites, featuring its signature smoked cheese.
Courtesy: Applewood
Pub chain Brewdog is jumping on the Veganuary bandwagon too, partnering with alt-meat brand THIS for a limited-edition drop of Europe’s first skin-on vegan chicken wings made with a seaweed-based crispy skin.
Not to be outdone, fellow vegan meat brand VFC has just debuted its first UK ready-meal SKU dubbed One Bag, a chicken-fried rice made with its plant-based chicken that clocks (clucks) in at under 450 calories and 20 grams of protein.
British plant-based range Squeaky Bean just announced its first frozen ingredients range, arriving on Waitrose shelves on January 8th: Seasoned Chicken Style Pieces and Steak Style Pieces, the two products are aimed at making weekday dinners more convenient and designed for stir fry and plant-based taco/flat bread applications.
Courtesy: VFC
In the US, plant-based meat maker Shicken has secured distribution deals in 380 Sprouts Farmers Market stores, and is launching a new tikka kebab SKU at Costco UK, as well as a teriyaki kebab in the UK, Iceland, Sweden and France this month.
More stateside Veganuary launches include Subway‘s new Plant Picante sandwich, arriving January 10th, which features a spiced plant patty topped with crispy onions, Sweet Onion and Garlic & Herbs sauces and American-style cheese that can be swapped for Vegan Cheeze for a 100% plant-based option, and fast-casual chain Just Salad‘s collab with Amanda Cohen of the Michelin-starred NYC cult restaurant Dirt Candy. Cohen created a ‘Dirt Candy’ salad bowl made of romaine, arugula, organic sesame tofu, sliced cucumber, shaved broccoli, Tajin-spiced pumpkin seeds, sweet pepperoncini and buttery Castelvetrano olives tossed in a house-made vegan ranch.
Meanwhile, German manufacturer Rügenwalder Mühle has unveiled a 10-year-anniversary campaign during Veganuary with a virtual scavenger hunt hosted by photographer and brand ambassador Paul Ripke. It follows the re-release of its Veganuary 2023 TV ad in December and the launch of a Pulled Pork snack.
French plant-based meat brand Umiami has partnered with two-Michelin-starred French chef Isabelle Arpin, who has been featuring the company’s whole-cut chicken fillet at her eponymous Brussels restaurant.
Over in India, burger chain Biggie’s Burger is launching the Veg Beamer in collaboration with domestic plant-based meat brand GoodDot at all its outlets in Bangalore, a vegan version of their top-selling grilled item featuring GoodDot’s protein slabs.
Courtesy: Umiami/Isabelle Arpin
Fancy a vegan cheese voyage? South Korea’s Armored Fresh is hosting a US coast-to-coast Oat Milk Cheese Tour for buyers and professionals within the grocery, foodservice and QSR channels, beginning from New York and ending in California.
Another South Korean brand, vegan personal care label Dryope has launched in Malaysia after reaching cumulative sales of $1M. The company’s shampoo, treatment, body wash and hair mist products will be available at Watsons, Shopee, Lazada and Zalora.
Courtesy: Nestlé
Nestlé, meanwhile, is exploring the use of plant-based ingredients to bring healthy, affordable proteins to consumers in countries without equitable access to nutrients. It recently launched Maggi Soya Chunks in Central and West Africa.
And Sussex-based semi-professional football club Lewes FC will go fully vegan for its home fixture against Durham in the Barclays Women’s Championship fixture on January 21 to mark Veganuary, with fans able to get a 20% discount on tickets using the code ‘VEGANSROCK’.
Policy and research
In a recommendation to the agriculture, nature and food quality minister, as well as the state secretary of health, welfare and sport, the Health Council of the Netherlands calls for a focus on policies making it easier for people to adopt plant-based diets and reduce meat consumption.
A new study by the University of Exeterdemonstrates algae’s viability as a sustainable meat alternative in terms of maintaining and building muscle. It found that spirulina or chlorella intake stimulates myofibrillar protein synthesis in resting and exercised muscle tissue, and to a level equal to mycoprotein.
Courtesy: SimpliiGood
Dr Alejandro Marangoni, a researcher at the University of Guelph, has developed a solid plant-based fat using the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan by rearranging the molecules in liquid oils to turn them into solids. Marangoni will work a a plant-based meat company to launch his fat (an alternative to the often used coconut oil) which he says makes for a better, juicier alt-meat product.
In Finland, the University of Helsinki’s research network, the Helsinki Planetary Health Hub, has established a collaboration with tech startup Wellness Foundry and US-based Game Changers Institute to launch an AI-driven plant-based nutrition app. It will launch in Finland and the US first.
Withdrawals and closures
After withdrawing its vegan ice creams from the UK market, oat milk giant Oatly has confirmed that its Oatgurt Plain is also no longer on supermarket shelves, though the Greek Style and Strawberry yoghurts continue to be available.
Courtesy: Oatly
Finally, Berkeley’s veteran vegan taco restaurant Flacos has closed its brick-and-mortar location after 22 years but has hinted at a return in some form, with a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise money to transition to an industrial kitchen.
The EVERY Company, the Californian startup making hen-free eggs from precision fermentation, recently debuted its flagship product as the centrepiece of a special dinner at Daniel Humm’s Eleven Madison Park. EVERY co-founder and CEO Arturo Elizondo tells Green Queen about how it all came about, and reveals a key regulatory achievement.
As one of the world’s most acclaimed chefs, Daniel Humm has been at the forefront of food technology and technique for years. He’s a man who has always aimed to be ahead of the curve. When he reopened his three-Michelin-starred eatery Eleven Madison Park after the pandemic-induced lockdown, he sent the restaurant industry into pandemonium as he announced he was ditching the thing he was most famous for: meat.
Not just that, he was getting rid of almost all dairy – bar the tea and coffee service. So, essentially a 99% vegan restaurant. To do that when you’re a three-star restaurant at the top of your game (with a recognition as the world’s best restaurant under your belt just a few years prior) was unheard of. But Humm persisted, insisting that the current food system is simply not sustainable.
It was a huge win for the plant-based sector then. Now, he’s done it again, this time championing another key pillar of alternative protein: precision fermentation. Humm made EVERY – the Silicon Valley maker of animal-free eggs – the only brand to ever have its product as a centrepiece on his restaurant’s menu.
Courtesy: The EVERY Company
In an exclusive dinner earlier this month, culinary innovators, chefs and creators were treated to cocktails, omelettes and creme brûlées, all starring the precision-fermented EVERY Egg, which was making its foodservice debut ahead of a wider launch next year. Can Humm take this path to protein diversification to the next step? Only time will tell.
“For nine years, my dream has been to build a food system humanity can be proud of,” EVERY co-founder and CEO Arturo Elizondo said at the time. “When I met Chef Humm, I knew I had met someone with that same dream, and I am thrilled to join forces to make our shared vision a reality.”
But how did the partnership come up? We caught up with Elizondo to find out.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Green Queen: How did Daniel Humm and EVERY connect?
Arturo Elizondo: We were drawn to Chef Daniel Humm because he is the consummate standard-bearer of quality in the culinary world. Lance Lively, our general manager who led the creation and launch of EVERY Egg, first connected with the Eleven Madison Park team when he shared videos of EVERY Egg in action. We quickly sampled our EVERY Egg, and they were blown away by its taste and performance.
In collaborating with chef Humm and his team at Eleven Madison Park, we successfully demonstrated that EVERY Egg’s quality delivers on the highest standards of culinary excellence. But even more importantly, in chef Humm, I found a kindred soul.
When we first met, I quickly realized Chef Humm is not merely a culinary savant – he has an incredible vision for using his platform to push for a more equitable and sustainable food system. EVERY Egg is the embodiment of nine years’ work at EVERY, and the promise of our purpose to deliver food systems transformation. It’s thrilling that thanks to this collaboration with chef Humm and his team, EVERY Egg was unveiled centre-of-plate in an extraordinary context.
Courtesy: The EVERY Company
GQ: While this was a one-off dinner, does EVERY plan to continue the collaboration, and team up with other foodservice operators?
AE: We are thrilled with this public unveiling of EVERY Egg, and we will soon share more about how we’re bringing EVERY Egg to even more plates in 2024. More soon!
Additionally, our egg protein products such as EVERY EggWhite are commercially available for food manufacturers to use as high-performance ingredients in their branded products, and we are actively sampling EVERY Egg to restaurants and food manufacturers.
GQ: What plant-based ingredients complement your precision-fermented protein in the egg?
AE: EVERY Egg is a nature-equivalent egg protein combined with beneficial plant-based fats, salt and water to achieve a whole egg taste and texture. Our egg protein is the secret ingredient that enables EVERY Egg to deliver such strong culinary performance across a multitude of dishes.
A major added benefit is that EVERY Egg is a high-quality source of protein that contains all the essential amino acids required for good nutrition, is highly digestible, and contains zero cholesterol or saturated fat.
Courtesy: The EVERY Company
GQ: You have received two GRAS notifications, while a third has been pending approval. What is the progress on that, and can you expand on what the three notifications entail and how they’re different?
AE: We’re excited to share that we have officially received GRAS notifications for all three of our protein products. In October 2023, we completed the trifecta with a Letter of No Objection from the United States Food and Drug Administration for EVERY EggWhite. We expect the dossier to join the FDA’s GRAS inventory any day now.
The recent GRAS notification for EVERY EggWhite underscores EVERY’s commercial leadership. All of our high-performance products are fully FDA-approved, are manufactured at large-scale production facilities, and have been fully commercialised.
A host of studies over the last few years have shown that consumers don’t like the word ‘vegan’ on product labels, even if they’ll otherwise like or consume those items. So how do you disassociate vegan food from its definition?
I wonder if this has ever happened to you. You’re eating at home with your family, with a bunch of dishes and their exact vegan replicas. One of your non-vegan loved ones picks up the plant-based dish (say, an Impossible Bolognese, mistaking it for “the real thing”), eats it, and loves it (or at least doesn’t bat an eyelid).
Now, consider this. Someone instead asks you to pass that same pasta to them, but you tell them it’s vegan as you pick up the serving bowl. “Oh no no, I don’t like the vegan one,” they say, requesting you to place it back down and give them the Bolognese with the conventional beef.
I ask because this has happened to me, on multiple occasions. Maybe it was a sabzi with oil instead of ghee, or a pancake with vegan butter, or a scramble that came from plants rather than a chicken egg. People are creatures of habit, mostly hesitant to embrace change.
This is a predicament many manufacturers and restaurants have been facing when it comes to plant-based food. How do you convince a consumer to buy your product or dish with a few words on your packaging or menu? The obvious answer, of course, is by telling them it’s vegan.
But like many things, just because something seems obvious doesn’t mean it rings true. There has been a lot of discourse about labelling in plant-based food this year. I’m not talking about the use of meat- and dairy-related terms – that’s a whole other conversation – but rather the message brands are trying to promote to reach a wider consumer base.
The problem
This isn’t a new conversation – it’s one marketers have been having for years, with several studies pointing to consumers’ specific aversion to the word ‘vegan’. In 2018, Morning Consult research revealed that for the 2,201 Americans surveyed, ‘vegan’ is the most unappealing descriptor for groceries, chosen by 35% (ahead of terms like ‘organic’, ‘gluten-free’ and ‘sugar-free’).
Courtesy: WRI
In 2019, the World Resources Institute (WRI) published research intended to help brands boost plant-based sales. Terms like ‘meat-free’, ‘vegan’, or ‘vegetarian’ were a no-go, and considered to be “healthy-restrictive”. The argument by respondents was that ‘meat-free’ means less of what meat-eaters like, ‘vegan’ represents something different from themselves, and ‘vegetarian’ means healthy but unsatisfying. was that meat-free labels
The same year, analysis by alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute yielded similar results. Terms like ‘plant protein’, ‘plant-based protein’ (56% each), ‘veggie’ (54%), ‘100% plant-based’ and plant-based (both 53%) are much more appealing than descriptors such as ‘meatless’, ‘meat-free’ (42% each), and ‘vegan’ (35%). The latter was amongst the least effective ways to label vegan food, behind only stuff like ‘[insert animal here]-less’ and ‘plant-based seafood’.
Courtesy: GFI
Last year, Dutch consumer insights firm Veylinx found that – contrary to other reports – calling a hot dog ‘meatless’ works better than other terms. But like other reports, ‘vegan’ still ranks low, even behind ‘animal-free’. In fact, a ‘meatless’ label can boost demand by 16% compared to ‘vegan’.
Another study, published earlier this year in the Appetite journal, focused on menu labelling, which found that “menu items were significantly less likely to be chosen when they were labelled” as vegan or vegetarian, versus not being labelled at all. Conversely, it didn’t find that “vegetarians and vegans were more likely to choose items with meat when the labels were removed”.
The most recent study of the bunch, conducted by the University of Southern California and published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology – has made the rounds everywhere for the past few weeks, in part due to its large sample size of 7,341 Americans. The researchers used gift baskets as a gauge for which labels work, and which don’t. Participants chose between a vegan and non-vegan food basket, with the former being labelled in five different ways.
Only 20% chose the ‘vegan’ gift basket over the meat and dairy one, while 27% picked it when labelled ‘plant-based’. However, describing them with impactful attributes represented a significant upturn: when marked as ‘healthy’, 42% went with the vegan basket, while 43% did so for those tagged as ‘sustainable’ or 44% when labelled as both ‘healthy’ and ‘sustainable’.
“Our study described every single item that was in the food basket, but we just didn’t call it vegan,” study co-author Wändi Bruine de Bruin told the Washington Post. The research concluded: “This labelling effect was consistent across socio-demographics groups but was stronger among self-proclaimed red-meat eaters. Labels provide a low-cost intervention for promoting healthy and sustainable food choices.”
This is perhaps why companies like the aforementioned Impossible Foods are moving away from terms like ‘vegan’ – there has been a noted push towards using the term ‘meat from plants’ in the brand’s communications of late. (California’s Eat Just similarly uses ‘made from plants’ to describe its Just Egg products.) But why do people have such a problem with the term ‘vegan’, despite not necessarily disliking the products themselves?
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
The reason
Among the multifaceted reasons behind people’s aversion to ‘vegan’ labelling, one is an inherent view that meat-eating is entrenched deep into their culture. In 2021, Ipsos conducted a 1,018-person poll that revealed 59% of US citizens believed eating meat is the American way of life, and 52% felt that people advocating for reduced consumption are trying to control what the public eats.
People have been inadvertently eating vegan all their lives – an aglio e olio is typically plant-based, just as an Oreo or Lotus Biscoff biscuit is – but they don’t like the word. Paul Shapiro, co-founder and CEO of fungi protein startup The Better Meat Co., calls ‘vegan’ the “product label which shall not be named”. He writes: “Part of the problem may just be that, for whatever reason, a lot of people simply think “vegan” food won’t taste good. After all, it’s well-established that taste is by far the biggest motivator of food purchasing.”
Some would argue that the fact that so many vegan alternatives to meat and dairy exist is counter to the lifestyle’s point – isn’t it all about eschewing those very products? But it seems consumers find it hard to detach what they eat with how it affects the planet. One study has shown how vegan diets are associated with 75% fewer emissions, water pollution and land use than meat-rich diets – a similar percentage (74%) of Americans don’t think meat has any impact on climate change, a figure that climbs to 78% for dairy.
Courtesy: Burger King/Instagram
For many people, veganism still hasn’t shed its early reputation of bland rabbit food, or one that has poor analogues trying to mimic animal products, despite companies making ever more realistic versions. There’s a sense of compromise (in terms of ingredients and flavour), deprivation (regarding the satisfaction provided by food) and restriction (since you’re giving up a lot of things).
“If your freedom is restricted, a motivational drive emerges,” psychology professor Jason Siegel told National Geographic. He explained the phenomenon of reactance – or the mental pushback resulting from choice restriction. To avoid triggering this, he noted that framing change as a choice instead of an order is much more helpful – something that could be applied to what many find are extremist tendencies in the vegan movement. “If I say: ‘Please consider this, it’s up to you,’” he explained, “that’s often better than: ‘You must do this or you’re a terrible person.’”
It’s this rhetoric that Impossible CEO Peter McGuinness is hoping to banish, describing early messaging around alt-meat as unhelpful: “There was a wokeness to it, there was a bicoastalness to it, there was an academia to it… and there was an elitism to it – and that pissed most of America off,” he said at an Adweek X conference. Echoing Siegel, he added: “The way to get meat-eaters to actually buy your product is not to piss them off, vilify them, insult them and judge them,” he said. “We need to go from insulting to inviting, which is a hell of a journey.”
Britty Mann, founder of the US non-profit Planted Society, which helps restaurants add vegan dishes to menus, told Green Queen that it’s scary for businesses to take risks by adding plant-based options. “Chefs express the same fears that we hear from friends and family: ‘It’s too expensive, I don’t have time, it’s not going to stick, I’ll lose the respect of people I like, and if it’s not broke, why fix it?’”
The solution
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
So, where do brands go from here? Highlighting attributes relating to health is often much more successful than pointing out the climate or animal welfare aspects of plant-based products. This is a shift we’re already seeing in the space, from the likes of Beyond Meat and Impossible in the US to THIS in the UK and Dreamfarm in Italy.
Detaching the rampant misinformation is also key – for years, meat industry interest groups have been targeting vegan companies and their products as overprocessed junk food, and they’ve been successful in alienating a significant amount of consumers. This is something Beyond Meat looked to tackle with one of its ad campaigns this year, putting the focus on its steak’s cleaner-label ingredient list. Soon after, the brand then pivoted to a health focus in its marketing campaigns.
There’s something to be said about advocating for meat reduction over outright elimination – realistically, the world may never go fully vegan, but cutting back on animal products is a more pragmatic approach that presents tremendous environmental benefits. For example, if you just replace just half of your meat and dairy intake with plant-based alternatives, it will reduce emissions by 31%, halt deforestation, and double the overall climate benefits.
Blended meat companies – which mix animal proteins with plant-based ingredients in varying proportions – are the biggest proponents of this idea. Andrew Arentowicz, founder and CEO of 50/50 Foods, summed it up in an interview with Green Queen in October. “Asking everyone to turn into a vegetarian is an impossible goal. At least today it is, and we need bold solutions to big problems today,” he said. “I’m too practical to let perfect be the enemy of the good. Cutting beef consumption in half will save lots of animals, so we’re technically on the same team.”
For alt-dairy companies, honing in on the base ingredient is a great way to go, the way brands like Alpro have done. Bar one (its This Is Not M*lk range), Alpro’s products don’t bother with terms like ‘drink’, ‘yoghurt’, ‘mylk’, etc. – instead, you see a tetra pack with a giant ‘Oat’ or ‘Coconut’ with health and flavour descriptors, with Alpro trusting consumers to know they’re looking at a milk alternative.
Courtesy: Elmwood
This is harder for plant-based meat, of course. People want ‘almond milk’, but they don’t necessarily want a ‘pea protein burger’, irrespective of the fact that they like it – pushing them to make the choice to buy the product involves detaching from words like ‘vegan’ or unappetising phrases, such as the ones we saw above (‘fishless’, etc.).
For these businesses, it’s key to note that vegans aren’t their key demographic – that’s flexitarians and meat-eaters. “We’re trying to reach meat eaters – not vegans, vegetarians or those already eating sustainable diets. That’s why we focus on making products that appeal to actual meat eaters,” an Impossible spokesperson told Green Queen earlier this month. “Our goal is not to compete with fruits, vegetables, and other whole foods, but to offer meat eaters products that are better for them and the planet.”
In terms of foodservice, a ProVeg International report suggested listing plant-based items alongside other options, but on top is an effective motivator. Instead of using the product name as the label, it recommended restaurants to use subtle, easily identifiable labels (like pictograms) to “minimise the deterrent effect that vegan-identifying denominations can have on mainstream consumers”.
Emphasising flavour attributes as well as provenance (i.e. referring to the birthplace of a dish or its culinary history) can go a long way towards encouraging consumption, in addition to highlighting the product’s appearance and texture according to WRI research. Meanwhile, brand consultancy Fuze released a strategy guide for restaurants, which suggested using discreet symbols to mark vegan or vegetarian dishes, as those labels are often seen as lifestyles: “Trust that your conscious customers will spot these options.”
There are tons of opinions – many contradictory – on best practices when it comes to plant-based marketing and branding, but one consistent viewpoint is that many people, for better or worse, actively dislike the word ‘vegan’ when it comes to labelling. Do vegan brands need to move away from their very identity to resonate with more customers and reach mass appeal?
Nut Roast or Turkey with Trimmings? Which is better for the planet? To find out, Green Queen asked climate data intel startup Calyx to calculate the carbon footprint and Eco-Score of a traditional Christmas meal versus a vegan feast and here’s what we found.
Can you hear the sleigh bells? Christmas is almost here! And without sounding too Scroogey, that means waste and excess everywhere. Particularly on the big family meal table…but what does the data say? We wanted to know how a vegan Christmas dinner compared with a traditional turkey and ham extravaganza
To give you a fuller view, Green Queen has teamed up with Calyx, an Australian data intelligence company that provides sustainability insights for the food and beverage sector. It specialises in carbon, water and biodiversity measurements for companies’ products and ingredients, with its experts having over 27 years of experience in the agrifood sustainability space.
Calyx has worked with the likes of Chipotle, Walmart, Nestlé, the World Economic Forum, the Australian Open and the Olympics. As we approach Christmas – which happens to be the same month leaders from around the world just convened in Dubai for COP28 – food is firmly in focus this year.
And rightly so: the food system accounts for over a third of all emissions and is the greatest driver of deforestation. Christmas, meanwhile, is a period responsible for a huge climate footprint. Research has found that three days of festivities can result in as much as 650kg of carbon emissions per person –that’s 5.5% of our entire year’s share, or, as the researchers put it, over 1,000 Christmas puddings.
Courtesy: Calyx
What is an Eco-Score?
To bring about change, we can start with our plates. The Eco-Score provides a scientifically robust methodology and simple communication strategy for footprinting food menus, based on a farm-to-fork life-cycle analysis (LCA). Additionally, it integrates parameters not always well-measured in an LCA: Calyx’s Eco-Score takes into account a product’s carbon footprint, water use and pollution, land use, packaging, as well as its impact on biodiversity and animal welfare.
What do consumers think about eco-scores?
Eco-scores are already used by many companies across multiple countries, and they have been shown to influence consumers’ purchasing habits. A small 255-person study in the UK revealed that 63% of consumers would be deterred from buying meat if it had a negative climate score, and 52% would consider buying a plant-based alternative if it fared better. Meanwhile, 58% said they’re interested in eco-labels but require more information.
On a larger scale, an analysis of three global YouGov polls totalling 10,540 participants found that two-thirds of respondents find carbon labelling a good idea across all countries surveyed.
About the menus and the recipes
To measure the impact of a Christmas dinner, we sourced recipes from popular cooking websites. A majority were from NYT Cooking, while others were from online blogs Once Upon a Chef, Easy Peasy Foodie, Best Recipes and Veggie Desserts.
The two menus had eight dishes each, with a mix of mains, sides and desserts, and the Eco-Scores ranged from A+ (best) to E- (worst). Here’s what Calyx’s analysis found.
The mains: turkey and ham vs nut loaf and stuffed squash
Source: Calyx | Graphic by Green Queen Media
For the mains, the traditional Christmas menu contains roast turkey with cranberry sauce and roast ham with gravy. The turkey has a carbon footprint of 3.56kg per serving, with an Eco-Score of 37 (out of 100), or D+.
The ham, meanwhile, had the lowest score across both menus. While its carbon footprint was lower than the turkey dish, at 2.73 kg per serving, when accounting for other factors (like land and water use, animal welfare, biodiversity, etc.), its impact is much worse. It scores a D on the rating scale, earning just 29 out of 100.
In comparison, the vegan mains have a much lighter effect on the environment. A nut loaf with cranberry sauce only produces 0.3kg of CO2 per serving, with a score of 70 and a B rating. In terms of pure carbon footprint, this is 11 times lower than the turkey and nine times lower than the ham.
And a stuffed butternut squash dish with mushroom gravy scores seven better. It has a higher carbon footprint per serve (1.98kg), but the overall eco score is 82, or A-. This is the joint-highest rating across both menus.
The sides: stuffing, mash and green beans
Source: Calyx | Graphic by Green Queen Media
We chose four sides across both menus: two mashes, one green, and one stuffing each. Starting with the latter, a sausage and cornbread stuffing has a footprint of 1.2kg per serving, with an Eco-Score of 62 and rating of B-. On the other hand, a plant-based stuffing made from a base of baguettes, pecans, onions, celery and vegan butter has an Eco-Score of 80 out of 100, or A-, accounting for 0.43kg of CO2 per serving – almost three times lower than the meat-based stuffing.
The two mashed dishes – made from potatoes and sweet potatoes – have the lowest carbon footprints. A vegetarian potato mash (with milk and butter) produces 0.28kg of carbon per serving, but the heavy use of dairy brings its Eco-Score down to 65, or B. Similarly, the vegan mash has a CO2 footprint of 0.2kg per serving, but the use of soy milk and vegan butter means its Eco-Score is only slightly higher, at 67 or B.
Mashed sweet potatoes make for the most sustainable dish on the Christmas dinner menu. The traditional cream- and butter-based version emits 0.25kg of carbon per serving, with a high score of 83 or A-. A vegan alternative with soy milk and plant-based butter brings this up to 85 (still A-), with only 0.1kg of carbon emissions.
Finally, a simple green bean dish with almonds has a lower Eco-Score than the mash. If cooked in butter, it’s rated as B- with 64 out of 100. If prepared in coconut oil, it’s still B-, but with 62 out of 100 on the green rating. This is despite the latter having a lower carbon footprint – it’s key to remember that carbon emissions are just one aspect of the Eco-Score, and taking into account other factors like biodiversity and animal welfare, using coconut oil maker for a marginally lower overall score.
The desserts: traditional vs vegan pumpkin and pecan pie showdown
Source: Calyx | Graphic by Green Queen Media
On to the sweet stuff. We chose two pies – pumpkin and pecan – comparing traditional recipes with vegan alternatives (all with store-bought pie crusts). The dairy- and egg-based pumpkin pie produced 0.45kg of CO2, with a 70 or B- Eco-Score. The vegan version – containing coconut oil, maple syrup and cornstarch – ranked higher (80 or A-) with a 2.5-times lower carbon footprint (0.18kg).
Meanwhile, a pecan pie with butter, honey, eggs, whipped cream/ice cream, and golden syrup was responsible for 0.46kg of carbon emissions per serving, with an Eco-Score of 61 out of 100, or B-. A vegan version – with maple syrup, brown sugar, coconut oil and silken tofu – ranked higher here too, with 0.37 of carbon emitted, and a total score of 74 or B.
Result: a vegan Christmas dinner is better for the planet
Overall, the vegan Christmas dinner trumps a traditional one heavy on meat and dairy. While the latter accounts for 10.12 of CO2 emissions per serving, the plant-based one has less than half the impact at 4.43kg. This chimes with research showing that animal-derived foods have twice as high greenhouse gas emissions as plant-based ones.
Calyx’s overall Eco-Score for a Christmas dinner with conventional dishes is 53 out of 100, which translates to a C rating – in contrast, the vegan menu ranks 76 out of 100, a B rating.
“To save the planet, we all need to do better,” said Calyx co-founder and CEO Lauren Branson. “Impact transparency is the first step to understanding the impact our food has on the planet, and the Calyx Eco-Score – developed in partnership with Beelong – is a great starting point. We know that once people can see the impact their food choices have on the planet, they make better decisions. What will you be dishing up this Christmas?”
Silicon Valley startup The EVERY Company debuted its hen-free egg made from precision fermentation at famed New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park, which went mostly plant-based in 2021, as the centrepiece of an exclusive one-off dinner last week.
How would you like it if you paid $365 for a plant-based tasting menu and got served a plethora of dishes starring eggs?
Well, that’s along the lines of what Eleven Madison Park trialled last Friday, hosting an exclusive dinner featuring an omelette, a creme brûlée and cocktails using eggs. But these aren’t eggs derived from hens – the three-Michelin-starred eatery spotlit The EVERY Co’s liquid egg made by precision fermentation, marking the first time the restaurant has created an event menu centred around another company’s product.
The special dinner – served to a group of leading culinary innovators, chefs and creators – also marked the debut of the EVERY Egg in the foodservice world, a landmark moment for the nine-year-old precision fermentation startup.
“Eggs are a universal staple in every kitchen,” noted Daniel Humm, chef-owner of Eleven Madison Park. “When we prepared an omelette using EVERY Egg, the taste and versatility was all but indistinguishable from hen eggs. We are excited about the potential of EVERY Egg to transform the food landscape.”
How EVERY makes its chicken-free egg
Courtesy: The EVERY Company
EVERY’s entry into foodservice makes it one of the only precision fermentation brands to do so – fellow Californian producers Perfect Day and New Culture have previously featured their animal-free milk and mozzarella at Starbucks and Pizzeria Mozza, respectively. In fact, it’s among just a handful of startups that have regulatory approval for the sale of precision-fermented foods in the US, and the sole egg maker.
Every’s nature-identical egg is made by incorporating the DNA sequences found in conventional egg proteins into a yeast strain called Komagataella phaffii, which is then fermented on a sugar-based feedstock and converted into protein. This is then boosted with additional plant-based ingredients for flavour and texture, resulting in a 1:1 replacement for hen eggs. “We’ve worked tirelessly to create a product that meets the absolute highest standards of the world’s top chefs,” said EVERY general manager Lance Lively. “We looked at every feature and functionality of our egg and worked to perfect it.”
Being an animal-free product, the Every Egg has zero cholesterol. Plus, it has no saturated fat and boasts 8g of protein per egg (a chicken egg contains between 5-8g). The startup says its innovations allow manufacturers to sidestep disease risks, price fluctuations, ethical issues, and the environmental footprint of conventional animal proteins.
According to a life-cycle analysis summary by EVERY’s scale-up partner BioBrew, which compared the impact of a fermentation-derived egg protein with an aggregation of conventional poultry eggs, the former emits three times fewer GHG emissions, 67 times less water, and 12 times less land than the latter.
The company has released an EggWhite product too, a “hyperfunctional protein” that has previously been used by brands to make smoothies, macarons and canned cocktails. It has also collaborated with ingredients giant Ingredion and drinks conglomerate AB InBev in the past. And in October, it teamed up with Colombian FMCG giant Grupo Nutresa for the use of its EggWhite as a binding agent in meat alternatives under the Zenú and Pietran brands.
The upscale Manhattan eatery re-emerged from the pandemic and the brink of bakruptcy as a mostly vegan restaurant in 2021 – its coffee and tea service still offered conventional milk and honey, but everything else on the menu was plant-based. “We have always operated with sensitivity to the impact we have on our surroundings, but it was becoming ever clearer that the current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways,” wrote Humm.
Last month, in an interview with the South China Morning Post, he described how “eating meat at some point is going to feel like smoking cigarettes”. And speaking to Wallpaper magazine ahead of the launch of his new book, Eat More Plants, he stressed that people need to eat more plant-based foods.
“I’m not saying that everyone, every day needs to eat plant-based, but we need to reduce [meat consumption]. We’re just running out of resources,” he suggested. “It’s scary to me that the people defining tastes and flavours, the chefs, are completely ignoring what is happening and are continuing to put their efforts behind meat products.”
Lower costs, more restaurants
Courtesy: The EVERY Company
“We’re honoured to introduce EVERY Egg to the world in spectacular fashion at Eleven Madison Park,” said Lively, adding that the bespoke menu showcased the “quality and culinary versatility” of EVERY Egg in each course. “Each dish is a consummate work of art.”
Appearing at a high-end eatery is a highly positive move for the precision fermentation industry as a whole – but it will inevitably raise questions about costs too. Such novel protein technologies can be pricey, and scaling them up to bring these costs down is paramount to their success. “Each day that passes, we are marching down the cost curve,” EVERY’s Elizondo told Green Queen last month.
“Considering the low cost of inputs for precision fermentation and our demonstrated progress in manufacturing scale-up – we are actively producing at manufacturing-scale fermentation runs of over 100,000 litres – this backdrop sets a clear path to positive unit economics at scale for EVERY.”
EVERY’s foodservice debut signposts a big year ahead for the precision fermentation company. Having raised over $233M in overall funding (with investors including Anne Hathaway), the startup – which has two ‘no questions” letters from the FDA and one under GRAS review – says its egg products are available for sampling to foodservice operators, and will be available at restaurants in 2024.
“For nine years, my dream has been to build a food system humanity can be proud of,” noted Elizondo. “When I met Chef Humm, I knew I had met someone with that same dream, and I am thrilled to join forces to make our shared vision a reality.”
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a vegan deviled egg launch, cultivated meat approval guidance in the UK, and several developments from Californian businesses.
New products and launches
Singapore-headquartered TiNDLE Foods continues its aggressive expansion drive with a new foodservice partnership with UK sushi chain YO! Sushi, which will see two limited-edition dishes (a bao and fried chicken) appear in over 50 locations until the end of the year.
Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
More expansion news, this time from Hong Kong vegetarian eatery Treehouse, which is gearing up to launch its fourth and fifth locations at the Kai Tak Airside shopping complex (December 4) and in Tsim Tsa Shui (December 5), respectively.
Another upcoming restaurant is Nic Adler’s Italian diner Argento in Los Angeles, whose investors include pop megastars Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas (who are both vegan). Opening in winter 2024, the kitchen will be headed by Scott Winegard, former deputy of celebrity chef Matthew Kenney.
Courtesy: Planetarians
Fellow Californian business Planetarians is presenting its waste-to-food plans and products at Dubai’s COP28, which will begin tomorrow. Its CEO Aleh Manchuliantsau will be part of a panel on December 1, and the brand will have a booth at the Tech and Innovation Hub from December 8-12.
One more brand from California, hemp-based meat maker Planet Based Foods is expanding its footprint in the state, partnering with New Leaf Community Markets and Lunardi’s Markets, which will house several of its company’s products starting next month.
Over in Texas, vegan egg company Crafty Counter has launched a deviled egg SKU in collaboration with Fabalish‘s faba bean mayo. The limited-edition product comes in a tray filled with the former’s WunderEgg half egg white shells, and a sachet of pre-made deviled egg filling.
Courtesy: Crafty Counter
Elsewhere, in Malaysia, GoodMorning Global has unveiled a “complete-nutrition” plant-based meat dry mix under the brand name WonderMeat. The soy and pea protein blend has been listed in the Malaysia Book of Records and will retail at RM5.50 ($1.18) for each pack, which makes about 200-240g of wet mix.
The UK, meanwhile, has seen the launch of Herbie Wilde, a plant-based hypoallergenic alternative superfood for dogs. The vegan pet food contains 39 ingredients, including sweet potato, fruits, greens, ancient grains, herbs, and botanicals.
Across Europe, DSM-Fonterra-backed Dutch B2B ingredients startup Vivici has collaborated with Boston-based cell programming firm Gingko Bioworks to develop and commercialise animal-free functional alt-dairy proteins from precision fermentation.
South Korean vegan cheese brand Armored Fresh, meanwhile, has expanded into conventional and natural grocery stores in the US, including Fresh Thyme Market, Town and Country Foods and Fred Meyer – months after first launching its almond milk American cheese stateside.
Courtesy: Vegan FInest Foods
Also in the Netherlands, plant-based seafood brand Vegan Zeastar has added a Crispy Coconut Shrimpz SKU to its lineup of potato-based shrimp analogues, which will be on sale from December 4.
And in Austria, Rewe Group’s Billa retail chain is ramping up its plant-based portfolio, with a new superstore featuring a dedicated vegan aisle – this will be expanded to 20 existing stores across the country.
Finance and markets
Swedish seitan startup Edgy Veggie – which makes kebabs, tacos and souvlaki – has reportedly raised $200,000 at about a $250,000 pre-money valuation, according to the FoodTech Weekly newsletter.
Berlin-based microalgae startup Quazy Foods has brought in €800,000 in a pre-seed funding round, which involved ProVeg International, Antler, and Sprout and About Ventures.
Hello Plant Foods, a Spanish vegan foie gras maker, expects to sell 110,000 units of its product during the holiday season – almost four times its figures last year.
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
One brand that isn’t selling as well is plant-based giant Beyond Meat, which has experienced sales declines for months now. But it still has enough money to get through the next couple of years (and possibly more with further cost-cutting), according to John Baumgartner, managing director at analyst Mizuho Securities, who told AFN it’s hard to sense what will happen.
Another giant that has faced challenges is Hong Kong-based alt-milk company Vitasoy, which saw a 7% decline in annual revenue, driven by hurdles in its main plant milk markets, Australia and New Zealand (where revenue dropped 10%). But the company remains positive that its strong Asia performance – particularly with soy milk and tea – will help it bounce back.
Research and policy developments
Staying in the alt-dairy realm for a second, a student in Los Angeles – who wasn’t allowed to promote soy milk in her high school without doing the same for dairy – has won a lawsuit against her school, which ruled that students have a right to non-disruptive speech critical of dairy under the 1st Amendment.
Meanwhile, a study published in the Appetite journal has revealed that repeated consumption of plant-based meat doesn’t improve consumer liking of those products – it’s the context of what meals they were used in that really matters.
A little left field, but Minneapolis-based plant-based food and drinks manufacturer SunOpta is celebrating its 50-year anniversary. It has invested over $200M in its production capacity in the last three years to double its business.
Elsewhere, consumer finance website Little Loans has revealed that Lidl is the cheapest supermarket to buy a vegan-friendly Christmas dinner in the UK this year, costing £8.83 for nine items. The most expensive – no surprise – was M&S at £16.8.
Courtesy: Lidl
Still in the UK, charity The Food Foundation is calling for mandatory reporting of animal-derived and plant-based proteins by retailers and the out-of-home channel for greater transparency, criticising government inaction on the issue.
There has been some action for cultivated meat though, with the UK Food Standards Agencypublishing guidance on cultivated meat regulatory approval – weeks after it was reported that cultured meat approval could be fast-tracked in the country, following an application from Israel’s Aleph Farms in August.
Meanwhile, new research by Dutch cultivated meat pioneer Mosa Meat outlines the challenges the industry faces, including scientific ones like manufacturing bottlenecks and non-scientific ones like regulatory approval and consumer acceptance.
Movers, shakers and awards
In Germany, mycoprotein startup Nosh.bio has partnered with the Berliner Berg brewery to set up a pilot plant to demonstrate the concept that breweries can co-produce food ingredients whilst brewing beer at the same site.
Courtesy: NotCo
There have been some more changes in the alt-protein corporate world. At Chilean AI-led plant-based company NotCo, CMO Fernando Machado will be transitioning to an advisory role.
Canadian vegan cheese brand Daiya, meanwhile, has welcomed new CEO Hajime Fujita, who was a VP at its parent company, Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. He replaces Michael Watt, who has held the position since 2019.
Food tech company MycoTechnology also has new leadership, with Michael Leonard joining as CEO, replacing co-founder Alan Hahn, who will step into the role of executive chairman.
Courtesy: Roots & Rolls
And finally, in some awards news, Barcelona’s plant-based eatery Roots & Rolls has won the Notable or Innovative Venue Award at the IV Barcelona Hospitality Awards 2023.
Despite recent international launches from NYC to Milan, Neat Burger has announced the closure of half of its UK restaurants after losses grew by 145% last year.
The chain backed by the popular Formula One star, who has followed a vegan diet since 2027, will see four of its London sites shut before Christmas, while plans for four new locations have been shelved too.
Neat Burger, the fast-food chain backed by the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, has faced a financial setback amid its expansion drive, with low footfall and increased losses forcing it to shut five of its stores in London (its grab-and-go concept has already been shut), halving its UK footprint.
Of Neat Burger’s nine UK sites – all in London. spread across Camden, Soho, Oxford Circus, Wembley, Canary Wharf, Victoria, Stratford, Liverpool Street and Dalston – the Oxford Circus (its debut location opened in 2019), Canary Wharf, Westfield Stratford and Liverpool Street are set to close, with the Dalston grab-and-go location (opened this August) already shut.
Neat Burger had planned three new locations in Queensway, Waterloo and King’s Road – as well as one in the O2 Arena – but these have now been shelved. The lease for the O2 Arena site, which was worth £100,000 annually with a 20-year commitment has been surrendered to the landlord, while the remaining lease term for the Dalston store – 12 years left on £45,000 annually – has been assigned to a third party.
Neat Burger’s closures driven by 145% loss
Courtesy: Neat Burger
The decision to close the stores and scrap plans for new ones comes after Neat Burger posted a £7.85M loss for the 2022 financial year, up 145% from the £3.2M loss reported in 2021. “As with any dynamic growing business, we’re constantly changing and adapting to the market, and so as part of our ongoing strategy, we are announcing the consolidation of four of our London operations,” the company told Restaurant Online (this is not counting the Dalston grab-and-go location).
“This decision is driven after an analysis of our consumer data and the shift towards hybrid work, leading to a natural decrease in footfall at some of our larger restaurants,” it added.
This is echoed in the statement by company co-founder and managing director Zach Bishti in its yearly accounts, where he noted that 2022 began as the UK faced another pandemic-induced lockdown due to the Omicron variant, though “a turbulent Q1 gave way to a steady recovery in trading during spring and summer”.
He explained that the nature of sales had changed compared to pre-pandemic, with Monday and Friday footfalls in London’s financial district and West End dropping with the rise of work-from-home. Plus, the demand for home delivery – which surged in 2021 due to lockdowns – declined, and this led Neat Burger to shutter its delivery-only kitchens.
“In light of changing work habits, the directors have identified that future expansion of the corporate estate should focus on smaller, compact units situated in high-footfall areas,” wrote Bishti.
International expansion among a turbulent time for UK vegan sector
Neat Burger opened its first location in Nolita, New York City | Courtesy: Neat Burger
Neat Burger secured $18M in Series B funding earlier this year, taking total funding to $100M, according to the Financial Times. Over the past few months, the chain has been accelerating its international expansion, with new sites in New York City and Milan joining its existing London and Dubai stores. The chain had announced plans to open another store in the Big Apple.
Bishti alluded to this in the company’s filing, stating: “International expansion remains a key strategic objective for the group, with our inaugural New York restaurant having opened in April 2023.”
At the time of the Manhattan store opening, Neat Burger CEO Tommaso Chaibra said: “With the successful launch of our New York location and record first quarter under our belt, we have demonstrated the strength of our brand, and are now well-positioned to bring our award-winning plant-based food to the growing number of consumers in the US and worldwide who are embracing a healthier and more flexitarian lifestyle.”
But according to This is Money, the restaurant group told staff that the company’s “future is at risk” now, and redundancies are being lined up.
“The last four years have been a roller coaster for any hospitality business. We’re facing macro pressures that we’re seeing reflected across the industry, and the strongest brands are having to adjust their sails to account for increasing energy costs, food price inflation and compounding interest rates,” the company told Restaurant Online.
Courtesy: Neat Burger
Neat Burger’s decision is reflective of the overall decline of the UK’s vegan market. According to industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe, plant-based sales declined by 3% between 2021-22 in the UK, with meat analogues dropping by 8% in the same period. Meat alternatives brand Meatless Farm was rescued from administration by fellow British player VFC, while mycoprotein giant Quorn reported a £15.3M loss in its yearly accounts, citing (like Neat Burger) post-pandemic inflationary pressures as part of the reason.
But this trend isn’t restricted to retail – a number of vegan restaurants have closed too. Fast-casual chain Clean Kitchen Club permanently shut its Notting Hill location in London in February, for example, while Flower Burger exited the UK market in September and Edinburgh’s Harmonium closed in April. In north England, V Rev, JJ’s Vish and Chips, Zad’s (all Manchester), Frost Burgers (Liverpool) and Donner Summer (Sheffield) all shut last year as well. In fact, earlier this month, popular vegan restaurant V Or V also announced it is closing.
“We believe that sometimes, taking a step back is necessary to make a bigger leap forward,” Neat Burger told Restaurant Online. We remain deeply committed to our mission of providing delicious, sustainable, plant-based dining, and are excited about our future growth prospects.”
Food industry giants like Wagamama, Beyond Meat and Alexis Gauthier have joined a new campaign calling for UK restaurants to make 50% of their menus plant-based by 2025. 50by25 is a joint effort from British vegan charity Viva! and Citizen Kind co-founder Emma Osborne.
To keep pace with the climate crisis as well as other countries, the UK needs to invest £390M ($493M) in alternative proteins between 2025 and 2030, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe. But with its volatile government’s volatile climate stance, it’s hard to know how that will happen, despite the country being Europe’s second-largest plant-based market.
One thing that might help push the needle is a concerted effort from the country’s food industry to move towards more vegan options – and that’s exactly what 50by25, a new sustainable dining campaign, is aiming to do. By 2025, can the menus at Britain’s restaurants be 50% vegan?
It’s what companies like Beyond Meat, Wagamama, Wicked Kitchen, and food professionals such as Alexis Gauthier and Derek Sarno believe- all of them have joined the 50by25 pledge.
How 50by25 will work
Courtesy: Wagamama
Launched by Viva! with Emma Osborne joining the team, 50by25 aims to reduce the UK food sector’s environmental impact – which accounts for 35% of the country’s total emissions – and encourage Brits to eat more plant-based meals.
Osborne, a long-time strategic consultant and co-founder of ethical recruitment agency Citizen Kind as well as alt protein events company Kind Earth.Tech, will lead the B2B partnerships and strategy of the campaign, working with brands, hospitality groups, distributors and wholesalers.
Government data shows that British consumers are eating the lowest amount of meat and dairy since records began, but they’re also consuming fewer fruits and vegetables. The country’s plant-based market has seen a 3% sales drop from 2021-22, as per GFI analysis, with meat alternatives down by 8%.
But vegan diets have tremendous benefits for the environment – one study found that they can cut emissions, land use and water pollution by 75% compared to meat-rich diets. Another, which underlines 50by25’s aim, revealed that replacing half of our meat and dairy consumption with plant-based alternatives can halt deforestation, reduce agricultural and land use emissions by 31%, and double overall climate benefits.
The campaign will see Viva! ask leading restaurants to replace meat dishes with plant-based alternatives, and similarly work with smaller eateries to facilitate the transition as well.
50by25 was launched at Plant Based World Expo in London (November 15-16), and Osborne described the response as “phenomenal”. “Everyone we spoke to said they thought it was a great idea and just the boost the plant-based industry needed,” she told Green Queen. “We aim to have industry-wide support to amplify this campaign, and brands need only send us their logo to kickstart their involvement.”
Asked if this was an initiative similar to challenges like Green Monday or Veganuary, she said the key lay in the timeline of December 2025, by which restaurants will have adapted their menus to 50% plant-based: “During this two-year period, we will be supporting them by sharing all the information they need to make a successful transition in the form of multimedia content.”
She added that the campaign does envisage becoming as ubiquitous in the UK as Veganuary – which saw 700,000 people sign up to its vegan pledge for January 2023 – and boosting the sector “by offering a new climate-positive way to eat out”.
How will 50by25 be represented in foodservice? “We have a logo that will feature on menus and windows, so diners can actively support restaurants who have made the pledge,” explained Osborne. “We will have a map in February showing all the outlets in the UK, and ask green-savvy customers to vote with their feet and their forks and show the industry that this is what they want.”
A roster of food giants and acclaimed chefs
A Parmentier dip with vegan brioche | Courtesy; Gauthier Soho
Wagamama, a pioneer in the sustainable dining space, made half its menu vegan in 2021 and has endorsed this pledge. IKEA has also made a similar pledge for 2025, and Burger King for 2030. Seeing them make these promises “without prompting shows that this is what restaurants need to do to lower their carbon footprint”, says Osborne.
50by25 will be working with Wagamama executive chef Steve Mangleshot, who will produce videos to guide chefs in the preparation of plant-based dishes. Other partners include Michelin-starred chef Alexis Gauthier, who owns three vegan restaurants in London, Rishim Sachdeva from plant-forward eatery Tendril, and plant-based chef Derek Sarno, founder of Wicked Kitchen. These experts will share tips and tricks, and restaurants that sign up will be able to access an exclusive Chef Insider Secrets video series.
Wicked Kitchen and vegan giant Beyond Meat are the first two brands who have signed up for the campaign. “Brits can still enjoy their favourite meal while making a difference to the planet simply by shifting the protein at the centre of the plate to plant-based meat, no sacrifice required,” said Steve Parsons, the company’s UK & Ireland foodservice manager.
“By crafting plant-based dishes that put taste and satisfaction front and centre, chefs and restaurants can profoundly shift eating habits and attract a new wave of devoted customers. These plant-based menu items aren’t just alternatives; they’re top picks,” added Sarno. “This is where true innovation blossoms. It’s where sustainability pairs with ‘surprise and delight’, and what’s been missing are the culinary leaders who truly understand taste, choice and impact.”
Courtesy: Wicked Kitchen
50by25 says endorsing the campaign will help companies achieve their ESG goals, while also increasing their customer base. “We know the UK is often a barometer for plant-based food, and so hope to be able to spread the love after a successful first 12 months campaign,” said Osborne. “People visiting the stand joked that it would be great if we went to France and asked them to go 10% by 2025!”
“The challenge French cuisine presents is one I am savouring and the creativity it has unleashed in me, has kept our diners entertained, happy and surprised,” said Gauthier, who transformed his flagship restaurant into a fully vegan kitchen in 2021. “50by25 offers the opportunity for UK chefs to embrace all the goodness the plant kingdom has to offer and add a sustainability and kindness lens to their work.”
As for the sceptics, who pointed out that “people like meat” at the campaign’s launch, even they agreed a 50-50 scenario – much like blended meat products – is a realistic target. “This campaign offers the hospitality industry a unique way to stand out from their competitors, whilst lowering their carbon emissions and keeping profits up,” said Osborne. “It’s win-win-win.”
While only a three-year-old company, Green Rebel is taking the Indonesian plant-based meat scene by storm. I visited Burgreens – its sister restaurant – in Canggu, Bali, which makes an array of dishes from across the world using the meat alternative brand’s vast product range. Here’s my review.
In 2012, Max Mandias and Helga Angelina Tjahjadi – an Indonesian couple living in the Netherlands – came up with the idea of opening a plant-based restaurant. This was much before the idea truly hit the mainstream. It gave birth to Burgreens, a fully vegan restaurant chain that’s evolved into so much more, with 8 locations across Indonesia and counting.
Now, 11 years on – and after a few twists and turns, especially post-pandemic – Burgreens is the country’s largest plant-based chain, and parent company to two retail brands: vegan instant noodle maker Whymee and alt-meat giant Green Rebel, the leading Indonesian plant-based brand, offering a range of whole-cut meat alternatives designed especially for South East Asian and Asian cuisine applications. From beef rendang to chicken katsu, Green Rebel products are MSG-free, made from non-GMO ingredients, have zero cholesterol and boast 50% less saturated fat and 30% fewer calories than their animal counterparts, according to the company’s website. The company sources many of its ingredients domestically in Indonesia, from spices to virgin coconut oil.
Since launching in 2020, Green Rebel has expanded to multiple countries and debuted partnerships with a host of foodservice brands including Starbucks, Nando’s and Air Asia. The company is now preparing for a Series A fundraiser.
Last year, it opened a Burgreens eatery in Bali’s Canggu area – home to resorts, surfers and a lot of tourists. I visited the restaurant when I was in Bali, sampling dishes spanning continents, which showcased the versatility of Green Rebel’s plant-based meat range.
The western platter: chicken tenders (AKA popcorn chicken), nuggets, fries and ribs
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
Burgreens has an extensive menu, so it feels like a minefield when trying to decide what to order. Thankfully, we’d agreed on a menu beforehand! It started with two platters of plant-based meat: a western one, and an Asian-themed one.
The former comes with chicken tenders (described to me as popcorn) and nuggets, fries and ribs, served with tartar and BBQ sauces. Straight off the bat, the tenders/popcorn dish was outstanding. It had the right amount of crunch and was seasoned to perfection – easily among the best chicken alternatives I’ve had.
The chicken nuggets had a nice crunch too, though I would have liked some acid or bright spices as an add-on. Compared to the popcorn chicken, it was a little on the drier side. As for the steak, while visually fantastic, I found it a touch too tender, and it was sweeter than I expected – I did love that it came with a lime, a welcome addition. Both the tenders and the nuggets worked really well with their respective sauces so be sure to dip away.
The Asian platter: chicken katsu, Korean-style Buldak ribs, rendang bites, maranggi beef satay and chicken satay
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The Asian platter was the standout for me and it’s clear that Green Rebel’s products shine in Asian applications. The platter comes with chicken katsu, Korean-style Buldak ribs, rendang bites, maranggi beef satay, and chicken satay, alongside a peanut sauce and garlic-chilli oil.
The katsu is fibrous and tender, a major win when many vegan chicken products can be a little too tough. The panko coating is well-seasoned and the peanut sauce is addictively good. As for the delicately flavored chicken satay, the sauces do the heavy lifting, but they very much hit the spot. The beef is wonderful – succulent and tender, but not overpowering.
The other two dishes are among the best of everything I tried at Burgreens. The shiitake-seitan beef rendang is insanely good (this jives with most reviews of Green Rebel products- the rendang is a notable crowd favourite!)- well spiced and with just the right amount of heat, it’s a brilliant tribute to an Indonesian staple and I wanted more ASAP.
Next up: the Buldak ribs, whose spiciness took me by surprise (in a great way!). I can handle my heat (I’m Indian, after all), but I went in with the expectation of a sweet-and-sour sauce, and instead, the spice kick completely threw me off and I was delighted. There’s a lingering aftertaste that takes getting used to if you’re not into chilli, but this is moreish, lick-your-fingers-off good!
The mains: cheeseburger, tempeh parmigiana and black pepper beef
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
On to the main courses during which I was served a cheeseburger, tempeh parmigiana and a black pepper beef rice bowl – which was a lot after all the appetizers! But someone’s got to take one for the team. The burger patty itself is very flavourful and juicy, and well-complemented by the brand’s plant-based cheese), but for my money, it was overpowered by the toppings -cucumber, tomato, coleslaw and ketchup. When I’m ordering a cheeseburger, all I want is the cheese and the patty (at a push, maybe some onions), though I realize I may be onto controversial burger territory here!
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The tempeh parmigania was an interesting experience. It’s a reimagined and vegan version of the classic Italian-American chicken parm, which consists of breaded chicken topped with marinara sauce and lots of cheese. Burgreens’ take makes for a decadent dish and I loved my first few bites of the tempeh parmigiana, savoury and umami-that classic tomato-cheese combination is always a delight. I also loved the tempeh itself, which is deep-fried here. The later bites were a tad mushy. Burgreens may consider a bite-sized version of this dish to ensure the texture stays on point!
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The meal ended on a high- the black pepper beef bowl was delightful. I liked the sauce so much I almost asked if I could take some time and the beef itself is texturally on point: meaty, juicy, and easily the star of the dish. Are you sensing a trend hear? Green Rebel is really, really good at all things beef (alternatives)!
Burgreens as an eatery has a relaxed vibe and a tremendously kind and accommodating staff so it’s a pleasure to dine there. Patrons can also peruse Green Rebel’s retail-ready products, as well as plant-based goodies by other brands. I had a wonderful experience with some truly mind-blowing, spectacular dishes. In fact, I can taste the chicken popcorn and the Buldak ribs as I write this (and I may have stocked up on a few packs of the rendang for home dinners).
Burgreens is located at Jl Pantai Batu Mejan No. 1, Banjar, Canggu, Kec. Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361. It’s open daily from 9am to 10:30pm. Green Rebel’s products can be found in supermarkets and restaurants across Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.
UK vegan pizzeria Purezza has acquired a majority stake in London-based vegan cheesemonger La Fauxmagerie in a merger, with the former looking after the plant-based cheese brand’s sales. Purezza head of sales Mitch Lee speaks to Green Queen about consumer priorities and the vegan cheese market in the UK.
Purezza has acquired a majority stake in La Fauxmagerie, the plant-based cheese brand founded by sisters Rachel and Charlotte Stevens in 2019. As part of the merger, the pizza chain will manage the vegan cheesemonger’s sales, while “expanded collaborations” are also expected.
Purezza founder Tim Barclay confirmed that La Fauxmagerie’s physical retail location in Shoreditch, east London will remain open and continue to sell cheeses by both brands, in addition to products from other artisanal vegan cheese makers like I Am Nut OK, Kinda Co. and Palace Culture.
Barclay kept details under wraps when asked about any potential rebrands, the use of La Fauxmagerie’s cheeses on Purezza’s menu (the restaurant tends to avoid nuts where possible for allergen purposes), or future R&D processes. “At the moment, everything will continue as is,” he offered.
A vegan cheese bloc
Courtesy: La Fauxmagerie
“At Purezza’s core, we want to be able to offer foodie vegans, vegetarians, and even those with no dietary requirements an alternative that doesn’t compromise on quality, flavour and dining excellence and La Fauxmagerie is passionate to achieve the same goals,” said Purezza co-founder Stefania Evangelisti. “It’s a perfect match in our eyes.”
La Fauxmagerie’s Charlotte Stevens added: “We’re so excited to be joining the Purezza family who, in addition to being female-led, share our mission to increase accessibility to high-quality, plant-based products.”
Purezza was founded in 2015 and currently has restaurants in Brighton, London, and Manchester. It has previously raised £2.4M in funding and was named the UK’s Best Vegan Restaurant in 2019 by Vegfest. In addition, the pizzeria has won several awards for its food, including at the World Pizza Championships in 2019, and makes its own rice-based alternatives to mozzarella and stracciatella.
Purezza co-founders Tim Barclay and Stefania Evangelisti | Courtesy: Purezza
La Fauxmagerie – which secured a £2M investment earlier this year – is the first fully vegan cheesemonger in the UK, selling gourmet plant-based cheeses from a host of British brands, plus vegan wine and charcuterie items. It has a cheese cellar that hosts cheese and wine pairings, featuring offerings from other brands as well as its own portfolio, which includes the likes of Truffle Camemvert, Balham Blue, and Shoreditch Smoked. Last year, it gained a listing in UK supermarket Waitrose.
Following the announcement of the merger, the two brands will appear side-by-side for the first time at this week’s Plant Based World Expo event in London (November 15-16).
Taste and price key for British vegan cheese
The merger comes at a curious time for cheese consumption in the UK. Government data shows that while the intake of dairy (excluding cheese) was at its lowest in 2022 since records began, and cheese consumption declined by 10% year-on-year, Brits have been eating more cheese in the last two years than they have ever done. As for vegan cheese, analysis from alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe revealed that sales fell by 12% from 2021-22, reflective of the overall plant-based sector’s 3% decline.
“Right now we’re in a cost-of-living crisis, so people are being more selective on where and how they spend their money,” said Purezza marketing manager Mitch Lee. “Plant-based cheese is an area that still is only just getting going when it comes to taste, texture and quality.”
La Fauxmagerie co-founders Charlotte and Rachel Stevens | Courtesy: La Fauxmagerie
Linus Pardoe, GFI Europe’s UK policy manager, told Green Queen last month: “Ultimately, most people’s food choices are driven by three main things – taste, price and convenience. Particularly during the UK’s current cost-of-living crisis, consumers will be looking very closely at products’ price tags before deciding whether or not to put them in their shopping basket.”
A UK-wide 759-person survey by ProVeg International last year found that even if the taste and texture of vegan cheese were identical to dairy-based counterparts, only 22% of Brits were likely to eat the plant-based versions over conventional. Additionally, only 15% are likely to pay more for vegan cheese, despite them having a similar flavour and texture.
As Purezza and La Fauxmagerie both make artisanal cheese, their products are priced on the higher end. For example, the latter’s almond- and coconut-based Smoked Shoreditch retails at £4.50 for 100g in Waitrose, whereas its almond-shea Truffle Camemvert is priced at £6 for 160g (it must be noted that truffle-flavoured foods will always be more expensive). In contrast, plant-based giant Violife’s coconut-oil-based Smoky Cheddar slices cost £2.95 for 200g, while its Le Rond Camembert sets you back £3.40 for 150g at the same retailer.
Courtesy: La Fauxmagerie
“The cheaper, more readily available products make for nice swaps for vegans,” acknowledges Lee. “However, they often miss the mark for non-vegans who can’t get on board the taste, texture or smell.” If you compare La Fauxmagerie’s cheeses to conventional gourmet cheese, the comparison feels more even. For example, Tunworth’s camembert is priced at £8.50 for a 250g wheel, which is only marginally cheaper gram-for-gram than the former’s vegan alternative.
“Taste is by far the most important thing to focus on, closely followed by texture or application (for example, does a mozzarella really melt?),” suggests Lee. “With plant-based cheeses, the brands who are doing it well are often artisanal, handmade, aged, and use higher-quality ingredients. This makes the texture far better, but also means the cost will be higher.”
The health aspect and market optimism
The other factor consumers are increasingly concerned about is health, and subsequently cleaner labels. In 2020, a global survey by Ingredion revealed that over half of respondents find it important for products to have a short ingredient list. The ingredients manufacturer’s latest data has additionally found that 78% would spend more money on products with ‘natural’ or ‘all-natural’ packaging claims.
As for the UK, Mintel data from 2019 found that 46% of UK Brits feel ‘clean label’ means ‘good for you’, and 24% believe it means the product is highly nutritious. Purezza’s cheeses don’t necessarily fit the clean-label bill, with ingredients like locust bean gum, sodium citrate and dextrose – instead, they double down on the application factor, designed to give you the best vegan pizza possible.
That caters to the people prioritising taste over other things. But its merger with La Fauxmagerie expands its target consumers, with the latter’s nut-based cheeses containing shorter ingredient lists with elements that can usually be found in home kitchens (like miso, nutritional yeast, and mustard powder, to name a few).
Courtesy: Ellen Richardson
Despite the dip in UK vegan sales, Lee remains optimistic about the market. “You just have to look at brands like Better Nature tempeh and Bold Bean Co to see the demand for plant-based products isn’t slowing down,” he says.
“Plant-based cheese is an area that I see big things for in 2024 – Purezza and La Fauxmagerie aside, you just have to see what other fantastic producers like Honestly Tasty, I Am Nut OK, Kinda Co., Palace Culture and many more are doing to push the needle in this arena. The movement is bigger than one brand,” he adds. “So many non-vegans will say: ‘I could go vegan, but I love cheese too much’ – and this is because if they’ve tried vegan cheese, it hasn’t been received very well. We all need to celebrate each other’s wins with new listings and increased access for consumers.”
Matthew Kenney, the vegan author and celebrity chef behind Plant Food + Wine, is expanding his empire to China with food halls inspired by his Plant City F&B concept, with the help of global scale-up firm The Wellness Agency.
The man behind Double Zero, Plant Food + Wine, Besina, New Burger, Make Out and Plant City – whose business spans five continents and 22 major cities – is now embarking on one of his largest projects yet. Teaming up with The Wellness Agency, a firm that helps wellness brands to scale globally, vegan celebrity chef Matthew Kenney is bringing his empire to China.
Kenney is working on five food halls with a similar concept to his Providence, Rhode Island-based Plant City – touted to be the world’s largest vegan food hall, co-founded with entrepreneur Kim Anderson) – in five markets: Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Macau. Each of the food courts will have 12 to 14 plant-based restaurants, with some individual concepts including VEG’D (vegan fast food), Double Zero (wood-fired pizza) and Ayre (Ayurvedic cuisine).
In addition to the restaurants, there will be food and lifestyle retail experiences, as well as experiential concepts. “As the public perception of plant-based eating continues to evolve and gain popularity around the world, I look forward to expanding Plant City across China,” said Kenney. “Our goal is to provide a one-stop destination for plant-based eating that will be appreciated by vegans, omnivores and carnivores alike.”
Celebrating local chefs and flavours
Courtesy: Matthew Kenney Cuisine
“With talented chefs like Matthew Kenney leading the charge, millions of people around the world are adopting plant-based diets for ethical, environmental, and health reasons,” added The Wellness Agency founder and CEO Jay Faires. “The Chinese market, in particular, is seeing massive growth… We’re excited to expand Matthew Kenney’s Plant City across China, offering an array of new healthful, innovative, and delicious plant-based culinary options to the country’s denizens.”
Faires said that Kenney will be significantly involved, “if not in operations, then in the partnership”, adding that the chef will be “a big part” of the creative process of the food halls (alongside Anderson), which “will likely integrate some local plant-based chefs”. And there will be a big focus on Asian cuisines through their interpretation. The food courts are set to begin opening by 2025.
In terms of funding, investors are yet to be determined and may be involved on a project-by-project basis. “We met with several large real estate and retail developers while we were there, specifically in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Chengdu,” said Faires, adding that the project will potentially be open to collaborations with local food brands, chefs and food personalities.
Matthew Kenney’s celebrity status
Courtesy: Matthew Kenney Cuisine
Kenney rose to fame in the 90s with his namesake restaurant Matthew’s, a year after whose opening he was named Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef in 1994. He opened further restaurants Mezze, Monzu Canteen, Commune and Commissary, which closed down due to the post-9/11 economic crisis.
A pioneer of the raw food movement, he was a founding partner of Pure Food and Wine, the raw vegan eatery that attracted controversy in the 2010s for failing to pay its staff (Kenney left the restaurant in 2005). Since then, he has established his culinary academies and lifestyle brand Matthew Kenney Cuisine. Most recently, Kenney – who has authored 14 books – partnered with entrepreneur Max Koenig to launch Earth Company, a whole-food plant-based ready meal brand.
In 2016, Kenney told Green Queen about his ‘Crafting the Future of Food’ mantra. “The work we’re doing is part of something larger… a mission to change the way the world thinks about its food choices,” he explained. “We are educating ourselves and our students to make sound ingredient choices, to support more sustainable processes and to promote a plant-based lifestyle that’s delicious, healthful, innovative and accessible. This is the future of food.”
Kenney’s Plant Food + Wine at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles is frequented by famous personalities like Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey and James Cameron, while his Double Zero pizzeria counts the likes of Jay-Z and Chris Martin as regulars. Could the China expansion see a touch of celebrity too?
Faires met with Margaret Zhang, editor-in-chief of Vogue China, who approached Matthew to head up the culinary side of some major events that would involve over 100 celebrities and influencers. Vogue has a new spot in the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing, where a tentpole event on November 24 is set to be attended by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Kenney has cooked for her events going back to the mid-90s in New York City, said Faires.
Might there be a rekindling?
The China plant-based opportunity
Courtesy: Dicos x Eat Just
Recent reporting by China Dialogue, a non-profit “dedicated to promoting a common understanding of China’s environmental challenges”, suggests that Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in “safer and more sustainable foods”. A 2022 survey of 579 Chinese consumers in four major cities showed that 85% of respondents had tried plant-based meat alternatives and “were willing to pay more for these products”.
According to analysis published by Singapore-based social enterprise Asia Research and Engagement, “to align with a climate-safe scenario, by 2060 China would rely on alternative protein sources for 50% of its protein consumption”, which it breaks down as follows: plant-based proteins (24%), fermentation-derived protein (16%), and cultivated meat/seafood (10%).
Previous data from Euromonitor projected the vegan and vegetarian food sector would be worth $12 billion this year (2023) and a 2020 Dupont study predicted a 200% increase in demand for meat alternatives within five years. These early estimates have not quite materialised and China’s plant-based meat market remains small, with only a handful of plant-based meat alternative brands on shelves.
However, data about other types of plant-based products is encouraging. In a 2022 report by Asymmetrics Research about China’s Alternative Protein Landscape, the authors identified plant-based milk and RTD beverages, plant-based yoghurts, plant-based ready meals, plant-based functional foods and plant-based “meat” snacks” as the most promising product categories for brands looking to target an urban Chinese consumer demographic that was willing to spend on healthy and safe food products.
In the same report, Green Monday and OmniFoods co-founder and CEO David Yeung said that Chinese customers love to explore new food products to buy and are looking for new and trustworthy brands, while Haofood CEO Astrid Prajogo said that while consumer awareness about plant-based meat was improving, taste and price remained the major purchasing drivers. Xiaomin Zhang, cofounder and CE) at MetaMeat said that “the combination of plant-based meat products and prepared dishes is an important direction for the B2C market.” This bodes well for Kenney and Co.
With additional China reporting and research by Sonalie Figueiras.
Nusantara, an Indonesian eatery by the world-renowned Locavore restaurant group in Bali, celebrates the indigenous dishes from around the archipelago in a spectacular vegan tasting menu that is not to be missed.
Locavore – which is about to open a new vegetarian restaurant and the second iteration of its flagship eatery (called Locavore NXT) in December – prides itself on sustainability, championing regional ingredients and local producers. It has regularly appeared on Asia’s Best 50 Restaurants List, winning the Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2019.
Nusantara is Locavore’s ode to Indonesia. Located in the centre of Ubud – the town on the foothills of rice fields, coffee plantations and all the greenery Bali has to offer – the restaurant is hard to miss. ‘Nusantara’ is Bahasa Indonesian for “archipelago”, signifying how the restaurant encompasses the flavours, atmosphere and culture of all the different islands and regions of Indonesia. The menu – dotted with dishes from across the country – emphasises this ethos.
Atmosphere and tailoring to vegans
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The devil really is in the details with the eatery. They follow up on your booking to confirm your dietary preferences, while a second confirmation email is necessary to finalise your reservation. You can go à la carte or opt for the set menu – I did the latter. While it contains meat, the menu can be tailored to a vegan or vegetarian diet, with certain dishes that don’t appear on the full menu otherwise.
There’s a grill station at the entrance, where coconut husks are used as briquettes, with smoke providing a theatrical entrance experience. There are also whole coconut shells placed atop, which I later found out are used as soup bowls. There’s a red brick wall on the opposite side, and inside, wood is the name of the game. Even the lights are fitted in wooden blocks hanging from the ceiling. You can see parts of the kitchen while seated, and the atmosphere is lively and bustling – though (crucially) not so loud that you can’t hear yourself.
Like many fine-dining establishments on the island, you’ll need to get bottled still or sparkling water at Nusantara – no option for plain tap water. As part of the tasting menu, all dishes come together as it’s a family-style concept.
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
But to my very pleasant surprise, it starts with a bunch of little tasters to get you going. It comes with a wonderfully illustrated info card explaining what each snack is. There are nine items here. The sambal teri kacang (which contains fish) is subbed for a crispy potato option, the telor balado (a chicken egg) makes way for young papaya, the tahu (the local word for ‘tofu’) petis contains fish too and is swapped for a banana curry, while the shrimp paste is removed from the cemcem leaves (a local plant).
A delightfully diverse snack tray
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The potatoes are moreish – think garlicky ultra-thin shoestring fries, paired with a sticky sauce that has a hint of a kick rounded out with a delicate sweetness. The cassava crackers have a sweet and spicy combination that really works with the lemongrass and lime leaves.
Next comes the deep-fried tapioca, one of the best parts of the entire meal. It’s doused in spicy kecap manis (Indonesia’s famed sweet soy sauce) that offers a wonderful contrast to the crispy root. From the outside, it’s gooey and sticky, but there’s a delectable crunch and a melt-in-your-mouth texture when you bite in. It reminds me of a very soft tapioca pearl bursting in your mouth, albeit with South Indian flavours.
The thinly shaved papaya layered on a skewer makes for a striking presentation. Its sweet background note balances out the chilli from the tapioca. The sauce itself is very light and complex. The tempeh feels like it has a base of tamarind (though there isn’t any) – continuing the sweet theme, elevated with strong earthy flavours from the salam leaves (Indonesian bay leaves).
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
The marinated pineapple is just that – sweet, pickled, a little spicy and simple. The banana curry, however, is magical – the banana isn’t sweet at all, and it’s braised in a gravy reminiscent of an oily North Indian dish heavy on garam masala. The cemcem leaves, meanwhile, are absolutely packed with flavour – pleasantly acidic, slightly sweet and powerfully floral (though I’m not a big fan of the chewy texture).
Emping are crackers made from the seeds of a local plant called melinjo. They aren’t as crunchy as you’d expect, but that’s how they’re supposed to be. The curry sauce really is packed with spices and complements the pleasantly bitter aftertaste of the crackers. However, don’t wait too long to eat these, as the sauce softens the emping rather quickly.
The snacks were a nice touch that prepped my palate for the Indonesian flavours that would continue with the mains.
The rice and sambal
Courtesy: Green Queen
The set menu comprises six mains, a side of rice, two sambals and dessert. The rice itself is maddeningly good. The grains are perfectly cooked and possess a nice bite, and while a delicate background of coconut and pandan helps (along with a whole dried chilli to boot), it’s the flavour of the rice that absolutely shines. I could eat it plain on its own.
Both sambals – Indonesian chilli pastes – are raw (as confirmed by the charming host) and have a base of shallots, garlic, chillies and candlenuts. The greenish-yellow sambal rapah, which hails from West Nusa Tengarra, is heavy on turmeric (both the root and leaves) and salt. In terms of the mouthfeel, this almost feels like a curry paste. It’s not too spicy, but definitely feels like something you need to complement other dishes with.
The Sumatran red sambal tuktuk, on the other hand, is much spicier, and comprises tomatoes, Sumatran Andaliman peppers, tomatoes and torch ginger. The texture is coarser and more palatable than the green sambal, as you can almost pick out the chilli skins. It’s also slightly astringent and not unlike a few other sambals I’ve tried, but I much prefer this one over the green.
Tempeh, tofu and all the vegetables in between
Balinese moringa soup served in a burnt whole coconut | Courtesy: Green Queen
Next up: a local delicacy: moringa leaf soup, which is a standout both visually and flavour-wise. It’s served in those burnt whole coconuts I mentioned above – the soup is poured into these and reheated before being served. There’s such a brilliant contrast of textures at play here, with chunks of both young and aged coconut floating around. The longer the soup sits, the more coconutty it gets – and that can only ever be a good thing.
Oseng jantung pisang – the banana blossom dish – is loud. It’s heavy on soy and garlic, and all the better for it. It evokes memories of addictive takeaway stir-fries, with a fleeting sweetness at the back end. The leeks prove to be an excellent addition, and the sambals are not needed here– it works best on its own, with some rice.
Like the above, the water spinach dish – kangkung bunga pepaya – comes from Sulawesi and is soy-forward too, but with the garlic toned down and some added bitterness thanks to the papaya blossom and turmeric leaves. This dish is really pleasant and even better with rice and a dollop of the green sambal.
Clockwise, from top left: Stir-fried banana blossom, stir-fried water spinach with papaya blossom, braised tempeh curry, and stir-fried tofu with lemon basil | Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
On to the tofu stir-fry, then. You know when you can taste a food’s freshness? Yeah, this tofu is spongy with a melt-in-your-mouth texture – but unlike silken tofu, which collapses – and has a light soy and chilli dressing to help it along. The true star, however, is the lemon basil, which amp up the refreshing quality of the dish. Have it with the red sambal to make it all the more worthwhile.
The tempeh feels like it’s braised in the same fat-forward and warmly spiced sauce the banana curry was cooked in. It’s quite heavy on its own, but the rice balances out the richness. This is one dish that works well with both sambals, but the green one takes the (soybean) cake – though I do have to say the portion felt almost excessive for a tasting menu. Just this tempeh and a side of rice could make for a light dinner.
Finally, there’s a jackfruit dish, gudek nangka, inspired by the Javanese city of Yogyakarta. Purely by appearance, you can tell it’s a complex dish. It’s young jackfruit braised with shallots, galangal, coriander seeds, salam leaves, palm sugar, coconut water and more salam leaves. It’s topped with a slab of fried tofu stewed in coconut milk. This dish has deep flavours and a hint of sweetness; the restaurant recommends that you eat it with one of the sambals, and it works fantastically with the green one.
Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
A glorious dessert
I’m not a big fan of liquid desserts, but Nusantara’s take on the street food classic, Es Cendol, blew me away. It features a base of pandan-infused coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar, with floating bits of green rice flour jelly and ripe jackfruit. There’s something about the combination of pandan and coconut milk that makes this taste like kheer, which is a (usually) dairy-based Indian rice pudding that is typically cooked for a long time.
The jelly itself is pretty neutral in flavour; it’s present more for the texture. The mature yellow jackfruit is such a nice surprise – it’s sweet and chewy and succulent with notes of fermented apple and banana, reminiscent of the red papaya that comes in canned fruit cocktail (I mean this in the best way). Together, the brightness of the jackfruit, the creamy nuttiness of the coconut milk, and the texture of the grass really meld together so well. This is a marvellous dessert – which you might be able to tell by the fact I’ve used up two whole paragraphs to describe this.
Nusantara’s es cendol is a marvellous tribute to the Indonesian dessert | Courtesy: Anay Mridul for Green Queen
Final thoughts on Nusantara
Nusantara is a special place to go for an area of Bali where you’re spoilt for choice. Of course, it’s upscale fine dining, and you’ll spend 10 times more than you would at a warung (the small family-owned eateries that dot Indonesian towns), but for 450,000 IDR (about $28) plus taxes, the quality, range and sheer amount of food is an absolute bargain anywhere and well worth the detour.
For me, the moringa soup, the banana blossom stir-fry, the braised tempeh, and dessert were the standouts. Note: if you’re not going for the set menu and have a sweet tooth, I would recommend trying Dadar Gulung, which are pandan-infused rice flour crepes filled with sweetened desiccated coconut.
I have to be honest: this was a lot of food for one person and I was almost uncomfortably (yet happily) full. These are very generous portions, so show up hungry! That said, Nusantara has a very diverse range of flavours and offers something for everyone – bar maybe the pineapple, everything is super inventive and nothing feels boring.
If you don’t have the time to visit the over 17,500 islands in Indonesia (and who does?), Nusantara is the ideal place to sample their diverse culinary identity (especially since the namesake city is the country’s would-be capital).
Nusantara by Locavore is located at Jl Dewisita No 09C, Ubud, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80571. It’s open noon to 2:30pm and 6pm to 9:30pm on most days, and noon to 9:30pm on Mondays and Thursdays. Reservations are recommended.
Sweetgreen will become the first fast-casual restaurant chain in the US to exclusively use heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil to cook its vegetables, grains and proteins. Known for its salads and grain bowls, the brand is leaning into growing consumer demand for minimally processed and sustainably sourced food.
Starting tomorrow, all 221 of Sweetgreen’s locations will feature ingredients cooked only in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The ingredients in its warm grain bowls like the tofu- and mushroom-based Shroomami and salads such as the Super Green Goddess containing black lentils and chickpeas will all switch sunflower oil for the unrefined olive oil.
The company is leaning into calls for more ‘natural’, less processed food – 23% of Americans associate healthy food with minimal processing, according to a 1,023-person survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), while over three-quarters consider whether a food product is processed before buying it. Meanwhile, environmental sustainability is a purchase driver for a third of consumers (although that’s down from 40% last year), something Sweetgreen is also doubling down on.
In 2021, the salad chain pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2027, saying it would cut half of its footprint through a plant-forward menu and more sustainable sourcing decisions. This latest move falls in the latter category, continuing the company’s commitment towards using high-quality, locally produced and minimally processed ingredients.
Focusing on sustainable sourcing over health credentials
Courtesy: Sweetgreen
Sweetgreen is partnering with brands that have shared commitments to sustainable farming, choosing the Bari Olive Oil Company as its EVOO supplier. Running since 1936, it’s one of the US’s oldest olive oil companies. All of its EVOO is domestically grown and produced in California, using what it claims are organic and sustainable practices. Bari mills its olives – a drought-friendly crop – within 24 hours of harvest and uses every part of the fruit, including the pomace (ground pit and meat usually discarded) for cattle feed and the water used during milling for irrigating its trees.
Meanwhile, at its 17 Texas locations, Sweetgreen is collaborating with Texas Olive Ranch, a fourth-generation family producing cold-pressed olive oil. “Reimagining fast food goes beyond the kitchen and starts with a strong, transparent supply chain. In addition to partnering with suppliers and growers we trust, we take into account how every ingredient is prepared, down to the oil it’s cooked in,” said Sweetgreen co-founder and chief concept officer Nicolas Jammet.
Many seed oils have been found to be highly toxic and inflammatory, and labelled as “the most unhealthy staple of the American diet”. Given EVOO’s health credentials – it’s an oil rich in anti-inflammatory substances, known to lower blood pressure and enhance blood vessel health, and has been linked with lower risk of heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and some forms of cancer – it’s perhaps surprising that Sweetgreen isn’t centring its messaging on the nutritional benefits of the fat.
Many companies – like Beyond Meat – are going all-in on the health aspects of new products to appeal to consumers – the IFIC report revealed that health is a key purchase driver for 62% of Americans. It’s a much-discussed subject in the US, due to the alarming and rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes: over two-thirds (69%) of its citizens are overweight and 36% are obese.
Innovations in fat and oil alternatives
Courtesy: Sweetgreen
In addition to the use of EVOO, Sweetgreen is exploring avocado oil as another cooking oil for its menu. In August, the company released a red wine vinaigrette dressing made with an avocado oil base, which it says became “an instant fan favourite”. The dressing is now a permanent menu item in custom bowls and signature salads.
“While we know there’s more work to do, we hope this change raises the bar and continues to inspire our industry to make quality products more accessible,” said Jammet.
The move follows a pilot by fellow fast-casual chain Shake Shack, which is trialling Californian startup Zero Acre Farms’ sustainable Cultured Oil on select menu items at two NYC locations. Shake Shack too pointed to the oil’s health and eco credentials: it’s rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat and boasts a 90% smaller environmental footprint than conventional vegetable oil.
More and more companies are innovating in this space to develop oils and fats better for both people and the planet. Austrian startup Kern Tec upcycles fruit pits into oil for alt-dairy products, Germany’s Zayt Bioscience turns fruit waste into precision-fermented butter, San Francisco-based Lypid has created a proprietary PhytoFat for plant-based meat, and Sweden’s Mycorena makes fermented fungi-based fat to replace animal fats.
Many brands are coming up with palm oil substitutes for use in both food and other applications. This includes Estonian startup Äio, UK-based Clean Food Group, New York’s C16 Biosciences and Dutch company NoPalm Ingredients.
It’s not known as Asia’s World City for nothing – Hong Kong has some of the best food the planet has to offer, from starred Michelin establishments to comfort-food dai pai dongs. But what does it offer vegans? Plenty it turns out, you’ve just got to know where to look. Here’s a guide to plant-based eating in the city, whatever cuisine you’re after, any time of the day – the best eateries, bubble tea, dessert parlours and pizza, tried and tested by yours truly.
I lived in London for six years, one of the world’s most exciting cities to eat in, with a pretty fantastic vegan food scene to boot. From holes in the walls to renowned plant-based gastronomy, London’s got it all, no matter the cuisine.
So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I arrived in another ‘global city’ – Asia’s, I mean – and found an absolutely staggering amount of incredible plant-based food. Hong Kong is jam-packed with a plethora of vegan food experiences and eateries that will leave you in awe. Of course, Cantonese food and dim sum are God’s gift to us, but Asia’s World City has something for everyone.
As I write this from Bali – another next-level plant-based culinary hotspot – I’m already looking back and reminiscing at my time in Hong Kong, and I’ve marked out which places I’m going to when I return to the city, whether it’s the first time or a revisit. If you end up there before me – or if you’re just a local looking for a handy list of the best plant-based eats – I’m here to help.
Note: this is not an exhaustive list, just a collection of places/dishes I tried and loved. It’s not a vegan-specific list either, in fact, most of the places mentioned are not 100% vegan. There are some great dedicated vegan restaurants in the city, but I was not able to try them all. If you are looking for an exhaustive list, try the Happy Cow Hong Kong site.
Chinese food favourites (including dim sum)
Courtesy: Green Queen Media
Let’s start with dim sum then, shall we (or yum cha as locals say)? Veggie Kingdom is a traditional dim sum place in Tsim Sha Tsui, the kind where you tick what you want to order with a pencil and are given hot water to wash your utensils. There’s a wonderful tea that accompanies the meal – though there’s an added cost and they bring it by default. Try the shredded turnip puffs, the vegan shrimp dumplings and the mushroom-filled rice noodle rolls – beware though that there might be a couple of elements (like the mayo for the tofu toast) that aren’t vegan.
On the dim sum front, LockCha has multiple locations and a fully vegetarian dim sum menu too. The traditional teahouse has a killer siu mai and we love the triple treasure wrappers. Plus, the tea is excellent too!
Courtesy: Green Queen Media
For a quick and budget-friendly lunch, Shanghai Lao Lao’s plant-based menu (in partnership with local alt-meat brand Plant Sifu) is a steal. We can’t get enough of the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), dan dan noodles and mapo tofu. The mochi-like dessert rolled in toasted sesame flour is the ideal meal ending.
Tea, coffee and cafés
Speaking of tea, if you’re a bubble tea fan, Hong Kong is home not just to one but two 100% vegan pearl milk tea chains! Mother Pearl is hands down my favourite pearl tea spot ever – and it now has six stores across the city so I am clearly not the only one. With a signature gourmet wellness twist, Mother Pearl serves up some stunningly pretty concoctions (ideal for you Insta-foodies), which are equally delicious too. There are so many highlights, it’s hard to pick, but I’d say the Crush on Gold, Soul Full of Sunshine, Glimpse of Sunburst and the Po Mylk Tea are must-haves. Oh, and the mochi cookies (made from their leftover homespun plant-based milks) are otherworldly.
Courtesy: Mother Pearl
The other bubble tea chain to try is Nuttea. Its signature five-nut cream – which tastes like a nicer Nutella but somehow contains no chocolate – works on every single menu item. The menu itself is expansive, but all I’d say is, whatever flavour you pick, choose the nut cream on top. That’s the best part.
And while we’re on drinks, if you’re looking for a great cup of aesthetically pretty coffee that doesn’t charge you extra for oat milk (but does carry a dairy surcharge), Clean Coffee is your friend. Fineprint doesn’t put a levy on oat either (although soy has an added cost) in any of its locations – and I daresay these two are among the best – if not the very best – speciality coffee shops in Hong Kong.
Courtesy: Green Queen Media
Delicious dinner date spots that span the region
Mak Mak, the Thai restaurant in Central’s Landmark, has a fail-safe vegetarian menu that is ideal for large group gatherings. Come for the pink pomelo and shallot salad and summer rolls (with two dipping sauces), and stay for the most deceptively innocent-looking, flavour-bomb fried rice you’ll ever find. And finish with the gorgeous mango sticky rice – Mak Mak uses butterfly pea powder to give the rice a strikingly midnight blue tone, and tops it with a perfectly ripe mango and some sweteened condensed coconut milk.
Speaking of which, Chilli Fagara is an upscale Szechuan restaurant in Soho that’s ideal for anyone visiting the city. The 11-time Michelin Guide-recommended establishment has an excellent vegan menu with dozens of options including the option to swap out meat for Impossible Foods’s alternative in a range of dishes. The menu is divided into three sections with non-spicy options for those who aren’t as comfortable with the numbing powers of those famous peppercorns. The lettuce wraps, mapo tofu and sweet and sour eggplants are a must-order.
I loved my meal at Isoya in Wan Chai, a fine dining plant-based restaurant that serves fixed vegetarian tasting menus, which can be made vegan upon request. We loved our tofu taster plate, somen noodles, sushi assortment and what turned out to be the single greatest raw tomato I’ve ever had.
Courtesy: Green Queen Media
From kathi rolls to bánh mì, where to grab a vegan-friendly lunch
If you’re looking for a decent bánh mì, look no further than Le Petit Saigon‘s tofu version over in Star Street. Nearby is the fast-casual Indian street food concept Bengal Brothers, whose chickpea kathi roll (think a desi version of a kebab wrap) is a filling and tasty lunch, or you can grab a slice or three of new pay-by-weight Roman pizza joint Alice Pizza which has a few vegan-friendly offerings including sliced eggplant, sliced potato and marinara.
Of course, for whole-food healthy vibes, Hong Kong’s resident plant-based lunch spot Treehouse never disappoints. Now with three locations (Central, Taikoo Place and Causeway Bay), its addictive bowls, burgers and flats make for a perfect midday boost.
More of an al-desko sort? Give chef Tina Barrat’s raw-vegan forward lunch delivery a try. The French chef talent behind the now-closed Ma… and the Seeds of Life and one of Hong Kong’s earliest raw food pioneers, serves up a weekly changing menu of both raw and cooked dishes that are as delicious as they are nourishing. Order one to two days before via Whatsapp and it will be delivered to you in time for lunch at work. Think dishes like Nobu-style miso aubergine with black rice and edamame, Recommended: the zucchini gnocchi with cheesy basil pesto and fresh sprouts, the miso aubergine with black rice and edamame and the smoked tomato soup with homemade almond butter. Barrat opened Hong Kong’s first vegan cheese shop too, so give her range of nut-based wheels a whirl (the Shamembert is addictive).
If neo-hipster cafe is your vibe, then I’d be remiss not to mention the popular (and always full) spots by the Years group, across five locations (with a few in trendy Sham Shui Po), the restaurants offer up vegan-friendly menus of local and international fare (from burgers to katsu sandos) that are worth the queue.
For dedicated vegan pizza, head to the newly-opened Mayse in Jordan, a Latvian family-run bakery whose first outpost out in Tai Mei Tuk is always rammed on weekends. The pizzas are reminiscent of family-owned trattorias back in Italy, with spelt crusts and vegan mozzarella. They also do excellent bread, from ciabatta loaves, cornmeal, wholewheat or rye sourdough and even baguettes, and offer paninis and sandwiches to boot.
Off-the-beaten-path vegan food experiences
If you’re an adventurous foodie looking for a unique dining experience, Hong Kong more than delivers. At the African Center in Kowloon, you can join an all-you-can-eat buffet-style group dinner of Pan-African or Ethiopian (injera for life!), or grab a few friends and book fully vegan meals for what might be the best bang for your buck (under HK$300 a head and BYOB sans corkage).
An experience not to miss (IF you can secure a spot) is Olive Leaf, a private kitchen that hosts cooking classes and vegan Middle Eastern brunches. Tucked away on the least busy side of Lamma Island and a short ferry trip from Aberdeen, Israeli chef Ayelet Idan welcomes you to her cosy, warm home and lush garden for an hours-long vegetarian (can be made vegan) meal that you will dream about for months afterwards. From almond labneh to smoked eggplant dips to vine leaf cakes, it’s Middle Eastern food heaven!
Marvellous plant-based desserts
Mak Mak’s mango sticky rice | Courtesy: Green Queen Media
Talking about alt-dairy, if you’re looking for ice cream, So Coco is a shrine to coconuts. While it has a bunch of retail products (in shops like City’super) it has a café-style location in Causeway Bay. Its signature coconut ice cream comes in a bunch of flavours that can act as a base of milkshakes too. Additionally, there are ‘coconut beverages’ that can be topped with elements like coconut meat and jelly. The showstopper, however, is the signature bowl: it’s coconut ice cream or pudding served in a young coconut with a choice of grass jelly, red bean, tapioca and taro, alongside coconut meat. It’s ridiculously refreshing.
In terms of other dessert places, Moono is a spot in Tsim Sha Tsui that is famous for its vegan mooncakes, tarts and whole cakes. Oh, it also does a Tiramiso (get it?) in an edible cookie cup, which is unmissable. Finally, Bien Caramélisé is a classic French patisserie with options that are as delectable as they are beautiful. Chef Jessica Chow, who trained in Paris, makes everything herself from her vegan butter to the puff pastry and it’s truly outstanding stuff. It’s mostly by delivery though there’s a pop-up shop in Mong Kok that’s sometimes open on weekends though it’s by appointment only so make sure to book. There are choux, macarons, tarts and even vegan éclairs – what more do you need? Pro tip: the hazelnut cream millefeuille will rock your world.
This is just a snapshot of some of the best vegan-friendly food Hong Kong has to offer. Suffice it to say, it’s very hard to be disappointed by the city’s culinary offerings, wherever you go so, happy tasting.
Impossible Foods has partnered with IHOP on a range of menu items, expanding its US foodservice footprint. A leading plant-based meat company, Impossible has a knack for getting these collaborations with F&B chains just right – with multiple deals ongoing for years now.
Announced yesterday, the partnership with IHOP sees Impossible’s breakfast sausage and burger patties make it on the iconic US pancake diners’s menu at all of its almost 1,700 locations. It expands the alt-meat giant’s presence in restaurants and fast-food chains across the US – and globally, it claims to be on the menu of over 40,000 foodservice locations.
It brings to mind similar deals that Impossible has struck with fast food giants over the years, which – unlike many other alt-meat foodservice collaborations – are long-standing and still going strong.
Plant-based meat sector overview
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
Impossible occupies an interesting position amidst a somewhat precarious climate for plant-based meat, as the sector has faced media storm over the last couple of years after faltering sales, particularly in the US. Unlike its main competitor Beyond Meat, it’s not a public company, and so hasn’t experienced the same scrutiny – but it has still felt the effects.
According to industry think tank the Good Food Institute, all this turmoil has results in retail sales for plant-based meat flatlining in the US, while pound sales (as measured by weight) have decreased. And while the hospitality sector is still recovering from the pandemic-induced lockdowns, in the US, plant-based meat sales in foodservice reached an all-time high of $730M in 2022.
Speaking to AFN earlier this month, Impossible CEO Peter McGuinness agreed that the sector was facing significant challenges but said that the company’s retail performance was strong: “In the 52-week Nielsen [data], we’re still growing high single-digit, low double-digit in retail, which is great. We have a 50% repeat [purchase rate]… so every two people we get to try our product, one repeats, which is quite strong.” In January, the brand said its retail dollar sales grew by 50% in 2022.
Impossible’s foodservice success streak
Courtesy: Burger King/Impossible Foods
He also “We have 15% household awareness – so 85% of the country hasn’t heard of us, and you can’t buy what you haven’t heard of,” McGuinness added. “We did our first ever marketing campaign in June and July, in 11 years. It takes time to build a brand, but awareness leads to trial; trial leads to repeat.”
But one thing that has helped grow awareness about the brand is its partnerships with some of the foodservice world’s biggest operators. McGuinness noted how well the Impossible’s collaborations in this space are going. And he’s right.
Impossible made a huge splash when it partnered with American chef David Chang’s Momofuku restaurant group in 2016 right out of the gate. It’s been seven years, and that link-up is still going (albeit in Chang’s other eateries). Similarly, it partnered with hamburger chain White Castle in September 2018 on the Impossible Slider and the two companies just celebrated their five-year anniversary.
Moreover, Impossible’s breakfast sausage has been on Starbucks menus in the US for four years now, and its partnership with Disney – which saw the alt-meat appear on restaurant menus across multiple Disneyland locations in the US – is three years strong now. One of the company’s major early foodservice wins, launching the Impossible Whopper at Burger King, is a four-year strong partnership.
Foodservice remains a bright spot for plant-based
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
This retention rate is impressive, especially when so many similar collaborations are short-lived. You only have to look as far as the world’s biggest food brand: McDonald’s, Of note, the partnerships Though it is much more successful in other countries, like the UK and Germany.)
While in Europe, Beyond Meat enjoys a successful partnership with McDonald’s that has seen both a UK and German trial go nationwide, and new markets launching consistently, stateside Beyond Meat’s fast-food partnerships track record is more spotty. The US McPlant launch was shorter-lived, with the trial ending last year owing to poor sales.
In 2021, the company announced a deal with Yum! Brands – the parent company of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell with Beyond Meat developping vegan chicken nuggets thatwere trialled and taken off the menu after a couple of months (they returned for another temporary period).
With Pizza Hut, the Beyond Italian Sausage Pan Pizza lasted barely a year before being withdrawn. Taco Bell had some teething issues with its Beyond Meat partnership too, but is now testing its pea-protein beef in the chain’s famous Crunchwrap. Then, there’s the discontinued team-up with Panda Express, which began selling Beyond Orange Chicken in the summer of 2021. It was brought back by popular demand last year but for a limited time as well. The Beyond Meat-Panda Express partnership was so popular with consumers that an online petition garnered over 4,000 signatures asking the companies to reintroduce the dish.
It’s not clear whether some of these partnerships were discontinued due to poor sales or for other reasons. Foodservice partnerships are undoubtedly complicated and require buy-in from multiple stakeholders to be successful, not to mention consumers have to support the campaigns.
Impossible’s latest IHOP announcement suggests the company is doing something right on the foodservice front, particularly as the latter is a bright spot for the plant-based category.
That being said, the plant-based category is an important one for restauranteurs. According to a report released last month by the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), 95% of foodservice operators in the United States anticipate either higher or consistent sales of vegan food and beverages in the coming year. Furthermore, 76% of them plan to maintain or expand their selection of plant-based meat alternatives.
Singapore-headquartered TiNDLE Foods has launched a breakfast sausage in the US, its first domestically-made product. The rollout comes a day after it expanded its presence in the UK, appearing on menus at two restaurant chains and debuting at Whole Foods.
Just under two months after it first announced plans to launch its first American-made product, TiNDLE has unveiled its savoury Breakfast Sausage in the US. It will be available at Mr. Charlie’s in Los Angeles, and Neat Burger and Vegan On the Fly in New York City. The launch marks the three-year-old alt-meat brand’s first collaboration with plant-based egg giant Just Egg – TiNDLE’s soy protein sausage will be paired with Just Egg’s folded mung bean egg for various menu items at these restaurants.
All three restaurants will incorporate these products as part of breakfast sandwiches, with Neat Burger – which opened its Manhattan restaurant earlier this year and collaborated with whole-cut plant-based steak maker Chunk Foods last week – featuring them in a breakfast burrito too. The new vegan sausage combines soy protein with canola and coconut oils, potato starch, methylcellulose, and oat fibre, alongside flavour and seasoning elements.
Made in the USA
The launch marks TiNDLE’s first product conceptualised and manufactured in the US. Its products have been available at hundreds of distribution points and restaurants across the country since 2022, and so far, all of them have been produced in a co-manufacturing facility in the Netherlands.
The new plant-based breakfast sausage was developed and tested at TiNDLE’s US headquarters in Chicago, where it established a new R&D facility in September 2022. The ingredients for the product are sourced and grown in the US too, and the product is made at a co-manufacturing plant in the Pacific Northwest.
Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
“We are thrilled to introduce TiNDLE Breakfast Sausage as our first American-designed innovation,” said JJ Kass, TiNDLE’s VP of business development and strategy. “This launch not only showcases our dedication to developing delicious and sustainable foods, but also signifies a major achievement for our company as we serve the American market and consumers with a truly authentic and enjoyable breakfast experience.”
The news comes a month after the company launched its vegan chicken pieces in Singapore, which was its first locally manufactured product in its home market – part of a wider effort to boost food security in the country. The product was launched in the Netherlands as well.
The company now has seven products for foodservice in the US, and plans to enter widespread retail channels next year. “We plan to increase the availability of our product offerings in the US next year and specifically, bring our flagship product TiNDLE Chicken to US grocery stores,” a TiNDLE spokesperson told Green Queen.
When asked about upcoming product development, they added: “At the Chicago R&D center, we’re continually working on improving our existing TiNDLE Chicken products and testing out new formats and applications for potential future products. Other products in our existing lineup include nuggets, sandwich patties, tenders, popcorn patties, and boneless wings.”
Expanding across the UK
Courtesy: Neat Burger
The news comes on the heels of TiNDLE’s further expansion in the UK, where it debuted in April 2022 following a record-breaking $100M Series A round two months before. Earlier this year, it expanded its flagship chicken alternative to 350 Morrisons stores across the UK – and yesterday, it added 150 more locations to the list. Yesterday, TiNDLE made its debut at all seven Whole Foods stores in London, with plant-based wings, nuggets and tenders.
Meanwhile, it strengthened its foodservice footprint through partnerships with burger chain Byron, as well as Neat Burger’s UK locations. TiNDLE’s products have already been available at Amigo’s, BrewDog and Clean Kitchen Club locations.
Additionally, TiNDLE has made it onto university cafeteria menus, through a collaboration with London’s University of Westminster. It will be part of a katsu curry dish and K-pop-inspired nuggets at all of the institution’s eateries. Earlier this month, hundreds of British academics and campaigners wrote an open letter urging UK universities to transition to 100% plant-based menus.
“In addition to traditional foodservice, we have focused on bringing in partners from the non-commercial space – schools, universities, offices, tourism, etc. – across the globe,” TiNDLE’s spokesperson told Green Queen. “A priority for us has always been to work with schools and universities, as younger generations are adopting a plant-based lifestyle and embracing options at a larger scale than older generations.
“What’s so great about universities is that there are active and vocal student bodies demanding plant-based be on permanent menus in their canteens. In fact, we’ve seen this excitement directly in the UK.” The Universities of Stirling, Birmingham, Queen Mary, London Metropolitan, Kent, University College London and Cambridge have already voted to introduce fully vegan menus at their cafeterias.
Plant-based will ‘continue to grow’
TiNDLE announced a rebrand and product portfolio expansion in August | Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
In early August, TiNDLE rebranded from its parent New School Foods and merged with London-based alt-dairy startup Mwah!, which the company had acquired back in March. TiNDLE told Green Queen at the time that it planned on expanding its collection of multi-ingredient vegan milks and gelatos, and now says it expects to launch the plant-based milk in Europe next year.
It has been a tough few years for the plant-based industry – and even with some forecasts looking positive, there are many challenges the sector needs to overcome. “We don’t believe the overall category is a passing ‘fad’ or that consumer interest has waned. We believe, however, that the market is reflecting larger macroeconomic factors that are affecting almost every sector of industry currently,” the spokesperson said.
TiNDLE calls it a “temporary stress” on the category and emphasises its focus on growth and expansion across Europe, the US and Asia. “As a young industry, there is ample room for growth and development in the US as consumers and diners become more aware of plant-based foods and, through adoption, their impact on climate change,” the spokesperson explained.
“Additionally, as companies such as ours continue to innovate and create delicious plant-based options that are more appealing than animal-based offerings, we believe that consumer demand for plant-based foods will only continue to grow.”
A new study from research group Rethink Priorities explores how different combinations of menu options influence people’s choices of meat-free dishes, plant-based meals and conventional chicken and fish. Here are the key takeaways.
Researchers used data from previously published research exploring how people choose meat-free meals on menus – in that study, University of Göttingen students were asked to pick a meal from five options in 26 hypothetical menus, with the help of images and descriptions of real dishes available at restaurants.
Another recent study of 2,000 people published data showing that dining decisions are increasingly causing stress for younger Americans, with nearly one-third experiencing ‘menu anxiety’ when ordering at restaurants. Generation Z participants exhibit widespread concern for the environment and this can be reflected in anxiety around dining choices.
What is clear is that sustainability messaging on menus works. Multiple studies from around the world agree that it is successful in getting more diners to order low-carbon plant-based meals.
In an interview with Green Queen, Food for Climate League founder and food culture expert Eve Turow-Paul through the non-profit’s research projects, “we have been able to show large foodservice operators that small changes to menu language can dramatically impact consumer choice and drive sustainable food choices, without compromising consumer satisfaction.”
The Rethink study, authored by Sagar Shah and Jacob R Peacock, explored the association between people choosing a meat-free option based on how the menu was designed. Here are the key takeaways:
1) Provide at least three or more meat-free dishes
Researchers found that people are more likely to select meatless meals when there are three meat-free options (66%) on the menu, compared to when there are only two (54%). So the idea is to provide a wider range of menu options to entice diners to select plant-based dishes.
Research undertaken by the World Resources Institute confirms as much. The researchers presented meat-eaters with menus that had different amounts of meat and vegetarian dishes. Menus were composed of either 25% (menu A), 50% (menu B) or 75% vegetarian dishes (menu C), and participants were asked to make hypothetical choices about what dishes they would order. The results showed that offering more vegetarian food choices significantly encouraged sustainable food choices. Participants who normally ate meat only shifted their choice to vegetarian when these dishes made up 75% of the menu, but not when menus were equally meat and vegetarian, or when menus were 75% meat. In fact, the likelihood of a participant choosing a vegetarian dish was almost three times greater when the menu was 75% vegetarian compared to when the menu was only 50% vegetarian.
2) Don’t worry too much about using plant-based meats
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
The researchers found that meat-free selections were not significantly associated with the presence of meat analogues on a menu, albeit still resulting in a higher share. One caveat? The researchers noted that the study didn’t feature “very prominent meat analogues”, so the absence of a correlation can’t be credibly used to claim that high-quality plant-based meat has an important role in reducing meat consumption.
3) Avoid naming tofu in dishes
Courtesy: Yumeat
The researchers first defined plant-based meat analogues as dishes clearly trying to mimic the texture of conventional meat, but they were unsure if this was the best approach. So they repeated the analysis thrice. The first time included dishes that have meat-related names (like vegetarian schnitzel), the second trial included tofu, and the third combined the two. The researchers found that if tofu was included in a smaller range of options, people would be less likely to choose a meat-free dish.
4) Say no to poultry and seafood on your menu
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
The one area where the selection of meat-free options decreases is when there are what the authors describe as “small-bodied animals” on the menu – namely poultry and fish. Menus containing no fish or chicken option saw meat-free adoption of 64%, compared to 62% for menus with one chicken or fish dish, and 52% for those with two such food options.
The researchers say this highlights “the potential for welfare losses from substitution towards small-bodied animals from menu changes as well as shifts in consumer preferences”.
Concluding the study, the authors highlighted the need for further research on the most effective way to encourage meat-free meal selection: “It remains an open question whether, at the margin, it would be more cost-effective to advocate for more menu options featuring meat-analogues specifically, or for more meat-free options of any kind.”
Add ‘High impact’ climate labels to reduce beef orders say Johns Hopkins researchers
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study published last year found that the addition of climate impact labels on fast food menus had a “strong effect” on diners’ choices with the researchers concluding that both high and low climate impact labels led to a substantial decline in carbon-intensive red meat selections among the more than 5,000 participants involved in the US-based study.
“Menu labelling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” explains lead author and Associate Professor Julia Wolfson, PhD.
Restaurants are often scared to take menu risks but they pay off
Austin-based non-profit Planted Society works with city restaurants to help them to add more plant-based dishes on their menus including organising campaigns like ‘Plant Based for the Planet Challenge’, whereby local restaurants promote a variety of activations from free coffees with plant-based meals to eliminating plant-based milk surcharges and chefs creating special daily meat-free dishes.
Founder Britty Mann told Green Queen in an interview that it’s not that hard for restaurants to add vegan menu items, but “it’s really just scary for businesses to take risks” adding that “chefs express the same fears that we hear from friends and family: it’s too expensive, I don’t have time, it’s not going to stick, I’ll lose the respect of people I like and if it’s not ‘broke, why fix it?”
Planted works with partners to show that adding plant-based dishes “can actually be part of a supply-chain-centred business strategy that can help lower their food costs, empower their kitchen staff, attract new customers and gain the respect of the community.”
Brand consultancy Fuze just released a guide for restaurants titled ‘Greener Menus, Bigger Profits: Plant-Based Strategies for Restaurants’ with tips on how to position plant-based dishes on their menus. Suggestions include blending plant-based items with other menu offerings rather than having them in a stand-alone section, being subtle and discreet about labelling dishes ‘vegan’ or ‘vegetarian’, avoiding terms like ‘meatless’ embracing comfort food preparations and emphasizing health benefits and nutritional information.
With additional reporting and research by Sonalie Figueiras.
Earlier this month, McDonald’s added four new meatless products to its Netherlands range and, in a move to promote plant-forward food, listed them before beef on the menu. The new burgers, nuggets and salad join the Beyond Meat-based McPlant, which has been a permanent fixture on the fast-food chain’s Dutch menu since last year, after a successful trial the year before.
Two of the new products are limited-edition, while the other two are permanent. The former category contains the McPlant Steakhouse (a variation of the original McPlant with a “juice steakhouse taste”) and the Meatless McKroket, which is temporarily replacing the original McKroket and has seen its croquet recipe updated to feature jackfruit.
The new Veggie Nuggets and Veggie Chicken Honey Mustard Salad make up the permanent additions. None of these, however, are plant-based by default. The nuggets and salad both contain dairy and eggs, with the latter also having honey as an ingredient. The Meatless McKroket can be made vegan if ordered without the sauce, while the McPlant Steakhouse will be plant-based if you remove the cheese. (While the McPlant uses Beyond Meat, the new products’ supplier hasn’t been disclosed.)
McDonald’s promotes meatless
Courtesy: McDonald’s
The new products coincide with a new campaign by McDonald’s, through which it aims to promote meatless and plant-based eating among its customers. It has reallocated its campaign budgets to support meat-free products more, and positioned these new products alongside chicken options first on the menu, followed by the conventional beef options. (Beef is the highest-emitting food on the planet.)
“At McDonald’s, we are constantly developing the menu,” Dolly van den Akker, impact director at McDonald’s Netherlands, told Duurzaam Ondernemen. “We listen to the wishes of our guests and are happy to take the lead in our sector. We do this by offering responsible choices, such as fruit and vegetables in the Happy Meal, but also by adding more variety to the menu offering.
“However, we know that our guests often have fixed preferences. With this campaign and new introductions, we want to challenge them to go for that unknown, meatless option. Which is really just as tasty.”
The move signposts McDonald’s strong plant-based performance in the EU. It test-launched the McPlant in Sweden and Denmark in 2021, before rolling out the vegan burger in the UK months later. It has taken this trial approach in most countries, including the US, where it initially gained popularity before sales stagnated. The test run in its home market ended in August 2022.
Across the Atlantic, however, the results are more positive. Its permanent UK launch was so successful that McDonald’s launched a Double McPlant this January, and in Germany, all stores now have the McPlant as well as vegan nuggets (also made using Beyond Meat). The Netherlands trial in 2021 saw the McPlant become a permanent menu item last October.
Plant-based fast food goes mainstream
Courtesy: McDonald’s
The new product range is an important step for McDonald’s, the world’s largest food chain, as the fast-food sector aims to meet consumers’ plant-based demands. Burger King has been a leader in this space for some time now – it was recently revealed that one in five of its burgers sold in Germany is plant-based. And a nine-country report by ProVeg International found that Burger King tops the list of fast-food chains with the most plant-based options.
McDonald’s and Burger King – two giant rivals – also use different alt-meat competitors in their products. While Burger King uses Impossible Foods‘ plant-based meat in its meatless offerings in North America, it employs Unilever-owned The Vegetarian Butcher’s alt-meat elsewhere – and in the EU, its vegan bacon is provided by Parisian startup La Vie. Burger King’s meatless options are present in multiple countries internationally, including the UK, Austria, Spain, France, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia, among others.
McDonald’s was third on the list, following Subway. Only 9% of the restaurant’s menu was found to be vegan, with plant-based mains comprising only 3% of the total options and available only in the UK, Germany and South Africa (at the time). The report noted that McDonald’s has an opportunity to make its nearly plant-based options – some have dairy cheese and a ‘plant-based’ patty has animal products – vegan by default.
This extends to the new range in the Netherlands. McDonald’s already makes vegan nuggets in other countries, so could theoretically also introduce the same product in the Netherlands as well, helping it encourage Dutch consumers to change their dietary habits for the planet.
The Netherlands has the highest sales of alt-meat per capita of any European country, with more than 70% of its consumers supporting a shift towards a more plant-based diet. This could explain why the market share of vegan products increased from 1.4% in 2016 to 5.4% in 2021. Here, Subway leads the way in terms of the number of plant-based dishes, followed by Burger King. McDonald’s comes last – after Domino’s and KFC – given that most of its products aren’t vegan by default.
However, there are encouraging signs. McDonald’s new menu positioning follows one of the ProVeg report’s recommendations, which reads: “Integrate plant-based options with similar items and list them first, while repeating them in a separately labelled plant-based section. This will nudge consumers to choose more plant-based options while making it easier to navigate the menu.”
Whether it follows up with more default plant-based options remains to be seen.
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific has introduced 16 new dishes to menus on select long-haul flights, in partnership with local vegetarian restaurant Veda, part of the Ovolo Hotel Group. Running until June 2024, the range of meals is inspired by cuisines from North Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and is part of Cathay’s efforts to lower its carbon footprint.
Two years ago, Cathay Pacific announced its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In a move that pushes the airline further towards that goal, Cathay’s partnership with Ovolo – the world’s first hotel group to go fully vegetarian – comes after several rounds of experimenting and taste tests.
Veda, Ovolo’s acclaimed vegetarian restaurant, is helmed by executive chef Raul Tronco Calahorra. He worked with Cathay’s culinary team to develop dishes that work just as well at high altitudes as they do on the ground. And it wasn’t as straightforward as transferring Veda’s dishes to in-flight meal trays.
The challenges of designing high-altitude meals
Courtesy: Cathay Pacific
“Designing a meal to be enjoyed at 30,000 feet comes with its challenges,” says Tronco Calahorra. “I had to consider everything from how tastebuds are affected at altitude, to cooking techniques.” A 2010 study by Lufthansa found that the combination of dry air and low pressure reduces our tastebuds’ sensitivity to sweet and salty foods by 30%. Around 80% of our perceptions of taste are due to smell – but the dryness at high altitudes impedes our odour receptors, which makes food taste bland.
This is why airline dishes need to be more strongly flavoured than those served at ground level, and Cathay Pacific said its culinary team worked together with Tronco Calahorra to set optimum seasoning levels for the new plant-forward meals.
The other issue is volume. “I needed to adapt my recipes to include ingredients that could consistently be sourced for potentially thousands of meals a day,” the Veda executive chef explains. “Can they get the same paneer I’m using, or the same tofu? The challenge isn’t the mass production – you can get a big pot and cook 1,000 litres of a sauce – but the assembly.”
And since cooking methods on plans are limited due to space, most of the food is prepared in Cathay Pacific Catering Services’ kitchens near its Hong Kong International Airport base.
The Premium Economy and Economy menus
Purple quinoa tabbouleh and roasted vegetable tagine with halloumi and pearl couscous | Courtesy: Cathay Pacific
All this has led to the creation of a menu that adapts some dishes from Veda’s menu, and features some completely new ones. While Veda is famous for its meat-free Indian food, the 16 dishes take inspiration from international cuisines, available in Premium Economy and Economy on select long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights from Hong Kong.
The Premium Economy menu has dishes like hummus with harissa-roasted cauliflower and pickled red onions, Keralan-style coconut curry with vegetables and cumin rice, roasted vegetable tagine with halloumi and pearl couscous, and Panang dry curry tofu with cashews and coconut rice. In Economy, you’ll find the likes of purple quinoa tabbouleh, Mediterranean potato salad, northern Thai classic Khao soi, as well as paneer makhani with cumin rice.
This isn’t Cathay Pacific’s first foray into plant-based and meat-free dining. In 2019, it became just the second airline globally to serve vegan meat on its in-flight menu (after Air New Zealand), teaming up with Hong Kong alt-meat giant OmniPork. And last month, it introduced meals containing plant-based pork by fellow Hong Kong brand Plant Sifu, famous for its konjac-based dumplings and dim sum.
“Cathay Pacific is not only a global top 10 airline, but also one of Hong Kong’s best-recognised enterprises for culinary innovation and quality,” Joshua Ng, co-founder of Plant Sifu’s parent company Good Food Technologies, tells Green Queen. “Our ‘taste-first’ and localised approach in product development separated us early on to secure this key partnership,” adds co-founder Dr Andrew Leung.
A step towards sustainability
Panang dry curry tofu with cashews and coconut rice | Courtesy: Cathay Pacific
While Hong Kong’s national flag carrier has previously offered plant-forward meals that didn’t need to be pre-selected, the new dishes offer passengers an even broader selection. “We want to ensure we are doing our bit to help preserve our environment, promote healthy eating and enhance the image of amazing vegetarian and plant-based dining,” says Ovolo founder Girish Jhunjhnuwala. “Our collaboration with Cathay Pacific aligns perfectly with this mantra and our Plant’d pledge, and our wider ‘Do Good. Feel Good.’ sustainability commitment.”
The collaboration is part of Cathay Pacific’s ‘The difference is in the detail‘ campaign, which aims to elevate its in-flight dining experiences and enhance its wellness and sustainability credentials and supports its long-term partnership with Hong Kong environmental charity The Green Earth, helping travellers “make better lifestyle choices for the planet”.
Sustainable travel has never been easier. Food tours are a massive part of the travel industry – and now, many cities around the world offer day-long walking experiences for vegans and vegetarians. Here are six where you can enjoy the local fare without meat.
I don’t know about you, but there are two things I always really want to do when I’m on a holiday: go to the highest point of a city and take in the views, and check out all the local food. The latter has become tougher since I’ve been vegan, but there are a growing number of kind people who are helping me have my dream vacations.
These people take you to the best food spots in the city, where you can eat what locals eat. Whether that is automatically plant-based or has been made veggie, it all still tastes like it’s meant to. And all that aside, who doesn’t just love a good food tour?
Seville Vegan Tours
Runs Tuesday to Friday, €65 per person
Courtesy: Seville Vegan Tours/Instagram
Known for its incredible art, gushing buildings and romantic vibes, the Andalusian city of Seville has its very own vegan tour, where you can try out local Spanish favourites while taking in the history of your surroundings.
Seville Vegan Tours‘ walk starts at the Mercado de Triana and lasts 3.5 hours, taking you to four spots to try six different plant-based tapas (yes, you’ll get tortillas). There are also two local drinks: don’t miss out on the tinto de verano – it might have been exploding on the internet this summer, but Spaniards have been drinking it since the early 20th century.
The experience is a nod to the tradition of tapeo, which “consists of meeting friends to spend the afternoon sampling the tapas of different bars in a specific area of Seville”. Gastronomy is deeply rooted in Andalusian culture, and Seville Vegan Tours wants you to witness it.
Frying Pan Dubai
Price and availability on request
Courtesy: Frying Pan Dubai
So what if traditional Middle Eastern food is meat-heavy, completed with some of the world’s best produce? In Dubai, Frying Pan runs with the latter to offer a vegetarian version of its signature Middle Eastern food tour.
Frying Pan takes you away from the glitzy hotels Dubai has become famous for, instead putting you at the heart of Old Dubai. During the tour, you can feast on koshari, fatayer, stuffed falafels, foul medames and Egyptian crépes.
Desserts are, of course, part of the parcel. There are some classic sweet treats you get to try on this tour: kunafa, baklava, data paste bars, vegan-cream-dipped pistachio cookies and saffron ice cream. (You can turn the last one into a falooda too!)
Eat Like a Local Mexico
Runs Monday to Friday, $110 per person
Courtesy: Eat Like a Local Mexico
Home to Mexico City’s creative and culinary enclave, the Bohemian-inspired Roma Norte neighbourhood has loads of green spaces, museums, uber-hip mezcalerias and eateries – something for everyone. It’s also home to Mexico City’s vegan food tour, Eat Like a Local, which is a four-hour experience for plant-based culinary enthusiasts.
You begin at La Condesa, the city’s main square, for coffee and concha (a traditional sweet bread), followed by vegan tacos on the streets. Then you head to the famous flower market, Mercado Jamaica, for more street food and fresh produce.
Next, you visit a 100-year-old pulqueria to learn how the alcoholic drink is made, and sample curados (pulque with fruits). The tour ends either with ice cream at Condesa, lasting over 15 tastings and three pulque flavours. You truly do eat like a local.
A Mad Food Tour, Hong Kong
September 7 & 14, 575 HKD ($73.5) per person
Courtesy: A Spark of Madness
In this Asian vegetarian food tour, Simran Savlani, author of the cookbook A Spark of Madness, takes you to some of Hong Kong’s quaint and hidden spots. The walk has drinks, food and a lot of conversation about it.
The one-off tours will be in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun neighbourhoods this September. Hong Kong’s street food scene is legendary, so going with somebody in the know makes your life a lot easier. The tour promises visits to the island’s famed dai pai dongs (food stalls) and cha chaan tengs (Hong Kong-style diners).
Expect dumplings, bánh mìs, egg tarts, cheung fun and loads and loads of noodles.
Eat Like a Local South Africa
Price and availability upon enquiry
Courtesy: Eat Like a Local South Africa
Not the same company, but Cape Town’s very own food tour company offers a plant-based walking tour – a first for the city. The four-hour tour by Eat Like a Local operates on a private basis, making it all the more exclusive.
You start at Mustacchio Cafe on Kloof Street, the first of seven food establishments on the tour. Alongside the food at both iconic and hidden eateries, you’ll learn about Cape Town’s architecture and history too. There’s tea, coffee and kombucha, and tours with alcohol are also available, which will involve local beer and wine.
You’ll be able to have plant-based spins on local dishes like mushroom biltong (traditionally a dried cured meat), samoosas, koeksisters (fried plaited dough in syrup), vetkoeks and roosterkoeks (both types of bread). These are interspersed with some stunning global-inspired dishes, making it a truly complete experience.
Vegan Vacation Time, Florence
Runs Monday to Saturday, €90 per person
Courtesy: Vegan Vacation Time
A three-hour walk in the Tuscan capital, surrounded by gastronomic wonders that have taken the world by storm? It’s hard to resist this plant-based food tour in Florence.
Vegan Vacation Time is a Tuscany-dedicated website for plant-based holidays, which organises food and wine tours, as well as cooking classes and dinners for vegans. The food tour starts near the Grom gelato store on Via delle Oche – upon meeting, you have a cappuccino and vegan pastries to begin your day.
Vegan versions (whether automatically or tailored) of local food all feature too – think breads, pizza, cheese, salami, vinegars and olive oil – leading you to a plant-based bistro. Come for the wine tasting, stay for more Italian food (Tuscan bean soup, anyone?), and go along for the vegan gelato to end your morning on a high.
In the US, 95% of foodservice operators expect increased or stable sales of vegan food and beverages in the next year, with 76% aiming to continue or increase the number of plant-based meat options, according to a new report by industry body the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA). It’s in line with consumer sentiment, who have upped their plant-based intake and reduced their meat consumption.
The PBFA’s State of the Marketplace Foodservice Report states that nearly half (48.4%) of all restaurants in the US currently offer plant-based options on their menus, with a 62% increase in plant-based menu items over the past decade. The shift has stemmed from a growing acceptance of vegan food among consumers, with a greater awareness of their health, environmental and animal welfare benefits.
It follows another report by the PBFA earlier this year, which found that the US plant-based market grew by 6.6% from 2021 to 2022, reaching $8B. “The plant-based foods industry’s momentum and resilience – built on robust consumer demand – is evident across 2022 retail and e-commerce sales and foodservice performance,” Julie Emmett, VP of marketplace development at the PBFA, said at the time.
Consumer trends on plant-based eating
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
The report revealed that more than four times as many Americans increased instead of decreased their plant-based consumption, while a third say they’ll eat more vegan foods over the upcoming year. Overall, a third of consumers in the US use plant-based dairy alternatives at least once a week, followed closely by alt-meat.
When it comes to setting, around a quarter of home meals are entirely plant-based, compared to 19% of those eaten outside. And consumers are twice more likely to try plant-based foods in retail settings than foodservice ones, due to factors including convenience, cost and perceived health benefits. This follows the 27% year-on-year growth in plant-based retail sales in the US in 2021.
Meanwhile, 43% of consumers agree that the availability of plant-based food and beverages enhances the restaurant experience – a sentiment that was most prevalent among Gen Z and millennial consumers. The former demographic has a higher proportion of vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians, with 35% falling into the category of ‘meat limiters’.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
This is highlighted by recent product launches. Taco Bell introduced a vegan Crunchwrap in June, Chipotle added two plant-based options to its Lifestyle bowls as part of its ESG goals for 2023, while Charley’s Steak House collaborated with Chunk Foods to offer the latter’s plant-based whole cut on its Orlando menu.
Plant-based menu options at restaurants
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
Four times as many foodservice operators plan to add plant-based meat to their menus than those who say they’ll remove it, while 8% who currently offer none plan to add vegan alternatives. The reluctance to add a plant-based meat substitute to menus is based on many considerations, including a lack of demand (53%), higher costs (46%), a higher difficulty in predicting demand and purchasing needs (33%), and vegan food not fitting the brand’s image (20%) – as well as factors like food waste and labour requirements.
But within the operators who do incorporate plant-based food into their menus, the fast-casual segment – which often caters to younger generations and those seeking healthy meals on the go – leads the way with nearly 70% menu penetration, followed by mid-scale and casual dining restaurants. Fast-casual chains Fine dining restaurants, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the list.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
In terms of food types, plant-based seafood and egg options have increasingly been featured on foodservice menus, seeing a 57% and 52% year-on-year growth, respectively. In February, Israeli startup Yo Egg debuted its vegan poached eggs at six Los Angeles eateries, before launching into Veggie Grill stores nationwide. And California’s Impact Food debuted its raw sushi-grade plant-based tuna at Bay Area restaurant Onigilly.
Meanwhile, coconut milk is the leading dairy alternative used owing to its versatility, followed by almond milk. But menu presence of alt-milk is still low, given that more than half of Americans will visit or pay more at establishments that feature specific plant-based dairy alternatives.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
The report also found that plant-based promotions and limited-time offerings receive higher uniqueness ratings from consumers compared to animal-based counterparts. There is precedent here with McDonald’s, which trialled the McPlant for a limited time before introducing it to the permanent menu, and Shake Shack, which launched its limited-edition Vegan ShackBurger in London in 2020, and debuted its vegan burger in permanent menus in the US earlier this year. Meanwhile, Impact Food struck a deal with Pokeworks for a limited-edition poke bowl in June.
The importance of inclusivity
“The focus of foodservice operators has shifted from simply offering a separate ‘vegan menu’ to creating inclusive dining experiences that highlight the abundance of plant-based choices available,” says Hannah Lopez, director of marketplace development, foodservice at PBFA.
Across all age demographics, the PBFA says there’s a stronger preference for the terms ‘plant-based’ and ‘dairy-free’ compared to ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’. The clear labelling and intentional placement of plant-based food menu options at restaurants is essential for consumer awareness and inclusivity. It echoes a report by food awareness organisation ProVeg International last week, which expressed a preference for ‘plant-based’ over ‘vegan’ on menus.
According to the PBFA, this trend suggests that consumers are open to limiting their animal product consumption without completely eliminating it. It says nearly three-quarters of Americans are interested in blended animal- and plant-based proteins, like pasta dishes with plant-based proteins and dairy cheese. While only about 20% of operators currently offer such dishes, 30% show interest in exploring this idea. This concept has already penetrated the retail sector globally, with brands like Momentum Foods, Mush Foods and Nanka all offering hybrid plant- and animal-based meats.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Association
The report notes that inclusive menus are paramount: “As foodservice operators lean into menu innovation and expansion, having plant-based foods as staple menu options and ingredients will allow for more inclusive and wide-ranging customer bases, and a greater feeling among guests that their values, interests, and tastes are being served.”
In a January webinar, the PBFA presented data showing that 60% of US restaurants see plant-based as a long-term trend. This sentiment is mirrored by Jennifer DiFrancesco, director of culinary innovation at Sodexo Campus, which has committed to making its catering menu 50% plant-based by 2025. “Having plant-based foods isn’t a buzz or a trend, it’s a need and a demand that we deliver with creativity and flavour,” she says, adding: “Inclusive options are key – having the 1:1 animal to plant entrée makes it approachable, relatable, and tempting to try.”
The PBFA says it’s clear that the foodservice industry offers stability and reliability as a platform for plant-based food companies seeking long-term success in a rapidly evolving sector: “Key opportunities exist for companies and operators alike to forge meaningful, mutually beneficial partnerships to give consumers what they want: delicious, affordable, healthier, and more sustainable plant-based options.”
The world’s leading fast-food chains – McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut and KFC – are offering an increasing number of plant-based options, according to a nine-country report by food awareness organisation ProVeg International. Burger King tops the list with the most vegan-friendly main dishes, with Subway a close second. Meanwhile, the UK is Europe’s leading plant-based market, followed by Germany.
The report ranks these ‘Big Five’ fast-food chains on metrics including plant-based options, menu presentation, and labeling conventions. Food options traversed mains, sides and desserts, and the nine countries surveyed were Belgium, Czechia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and the US. (Spain and the Netherlands, where Pizza Hut has a low market share and doesn’t operate, respectively, featured analysis on Domino’s).
Across countries, 43 menus were analysed, out of which only 22 offered at least one vegan option. And just under 6% (85) of all main dishes (1,473) listed across those menus were plant-based. Similarly, vegan desserts accounted for 4.6% of all sweet options, while sides represented 27% of the total. Burger King and Subway were followed by McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, with KFC performing the worst.
Plant-based fare by fast-food chains
Subway ranks second on the fast-food vegan main dishes list | Courtesy
Vegan menu options represent 12% of Burger King’s overall offering, with 30 main dishes out of 307 across all countries – a 9.8% share. The fast-food chain also trialled its first all-vegan location at its Leicester Square flagship in London last year, and implemented a plant-based-by-default ordering model at a store in Austria.
Like Burger King, Subway also has vegan options that make up 12% of its overall menu, but trails marginally in the share of mains at 9.1%. But it performed the best when it came to the presentation of its menus, which consistently integrate vegan items with their conventional counterparts. ProVeg also lauded Subway’s naming convention (Rockin’ Morrocan and TLC Teriyaki are two examples), which hones in on the culinary theme of the dish.
At McDonald’s, the world’s largest food chain, 9% of the food is vegan. But plant-based main dishes only comprise 3% of the total options, and are only available in the UK, Germany and South Africa among the countries analysed. But the report notes that McDonald’s can make their nearly vegan options – some have dairy cheese and a ‘plant-based’ patty has animal products – plant-based by default.
Plant-based menu items represent 8% of Pizza Hut’s overall range, but out of the mains, only 5.2% are vegan. But ProVeg notes that the chain is making an effort to offer plant-based options, and integrating them into the general menu will likely appeal to a wider range of customers, including flexitarians and omnivores.
The reading is more bleak at KFC, where less than 1% of dishes are plant-based, and a minuscule 0.3% of mains are vegan. Out of all the 325 dishes evaluated, only one is listed as plant-based. But KFC has a huge opportunity to make its menus more appealing to plant-based diners. It already has several vegetarian options, and ProVeg says incorporating even a single plant-based nugget or burger option would significantly aid the chain.
Country-wise vegan fast-food availability
KFC has only one vegan main option out of 325 menu items: the Vegan Chicken Burger in the UK | Courtesy: KFC
In Belgium (Pizza Hut), Poland and the US (both Subway), only one chain offers a plant-based main on online menus. Similarly, Czechia (Subway and Burger King) and South Africa (Burger King and McDonald’s) have only two of the Big Five offering vegan mains.
Meanwhile, Subway, Domino’s and Burger King all offer plant-based mains in the Netherlands and Spain. And in Germany, vegan main dishes are available at four of the Big Five: Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut.
The UK is the only country in the report that has vegan options for main dishes in all of the five leading fast-food chains. The aforementioned single plant-based main at KFC is the Vegan Burger in the UK. One reason for this is the strong emergence of meat-free attitudes in the UK. The report mentions figures revealing that 9% of Brits are vegan or vegetarian, making up the largest share of plant-forward eaters in Europe after Germany.
Best-practice recommendations for fast-food chains
Courtesy: McDonald’s
A new report has found that vegan diets can cut carbon emissions by 75% compared to a meat-rich diet. “It is vitally important that fast-food chains play their role in helping society transition to more climate-friendly diets by providing and promoting plant-based foods,” said ProVeg global CEO Jasmijn de Boo. “All five major chains are making strides in the right direction, but there is still room for improvement.”
ProVeg recommends a number of best practices that can help these fast-food chains attract more plant-based consumers – crucial for their climate commitments:
ProVeg’s recommendations include:
More menu options should plant-based by default, which is a “very effective way of increasing plant-based purchasing among mainstream consumers”. It’s also crucial for chains in many countries to introduce vegan sauces and cheeses.
Replace animal-based options with plant-based alternatives, instead of just adding the latter. ProVeg argues this helps normalise plant-based eating and increase vegan purchases among the mainstream.
Integrate plant-based options with similar items and list them first, while repeating them in a separately labeled plant-based section. This will nudge consumers to choose more plant-based options while making it easier to navigate the menu.
Instead of using the product name as the label, use subtle, easily identifiable labels (like pictograms) to “minimise the deterrent effect that vegan-identifying denominations can have on mainstream consumers”.
When naming menu items, choose words that focus on the culinary theme, sensory experience or the brand of plant-based meat used in the food. The report suggests minimising the use of terms like ‘veggie’ or ‘plant-based’, and completely avoiding words like ‘vegan’, ‘vegetarian’ or ‘meatless’.
Use enticing language in product descriptions to highlight the taste experience and cooking technique, as well as frame the plant-based items as equivalent to their conventional counterparts.
Plant-based newcomer Recreate Foods has appointed Michael Salem, creator of Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, as its president. Previously the curator of Kevin Hart-owned restaurant Hart House‘s menu, he joins a vegan chicken brand that faces stiff competition in an increasingly populated category – and he’s betting on taste and texture.
Founded earlier this year, Arizona-based Recreate Foods’ vegan chicken range – which includes filets, tenders, nuggets and grounds made from pea protein – is crafted by chefs to prioritise high quality.
A premium brand in an overpopulated category
The US plant-based chicken sector is over-congested and highly competitive – there are around 20 brands making vegan nuggets alone. Just last week, Californian alt-nugget startup Nowadays announced it is ceasing operations amid a continued decline in plant-based meat sales in the US.
But Salem believes Recreate Foods’ positioning as a high-end company separates it from the crowd. “What clearly differentiates Recreate from others in the category is it’s simply a delicious chicken-based analogue,” he told trade publication Food Dive. “And we’re not a value-oriented brand, we’re a premium brand.”
He doubled down on this aspect by explaining the producer focuses on flavour and texture – two key components of concern about plant-based meat for consumers. “A lot of these big companies have a ton of resources, they have a lot of passion, they have a ton of exposure and media, but they don’t really necessarily have a great product,” said Salem.
“The ethos that we operate under as a company is that we’re not a science-based company. We’re not in the business of creating formulas. We’re in the business of creating delicious recipes.”
Photo: Recreate Foods/Instagram
From Burger King to Recreate Foods
Salem was the head of culinary development at Burger King for four years, and found his love for the plant-based category after launching the vegan Impossible Whopper burger exactly four years ago (8 August 2019). He called the unique impact of product launches one of the industry’s main attractions: “Not to trash the product launch of McCafé – it was a great launch – but it didn’t really change the world.”
He added that some brands prioritise virtue over quality: “We start to see companies position themselves as ‘It’s the right thing to do’ or really leaning in on vegans to kind of shame you into doing the right thing.”
However, he was also quoted as saying: “In the plant-based category, a product can be profitable, creative, incremental, and make perfect business sense. But more importantly, and more impactful for me, is it can have a tremendous impact on the pressure that we’re putting on livestock.”
During the launch of Hart House, he had a similar response: “I’ve seen too many animals die. I’ve been too guilty about the food I’ve been serving the community, making people really unhealthy for a long time, and I just don’t think it’s necessary. I think this is really the future of fast food, so that’s why I took the gig. I just thought it was an incredible chance to really make a difference and leave a legacy on food service and an industry that’s been so good to me.”
Whether it’s virtue- or flavour-first, the jury’s out on how a premium player will perform in an oversaturated and sales-hit category, but Salem is up for the challenge.
Israeli startup Chunk Foods‘ plant-based whole-cut meat is now on the menu at Charley’s Steak House in Orlando – the first time a steakhouse chain is offering a vegan alternative. Backed by Robert Downey Jr’s VC firm FootPrint Coalition, Chunk Foods’ biomass-fermented filet mignon is priced at $69.
Chunk Foods uses solid-state fermentation and combines plant-based ingredients with food-grade organisms to create its whole-cut beef alternative. Whole cuts have often been described as the “holy grail” of alt-meat, and this collaboration follows the appearance of Redefine Meat’s 3D-printed alternative on restaurant menus in Europe and Israel.
Chunk Foods’ journey
Chunk Foods makes vegan whole-cut steak | Courtesy: Chunk Foods
Founded in 2020 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chunk Foods raised $15m in seed funding last year – which founder Amos Golan called the biggest seed round ever for an Israeli company. Using solid-state fermentation allows the product to be “highly tunable”, and makes it cheaper than high-moisture extrusion or submerged fermentation, which calls for expensive steel vessels and downstream processing tech.
While its vegan whole-cut beef uses cultured soy and wheat, the company says it is working on products without these ingredients for diners with allergies. After beef, it plans to develop vegan pork, lamb and poultry alternatives. As reported by TechCrunch, this will be aided by the opening of a new factory in Israel, described by Golan as “one of the largest plant-based whole-cuts factories in the world”.
Chunk Foods’ vegan steak has already appeared on the menus of several New York City restaurants, including Coletta, Anixi and The Butcher’s Daughter. And while other plant-based whole cuts – like the aforementioned Redefine Meat and Meati‘s mycelium-based alternatives – have made it to eatery menus, Chunk Foods’ collaboration with Charley’s Steak House marks the first time a steakhouse is offering a vegan option.
Charley’s Steak House’s inclusivity bid
Charley’s Steak House is now serving plant-based whole-cut meat | Courtesy: Chunk Foods
Part of the Talk of the Town Restaurant Group, Charley’s Steak House has been around since 1984. This move marks a milestone moment for the eatery and reflects its commitment to more inclusive dining.
“At our core, we serve the finest steaks and seafood, and we have been searching for over 15 years for a plant-based option for our guests that meets our standards,” said Talk of the Town VP and COO, Seth Miller. “We are excited to introduce our customers to Chunk steak; this partnership provides a solution that is in line with our quality expectations that we place on every item we serve. If it’s not the best, we won’t serve it.”
Chunk Foods says its steaks are “extremely versatile” when it comes to the cooking method – they can be “pan-seared, basted, grilled, smoked, stewed, braised, BBQ, and baked, the same way beef is prepared”. This affords a greater level of creativity and eschews the need for intensive chef training.
“At Chunk, we’re passionate about pushing boundaries,” said Golan. “Together [with Charley’s Steak House], we’re ensuring that all guests, regardless of dietary preference, can enjoy an exceptional steakhouse experience.”
More and more companies are successfully debuting their vegan whole cuts to the North American market, with New School Foods‘ salmon filet and Tender Food‘s beef steaks, pulled pork and chicken breasts being prime examples as plant-forward consumers look for texture and format variety beyond mince-based burgers, sausages and nuggets.
Yo Egg, the creators of the world’s first plant-based sunny-side-up and poached eggs, has announced a partnership with U.S.-based vegan fast-casual chain, Veggie Grill.
Yo Egg and Veggie Grill are launching three new limited-time offerings (LTOs). The award-winning plant-based eggs from Yo Egg will be featured in Yo Poached Egg Avocado Toast, Huevos Rancheros Bowl with Yo sunny-side-up egg, and Yo Egg Kimchi Burger.
Reinventing eggs
“This collaboration with Veggie Grill exemplifies our mission to reinvent eggs and how foodservice operators use eggs in their menus,” Eran Groner, CEO of Yo Egg, said in a statement. “We can’t wait for consumers to taste these innovative dishes.”
Veggie Grill’s vegan spin on the trendy avocado toast, the Yo Poached Egg Avo Toast, combines toasted sourdough, sliced avocado, chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and a Yo Egg poached egg encrusted in everything bagel seasoning.
Yo Egg has debuted in LA | COurtesy
The Huevos Rancheros Bowl, a spicy vegan take on a classic, offers a tantalizing blend of brown rice, ranchero beans, fried corn tortillas, pepper jack cheese, Yo Egg’s sunny-side-up egg, salsa roja and verde, and chopped cilantro.
The Yo Egg Kimchi Burger features a seasoned Beyond Burger topped with sesame aioli, shredded lettuce, pickled cucumbers, kimchi, all nestled in a sesame seed bun and crowned with a sunny-side-up Yo Egg.
‘Compelling additions’
While Yo Egg is not Veggie Grill’s first vegan egg alternative — the first was San Francisco’s Just Egg — it is the first to get this many iterations.
Yo Egg is now on the Veggie Grill menu | Courtesy
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Yo Egg,” T.K. Pillan, Founder and CEO of Veggie Grill, said about the collaboration. “Yo Egg’s sunny-side-up and poached eggs create uniquely compelling additions to our 100% plant-based menu and further our goal to bring guests the best of the plant-based world.”
Yo Egg’s plant-based egg products have garnered significant recognition, earning the company two of the National Restaurant Association’s 2023 Food and Beverage Awards for the “world’s first and only” plant-based poached egg and sunny-side-up egg.
Recent data indicate that dining decisions are increasingly causing stress for younger Americans, with nearly one-third experiencing ‘menu anxiety’ when ordering at restaurants.
A study of 2,000 adults revealed that 41 percent of Millennials and Generation Z (individuals aged between 18-43) are prone to this anxiety, starkly contrasting with only 15 percent of their older counterparts from Generation X and Baby Boomers — those aged between 44-77.
Menu anxiety
Widespread concern for the environment and sustainability has significantly marked Generation Z. Aided by social media and access to global information, they are acutely aware of climate change and its impacts, sparking a greater interest in sustainable consumption. This consciousness about the planet has been reflected in their dining preferences and anxieties.
Photo by Alex Haney on Unsplash
This menu anxiety appears to stem from an array of factors, according to the research commissioned by Avocado Green Mattress and conducted by OnePoll. Generation Z and Millennials, the survey noted, often defer their order until they’ve seen their companions’ choices, with 47 percent admitting to doing so, compared to only 30 percent of older participants. Digital habits also play a role, as 24 percent of younger respondents regularly review the restaurant menu online prior to their visit, compared to 15 percent of older participants.
The study also discovered that terms such as ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ on menus significantly influence younger generations’ choices, with 39 percent and 34 percent respectively more likely to opt for such items. Additionally, a commanding 77 percent of younger respondents wish for restaurants to be more transparent about the environmental impact of their offerings, against 58 percent of older participants.
The environment seemed to play a larger role in younger generations’ decisions overall, with 20 percent of them factoring in the ‘environmental impact’, against just 7 percent of older participants. Moreover, 62 percent of Gen Z and millennials are conscious of their meal’s environmental footprint when eating out, compared with only 42 percent of older generations.
“Understanding our environmental impacts shouldn’t just be a younger generation thing,” Hann said. “We should all be pro clean air, pro clean water and pro healthy climate. We’re all responsible for the planet we leave behind for our kids and grandkids.”
A panoply of dining preferences
The research delved deeper than just ordering anxiety. When asked about the decisive factors while ordering food, taste (71 percent) and cost (57 percent) predictably emerged on top. However, the time taken for food preparation (22 percent), messiness of the meal (16 percent), and environmental impact of the food (15 percent) were also considered.
Courtesy Sander Dalhuisen via Unsplash
“Our individual choices matter,” Jessica Hann, Avocado Green’s Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing and Sustainability said in a statement. “From how we eat to how we sleep, our collective decisions are inextricably linked to the health of our communities.”
Research published last spring found 70 percent of Gen Zers say they plan to pursue a vegan diet in the next five years. The main deciding factor in that research was their health more than concerns about the environment.
Stockeld Dreamery, the Swedish alternative dairy startup, is expanding its presence in the United States with a new partnership in New York City.
Stockeld has teamed up with New York City’s iconic Ess-a-Bagel to offer customers a plant-based sandwich featuring Stockeld Dreamery’s non-dairy cream cheese. This collaboration marks Ess-a-Bagel’s first-ever foray into plant-based sandwiches in its 47-year history.
‘Healthier and more sustainable foods’
“I am personally responsible for this [Ess-a-Bagel] partnership, having cornered, stalked, and politely pushed this New York institution to partner with us,” Sorosh Tavakoli, CEO and co-founder of Stockeld Dreamery, said in a statement.
“When I finally got to meet Melanie, whose aunt initially started the company, we hit it off immediately! We could instantly appreciate the contrasts between the new meeting tradition and the newcomer meeting the established. We could also instantly find alignment and energy in the desire to push boundaries to deliver healthier and more sustainable foods to the masses,” Tavakoli said.
Stockeld launched a vegan feta cheese in 2021 | Courtesy
Visitors to Ess-a-Bagel’s 3rd Avenue store can now indulge in the “Fire in the Hole” sandwich, featuring Stockeld Dreamery’s cream cheese. Additionally, customers can opt to add this cheese alternative to any bagel, with two flavor options available: Smoked Paprika & Chili and Garlic & Herbs.
Stockeld Dreamery’sStockeld Dreamery Makes Good On Ambition To Launch Plant-Based Cream Cheese non-dairy cream cheese has already gained popularity at three other esteemed New York City establishments: Ground Support Cafe, Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys, and Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish. Soon, it will also be launching at Zaro’s Family Bakery, further expanding its reach across the city.
Novel vegan cheese
Stockeld Dreamery’s ambitious cheese project was made possible by a successful €16.5 million Series A funding round in 2021. This financial support has allowed the company to accelerate the expansion of its team and product portfolio, fueling its mission to revolutionize the cheese industry.
Oatly’s new cream cheese is available across the U.S. | Courtesy
The cream cheese from Stockeld Dreamery is crafted using a unique blend of fermented chickpeas and lentils, complemented by ingredients like coconut oil and spices. Launched last year after more than two years of product development, the company aims to provide a plant-based alternative that rivals traditional dairy cream cheese.
It joins a growing vegan dairy cream cheese category that’s expanding beyond nuts and soy as the base. In March, Israel-based food tech start-up, ChickP Protein, Ltd., announced it had also developed a chickpea isolate that can be used in making plant-based cream cheese.
Last month, Swedish oat milk brand Oatly announced that its oat-based cream cheese was available nationally across the U.S. for the first time.
Our resident vegan food reviewer tastes frozen vegan ready-meal brand Sunday Supper and shares her honest feedback.
I felt I was letting down my Italian heritage when I went from vegetarian to vegan. As a vegetarian, I could still eat all of my mom’s amazing home-cooked Italian dishes like lasagna, cannelloni, and ravioli. As a vegan, not so much. My mom was a trooper and, though she never changed her own eating habits, she learned how to make the world’s best vegan meatballs. When I bit into the TiNDLE Meat Balls made by Los Angeles award-winning Chef Celestino Drago at Sunday Supper’s five-course “Una Festa Italiana” Plant-Based Pride Celebration earlier this month, I got the same melt-in-your-mouth texture and nostalgia hit really hard.
It was a perfect way to kick off the evening hosted by Sunday Supper in partnership with TiNDLE, Vertage and Gaingels at Los Angeles Drago Centro to showcase two new additions to their range.
The first course (and my favorite) was the Vertage Mozzarella In Carrozza reminded me of a Brazilian pastel de queijo. Next came an heirloom tomato salad with arugula, veggies, hearts of palm and Vertage Mozzarella. For the third course, we were served Sunday Supper Ravioli With Ricotta, Saffron, Thyme, Butter & Zucchini, a chef recreation of the brand’s raviolis without tomato sauce, followed by Sunday Supper’s Manicotti Al Forno. The manicotti was a highlight- particularly the creamy and nutty ricotta. TiNDLE Petto Di Pollo Con Crosta Al Tartufo followed, which consisted of the plant-based chicken patty served with a decadent truffle cream sauce. At this point, I could have used a doggie bag, but I managed to save a bit of room for the last course, a no-bake Sicilian Cheese Cake made with tangy Vertage Cream Cheese.
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of both TiNDLE and Vertage. The latter’s mozzarella is featured in Chef Tal Ronen’s pizzas at his LA Crossroads restaurant and it’s actually one of the cheeses used in Sunday Supper’s ready meal lasagnas. What these three plant-based brands have in common, aside from being mouth-wateringly delicious in their own right, is that they were all chef-inspired, created by chefs, for chefs.
Courtesy Sunday Supper
Sunday Supper FTW
I can’t believe this was my first time trying Sunday Supper. As a longtime vegan with Italian heritage, this vegan Italian ready-to-eat brand has got my name written all over it. I can’t think of another brand of 100% plant-based handcrafted frozen Italian meals that are family-style and made with fresh herbs, farm-grown veggies, and authentic San Marzano tomatoes. Long story short- any Italian nonna would approve.
The startup was co-founded in 2021 by Richard Klein and Florian Radke. A veteran in the plant-based space, Radke also co-founded vegan pet food brand Wild Earth and vegan cinnamon bun chain Cinnaholic. and it outshines the competition when it comes to gourmet frozen foods. Sunday already has the support of industry heavy-hitters like Daniella Monet and Wild Earth’s Ryan Bethencourt. The brand is backed by Gaingels, one of the largest and most active LGBTQIA+ private investment syndicates supporting diversity and inclusion within the venture capital ecosystem.
The company launched with two flagship frozen lasagnas- the Italian Sausage and the Three Cheeses- and has expanded its range to include a Mushroom Ravioli, a Cheese Ravioli, and a Baked Manicotti.
The last two were showcased at the tasting event I attended. Sunday Supper collaborated with Chef Celestino Drago, dubbed “one of the best-known Italian restaurateurs in Southern California” by both Bon Appétit and the LA Times, to veganize much-loved Italian dishes without sacrificing one iota of flavor. The evening was a delicious feast and everyone who attended seemed to rave about the food.
The question still remained: how would Sunday Supper’s food hold up without a fancy chef to prepare it? A 5-course menu prepared by a veteran Italian chef at their own restaurant is one thing, but the real question is: how do the dishes taste when the average person prepares them at home?
Luckily for you, I did the hard work of reviewing Sunday Supper’s entire frozen meal range and here’s what I thought.
Sunday Supper’s Italian Sausage Lasagna
Preparation: if you’ve ever made lasagna, you know it takes hours of preparation. You have to make the sauces, cook the pasta, put it all together, and then finally bake. Sunday Supper does all the heavy lifting for you. All you have to do is open the box, pop the lasagna in the oven, and 90 minutes later, voila! No need to defrost it because it cooks straight from frozen. Keep in mind, it does take 90-95 minutes to fully cook so make sure you get it going about an hour and a half before you want to serve it.
Taste: 10 – I broiled it for the last 10 minutes of cooking, per the instructions on the box, and the top layer of mozzarella was bubbly and completely melted. All the cheese in between the layers of pasta oozed out when I cut into it. I would have liked a little more Italian sausage and a little less marinara sauce, but it was still delicious and my entire kitchen smelled of lasagna yumminess. Think lasagna from plants for anyone who loves lasagna (yes, I’m shamelessly plagiarizing the Impossible Foods slogan). If you feed it to non-vegans, I guarantee they’ll never know it’s not the real deal.
Ease of Preparation: 10
Overall: 10 out of 10
Retail Price: $26.99
Sunday Supper’s Three Cheeses Lasagna
Preparation: It also cooks from frozen and it takes the same amount of time to fully cook as the one above, but it’s worth every minute!
Taste: 10 – the blend of parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta makes this lasagna way cheesier and richer than, but just as tasty as the Italian Sausage version. It’s more versatile because it has no “meat” and can be served as a companion dish to other plant-based entrees like meatballs, sausages, or even seafood.
Ease of Preparation: 10
Overall: 10 out of 10
Retail Price: $26.99
Courtesy Sunday Supper
Sunday Supper’s Cheese Ravioli
Preparation: The ravioli cooks from frozen exactly as you would cook any regular ravioli. You add it to boiling water and cook it for about 5 minutes. The sauce comes separately and needs to be defrosted before being heated on a stovetop. Technically, it’s not ready-to-eat, nor it is ‘heat and serve’, but I didn’t mind the prep and it’s probably why it tastes so good.
Taste: 10 – this is by far the best vegan ravioli I have prepared at home; it knocked Kite Hill’s down to number two on my list.
Ease of Preparation: 8
Overall: 9 out of 10
Retail Price: $18.99
Sunday Supper’s Mushroom Ravioli
Preparation: same as the Cheese Ravioli
Taste: 9 – you definitely get a rich umami-packed flavor from the mix of shitake, nameko, oyster, porcini and portobello mushrooms. I’m not a big fan of mushroom dishes so I enjoyed this one a little less but fungi lovers will rejoice.
Ease of Preparation: 8
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
Retail Price: $18.99
Courtesy Sunday Supper
Italian Baked Manicotti
Preparation: Have you ever tried to stuff pasta tubes? Exactly. It’s hard work. Thanks to Sunday, all you to do to prepare Manicotti is open the box, pop it in the oven, and 55 minutes later, it’s ready to serve.
Taste: 9 – I grew up eating Cannelloni; Manicotti is the Italian-American version of it. Both involve cooked pasta tubes that are stuffed and covered in sauce in pretty much the same way. There’s nothing else in the market like Sunday Supper’s Manicotti. In fact, I don’t know of any restaurants that serve a vegan Manicotti or Cannelloni- not even Pura Vita, my favorite LA vegan Italian spot. Sorry Chef Drago, but I liked the Baked Manicotti I made at home better. The sauce was creamy but light, and it really allowed the taste of the spinach ricotta stuffing to shine. It does have a black pepper kick to it, which makes it not as kid-friendly as the other meals, and it’s the only reason I’m not giving it a 10.
Ease of Preparation: 10
Overall: 9.5 out of 10
Retail Price: $24.99
Overall, the suggested 4 servings for each meal seemed off. Depending on how much you eat and whether or not you’re serving it with other dishes, a Sunday Supper meal will likely feed 2 to 3 people, rather than 4. There are also 5 Manicottis in the Baked Manicotti, so you may have to resort to rock paper scissors to decide who gets the last one!
Bonus Points: I really like the innovative cool packaging and my entire kitchen smelled of yummy Italian food when I made one of the Sunday Supper meals. I think the lasagnas and ravioli will be a hit with most little ones, making them a meal the entire family can enjoy.
Sunday Supper is definitely going to be a staple in my freezer from now on. According to co-founder Florian Radke, the frozen food market is having a moment, as consumers choose the products as a healthier and more nutritious alternative to highly processed foods. Radke cites industry data suggesting the sector is worth $55 billion in the US alone, and of that, frozen Italian food accounts for $22 billion. “Sunday Supper is here and ready to disrupt this major category,” he says. I think he’s onto something. Here’s hoping they add a Baked Ziti or even a Tortellini into their lineup.
Sunday Supper is available at Fresh Markets, Erewhon Markets, and Plum Markets. In addition, online retailer GTFO It’s Vegan stocks the Italian Sausage Lasagna. The company says it is on track to expand to 2,500 additional retail outlets by the end of 2024.
Shanghai is surprisingly full of great vegan eats! While Buddhist-inspired vegetarian food has long been a cradle of Shanghainese food culture, the city has seen more new modern plant-based offerings appear of late.
From high-end veggie fine dining to casual bowls of dumplings served on the side street or modern eateries with burgers and wraps, Shanghai is for sure friendly to vegans! Are you ready to taste all the delicious dumpling noodle soups that Shanghai has to offer? Below is Green Queen’s guide to the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in China’s financial hub.
Source: HappyCow
1. Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant
Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant is a vegan Chinese restaurant full of meat-free Shanghainese classics. The no-frills diner is usually crowded, a testament to their delicious menu. Most of the food contains mock meats with an array of fresh vegetables cooked in all ways – braised, stir-fried, steamed. And don’t miss out on tasting the dumplings Shanghai is famous for, meat-free of course!
Address: Hui Yuan Vegetarian Restaurant, 49 Huaihai East Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China. Open Daily: 11.00am – 9.00pm.
Source: TripAdvisor
2. If Vegan
If Vegan is an all-vegan restaurant serving fusion dishes inspired by both Western and Chinese cuisine. Part coffee bar, part flower shop and part restaurant, If Vegan is the ideal place to drop by for a plant-based meal when you have some time and need a place to hang out. You will find some classic Shanghainese tofu-based dishes on their menu, as well as a range of healthy international fare, from salads to pastas.
Address: If Vegan, 408 Shaanxi Bei, Jing An District, Shanghai, China. Open Daily: 11.00am – 9.00pm.
Source: TripAdvisor
3. Jujube Tree
If you’re looking for more veganised Shanghainese food, then check out Jujube Tree, a vegetarian restaurant with many animal-free options. They have an extensive menu comprised of many modern dishes, featuring ingredients like wild mushrooms, mock meats, tofu, seitan and yams. Make sure to try the visitor-fave: Deep Fried Monkey Head Mushroom with Satay Sauce. Yum!
Craving Mexican cuisine in the middle of Shanghai? Don’t fret – Maya, a Mexican-Californian restaurant is the perfect spot to get your salsa and mole fix. Though the restaurant does serve meat, it does have an entirely separate vegan menu catering to plant-based folk. Expect Lentil Enchiladas, Veggie Fajitas, Mushroom Tacos, and more. Oh, and don’t forget to try dairy-free ice cream for dessert.
Address: Maya, 568 Julu Road, Grand Plaza, 2/F Clubhouse, Shanghai, China. Open Weekdays: 5.00pm – late; Weekends: 11.00am – 4.00pm.
Source: HappyCow
6. Wu Jie
Another upmarket restaurant suitable for a romantic dinner date is Wu Jie. They offer various set menus comprised of completely meat-free Chinese dishes presented with a creative modern twist and using only seasonal fresh ingredients. The restaurant has been featured on the Michelin Guide before and is highly popular, so make sure to book ahead. While Wu Jie is vegetarian, they are happy to accommodate fully plant-based diners if you call ahead. Bonus for Buddhists: the menu is entirely leek- garlic and allium-free.
Indonesia’s whole-cut plant-based meat brand Green Rebel has announced a partnership with Nando’s Singapore for a limited menu collaboration.
The announcement marks the first time Nando’s, the South African-based chicken chain, has launched a plant-based menu option in Singapore. The new meatless Green Rebel Chick’n Steak is part of Nando’s “The Great Pretender” campaign.
Green Rebel x Nando’s
The new sandwich contains 18 grams of protein per serving and 7 grams of fiber — about the equivalent of 250 grams of spinach. The sandwich is rolling out to all six Nando’s locations in Singapore.
The partnership marks a milestone for Green Rebel, which launched in Singapore last year. The company’s products are available in 1,500 locations across Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
Green Rebel at Nando’s | Courtesy
“The way to convince more people in Asia to try plant-based foods is with products that work great in favourite local dishes,” Michal Klar, general partner at Better Bite Ventures told Green Queen last year following Green Rebel’s Series A funding round. “Green Rebel is doing exactly that by offering plant-based meats with authentic flavours like Indonesian beef rendang, chicken satay and more.”
Last November, the company announced its expansion into the nondairy category with the launch of cheese, sauces, and dressings.
Singapore as a vegan launchpad
Singapore is increasingly cementing itself as a launch pad for vegan products. A confluence of increased consumer consciousness about environmental sustainability and ethical consumption has seen a rise in the demand for plant-based and alternative protein options across the nation. Singapore’s innovative, tech-forward business climate is ideal for the development and promotion of such products.
Most recently, Dutch food technology pioneer Meatable hosted its first-ever cultivated meat-tasting event in Singapore — the only country that has approved cultivated meat for sale and consumption.
Courtesy Meatable
Startups and multinational corporations alike are capitalizing on the opportunity. Recognizing Singapore’s potential, they’re launching an array of vegan alternatives, from lab-grown meat to plant-based dairy and egg substitutes. The government is also supportive of this burgeoning sector, contributing funds and resources for research and development in the food-tech industry.
Crucially, Singapore’s status as a cosmopolitan city, with its diverse population and culinary tastes, makes it a fertile testing ground for new vegan products. Businesses are able to reach a broad spectrum of consumers and gain insightful feedback to continually improve their offerings.
Furthermore, Singapore’s strategic location in Asia allows companies to expand into other markets in the region easily. Its role as a launch pad for vegan products underscores its broader ambition to become a leader in sustainable and innovative food solutions. This trend is likely to continue as the global demand for vegan and plant-based products grows.
