Plant-forward thinking from a meat eater perspective

When I was having dinner with a friend the other week, our conversation turned to the alternative protein industry. As an avid supporter of the plant-forward movement, I was elbow-deep in explaining all the reasons why the industry was NOT dead when he smiled and pointed out the beef and Guinness pie on the plate in front of me.

Yes, I eat meat, and yes, I support alternative proteins - both can be true, and this is why.

I first became interested in alternative proteins from a sustainability point of view. It’s one of the overaching themes woven into the fabric of sustainability in the hospitality industry. 

There is a large volume of evidence for why industrialised animal farming is a challenge that we need to solve if we have any hope of solving climate change, and there are organisations that present this evidence far more compellingly than I. What has sustained my interest in the optic, the cynic that I am, is the business sense of it. 

When I attended the Alt Proteins conference last year hosted by Food Frontier, an independent non-profit think tank, it was refreshing to hear industry insiders admit something that I have been saying for years. 

For alternative proteins to be palatable to the average consumer, they need to hit four key criteria: appearance, flavour, mouthfeel and value.

Sounds familiar, right? Because it sounds like every product brief ever. 

For the alternative protein industry, that last part is something that is fairly new in this equation. It was refreshing to be in the same room as people who are working on the cutting edge of this technology, and to hear them admit that there needed to be a further value proposition to their products beyond the environmental angle. This might sound cynical, but it’s no different to how any business approaches its pitch to consumers, and “value proposition” does not immediately mean “cheaper”. 

It was also interesting to hear about blended proteins, which combine animal meat and plant-based products to create hybrids that were nutritionally richer and more cost effective. 

Personally, I consider the shift towards flexitarian, plant-protein subsidised diets inevitable. And I say this as a lifelong meat-eater. 

As the world’s population expands, due in no small part to us living longer, exhaustion of our food supply chains is an existential threat. There is only so much farmland and so many ways we can stack chickens on top of each other. 

If there are cost-effective, lean and healthy protein alternatives - it’s only a matter of time before we transition in this direction en masse. 

The food manufacturing industry has subsidised meat products with plant-based alternatives for decades. Read the ingredients list on a sausage roll or chicken nugget and tell me how much animal protein is in that product. 

Go ahead, I’ll wait. 

This is not an alien concept, but one that we historically sequester to the domain of food scientists who are tasked with bringing us the latest ultra-processed snack that will trigger the maximum dopamine reaction. That image is also why alternative proteins get such a bad rep. They are seen as too processed, unnatural and are tied more closely to the diet-identity politics of our society than plant milks, who are currently running away with the game. 

When I saw the Chief Marketing Officer for a leading oat milk brand speak about their campaigns, what struck me is that the message wasn’t: “Our product is great for the planet.” It wasn’t even: “Our products is great for you.”

The message was: “Our product is great!”

The rest of the industry is listening, and as alternative proteins become more cost effective and palatable, there will be a tipping point when they will stop being seen as new and unusual. In the same way that we no longer see plant milks as something extraordinary. 

As with any culture shift, there is opportunity for early adopters, but great things are rarely accomplished without an element of risk. 

So, while it might seem like the alternative protein industry is going through a nuclear winter, I recommend watching this space. Because the smart money is on the long game.

AK