^{It's meat but not as we know it}

It’s meat but not as we know it.

Plant-based meat is crossing the boundary into the Australian mass market nowadays.

“I was sick of eating tofu every single day.”

Inspired by animal rights and environmental protection, Jessica Bailey become a vegan in 2001 but the options were bland.

“I wanted to eat delicious vegan-version food, however there was not much available in Australia,” Ms Bailey said.

She did some research and found that others felt the same way. 

So she opened the Cruelty Free Shop in the same year, collecting and selling innovative and high-quality vegan products.  

Plant-based meat is precisely one of the best sellers in Ms Bailey’s shop. 

Plant-based meat as a meat alternative, together with other newly emerged vegan products, is expanding its target market. They brought the word “vegan” from a puritanic concept into more popular field, in which everyone can try it.

It is not only for vegans

It is not overwhelming to say Australians usually have a preference for meat. One Australian will consume over 100 kilograms of meat per year, based on the statistics from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Only 12.1 per cent of Australians are vegetarians, according to a survey conducted by Roy Morgan in 2018.

However, Australia is showing significant interest in veganism, and the idea of reducing meat consumption. Until 2020, Australia ranks first for searching “vegan” in Google Search.

Nick Hazell, the Founder and Chief Executive of v2food, a plant-based meat producer, said their company is concentrating not only on vegans, but those meat-eaters who are trying to cut their meat consumption.

“There is a small percentage of Australians who are absolutely vegans but there is a big percentage of Australians who are trying to reduce meat consumption. I think that is the biggest market. Whether or not people become totally vegan, that is not for us important,” Mr Hazell said.

In this video, Mr Hazell and Ms Bailey explained why people should reduce meat consumption and meanwhile try the plant-based meat.

So, what is the process, when the "butcher" wields a peeler? This infographic shows the mains steps to produce plant-based meat.

The demand for vegan products is growing in Australia. The vegan food market was worth around $136 million in 2019 and is expected to reach $215 million in 2020, according to a research from Euromonitor International.

“It is not just vegans. There are lots of people who just want to reduce their meat consumption for environmental reasons,” said Ms Bailey, “So, in the old days, we just have vegan customers. Now, we have customers of all sorts, vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters.”

Ms Bailey said she was pleased with the trend that more people other than vegans start to cut some meat from their daily diets.

“Meat production is so bad for the environment. So, if people can just reduce down a little bit. Then, that’s great,” Ms Bailey said.

As interest in more ethical eating increases, so does the range of products available in Australia.

More varied, more accessible, and tastier

To avoid producing another tofu-style vegan food, these plant-based meat companies need to do more to cater to the taste of the public.

Mr Hazell said his company is cooperating with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) to make its products “look like meat, cook like meat and taste like meat”.

“CSIRO has been studying meat for decades and they understand meat flavor and meat texture…Most people struggle to cook, and they cook the things they know, and they like. So, it is important that our products work exactly the same way,” Mr Hazell said.

Mr Hazell said except for the mince and burger, which can now be easily found in many stores such as Woolworths and Hungry Jacks, his company also planned to launch a new sausage soon.

“It is absolutely delicious,” Mr Hazell said.

Plant-based meat is not the only sort of vegan product that is becoming more varied, more accessible, and tastier for the public.

Paul Freeman, the manager of the Cruelty Free Shop in Melbourne, said that eating vegan food is no longer the representative of a healthy but sterile lifestyle.

“You can definitely be a junk food vegan if you want to… (Our most popular product) is usually the Vego Bar (a vegan chocolate bar) …Dandies Large Marshmallow is very popular and the Beyond Burger as I mentioned earlier is very popular,” Mr Freeman said.

Ms Bailey said nowadays as a vegan, she even does not have to miss out on anything about meat.

“Now, there are so many meat alternatives available and they taste…pretty much the same (as real meat)…You feel like burger then you can have a Beyond Burger, and it is exactly like meat…There are vegan versions of everything now,” Ms Bailey said.

"I do see the risks"

However, not everyone welcomes the trend that the processed plant-based meat is entering further into the mass market.

"We use no processed plant-based meat products, " Ami Beach, the CEO and owner of G-Zen, a famous vegan restaurant, said, "We only make our own whole grain 'burgers' with whole food ingredients like beans and mushrooms."

The formula used to make plant-based meat tastier and meatier was also questioned.

The statistics from Hungry Jacks show their Rebel Whopper, a vegan burger using the patty produced by v2food, contains even a higher level of sodium than traditional beef burger.

Mr Hazell, however, refused to disclose the specific formula of their products, including those in the Rebel Whopper.

Sam Adra, the founder of Radicle Foods, said he is worried about the abuse of the word "vegan" in some products.

"Being vegan does not make it healthy. It can make it healthier but whether it is healthy, you should look at the process is involved. You should look at what you are consuming," Mr Adra said.

"I do see the risks of the word 'veganism' and especially 'plant-based'."