
Making plant-based foods mainstream and accessible
NOTE from LRIC: This post is one in a series of LRIC-prepared summaries of discussions and presentations that were part of the 2021 Future Food-Tech Alternative Protein Summit. LRIC attended this virtual summit to learn more about how the livestock sector is viewed and how it may be impacted by the growing popularity of protein alternatives. LRIC believes it is important for those in the livestock industry to know what is being said about our industry so we can refute where possible and change where necessary. Originally published in the August 2021 Livestock Innovation Newsletter.
Plant-based food products need to become mainstream in order for real change to happen in the food system. That’s a belief shared by Pat Brown, Founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, and author and investor Ahmir Thompson, who were both speakers at this year’s Future Food-Tech Alternative Protein Summit.
As an investor in alternative protein start-ups, including Impossible Foods, Thompson would like to make healthier eating more accessible to people living in so-called food deserts, part of which involves giving people alternatives to easily available junk food.
“The first half of my life was about what could I acquire, what could I take. Now, it’s about what can I contribute and what can I give. It’s why I’m in the space, to turn the conversation (about food) around,” he said.
Brown, a former biochemistry professor at Stanford, sees using animals as food as the most destructive technology in the world, and blames animal agriculture for what he calls the catastrophic collapse of biodiversity on earth. It’s what led him to create Impossible Foods, the company behind the widely successful plant-based burger that “bleeds” just like a real meat burger.
“By far the biggest thing we can do to put the brakes on climate change is to replace animals in the food system. Within 15 years, we would offset more than half of total greenhouse gas emissions through to the end of the century even if we don’t do anything about fossil fuels,” he says [Editor’s note: this is beyond ridiculous! Check out our summary of Dr Frank Mitloehner’s greenhouse gas work on our website]. “We can create a better way to produce foods that deliver what meat lovers love. That was my epiphany: create a company that will compete with the animal food industry with products that consumers want and take them down the old fashioned way.”
For plant-based products to resonate with more of the population, people have to be given a chance to be exposed to them. The taste part of the equation is there when it comes to plant-based products, Thompson believes, so the focus now needs to be on improving accessibility beyond just wealthy hipsters and upscale suburbs. He’s leading “Impossible Foods” block parties in his hometown of West Philadelphia, for example, and supports New York City high school students working with plant-based foods.
For Brown, the key to displacing conventional meat products is making the plant-based versions more affordable. That’s a challenge, he believes, for an emerging industry that is competing with what he calls animal agriculture’s “over 100 years of infrastructure and systems in place and paid for”.
“The fundamental economics are way superior for plant-based products. It is hard for us to fully realize economies of scale right now, but in the future, we will be competing on price and likely be cheaper. That will be a huge factor,” he said, adding he believes plant-based products will be competitive with or cheaper than their animal counterparts in five years or less.
Less than 10% of the U.S. population have tried an Impossible Burger to date, but that’s about to change, according to Thompson. Millennials and Generation Z are more open towards vegetarianism, and young people are bringing a newer, more informed attitude towards plant-based foods.
Critics of Impossible Foods and similar companies point to the high level of processing involved in creating these food products and wonder how they can be promoted as more “natural” than a piece of fresh meat, for example. Brown dismisses that simply as “meat industry propaganda” intended to liken his products to Twinkies.
“I would say that those kinds of labels are meat industry propaganda and consumers can see through them. The difference here is that Twinkies are unhealthy not because they are processed but because they are devoid of valuable nutrients and packaged with sugar, fat and junk,” he said. “Our ingredients are chosen conscientiously based on the health and nutrition of the consumer. Plant-based is a much better choice and that’s the point.”
Brown is very confident that in five years, beef, pork and chicken products made from plants will be more delicious, nutritious and affordable than products currently on the market - and that will cause a significant shift in consumer adoption.
“In 10 years, the animal-based industry will be circling in the drain. They have a product that is basically unimprovable, whereas plant-based foods are getting better and better every year,” he noted.