New chapter for plant-based ‘meat’
When McDonald’s Canada added the McVeggie sandwich to its menu in September, it marked what could be a new chapter in the plant-based meat sector… a chapter that will be distinguished by plants being presented more as plants, than meat.
Maybe that sounds like an obvious thing to do. But with some products, it hasn’t been the norm.
For years, fast food outlets including McDonald’s, as well as major processors and manufacturers such as Beyond Meat, promoted their vegetarian offerings as head-to-head competition to meat, particularly beef burgers.
But time has shown that overall, consumers who crave meat don’t want plant alternatives.
Alternatively, if they want veggies, they don’t want them dressed up to look, smell or taste like beef, chicken or pork.
That’s especially true given the long list of extra ingredients that had to be added to some plant-based meat to get it to taste familiar.
The McVeggie appears to be trying to break away from that ball and chain. According to the McDonald’s website, the McVeggie is “a breaded veggie patty made with a blend of vegetables (including carrots, green beans, zucchini, peas, soybeans, broccoli and corn) and seasoning, topped with shredded lettuce and creamy mayo-style sauce, served on a toasted sesame bun.”
Most parts of that recipe sound pretty wholesome. Plus, the word meat is nowhere to be found, in the description or the marketing. That’s a big change.
Other companies have read the tea leaves, too. For example, Beyond Ground lists just four ingredients – water, faba bean protein, potato protein and psyllium husk – in its ground beef alternative. Appearance- wise, this product looks odd, but there’s not much for critics to quibble with in that ingredient list.
And IKEA is reportedly offering a falafel plant ball this fall to replace its plant-based meatball, which failed to make a dent in the market.
To me, this new direction is encouraging, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a more honest way of doing business. What started out assimply offering consumers alternatives to meat morphed into a name-calling, finger-pointing, all-out war between the beef sector particularly and plant- based product manufacturers.
The pro-meat group accused plant-based companies of deceiving consumers with their claims of “natural,” minimalistic ingredients. It sparked anti-plant-product campaigns based on meat having but one ingredient, meat.
The plant-based side didn’t have a comparable war chest to fight the meat sector, although animal rights activists had long drawn a line in the sand with their stance against meat production.
What all this potentially means to readers of The Echo is a less polarized protein sector, less of an us-versus- them mentality. Consumers won’t feel the need to join one camp or the other – they can choose between the two, or patronize both.
And companies can concentrate on marketing benefits, not features.
What consumers really want is safe, wholesome and affordable food. Look at meat and non-meat alternatives and ask which side is offering all three of those benefits – that’s the side that deserves Canadian consumers’ support, as we settle in for an elbows- up fall and winter.
Owen Roberts is an agricultural journalist from Guelph. He regularly visits family in Creemore.
