Is pea protein the new turkey?
By Mark Hamstra ~
Consumers seeking to avoid eating meat have an increasing array of options to replace traditional holiday roasts. More and more food retailers and restaurants are offering vegan and vegetarian holiday solutions that include plant-based options not only for the main course, but also for all the appetizers, sides, and desserts.
This year’s holiday season comes at the end of what could be described as a breakout year for plant-based meat substitutes, with the widespread rollouts of products from Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods at retail and in foodservice.
“The movement has evolved so much that you can’t go down the street without seeing something about vegan food,” says Kale Walch, co-founder of The Herbivorous Butcher, which is supplying a vegan turkey analog roast for several Whole Foods stores in the Western U.S. this year.
The Whole Foods stores are offering The Herbivorous Butcher roast, which is made with seitan and stuffed with French bread and wild rice, along with products from Mac & Yease and others, as part of a Vegan Meal for Four.
In Canada, supermarket operator Loblaw last month launched a line of plant-based private label items for that country’s Thanksgiving, which takes place in October. The products included Mushroom and Chickenless Chicken Wellington, several side dishes and a Vegan Tiramisu made with coconut milk and coconut milk yogurt. The President’s Choice Chickenless Chicken Breasts used in the Wellington recipe are made with pea protein concentrate, soy protein concentrate, and other ingredients.
The holiday line was created in partnership with Craig Harding, executive chef and owner at La Palma and Constantine in Toronto.
“Plant-based cooking doesn’t need to be overwhelming, especially with all of the newest options available right at the grocery store that will help food lovers reinvent their holiday favorites,” Harding said in a statement.
For consumers opting to dine out, more and more restaurants also offer plant-based holiday meal alternatives, many of which are of fine-dining caliber.
For example, chef Tal Ronnen—who Oprah Winfrey dubbed “the best vegan chef in America”—of Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles is serving up a four-course Thanksgiving menu featuring a choice of either Holiday Spiced Lentil Tempeh or Scaloppini as the main entrée. The dinner, which includes vegan soup, salad, sides and desserts, is priced at $75 per person.
The Plant Based Food Association says it doesn’t yet track data for holiday-related sales, but the results of one the industry’s pioneers speak for themselves.
When Hood River, Oregon-based Tofurky first introduced its Tofurky Roast in 1995, the company sold 800 roasts. Now it produces and sells about 400,000 roasts per year, a spokeswoman for the company says. The roasts, which are made with wheat and tofu, are part of an extended line of plant-based products the company offers.
“No longer is the good-humored, tongue-in-cheek brand the brunt of as many jokes, as a formerly meat-heavy nation becomes increasingly interested in a plant-based lifestyle,” the Tofurky spokeswoman says. “The market size for plant-based meats has proven to be explosive.”
She cites data from the Good Food Institute showing that plant-based meat now captures 2 percent of the market for retail packaged meat, with sales of more than $800 million, up 10 percent in the last year. Refrigerated plant-based meat is helping drive category growth, with sales up 37 percent, she adds.
“It’s obvious that the demand for plant-based options is growing because we’re seeing big meat companies like Hormel and Tyson investing in it,” says Walch of The Herbivorous Butcher. “With the increase in education about all the benefits of eating plant-based, from documentaries like What the Health to activists like Greta Thunberg, the demand will continue to grow.
“As more businesses enter the space, I think we’ll continue to see more diversity in what those options are, what ingredients they’re made of—things like that,” Walch says.
The holidays also offer an opportunity for plant-based product suppliers to call attention to the causes they support. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of its Tofurky Roast, Tofurky is offering two limited-edition “ugly Christmas sweaters,” with all of the profits being donated to WildAid, a group that seeks to reduce global consumption of wildlife products. The company says it expects the donation to top $10,000.
“For Tofurky, nothing captures the holiday spirit quite like a festive party with family and friends, tasty food and funny holiday sweaters,” says Jaime Athos, president and CEO of Tofurky, in a statement.