For a while, plant-based meats – those complex concoctions of soy, oils, yeast and potatoes that are designed to look, feel and even bleed exactly like meat – seemed to be unstoppable. In 2020, with everyone stuck at home, sales of plant-based meat brands like Impossible, Beyond Meat and Gardein skyrocketed, increasing 45 per cent in a single year. The arrival of realistic-seeming products amid rising concern about climate change seemed to herald a new era of plant-based meat consumption. Soon, it seemed, everyone would be eating burgers, chicken fingers and steaks – made purely out of vegetables.
An Original Impossible Burger (left) and a Cali Burger, from New York’s Umami Burger. Plant-based meat has lost favour with consumers. AP
Washington Post
