Plant-based meat and technology to radically change Australian diets

Forget fad diets — the way we eat is about to change forever. And fake meat, artificial intelligence and 3D printing will all play a big part in what ends up on our plates.

Move over, meat — it looks like plant-based substitutes are here to stay.

The plant-based “meat” industry, now worth $30 million, is projected to explode to a whopping $3 billion in the next decade.

And that is just one of several food trends coming our way in the next five to 10 years and beyond, according to a leading food futurist.

More than 100 plant-based meat products now sit on Australian supermarket shelves, according to plant protein group Food Frontier.

Burger chains Huxtaburger and Grill’d have also started dishing up meat-like plant patties

And world-first modelling released at the Global Table food and agriculture conference in Melbourne this week predicted Australians’ appetite for alternative proteins that taste, smell and feel like meat would continue to grow.

The Deloitte research, commissioned by Food Frontier, forecast consumers would spend up to $4.6 billion on plant-based meat by 2030.

That is even though two-thirds of Australians are yet to try faux-meat products made from vegetable proteins.

But food futurist Tony Hunter predicted Australia would quickly follow the US, where sales of plant-based meats grew 10 per cent against retail growth of 2 per cent last financial year.

“It’s a trend of people looking at health and sustainability,” he said. “People want protein, people want health, people want sustainability; for some people it’s more about animal cruelty.”

The Beyond Burger looks, cooks, and tastes so much like ground beef patty that it’s sold in the meat section of US grocery stores. Picture: Supplied

Mr Hunter said the products were not aimed at vegetarians and vegans — rather, the industry’s key focus was converting meat-eaters to “flexitarians” who ate less meat.

Reducing meat consumption would have environmental benefits such as cutting down land and water use as well as greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

But Mr Hunter said Australia was lagging behind the US, where producers such as Impossible Foods and Beyond have spent years researching and developing plant-based meat.

And local retailers were rushing out “inferior” products as a result.

“I’ve tried some of them and they’re simply not up to scratch,” he said.

“And that’s a problem because people get their first impression, they laugh, and never try it again. It will hold the industry back.”

Australian fast-food chains are tipped to be closely watching trials of fake chicken and beef products at KFC and Burger King in the US.

HOW 3D PRINTERS WILL CHANGE OUR FOOD

Also on the horizon in the not-too-distant future is 3D printing of foods, including plant-based steak.

“It’s still very early stages but that’s something I think is a very good chance coming within the next five to 10 years,” Mr Hunter said.

“(3D printing) enables you to get texture and print whatever size and shape you like.

“It just needs a killer app for technology that could sit at the back of a restaurant and print out a steak in three or four minutes.”

In Europe, start-up Novameat has already invented a 3D-printed meat-free steak.

MORE: THE TRUE COST OF PLANT-BASED DIETS

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GREASY BACON DISHES AUSSIES ARE GOING NUTS FOR

PERSONAL WELLNESS DRIVING FOOD TRENDS

Mr Hunter said personal wellness was the biggest driver of food technology.

This is pushing growth in things like DNA kits for uncovering potential health issues, or how our bodies respond to different foods.

Gut health is also key, as scientists begin to understand more about our microbiome and how it is influenced by our individual environmental factors.

For example, identical twins can have completely different microbiome, depending on where they live and what they eat — and that influences how their bodies cope with and digest different foods.

These factors would lead to a trend of “personalised nutrition”, said Mr Hunter.

That is, we will eat according to our specific health and wellness needs.

This could spell the end for one-size-fits-all diet fads such as keto or paleo — because we are only just beginning to understand that how we react to food is so individual.

“The nutrition industry is the walking dead, because there’s no such thing as one diet,” Mr Hunter said.

Artificial intelligence will also play a part — for example, technology is already being developed that will allow you to take a picture of your food and the algorithm works out the nutritional values for you, based on your DNA, microbiome, environmental factors and exercise habits.