Fable mushroom ‘meat’ offers Aussies a more sustainable burger

There’s a new burger being snapped up by chain restaurants across the country and it’s proving to be “very profitable”.

As a kid, Michael Fox wrote a song called ‘Steak of Glory’. He was a meat-loving Queenslander who, like the average Aussie, ate at least 110kg of the stuff every year.

But in his thirties, he had an epiphany, seeing how unsustainable it was for us to be eating meat at the rate we do. Raising animals for food requires large amounts of land and water leading to problems like deforestation and water degradation. It also contributes heavily to greenhouse gas emissions.

“The problem is meat is so good,” Mr Fox said. “I stopped eating it, but it was a 10-year journey to become fully vegan. As part of that [journey] I wanted to developed a meat alternative in line with my diet which is lots of healthy, whole foods.”

Enter mushrooms – and a partnership with two other veggie fanatics, Jim Fuller and organic mushroom farmer Chris McLoghlin.

“Jim is the only man in the world to be a mushroom scientist and a fine dining chef,” Michael said.

It was through Mr Fuller that Fable, the meat-like mushroom food the team created, ended up in the hands of celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.

“He loved it, and with Heston as an advocate it helped spread the culinary credentials that it tastes great,” Mr Fox said.

Jim Fuller, Heston Blumenthal, Chris McLoghlin and Michael Fox. Picture: Natalie Nguyen

Fable officially launched in December 2019 and has already found its way into chains Guzman y Gomez, Grill’d and a long list of fine dining restaurants. It is also on the menu in the UK, Singapore and North America.

“Our aim is to expand nationally and internationally next year,” Mr Fox said. “Fable is becoming very profitable. People eat food based on taste and price and the idea is that we are creating something that tastes better and is cheaper than meat. In the end people will have no reason to eat meat.”

Fable ‘meat’ is made out of mushrooms. Picture: Southworks Creative

Fable offers an alternative to eating meat. Picture: Southworks Creative

Another alternative meat company gunning to take a bigger slice of the meat market is v2Food, an Australian partnership between fast food chain Hungry Jacks founder Jack Cowin and the CSIRO.

Following its launch in 2019 it already sells its Rebel Whopper burgers, made with v2 plant-based patties, in Hungry Jacks as well as its range of products, including plant-based sausages and mince, in supermarkets.

Hungry Jacks Rebel Whopper. Picture: Hungry Jacks

The company has its sights firmly set on a goal even bigger than Australia though. It is expanding into the largest meat-consuming nation in the world, China.

“We’ve experienced insane growth in Asia,” Nick Hazell, the CEO of v2Food said. “v2food launched into the Chinese market in August of this year with its first batch of products including a new iteration of our v2mince, resembling pork.

“China has the largest population in the world, and has the opportunity to make a significant positive impact on the future of our planet which is why it is also a huge focus for v2food’s growth.”

Nick Hazell, CEO of v2Food, says the company has had ‘insane’ growth in the Asian market.

While the country’s meat market shows no sign of slowing, its “free from meat” market has also grown 33.5 per cent since 2014 to be worth $9.7 billion in 2018, according to Euromonitor. It predicts that the industry will be worth $11.9 billion by 2023.

Mr Hazell explains how v2 is marketed differently to other meat alternatives and the focus is on meat-eaters rather than vegetarians.

“We’ve chosen to focus on the 99 per cent who are meat lovers rather than the 1 per cent who are vegans,” he said. In fact, after joining the start-up in 2019, Nick has remained a meat-eater himself.

“All other companies positioned the problem as, ‘There’s not enough vegans, all we need to do is convert people to veganism.’ But that’s not the problem,” he said. “The problem is we eat too much meat. I am a meat eater and I don’t want to stop eating meat. I want to make a choice.”

Emma Levett is a freelance writer.

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