Faux meat is failing. Once championed as a way to fight the climate emergency, protein alternatives are now struggling, with plant-based pioneers Beyond Meat reporting net revenue losses of nearly 31% in the second quarter of this year.
I could say I’m surprised, but the truth is I’m only amazed that our collective love affair with fake meat lasted as long as it did. I was once a fan, but standing in front of a towering wall of hyper-processed meat alternatives in my local supermarket last year, I couldn’t help but think: are vegan burgers that bleed really the answer to our meat consumption woes?
Climate scientists have been sounding the alarm over how food production systems are contributing to global heating for decades. Eating less beef, pork and chicken is a vital element of the fightback, creating a gap in the market for meat alternatives. But, according to US charity the Center for Food Safety, “replacing conventional animal products with ultra-processed, poorly studied and under-regulated genetically engineered products is not the solution to our factory farm and climate crisis”. And I’m inclined to agree.
Not long ago we were enamoured of everything that vegan alternatives promised, as a way to “do our bit” without sacrificing our carnivorous instincts. But the nutritional and environmental pitfalls of processed protein have slowly made themselves apparent. Swapping meat with Beyond Meat resulted in some impressive health findings, according to one study, including reduced LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol and body weight. But while these plant-based products don’t appear to be inherently damaging to our health, they are undeniably ultra-processed. In the long term, the implications of consuming industrially produced vegan products on a mass scale are unclear.
It’s not just Beyond Meat that has seen sales plummet; in June, UK vegan producer Meatless Farm ceased trading before it was rescued from administration, while sausage company Heck reduced its vegan range, citing a lack of consumer demand. In the US, vegan chicken nugget startup Nowadays recently folded “due to an inability to raise venture funds in this market”, an ominous forecast for the industry.
The cost of living crisis has been cited as one significant reason for tanking sales of vegan meat products. And it’s true these alternatives can be expensive. A pack of two Beyond Meat burgers costs £4 at Tesco, while a pack of four Finest beef steak burgers is also priced at £4 – the same price for double the quantity. Beyond Meat is now reducing its price points and cutting jobs in a bid to save what some are calling a “sinking ship”. But I wonder if waning sales aren’t more likely to be linked to a shift in our collective feeling towards these products.
The reality is that many of these foods don’t taste terribly good. As a chef who has spent my career designing vegan recipes, I’ve become something of an expert in the flavour profiles of meat alternatives. Beyond Meat remains the fiercest competitor to real meat when it comes to taste and texture but most other brands are seriously lacking. At this stage, nobody can convince me meatless protein crumbles are tastier or more appealing than beluga lentils. And if they aren’t tastier, then why are we bothering?
Perhaps another reason for the decline in sales of these products is that the general public are arriving at a more nuanced position on our current meat production processes, and indeed their plant-based alternatives. In 2022, a summit on the societal role of meat was held in Dublin, with 1,000 scientists coming together to sign the Dublin Declaration, which states that “livestock systems … are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry. These systems must continue to be embedded in and have broad approval of society.”
Vegan media was quick to dismiss the declaration, claiming it was “riddled with animal industry bias”. But the fact that the summit even took place speaks volumes. Professor Michael Lee, a leading expert in sustainable livestock and one of the signatories of the declaration, insists it isn’t “anti-vegan” or “anti-ecology” but instead about “being pro sustainable agriculture to feed a global population and protect our planet and all its inhabitants”.
Personally, my own rules for eating healthily are inspired by the American author and journalist Michael Pollan’s motto: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”, which remains the simplest strategy we can apply to our food consumption habits that is good for our bodies and the planet alike.
Whether you view fake meat companies as innovative or otherwise, for those wanting to eliminate meat from their diets, these products can be a stepping stone towards a more plant-dominated lifestyle. I believe we are unquestionably drawn to items that replicate the taste and texture of conventional animal foods. Just look at the burgeoning cultivated meat industry, where animal meat cells are grown in a lab to replicate the real deal.
The future for fake meat looks uncertain but that’s not to say with advances in food technology it will be gone for ever. But my faux-nugget-shunning five-year-old would rather see the back of it.
Aine Carlin is a food writer. Her three cookbooks, Keep it Vegan, The New Vegan and Cook Share Eat Vegan, are published by Hachette
