Meat alternative
[10] Meatless tissue engineering involves the cultivation of stem cells on natural or synthetic scaffolds to create meat-like products.
[11] Scaffolds can be made from various materials, including plant-derived biomaterials, synthetic polymers, animal-based proteins, and self-assembling polypeptides.
However, global demand for sustainable diets has also increased their popularity among non-vegetarians and flexitarians seeking to reduce the environmental impact of animal agriculture.
Tofu was invented in China as early as 200 BCE,[16] and in the Middle Ages, chopped nuts and grapes were used as a substitute for mincemeat during Lent.
[17] Since the 2010s, startup companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have popularized pre-made plant-based substitutes for ground beef, patties, and vegan chicken nuggets as commercial products.
[16] In the third century CE, Athenaeus describes a preparation of mock anchovy in his work Deipnosophistae:[19] He took a female turnip, shred it fine Into the figure of the delicate fish; Then did he pour on oil and savoury salt With careful hand in due proportion.
And when the turnip touch'd the royal lips, Thus spake the king to the admiring guests: "A cook is quite as useful as a poet, And quite as wise, and these anchovies show it."
[20] The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in the Qimin Yaoshu, a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in 535.
The vegetarian dietary laws of Buddhism led to development of meat substitutes as a replacement for the meat-based dishes that the Chinese were no longer able to consume as Buddhists.
[21] Meat alternatives were also popular in Medieval Europe during Lent, which prohibited the consumption of warm-blooded animals, eggs, and dairy products.
[17] John Harvey Kellogg developed meat replacements variously from nuts, grains, and soy, starting around 1877, to feed patients in his vegetarian Battle Creek Sanitarium.
[22] Kellogg's Sanitas Nut Food Company sold his meat substitute Protose, made from peanuts and wheat gluten.
In 1897, Food, Home and Garden published a positive review of London's vegetarian restaurants, claiming, "For fivepence one could get a lentil cutlet, which was very appetizing, and looked like a meat croquette".
[32] Some vegetarian meat alternatives are based on centuries-old recipes for seitan (wheat gluten), rice, mushrooms, legumes, tempeh, yam flour or pressed-tofu, with flavoring added to make the finished product taste like chicken, beef, lamb, ham, sausage, seafood, etc.
[36] A notable advantage of the bottom-up approach is its ability to provide precise control over the composition and characteristics of the end product, allowing for optimized nutritional profiles.
On the other hand, meat alternatives produced by top-down approaches may have limited malleability but are more scalable and can utilize available agricultural resources and infrastructure effectively.
The study concludes that sensory experience plays a crucial role in utilizing plant-based alternatives for heavy meat eaters.
Consumers who identify as vegan, vegetarian or pescetarian are more likely to endorse concerns regarding animal welfare and/or environmentalism as primary motivators.
[52][53] Additionally, some cultural beliefs and religions place prohibitions on consuming some or all animal products, including Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, and Buddhism.
Pesticides used in animal feed production as well as waste runoff into reservoirs can cause ecological damage and even human illness as well as taking water directly out of the usable supply.
[62] While also contributing less to this total pollution, much of the land being used for animal feed could be used to mitigate the negative effects we've already had on the planet through carbon recycling, soil conservation, and renewable energy production.
[63][64][65] The switch to plant-based protein is reported to deliver the biggest climate-heating emission cuts per investment dollar of all industrial sectors.
[69] In 2021, the American Heart Association stated that there is "limited evidence on the short- and long-term health effects" of plant-based meat alternatives.
[73] A 2024 review found that plant-based meat alternatives have the potential to be healthier than animal source foods and have smaller environmental footprints.
[74] A comprehensive study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2024 shows that processed plant-based substitutes such as veggie burgers improve nutrition compared to animal products, but less than unprocessed plant-based foods; they offer significant health benefits over meat, but are not as nutritious and balanced as unprocessed alternatives.
CNBC wrote in 2019 of Chipotle joining "the likes of Taco Bell ... and Arby's in committing to excluding meatless meats on its menu.
In Louisiana, the so-called, "Truth in Labeling of Food Products Act" was challenged by Tofurky, complaining of free speech violations[86] and was successful on those grounds.
University of Oregon marketing professor Steffen Jahn thinks that this has run afoul of human psychology, saying "the mimicking of real meat introduces that comparison of authenticity.
